I saw an electric car driving around town (recycle, bike, costs)

[golfgal]

It is the first one I have seen in our area. Boy are they SMALL. I wouldn't want to take one on the highway but they would be nice for buzzing around town, for our kids to use to get back and forth to school, etc. I have no idea how much they cost though. We though about scooters but in MN they aren't very practical and you can't carpool with them or carry a golf bag on them .

[FLBob]

About 10 years ago Cal was about to pass a law requiring 10% of a manufactures fleet to be 0 emissions. GM developed an electric car called the EV1that was a normal sized 4 passenger car. The thing was able to beat V8s in a 0-60 race. The Cal government didn't have the stones to fight for the 0 emission law and the test cars were all destroyed. There was even a documentary movie, I think it was called "who killed the electric car".

[recycled]

Southern California Edison (big local power company) uses a fleet of all electric powered late 90's Toyota Rav4 for the "meter readers" in most of our megalopolis. These are ideal for a meter reader because all the vehicles are used for relatively short distance stop and go type of trips (like many people do around town). All the vehicles go back to the company vehicle yard at the end of the day and get re-charged overnight. This equates to free fuel since they are the power company. One of the meter readers told me he's been driving an electric Rav4 for over 8 years on the job, and the only maintenance ever done on the vehicle is brakes, tires and wiper blades - and it had over 250,000 miles on the odometer.

[UpperPeninsulaRon]

Originally Posted by recycled

Southern California Edison (big local power company) uses a fleet of all electric powered late 90's Toyota Rav4 for the "meter readers" in most of our megalopolis. These are ideal for a meter reader because all the vehicles are used for relatively short distance stop and go type of trips (like many people do around town). All the vehicles go back to the company vehicle yard at the end of the day and get re-charged overnight. This equates to free fuel since they are the power company. One of the meter readers told me he's been driving an electric Rav4 for over 8 years on the job, and the only maintenance ever done on the vehicle is brakes, tires and wiper blades - and it had over 250,000 miles on the odometer.

Sounds like a great use for an electric fleet. It also demonstrates the point that we do not live in a world where there is a one size fits all solution. Each must be tailored to the individual circumstances. It sounds like Southern California Edison was ahead of the curve on this one.

I must, however, take exception to one statement:

This equates to free fuel since they are the power company.

There are still costs that must be covered in the production of electricity, even if you do own the company. So the power is not free, but its cost is somewhat lower than if offered as a revenue producing item.

[PurpleLove08]

Not all electric cars are small.
There are also electric motorcycles and scooters.

17 Electric Cars You Must Know About : TreeHugger

Electric motorcycles and scooters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I can't wait to get my hands on an affordable electric car with a decent range.