mwalsh5757

Anyone going car light with an EV in the stable instead of using a vehicle fitted with an ICE (internal combustion engine)?

I've been driving a Nissan LEAF for over 6 years now, and my wife drives a Chevrolet Volt. We rarely use gasoline in her car due to a lifestyle that doesn't take her much beyond the 40 miles of EV range her car is capable of. Out of the 11,000 miles she's put on it in the last 3.5 years maybe 10% of it has been on the ICE? My car, of course, doesn't take gasoline at all.

That said I'd like to buy a longer range EV next, probably the Chevrolet Bolt, so we can be done with using gasoline altogether, but I'm still recovering from being made redundant from my job of 17 years about 2 years ago, and until recently only had consulting and temporary work to get us by. Even in my new full time job I'm off about $35k annually from what I used to earn, so things are still too tight to justify a new car purchase, especially since my LEAF is still in really good shape. Maybe when here Volt is paid off and the LEAF has a few more miles on the clock.

Roody

Sorry, this is a carfree bicycle forum, not an electric car forum. You might want to try here:

https://speakev.com/
My Electric Car Forums | Electric Vehicle Forums and News

mwalsh5757

Hmm...I thought it was a car light forum too? Maybe I misunderstand the meaning of car light in this context?

Sal Bandini

Car light means you minimize the use of a car. Nowhere in your OP did you discuss that. You seem to think an EV is not a car. It is.

I-Like-To-Bike

That is what car light means to you, others on this list apparently believe that there is no limit on use of a car to be considered car light just as long as it is not used for 100% of all transportation needs.

Sal Bandini

Well, whatever car light may mean my point is that an EV is still a car. Maybe OP meant fossil fuel free.

wolfchild

It is a car-light forum and majority of people who post here do own cars... and/or use cars in one way or another. Don't worry you've come to the right place.

350htrr

I think the same as you, I now drive a Pius C... about 1/2 the KMs as I used to drive my STI, a 400 HP car... 20,000 Km instead of 40,000 KMs every year... 62MPG instead of 13MPG... I would consider that car light...

EDIT; If everyone did that.. WOW, The difference in fuel consumption would be... astronomical JMO... Especially getting all those 12MPG 1/2, 3/4 & 1 tons off the road that are used as "cars" 99% of the time... IMO

cooker

Nonsense. If you don't quote, it weren't wrote.

wipekitty

Mobile 155

Don't worry dude, you are part of my five year prediction and that was permitted. In you leaf you are greener than a bus rider so you are a move in the right direction. IMHO. Plus some here take uber, and lift and taxis. Car light fits you style I believe.

mr geeker

mwalsh5757, Electric vehicles are every bit as polluting as a gas powered vehicle, the source of the pollution just happens to be increased power plant production instead of exhaust emissions directly from the car. Even a bicycle isn't completely environmentally friendly, though its leaps and bounds more so than even an electric car. Anyone who tells you different doesn't fully understand a products environmental impact/footprint.

cooker

Going with a lower impact vehicle is laudable in terms of environmental effects, but it doesn't really fit with the forum description in terms of using cars less. Plus even EVS still have some of the downside of all cars like risk of crashes, manufacturing and disposal costs and more,

Sounds like you, and your wife especially, are low mileage in whatever vehicle. How do you accomplish that? That would be more in keeping with the forum description.

Stadjer

Probably you Leaf's batteries will loose range anyway, so you'll get car lighter automatically. You could also consider charging the cars with solar power. I wouldn't worry about the range extender in the Volt, you're part of the transition to a renewable economy, that counts. A few liters of gasoline once in a while doesn't really count, and a range extender gives a lot of freedom in return.

tandempower

It means car light more so than car light. The emphasis is on what you do to live without driving when you do, not how you drive when you do.

Now, if you said you were going to use the EVs as batteries/generators to go off grid, and your goal was to see how long they would last at near-zero odometer miles and what the resale value would be after 20 years of keeping them parked all the time . . .

tandempower

Even so, I think EVs are more energy-efficient (higher mpg), and power plant emissions controls probably generate less pollution than catalytic converters, especially when you account for all the metals released on the roads. What's more, electricity can be generated by solar panels, while gasoline can't; though solar panels also contribute heat to the atmosphere, just as sun-baked pavement and buildings do.

In what sense is a bicycle not environmentally friendly? Because bike paths are paved whereas hiking paths aren't? Are you counting human bodily emissions as environmentally unfriendly?

350htrr

You are so full of BS, EV may actually be every bit as polluting as "normal" gasoline/diesel vehicles to produce... BUT, During their Lifetime there IS a whole world of difference in their operation... Especially if they are fueled up by hydro power or solar power... In fact I also believe even "if" the electricity is produced at a coal fired generating plant, the pollution, is only about 1/2 of a gas or diesel vehicle to run during it' useful lifetime ...

cooker

If they are powered from "the grid" you get a mix of coal and other sources that you don't control. Most owners won't have their own wind or solar generator.

blue192

May I have some popcorn too please? EV = Electric Vehicle. Would that not include scooters, bikes, and cars? I have an electric scooter that goes up to 20 mph/32 kmh (classified as an electric bike in Canada).

350htrr

That is true, My point was, even if the electricity is 100% coal produced, it is still less pollution per mile driven for an EV than gasoline/diesel vehicles... as I understand it.

Homer Cooper 

Admitly I've been eying a used Chevy Volt. Considered a leaf but the infursture isn't great in MN and the models with the high speed charging option are hard to find.The local connexus energy has a $12/hr high speed solar farm.
3.7 mile commute would be perfect for the Volt 3-4 days on bat 1-2 on gas. Still adds about 2k to the price but gas savings alone shold make the dif.

cooker

How would you travel on the other days?

Robert C

I frequent the e-bike sub-forum. As far as I see it, by the people who troll that sub-forum, this entire site could be best described as the "just drive a car" forum.

It seems that most people cannot distinguish between a bicycle, with an assist motor, and a lifted PU truck "rolli'n coal." For a real fun thread, find the thread in the Touring sub-forum where someone mentioned touring on an e-bike.

Homer Cooper 

primary by car or bike the few places I go on weekends are within 10 miles.
A few times a year I may head to the relatives for holiday. which is 170 miles so a car is needed then. I can travel with others if need be.

mr geeker

Your right, there is a difference in fuel consumed, never said there wasn't. Main reason that EV are more environmentally friendly compared to regular automobiles, is that there are less of them to make a similar impact. I'm not talking just fuel source, I'm talking total impact... from production to reclamation.