Is it time to trade in your current wheels? Thinking about an electric vehicle? (Tweet this)
Before you do, consider the electric vehicles I test drove during National Drive Electric Week in Washington, D.C. They included a Volt, a Spark, a Leaf, the plug-in CMax Energi and the plug-in Ford Fusion. I checked out a couple of Teslas, too.
Leaf – When I test drove the all-electric Nissan Leaf in 2011, I rated it a 9 out of 10. It doesn’t seem to have lost any of its pizzazz in the five years hence. Tom Capon of College Park, MD loves his updated 2015 Leaf, and I’d have to agree. Its got an easy-to-read dashboard, roomy interior, and zippy drive. Its 107 mile range per charge makes it an ideal car for most peoples’ commutes.
Spark– Tracy Messick of Severn MD had been driving a van and spending $200 or more a month on gasoline. Then she discovered the all-electric Spark. The car has a lot of pep, seats three comfortably in the back seat, and gets anywhere from 86 to 100 miles to the charge. Tracy opted to lease the car for three years for $4,000 total – compared to the $7,200 she would have spent driving her van. “I will do what I can for clean air,” said Tracy.
Volt – I test drove the Volt in 2010. How had it improved? Dennis Dineen of Arlington VA happily let me take his Volt (a “plug in” electric, with gas back-up) for a spin to find out. Of the 54,000 miles he’s put on his vehicle over the five years he’s owned it, 49,000 have been electric. He’s made only one oil change since 2011 while spending 3 cents/mile to travel on electricity versus 8 cents/mile to travel on gasoline. He called his car “flawless” and I’d have to agree. It drove like a charm, with great get-up-and-go and elegant turning radius that made taking corners and parking a breeze.
Tesla – None of the Tesla drivers on the scene at the EV event were willing to let me (or anyone, it looked like) test drive their all-electric vehicle. The consequence of driving a $75,000 car? But that didn’t stop them from raving about it. Kevin Sadeghian of Sterling, VA has the SUV, which features three rows of seating and doors that flip up instead of open out to the side, so a parent can step into the car to put a child in a car seat or make sure kids’ seat belts are buckled. I tried to squeeze into the back row but found it pretty tight. I didn’t think there was quite enough room to step all the way into the second row, either. That didn’t bother Sadeghian, who described the car as “cool, practical, and luxurious.” He has no range anxiety for two reasons. One, Tesla has set up almost 10,000 of its own fast charging stations and they’re easy to find. Second, though only Teslas can use the company’s charging stations, the vehicle can plug into any other charging station around.
Ford C-Max Energi Plug-In – Back in my suburban DC neighborhood, Chris Simpson was kind enough to take me for a drive in her Ford C-Max Energi plug-in. In the three years she and her husband have owned the car, they’ve driven it slightly more than 17,640 miles. Of those 17,000+ miles, Chris figures they’ve driven only 5,500 on gasoline, even considering long-haul trips to Cape Cod, Chicago, and Newark. With all that driving, they still figure they’ve saved over 600 gallons of gas thanks to the electric battery. In addition to the eco benefits, Chris likes the cues the car offers, such as a gauge that encourages gentle stops to promote more efficient driving, and a message that says, “Thanks for driving a hybrid!” when she turns the car off. On the other hand, the navigation system isn’t very user friendly and the location of the radio and air conditioning dials are somewhat inaccessible. The car’s battery takes up a fair amount of trunk space, too. But if you don’t need to haul a lot of luggage or other bulky items, you should be fine.
Ford Fusion Plug-In – Karen Sagstetter and her husband Bruce bought their Ford Fusion Plug-In in April 2015 and have since driven it from Bethesda, MD where they live, as far south as Georgia, Florida and Mississippi, as far west as Tennessee, and as far north as Maine, let alone all over Washington DC. Like Chris Simpson, Karen and Bruce didn’t choose all-electric because they were leery of the battery running out of electricity. Still, they wanted to reduce gas consumption as much as possible. They chose the Ford for its safety ratings and because it seemed like it would be an excellent road car; it’s a sedan, whereas the C-Max Energi is more like a crossover SUV. The Fusion is smooth, solid, quiet and comfortable. Karen also gets a kick out of a message she gets from her car if it detects that she might be drifting a little because she’s tired of driving. The message asks her if it’s time she stopped and got a cup of coffee.
For info on these and 30 other electric vehicles, see Electric Car Insider’s EV Buyers Guide right here.