The 99% Solution

There is something less than satisfying about doing a job with the wrong tools.

I use mine for edging the driveway!

Life has lots of little frustrations, and yet we see everywhere people making choices that add to their burdens. There are lots of reasons for consciously picking the wrong tool for the driving job. Perhaps the wrong car was marketed well. Maybe there's a stigma attached to using the right car. But most of the time, folks simply think they need a big honkin' swiss army knife on wheels.

This perception problem that stands in the way of the electric vehicle is what I call the 1% problem. People today buy cars (or more likely trucks) that fill every perceived need they could possibly encounter. To give an example, here's my own diverse list of things I need to consider when buying a car:

I have a wife, a kid, and a dog, and I take them all on road trips about 5 hours each way in the summer. We live in Michigan, and the snow has been terrible lately. And I do lots of home improvement projects that involve hauling lumber and stuff. I drive about 30 miles round trip to work, our folks are about 25 miles away, and we have friends that we see regularly that live a good hour away by freeway. 

Add it all up and you might expect to find me in this:

2013 Ram BFT edition

While the BFT is freaking incredible for the 1% of the time we're hauling lumber 350 miles, driving through a 20 inch blizzard, or vacationing with all our worldly possessions and extended family, it's probably about the worst tool for the daily commute. It sucks trying to park in city lots, it's expensive, and it would cost me about $20 in gas just to go see the in-laws.

The best truck is a borrowed one.

So often, people get trapped in these monstrosities because they think they need a vehicle (or two!) that will fulfill the most extreme 1% of their use, so 99% of the time we're driving something that's ungainly, and bleeding our bank accounts dry. A mid-sized electric car, while it can't possibly fulfill every need of the suburban commuter, is perfect for 99% of trips.

But this is real life, not a mental exercise. What do you do when you encounter that 1% problem? In our case, we have a second car, a Honda Fit. 

It's no bigger than my Nissan Leaf, but it does have a gas engine in case we need to go further. Add a rooftop cargo box and you can even fit all the family's stuff for a weekend trip. Remember, people have been taking road trips in things much smaller and less comfortable for decades. It's only recently that our lardy American asses demanded something that sat 8, with TV screens and cupholders galore.

Cute, but even I will agree this looks like a bad idea.

But!  Your spouse isn't adventurous, or packs, well, everything. Hell, you need to pick up some lumber this weekend! There's a simple answer for that too, and it's only going to cost you about $30 a day. 

Borrow or rent a truck for the 1% of the time you need it. It's cheaper and more satisfying than owning one 100% of the time. 

Resale Value and the Electric Car: It's complicated.

Recently, we have read a lot about the electric car and its problem with residual value.

The North American Auto Dealers Association (NADA) just released their figures concerning the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf, and found the resale value of both cars was about 40% of their original values after 3 years of ownership. To compare, the Toyota Prius retained almost 55% of its value in the same timeframe.

(the Mitsubishi Car-Shaped Object - oddly absent from residual value reports)

These value figures are misleading. It's hard to ignore the effect that a federal tax credit of $7500 off a new purchase does to the used value of a car, yet the NADA guide does not factor this into their equations. Also, both Leaf and Volt have seen their base prices slashed by $5000 or more since being introduced in 2011.

Calculations...

The base price of a 2011 Nissan Leaf was $32,780. If it retains 39% of that value after 3 years, the residual value of a used example today should be about $12,780. In my research, that number is a little low, but it's in the ballpark.

But what if you subtract the $7500 tax break towards purchase? You're left with an MSRP of $25,280. That's about 50% residual value. What if we factor in today's reduced prices? In that calculation, the 2011 Leaf has a relative value of more than 57% of the new 2014 model.

Conclusions

57% residual value over 3 years is good enough for second place in the Hybrid car category, ahead of the Toyota Prius and just behind the Lexus CT200h. That's not just respectable, it's impressive, considering the size and nature of the EV market.

That said, I still believe that purchasing an electric car, rather than leasing, is the wrong move. Lease deals are very good right now. We also still do not know the long term reliability of these cars, though it should be quite good. Finally, in the few years since their release, electric cars have gotten markedly better in each calendar year, at the same time that their prices have dropped, a trend that should continue.

Leasing the car protects the lessee from unknown long term reliability, while allowing us to reap the benefits of improved technology a few years down the road. It's also cost-effective, with the current deals available.

(haters gonna hate)

Detroit's Dirty Grid

For electricity, most of metro Detroit is served by DTE, the old Detroit Edison utility. Being in the midwest, you can probably imagine what our energy source of choice is, but most people I've asked (n=1) don't really have a clue how much of our electricity comes from coal-powered generators versus methane harvested from cow shit.

That's probably a DTE coal plant in the background. 

For numbers, I used the EPA website Energy and You, which features a handy breakdown of how dirty any particular source of energy is, and the Power Profiler application, which compares your local utility's sources of energy generation to the national average. Let's plug in DTE and see where we stand.

Fun Fact: "Renewables" is mostly burning gas from cow shit and trash. Seriously.

As you can see, we use a disproportionately coal-heavy mix in this area when it comes to power generation. And that's not clean-coal, either. More than a third of all our coal plants were built over 50 years ago, and 87% of our coal burning capacity exceeds the typical 30-year design of a coal powerplant. Further, Michigan has no reserves of its own, so all that coal must be shipped in from elsewhere at great cost. Gas and Nuclear account for a smaller portion of our mix, and renewable energy sources account for very little of the whole. You might be able to imagine what that means for pollution, but let's get a visual anyways.

Clicking embiggens.

Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide emissions are meaningfully higher than the national average, and Sulfur Dioxide is more than twice the national average. While it's not a potent greenhouse gas, SO2 is known to be particularly harmful to the respiratory system, and contributes to acid rain. As an aside, "Sulpher?" Seriously, EPA?

What does this mean to the Electric Car driver? There's a lot to parse out here. Let's start with that lovable greenhouse gas, CO2. Compared to the conventionally-engined Nissan Versa, the Leaf would still only generate a little more than half the CO2 over the course of a year - 4.1 tons versus about 2.4 tons for the Leaf. Obviously, a cleaner energy mix would improve that figure even more. 

Sulphurfurpher dioxide isn't really an issue for gas-powered cars, except for those powered by diesel. I can't really find any published data on the tailpipe emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in passenger cars, so we can't directly compare. Sorry, asthmatics. 

Finally, what about making that large battery pack? Isn't that pollution-intensive, and shouldn't we count that in the final tally? Recently, the Nissan Leaf was named lowest total carbon footprint by the Automotive Science Group, and the data they ran included looking at the production of the car and battery itself. 

In the end, the data means two things to me. 

1) DTE energy can and should do a better job of diversifying its energy source mix, looking towards renewables like wind and solar to keep emissions down. It's not as if Michigan isn't a good state for alternative energy generation. 

2) Even with Old Smoky DTE supplying the juice, the electric car is still a cleaner mode of transportation than burning gasoline. 

Running on Fumes: 5 reasons the internal combustion engine isn't ready for prime time.

We've heard it more than a few times by now. "Electric cars aren't ready for the prime time." "10 reasons electric cars still suck." "America hates electric cars." In the echo chamber of the internet, there are hacks aplenty to pick apart any vulnerable new idea in order to drive page views. This is particularly true in regards to the world of cars.

See, in the field of automotive journalism, entire careers are made by picking out the soft targets and thrashing them mercilessly. These public pistol-whippings are meant to lend credibility to the reviewer, so readers will overlook the fact that 99% of their other articles are simple industry puff pieces. Funny how the Nissan Leaf gets such hate, while a miserable turd like the 2007 Chevy Aveo has an "eye-catching shell" and a "pleasant nimbleness." I guess you don't bite the hand that feeds you.



It makes sense that most portrayals of the electric car are negative in media, automotive or otherwise. Manufacturers don't like making the cars. They're different than conventional cars in very tangible ways, and they don't sell well. Many EV startups go bankrupt. Until recently, the electric car was no more than a glorified golf cart. Someone looking for a soft target to trash wouldn't have to think twice about ripping into a Th!nk EV.

dignity not included.

But the truth is that electric cars are already hitting prime time. The Tesla Model S is fantastic, even when compared against its similarly-priced rivals. The Nissan Leaf is a better car than just about anything else in its price range except for one detail - long distance range. Most households can easily get by with only one long-distance car, so an EV as the short-distance car makes the most sense, but good luck finding that story in Road Trend or Car & Track.

So, like nobody has ever really said, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

5 Reasons the Combustion Engine isn't ready for Neon Deion. 

5) They're stinky, dirty, and loud.  

After driving the Leaf for a while, borrowing a gas-powered car is almost sensory overload. VROOOOOOOM! The exhaust smells absolutely awful and leaves a fine soot, REEEEEEEEE!!!! and you're surprised how you didn't notice the smell until you didn't have to deal with it for 6 months. BWAAAAAH!  Don't get me started on changing oil. Oh, and there's the noisy chorus of the drivetrain. Electric drive is silent, clean, and free of fumes.

4) They're prohibitively expensive to operate.

Maintenance adds up quickly. Gas adds up even quicker. Imagine filling up your gas tank for 6 bucks - That's how much it costs to drive the same distance in an electric car. The difference can add up to a car payment each month. To put it another way, the cost of driving the average family sedan is $9000 this year, by AAA's numbers. The Leaf is less than half that.

3) They lead to Funyun breath. 

Sure, you can drive 300 miles, refuel, and drive 300 more. But refueling sucks - you get gas-hands, stand outside while inhaling the fumes of the other cars idling around you, and get suckered into buying things you don't need, like Funyuns and lotto tickets. With an electric car, it's much easier to drive home, turn off your car, and plug it in. It takes a total of maybe 10 seconds, and no Funyuns.

2) They encourage poor driving habits.

When you've got fossil fuel to spare in the tank, there's no real impetus to drive sanely. Instead, drivers  speed, doing 80 mph on the freeway, and accelerate from red light to red light in the city. You end up driving like a madman, burning rubber just to slam on the brakes 90 feet ahead. The driver of an electric car watches range available like a hawk, and adopts efficient driving habits almost subconsciously. When you have an EV available, you also choose the most responsible mode of transportation available for short trips, and leave the gas-burner for longer trips.

1) They make you sick.

 Okay, electricity comes largely from coal, which is itself a dirty fuel, but most people don't live in the same proximity to coal plants that they do to a million car tailpipes. Infernal-combustion engines emit many toxins right in our faces. There are Nitrogen Oxides, which can substantially worsen lung conditions like COPD and asthma. The exhaust helps form the major ingredients in smog. Exposure to the benzenes and particulate matter in exhaust has been shown to cause cancer over time.

But hey, at least they can go 300 miles on a tank, right?

The C-Word: Compliance

A person interested in electric cars, as all you loyal readers doubtless are, might be shocked to find that selection is somewhat limited. Yes, though they offer many distinct advantages over their gas-powered counterparts, the electric car continues to be sabotaged by nearly every auto manufacturer. The piss-poor array of electric-powered choices is even piss-poorer when you live in Michigan, believe it or not.

All electric, and none sold in Michigan. 

The reason for this, and some wrongly say the reason the electric car exists at all, is to comply with California's requirement that automakers build a certain number of Zero-Emission (predominantly electric) cars to meet increasingly strict air quality standards. While a select few manufacturers make these cars available to purchase country-wide, most choose to make a very small number of EVs available to purchase or lease in California in order to meet the bare minimum legal requirements. These "compliance cars" are available only to a few people, in a couple states. And Michigan's not one of them.

In our home state, only the Tesla Model S, Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus Electric, and Mitsubishi Car-Shaped-Object are available. The Focus EV is available in such limited quantities (about 100 a month), and Ford hates it so much, that it's not really worth talking about. The Tesla costs more than the average Detroit-area house. Which leaves...

Anything but the Mitsubishi Car-Shaped-Object!

Obviously, the Nissan Leaf is the only real option if you want to drive the streets of Motown without stopping for gas. Happily, it looks like the BMW i3 will be available locally soon, and though it will be smaller and pricier than the Nissan, we should all rejoice in the doubling of real available options.

Note BMW i3's standard 19" pothole-prone wheel size.

It's too bad manufacturers don't embrace the compliance cars they make and offer them up to the rest of the US. Some, like Fiat's 500e and Honda's Fit EV, are universally praised in the press, and seem to be in many ways better executed than the Nissan Leaf. When actually available for purchase, these cars fly off the dealer lots.

My view should be obvious by now, but as soon as you say the word "conspiracy" you're tracked by the goons of the Old World Order. Nevertheless, I shall continue to be the voice of light in the darkness of gasoline-fueled smog.

and the Apocaplops rages on...

AAA study reflects cold reality for batteries

As I've pointed out in the past, electric cars are very susceptible to weather extremes. When the mercury rises or falls, we have all had the experience of household batteries performing poorly in the real world, and the batteries in cars like the Tesla and Leaf are no different. It should come as no surprise, then, to see the results of AAA's latest test of electric cars in extreme temperature conditions.


The bad news for EV drivers is that this test confirms and quantifies what we already know. In 20 degree temperatures, range was found to be only 43 miles. In 95 degree heat, the range dropped to about 69 miles. Those compare to 105 miles at 75 degrees.

The test did not include using climate control for the vehicle or poor weather conditions, both of which would make range drop even lower.

-11 degrees, to be exact.

The good news is that even in the worst case scenario, the range would still be more than enough for most urban drivers.

While no test is perfect, I have to express a little skepticism here. In my own experience, in temperatures much colder than 20 degrees, I was able to go a bit further than 43 miles on a charge, even when using the heater nonstop. I really don't see how they discharged the battery in such a short distance without using climate control. Also, it looks as though they only tested one example of each vehicle, and just once for each temperature, which would provide a pretty big margin of error.

The very good news, buried in the report, is that AAA is working on a mobile recharging station to help stranded EV drivers.

Grading the charging infrastructure: Ferndale

Ferndale, just outside Detroit's city limit, has been one of the communities to install public charging stations for EV use. This is nice, since Ferndale is frequently a destination for drunken revelers and people watchers, amongst other activities. It also has the reputation of being environmentally conscious, with its recently installed bike lanes and the yearly Green Cruise. It would be no surprise then, if Ferndale had embraced the electric car.

Conveniently hidden in a large city lot.

Unfortunately, the embrace is more of a cool nod in the EV's general direction. Ferndale's charging stations are limited to two single-plug units, one on each side of Woodward ave, near 9 mile road. Both are Blink units located within city lots that require you to pay while parked, but at least the spaces are marked for EV use only.

One station near the Library, card required.

A simple task like catching a record release at the Loving Touch, or buying some cookies from that ornery chef at Pinwheel Bakery, turns into an epic charging misadventure. First you must find the Blink card, by visiting City Hall during business hours - the card costs $5. Card in hand, you start the scavenger hunt for the poorly marked charging station, hoping the single spot allocated isn't taken by someone going to an all day event at Affirmations. And even after all this, the charger may not work since your card is not activated, as has happened to me.

I have yet to pursue getting the card activated, because finding it in the first place was enough frustration for one day.

Grade: C -