Why Electric Cars are NOT ...

It's time for a reality check on one alternative to the gas powered vehicles.

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Myth busting 

• The "global warming potential" of the process used to make electric cars is DOUBLE that of conventional cars.
• Cheaper to own? An electric car costs nearly $62,000 to own and operate over a 5 year period contrasting with The average total Cost To Own a compact car for five years is just under $36,000. ($26K MORE expensive).

Charging Time

• Chevrolet Volt EV: 10 hours
• Nissan Leaf: Up to 11 hours
• Tesla Model S: 12 hours
• Karma GS-6: 4 hours
• Tesla Model 3: 12 hours
• Porsche Taycan: Up to 10.5 hours
• Mini SE Hardtop: 4 hours
• Audi E-Tron: 10 hours
• Polestar 2: 8 hours
• BMW i3: 7 hours

Cost for full electric charge at home

• The 2021 Kona Electric is EPA-rated to go 258 miles on a full charge. At 3.55 cents per mile, the total cost to charge the Kona from 0% to 100% charge would be $9.16 at Colorado's average electric rate. The same Kona EV would cost $16.09 to charge from empty to full in California, where the average electricity cost is 23.11 cents per kWh.

Cost to charge at charging station

• On average, it costs between $0.30- $0.60 kWh to charge an electric vehicle. Therefore, this means that a small car could cost about $11.50 to $23 to fully charge while a bigger or long-distance vehicle could cost between $22.50 to $45.

Other costs/inconveniences

• There are significant time costs to finding reliable public chargers — even then a charger could take 30 minutes to go from 20% to an 80% charge.
• Fast chargers cost $1,600 after installation.

• Electric vehicles are quiet..One NHTSA study found that pedestrian accidents are 37 percent more likely in electric vehicles than conventional cars.
• Electric cars have high performance. Less energy is wasted, they have more torque, and the drive is smoother
• Electric vehicles get preferential driving lanes and parking spots
• An electric car's longevity depends a great deal on how long its battery lasts, not least since it is very expensive to replace them.
• According to a 2015 US Geological Survey, Australia is the world’s biggest supplier of lithium. It is followed by Chile, Argentina, China, and Zimbabwe in the top five. 
• Lithium used to make the batteries as a finite source (costly increase over time)
• Nissan LEAF, 40 kWh battery, ~$5,500, equivalent to ~$137/kWh
• Chevrolet Volt, 16 kWh battery, ~$4,000, equivalent to ~$250/kWh
• Chevrolet Bolt, 66 kWh battery, ~$16,000, equivalent to ~$240/kWh
• Tesla is rumored to be producing their Li-ion batteries at $125/kWh
• To replace batteries it costs $1,000-$5,000

For now, EVs cost more to power than gasoline costs to fuel an internal combustion car that gets reasonable gas mileage and the gas powered vehicle is often better for the environment. 

Simply put the electric vehicles are not better for the environment and certainly not cheaper than the gas powered cars, and will not save the planet.