With the price of gas soaring, many people are genuinely starting to consider the electric car. But, the big question still on everyone's mind is: just how effective is the electric car, and will it actually save me money?
Electric cars of the past were considered more of a joke than a practical solution to the gas problem. They started as tiny vehicles that could hardly fit the driver, let alone a passenger, and were barely able to keep up with freeway speeds. However, the electric car of today has gained immense improvements over its predecessors, with some electric cars even outperforming Ferraris.
An electric car does not use engine oil, coolant, a radiator, a transmission, an exhaust pipe, an exhaust manifold, a clutch, spark plugs, fuel injectors, fuel filters, oil filters, air filters, engine belts, or timing chains, to name a few. This means that there will no longer be a need for annoying oil changes or costly transmission fixes.
Electricity rates are also much cheaper than the current gas prices. If you were to travel 200 miles with an average 20 mpg you would need 10 gallons of gasoline. With an average cost of gas at $3.398 per gallon in Michigan this would cost you $33.98. To drive 200 miles in the 2012 Nissan Leaf, with an energy consumption rate of 34 kW-hrs per 100 miles, and with an average electricity cost of 8.57 cents per kilowatt hour in Michigan it would cost you $5.83. This is a savings of $28.15 per 200 miles.
An electic motor is much more efficient than a typical gasoline powered engine. The gas powered engine is very inefficient at extracting the necessary energy from gasoline to convert it into the mechanical energy needed to move a vehicle. It's estimated that a whopping 80 percent of extracted energy is wasted and lost to heat. This is why a gasoline powered engine needs multiple devices to help keep it cool. Motor oil is used to keep the engine cool, coolant is added to keep the oil cool, with a radiator to keep the coolant cool, and a fan to keep the radiator cool.
The electric motor, however, produces a very small amount of heat. Therefore, very little energy is wasted and there is no use for engine oil, coolant, a radiator or a fan. The air brushing past the car as it's being driven is enough to keep the motor cool, and the electic motor automatically shuts itself off when stopped at a light or traffic.
The electric car is powered with lithium-ion batteries. These batteries are relatively small, lightwight and long-lasting. In fact, the 2012 Tesla Roadster can be fully charged in just 3.5 hours with an estimated battery range of 245 miles.
The electric car can be recharged very easily by either plugging it straight into a wall, or by using a high power wall connector. These wall connectors can be purchased and installed at your home, and shopping centers are starting to implement them aswell. Meijer, in fact, announced that it will start installing electic car charging stations in its parking lots.
Another advantage to the electric car is that it is very quiet. The engine shuts itself off when stopped at a red light, so there is none of the idling sounds common to gasoline powered cars.
There are already a few electric cars on the market today, such as the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, Tesla Roadster and Tesla Model X. The average MSRP of these vehicles is just over $41,000, before government offers and incentives such as tax breaks.
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