East or West

So what coast does the most miles in an ActiveE???  There is one way to find out.....go to wotnogas.com and check out the friendly competition between the left and right coasts.

If you are an ActiveE driver and have not signed up yet please do so....let's have fun with this one.

4,000 on the cheap

4,000 miles at a cost way less than gasoline....are these cars some of the best kept secrets in transportation...yes.

I'm not a scientist but I do know enough to understand when I'm saving money, let's look at what I'm getting at.

I just reached 4,000 miles in my ActiveE, all on electricity of course.  My previous car got a real world average MPG of 22.  That is what I got by simply dividing the gallons I took when filling up into the miles driven each time I filled the tank.  Gasoline cost around $3.70 per gallon by me - cheap for gas.  So I divide 22MPG into 4,000 and I get 181.9 gallons which I multiply by $3.70 and get $673.03 - that is pretty much what it cost me in gas to drive 4,000 miles in my previous car and this is in about 75 days.

Now lets look at the ActiveE - the average cost to go 100 miles in an EV is around $5 in electricity, but I'm Northeast and we get hammered with our rates so I'll bump that to $7 of electricity to go 100 miles.  Again I do the simple math of dividing 100 by 4000 and I get 40 and then multiply that by $7 = $280.

Lets see, gas powered = $673 and electric powered = $280.   My insurance is the same and leasing the ActiveE is about the same as the other cars I lease but the EV adds a few more unseen cost savings...no tune-ups.  That's right, none.  Yes, BMW covers maintenance anyway but that runs out after some time and BMW might remove that one day, Mercedes did.  We all know how much regular maintenance can cost....so the ActiveE, as luxury cars go, is pretty reasonable for me.  I'm not one to pay attention to what a car costs me because I focus on the 'fun' a car brings me.  The ActiveE brings me 3 benefits, it is fun, it is economical and it is clean.

Lastly, I'm seriously enjoying the car and so is my family.

Just imagine

One of the benefits of driving an EV is that you begin to look at things a little differently...in a good way.  You start to look at the world around you and think about how EVs can improve our environment and not just the green one but our cities.

For example, the other day I went to give a presentation a fellow ActiveE driver in Jersey City.  While I was crawling along in heavy city traffic, surrounded by cars of all sizes and large diesel trucks, the noise was almost deafening - remember, I've been driving a very quiet EV for nearly 3 months in the suburbs so I really notice loud vehicles now.  I could even feel when a truck or car with loud exhaust began to roll the engine/exhaust vibrated all the way into my cabin....not pleasant.  Then there was the pollution, either from the trucks or cars that obviously have never had a tune-up.  Finally the heat....I could really feel the heat radiating off of the vehicles around me.

As I crept along in a calmer and more relaxing environment, inside my ActiveE, I started to think about what would happen to this city if 50% of the cars were electric.  Just imagine the benefits to the residents of Jersey City and commuters and visitors to the city.  Less noise, less pollution and less heat...would we be less stressed and anxious during our commute and would people feel more comfortable walking around the city streets....just think about it.

EV racing

Now this a really cool story from Autoblog Green about Grand Prix de Pau Electrique

One of the quietest and cleanest races I'm sure...not to mention safer since the danger of fire is nearly eliminated.

I've posted videos of both the 1st race and 2nd.  Turn up the volume so you can hear it.

2012 Grand Prix de Pau - GP Electrique Race 1

2012 Grand Prix de Pau - GP Electrique Race 2