It's not always easy being green.
A couple of weekends ago, my husband and I test drove a Chevrolet Volt. We liked the "concept car" look of the Volt and, as (green) tech geeks, we were particularly captivated by the revolutionary engine design. As MotorTrend wrote, the Volt has "the single most sophisticated powertrain on the planet."
Now that's exciting. We decided to buy one.
When we got home that evening, my husband -- the practical one in our relationship -- observed, "You know, we really should figure out where we're going to plug this thing in." Of course: plugging it in, that's the whole point.
Somehow this detail had escaped me. I can quickly rattle of statistics about the benefits of electric vehicles: zero tailpipe emissions when running all-electric, overall air pollution reduction up to 80%, 13 cents to drive 1 mile on gas and 2 cents on electricity, and, for the volt, an estimate miles per gallon (MPGe) of 94. But I hadn't focused on the infrastructure challenge and neither, seemingly, had anyone else. The car reviews we read went to great length to detail the different flavors of electric vehicles but they glossed over any discussion of how to charge your vehicle - what's required and what it would cost. The car dealer also glossed over those details or, more precisely, never mentioned them.
It's true that in theory "plugging in" is easy. Electric vehicles can be plugged into any normal plug (110V-120V), just like any appliance, but if you don't have access to an outdoor outlet near where you park, that's a problem. The Home Owners Association (HOA) in our condo building told us that the building is considering infrastructure for electric vehicles but has not finalized any plans. It was many months away in the best case. We'd have to put in our own charging station.
Undeterred, I called an electrician. He told me it would require a dedicated circuit that, in turn, would require running conduit several hundred feet in the parking garage. All possible for an estimated $6-$8K. Wow. That on top of the sticker price of the car. Well, we reasoned, maybe we can plug it in at work. Again, not easy. At work there was no outdoor outlet, requiring us to cut into an exterior wall and install an outdoor outlet.
This made me reflect on the broader theme: there are great ideas and great technology out there to help us go green, but if it's this hard to adopt, then who will really be willing to make the effort?
In truth, there are a few relatively easy things we can do right now to make the transition to electric vehicles a lot smoother.
First, we need to place more responsibility on our building owners and our cities. Yes, it requires a little effort to install an electric vehicle charging station, but once you've installed it you can easily recoup the costs by charging the EV owners. The difference between the cost of electricity and the cost of gas is approximately 75 cents a gallon versus $4.10, so even with a premium included to repay the infrastructure cost, that's a bargain.
The California Energy Commission (CEC) is making it easier for building owners to go electric by offering subsidies for electric vehicle charging stations as part of ChargeAmerica. This is a great program, although it's not big enough. Approximately $3.4 million will be spent helping to install 1600 chargers in California. The CEC should expand this important program, with the support of citizens that recognize the potential for electric vehicles to simultaneously address the air quality issues in our cities and the energy dependence issues in our country. City mayors and state senators also need to hear that there is widespread support for electric vehicles - and the infrastructure that enables them.
Also, I have a message for Chevrolet: you have a big role to play here. You've built a great car. Now you need to educate the public, starting with your dealers. I was shocked that our car dealer wasn't more helpful in this process. Our internet research was more useful than anything he told us. Chevy, you need to geekify your salesforce.
After some deliberation, we ended up buying the Volt. We figured out a relatively low-cost solution to plug-in at work, and our car dealer, feeling either sympathetic or guilty, chipped in some cash to help with our infrastructure problems.
I'm still working on our HOA.
As a Volt owner, I am so fortunate to live where I do.
1. My power company gave me a 240 V charger and helped install it. In return they get to monitor the cars usage and I accept a higher rate if I recharge during peak demand times. I get a lower rate, 6 cents/kwh, for recharging at night. They are planning a 'farm' of wind turbines on Lake Michigan, and cars are a great way to store electicity generated from wind at night
2. Kalamazoo, Mi, where I live has installed (free) chargers throughout the cental city. My hospital has chargers and the local university has a bank of (free) chargers near the auditorium.
I rarely need these charging stations with the Volt's range. But, when we get our 2nd electric car, which will likely have a shorter range, we will make good use of them.
Think of electric cars as a way to store wind energy during off peak demand.
The small compact vehicles that EVs will replace are already much cleaner than a coal fired power plant, and they don't need expensive polluting batteries.
Unless EVs are charged directly by solar panels then they're just another form of greenwashed hypocrisy.
All in all you have to choose your poison. Looking at the issues wholistically I think it makes more sense to drive an American built EV with extended range.
"Nationwide, EVs charged from the electricity grid produce lower global warming emissions than the average compact gasoline-powered vehicle (with a fuel economy of 27 miles per gallon)—even when the electricity is produced primarily from coal in regions with the “dirtiest” electricity grids."
http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/clean_vehicles/electric-car-global-warming-emissions-report.pdf
http://www.carpricesecrets.com/toyota/priusc/2012?jadid=1327957556&jk=new%20prius%20models&jkId=mc:a8a8ae4cd36a1f3870136a3b167365126:i9703711342:tb&js=3&jsid=22936&jt=1&mkwid=bCS76WnMT&pcrid=1327957556&pmt=b&pkw=Prius%20C&pse=bing
Also, the Honda Insight has a base price under $19,000.
http://autos.yahoo.com/honda/insight/2012/reviews/
I have always purchased American cars, but hopefully Detroit will take their cue from Toyota and Honda.
We need comprehensive energy policy reform that prefers energy democracy, local siting and non-deadly solutions, not just lateral moves from BP oil to BP wind that kills off all the bats and raptors and remonopolizes our energy grid.
PACE loans could be used for PV AND for EV charging stations as well as for efficiency upgrades - they are a critical tool that the FHFA has sabotaged. German-style Feed in Tariffs are also critical to getting the strong, reliable, local, affordable and FAIR clean energy distribution grid we have needed for 30+ years. The time is now!
By supporting just these 2 policies, EVs, efficiency, renewable energy, saving water, saving open spaces and important species, democratizing and decentralizing our energy supply, improving our property values, creating jobs, and cleaning our air/water/land could all be moved hugely forward. They need to form the basis of our economic and environmental (and democracy) policies.
When talking about emissions and EVs, the source of the electricity for the grid matters. Fortunately, most Americans live in areas where the source of the grid's electricity makes powering up an EV wise from an ecological point of view.
As dealerships began springing up you would go to them as they would have to have a supply of gas for their lots. It took 20 years before the Service Station became the dominant provider of fuel.
As much as people hate government getting involved our infratstructure issues to convert to EV's will need to be both Public and Private efforts. Personally I want to invest my taxpayer money in getting out of the Foreign Oil business and in creating American Jobs to get this infrastructure built. It will save us Military Money and Military lives as much of that resource is out patrolling the middle east to protect our oil interests. It will also shrink the amount of money sent to countries that support terrorism.
It will also help us get out from under the thumb of Big Oil which for some reason continues to get 4.5 Billion Dollars a year in subsidies and tax credits but maintains profitability unprecednented in history.
I suggest getting multiple quotes. The first guy wanted to charge $1400 for the install. The second quote came in at $799. (the charger cost me $500) I think it's because the first guy wanted to hard-wire the charger in. Which makes sense. But requires extra permits and inspections. Which of course costs more money. The guys I decided to go with just installed an outlet and wired in a pigtail to the charger. So it plugs in to the outlet rather than being hard wired to the circuit. Which saved them money on permits and inspections. With the added benefit of making it really easy to just unplug my charger and take it with me if I ever move.
I think you can do better on the price.