Here’s a great article from The Guardian, reporting that “electric cars are already cheaper to own and run than petrol or diesel cars in the UK, US and Japan, new research shows.”
This data confirms my own experience as an electric car owner: Electricity costs me only 62% of what gasoline would cost to go, per mile… saving me around $13,500 over the life of the car. (Since my state has high electricity rates, that savings gets even better if you live in an area with decent electricity prices.)
And when I switch to my power company’s middle-of-the-night electric vehicle (EV) charging plan, my cost per mile drops to only 41% of what gasoline would cost. That switch will save me around $20,900 over the life of the car.
Folks, the oil companies have been bleeding consumers for a long time: It’s HARD for working people to make money, and easy to have it dribble away because the auto companies and oil companies long gave us no consumer choices. It was their way or the highway…
This is changing as the auto companies, by going electric, are essentially divorcing the oil companies and marrying the electric companies – giving consumers cheaper transportation options. Plus electric cars require vastly fewer repairs, and there are no smog check fees every couple of years.
This is very good for keeping cash in our own dang wallets, and not going to some oil executive’s bonus. (The way I did it was to skip the cost of a new car by simply buying a used electric with low miles as an around-town car, a great strategy to take advantage of operating savings now instead of waiting… and I kept the 4Runner for long trips and camping only, since it was paid off long ago anyway. I essentially cut my transportation costs almost by half, a smart move for a retiree.)
General Motors shocked the car market by recently announcing it will produce ONLY electric cars after 2030, meanwhile introducing 20 electric models by 2020, so we finally have a shot at more-economical travel. Most of the world’s other major car companies have set similar goals.
Keep in mind also that major nations around the world are simply banning gasoline cars in the near future (the United Kingdom, France, India, and China as well as a number of smaller European countries, and California is thinking about it). Therefore, the upfront cost of the electric vehicle itself will drop, because of massive production volume increases – even without government subsidies.
Such is the synergy of technology with an era of global warming solutions.
I predict most people will chose a more-economical car, that gives better performance (electric cars are FUN to drive and accelerate like the proverbial bat out of hell).
To save the planet, change yourself first… it makes a difference, plus will give you one HECK of an education – in this case about the attractive economics of electric and hybrid cars.
(Credit: The Guardian piece was written by environment editor Damian Carrington.)
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Not sure how to start saving the planet (civilization, really)… Start by remembering Al Gore’s saying: “Hope is a renewable resource.” Keep your morale up.
Then, our immediate practical first step becomes “Deeply know our personal Superpowers,” those skills over which we all have 100% control:
1) To save the planet, CHANGE OURSELVES FIRST;
2) To save the planet, INVEST OUR WORKING LIVES;
3) To save the planet, USE OUR VOICES and take advocacy seriously in all its many flavors: Never miss a vote and never stop influencing your government. Influence the vast business world by voting with your buying power… business listens when you speak its language. Set a solid example in your personal life. Tell friends what we must do. Finally, have a carefully-chosen annual donor program. All of these are ways you can use your voice.
No one can take your personal power away. Stay focussed on the list of substantive global warming solutions.
And at all times, cast aside the “learned-helplessness” that infects so much of modern life… the time is now for action.
Never give up.
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Global Warming, You and I 