My Thoughts on Electric Cars

OBX Dave recently asked for my thoughts on electric cars.  Here they are.

I have ridden in a Tesla twice, both times driven by the same driver and she didn't know how to drive an EV.  When you lift off the throttle the car starts the regenerative braking process, which throws you forward and slows the car down.  This prompts the driver to step on the throttle again, which whips you back in your seat.  The net result is carsickness.  The other backseat passenger threw up once we got to our destination.  The seats are uncomfortable and the build quality is terrible.  Obviously this doesn't apply to all EVs.

If everyone switched to EVs today we would destroy the grid.  I'm also not convinced that it would be a panacea, given that 61% of the US's electricity comes from fossil fuels.  Here in NJ, about 48% comes from natural gas and 42% from nuclear reactors.  The rest is renewable.  You can find out more about your state here.  While some states might make clean electricity others don't, so ramping up electricity production could cause pockets of increased pollution.  We need to make more clean electricity before we replace all our internal combustion engines ("ICE").

I think Americans have been hoodwinked into believing they need big cars.  If you have three or more kids you should get a minivan.  They are much more efficient in terms of gas consumption and cargo room than almost any SUV.  If you need to tow something then a traditional body-on-frame SUV makes sense.

I also think Americans have been hoodwinked into believing they need four-wheel-drive.  If you live in DC or further south you probably don't encounter enough snow to need all-wheel-drive.  If you're into camping it makes sense, but if you're just going to Harris Teeter and soccer practice you don't need it.  It just adds weight which requires more power, and thus more gas, to push it up a hill.

I also think that we have made insane leaps in engine technology.  For example, the cheapest car in America is the Chevrolet Spark with a starting MSRP of $13,600.  It has a 1.4 liter engine that makes 98 horsepower, or 70 hp/liter.  For comparison, a 1992 Porsche 911 makes 247 hp with 3.6 liters, or 69 hp/liter.

Even better: a Honda Civic EX starts at $25,500 and pulls 180 hp out of 1.5 liters, or 120 hp/liter.  And it gets 33/42 MPG city/highway.  A 2012 Porsche 911 makes 345 hp with 3.6 liters, or 96 hp/liter.  A 1980 Corvette also makes 180 hp but needs 5.0 liters to do it.

Imagine if we used these advances to maximize fuel economy instead of horsepower.  But it's hard to do that because everyone wants to drive a 4,000+ pound SUV.  More power is necessary.

It is no secret that I am an unabashed VWAG fan.  For my money, the best all-around new car is the VW GTI.  It seats four adults comfortably, has 20 cubic feet of cargo space, gets 32 MPG on the highway, sprints to 60 MPH in 5.1 seconds, handles beautifully, and sends power to the front wheels so it doesn't get stuck in the snow.  They're under $35k new and you can even get them with a stick.  There are very few circumstances where you need something else, at least in my daily life.

If you're looking for the perfect combination of utility and environmentalism available at this moment in time, I would consider a plug-in hybrid ("PHEV").  These cars are gas/electric hybrids but they can run on electricity alone.  They typically have a range of 20-40 miles on just the battery, which is all you really need for your daily chores around town.  If you are dead-set on a giant SUV, check out the Volvo XC90 Recharge.  It drives like your typical seven-passenger land yacht, but if all you do is run the kids to and from school and soccer practice, maybe do some errands in between, you can get it all done without burning a drop of gas.  Plug it in at the end of the day and you're ready to do it again tomorrow.  Then, when you want to drive to Maine, it runs as a hybrid for 58 MPGe.  Yes, it's stupidly expensive, but not more so than any other big luxury SUV.  Volvo's XC60 Recharge is smaller and cheaper and does roughly the same thing albeit with five seats.  If you don't need to be swathed in Scandinavian luxury, Toyota's RAV4 Prime has more electric range, better hybrid fuel economy, and is a lot cheaper.  Predictably, Subaru's Crosstrek Hybrid is probably the best deal out there but with limited cargo space.  The Jeep Wrangler PHEV is proof that nature fills a void.  I have no idea why anyone would drop $55k on a Wrangler but it's out there if you want it and the website says it's the "BEST SELLING PHEV IN AMERICA" so what do I know.

I am sure that someday I will own an EV because that's the way the world is going.  I hope that by the time I have to buy one the average EV will be cheaper, driving range will be longer, charge times will be faster, and there will be more charging stations available.  I also want real buttons for the HVAC instead of a giant iPad.  I don't know how easy it will be to dispose of or recycle the batteries.  I don't know how environmentally friendly or socially equitable it is to make the batteries or mine the minerals required to make them.  I suspect it's all a zero-sum game--making energy requires us to break some molecular bonds and that creates nasty byproducts in one way or another.

If only we had an energy expert on staff to tell me why I'm wrong!