I started life as a petrol head. I liked almost every car that had a petrol engine and was special. From American V8 (Corvette C4), beautiful Busso V6 (Alfa Romeo 156 GTA) to a small 2 cylinder boxer engine from Dutch car manufacturer Daf. To me, electric cars were created by the devil. They looked usually very boring and how can you have any fun without engine sound?
And then Tesla came along. From the first news articles about the Model S, I was interested in Tesla. And then someone I knew got his Model S delivered in 2013, so it was one of the first. He took me (and others) for a drive and I was completely amazed by the huge amount of torque from the electric motor. The car itself wasn't that refined as many other cars, but the interior was beautiful because of the minimal design. And the big screen was just awesome. So I was in love, found a way to get a Tesla on a lease and I took delivery of my own Tesla Model S in November 2014.
Driving a Tesla triggered my interest in all Electric Vehicles. And now I really like them. Old gasoline cars just feel obsolete. It's like driving a museum. This blog will probably have some articles about EV's and this is the first one, where I'm going to tell you what I find great about driving an EV.
Instant torque
Remember, I was a petrol head. So, for me, the most important thing is the fun factor of a car. And the torque delivery of a motor is a big fun-factory. Just floor the gas pedal (or watt pedal) and get launched. Even very fast gasoline cars have a small delay in gas response. And the current turbo motors make it even worse. This is not the case with an EV, you have torque from 0 rpm (it doesn't even have to idle at 600 - 1000 rpm!).
Efficiency
What I also like about EV's is efficiency. Typical efficiency of a gas engine is about 35-45%. The rest of the energy is converted in just heat. Which is an incredible amount of heat. The efficiency of an electric motor is about 90%. Also, when slowing down, you can regenerate energy to the battery, instead of just using your brakes and again converting the energy into heat. And did you know that driving a gasoline car actually uses a lot of electricity? Only the process of making gasoline by refining oil is using so much electricity that for every liter of gasoline you make, you can drive about 5-10 kilometers in an EV.
No exhaust gasses
I like to breathe fresh clean air. The problem with gasoline cars is that they pollute the places where lots of cars are driving. Which is especially a problem in big cities, because you have a lot of cars driving there, but also a lot of people living, breathing in the polluted air. With an EV you can either have no pollution at all (by using clean energy sources such as windmills and solar panels), or if it's not possible to use a clean energy source you can move the pollution by building power plants outside the cities. Still, I prefer clean energy sources of course.
Remember, your lungs shouldn't be used as air filters, just feed them clean air.
Silence/Comfort
I enjoy the silence, which adds a lot of comfort during long drives. Or after a very busy day of work, it's just so relaxing to drive around in your car with no noise at all. Turn off the radio and enjoy the silence.
The tech
This blog is about tech. And I love tech. Most electric cars have features that are more advanced than the gasoline cars. It's not just Tesla with autopilot, sometimes it's in the small things, for example that most electric cars have a mobile phone app that allows you to turn on the climate control from your phone. Or you can watch charging progress.
Leave every morning a full battery
Most people see charging an EV as a disadvantage, because they say you can't do long drives. First of all, this is just not true, there are many fast charging stations, not just the Tesla Superchargers. But what's even better, is that you can charge your car at home and leave every morning with a full battery. So if you're doing your commute or other drives that are simply within the single charge range of your car, you actually save time. Because you don't have to stop at gas stations anymore, you can just plug in and charge every day at home. I actually calculated once that I save time with charging, even if I add the occasional waits on a fast charge.
More later...
I will pick a few subjects and make more detailed blog posts later. Especially about charging the car I find that there are many common misconceptions. Every technology has it's advantages and disadvantages, but I think many people are focusing too much on the disadvantages with EV's, so I hope I can show people that the EV life is actually really easy.
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