How my electric vehicle fascination changed

posted by Jeff | Wednesday, February 18, 2015, 6:45 PM | comments: 0

My initial interest in electric cars was largely based on the fascination over energy efficiency and the general technology used to make it happen. The combination of software and battery science is nerdy, I know, but that's kind of my thing.

Now that we've had an electric car for almost six months, my interest has evolved into something of an anti-combustion thing. When I go back to drive the other car, I think, "It's absurd that I'm getting around by having this thing burning liquid and making thousands of small explosions every minute to make the car go." Doesn't that seem crude and ancient?

I know that sounds totally like the anti-car-guy, but you're talking to a guy who has always been content driving a cheap Corolla. In a practical sense, I've generally viewed cars as utilitarian things to get you between points. It was a pretty big leap for me to spend more on a hybrid, and even then that was more about the tech. Ditto for the Leaf, which is a little pricey for its size.

But the first time I drove a Leaf, a rental on my prospecting/interview trip to Orlando, the torque was pretty exciting. I had driven electric gokarts before, and it was like that, only on the street. I've driven powerful gas cars, but it's just different because those feel powerful in the mid to fast range, whereas electric launches from a dead stop.

So these days, it's about the torque, the cheap energy and the software. It's all really exciting to me. The problem is still the cost, which is high. If GM can really deliver on the Bolt, and therefore put pressure on Nissan and Tesla, things could get really interesting in 2017. I can't justify an $80k car, even if I made two or three times as much as I do now.


Comments

No comments yet.


Post your comment: