Consumer Reports: The buzz on the latest electric cars
More and more car companies are coming out with cars that are all-electric—no gas needed. Several claim the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon or more.
The government tax credit of up to $7,500 could have you thinking about getting an electric vehicle. Consumer Reports just tested some of the latest entries.
Ford calls the Ford Focus Electric the most fuel-efficient compact car in America. Consumer Reports finds that it can get the equivalent of 107 miles per gallon. The engineers compared it with other all-electric cars, including the much smaller, sub-compact Mitsubishi i-MiEV.
Consumer Reports found the i-MiEV even more fuel-efficient, getting the equivalent of 111 miles per gallon. It’s also easy to park, but it’s slow and cramped, and it rides stiffly. In fact, Consumer Reports engineers thought it was more like a glorified golf cart.
With any all-electric car, a primary consideration is how far it will go on a charge. Consumer Reports found the i-MiEV’s range is around 60 miles. It takes 21 hours to recharge the i-MiEV on household current, but you can get a 240-volt charger installed in your house that will cut that time down to 6 hours.
The most luxurious all-electric car so far is the Tesla Model S. It claims a range of up to 265 miles. Special charging stations can charge the battery halfway in just 30 minutes.
Consumer Reports’ initial impression of the Model S is that it’s quick, agile, roomy, and refined. But it’s also expensive, starting at $57,000, and the top-of-the-line model is closer to $100,000.
The Ford Focus Electric falls somewhere in the middle. The one Consumer Reports tested costs $41,000. Its range is about 80 miles. And a full charge takes less than 4 hours with a 240-volt charger.
The Ford Focus Electric performed well at the Consumer Reports test track, with impressive ride and handling. It proved a lot more fun to drive than the Nissan Leaf—the first of the new wave of electric cars
Manufacturers are delivering a steady flow of all-electric cars. Electric versions of the Toyota RAV4 and Smart ForTwo are just out. And others are expected soon, including the Chevrolet Spark EV, Honda Fit EV, and Fiat 500e.
Complete Ratings and recommendations on all kinds of products, including appliances, cars & trucks, and electronic gear, are available on Consumer Reports’ website. Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org.
Great to see the interest here, but lots of confusion and bad information as well. Suggest http://www.evroadmap.us or @evroadmapus as a resource - or just head to the Portland Auto Show this week to see some of these EVs for yourself!
Watch out for the lithium batteries. Charging rates should be closely watched.
I'd never buy an all electric vehicle. What are you supposed to do if you have a need to drive urgently somewhere while the car is charging - have a backup gas powered car?
 @ormom If you are concerned about needing to go long distance, you might be better off with a plugin hybrid like the Volt or the PHEV Prius.
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Many EVs can fast charge. The Nissan LEAF and Mitsubishi iMiEV for instance, will charge in about half an hour on the 50kW chargers.
There was a comparison between the Hummer and a battery powered car as far as their negative effect on the environment. The battery powered car was much worse, and left a much longer lasting negative effect on the earth. Not to mention the wide spread destruction of the countryside where the batteries are produced.Â
 @last boyscout That was a bogus story and has been debinked: http://aol.it/15RB6V.
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Seriously, who would believe such a thing? Just common sense should tell it isn't true.
I think that you'll find that that report was funded by the big oil companies, and not at all true!
 @musiclover For the sake of argument, following that logic, if the study was funded by Al Gore, then could we also assume it to be untrue?
 @musiclover Ditto. We need to pull as much oil as we can use out of our own soil. Get gas down to pre Obama prices and get the economy moving again.
Yes - Al Gore is a notorious LIAR!! I wouldn't believe anything he says! And no, I am NOT an envirowhacko, or even an enviromentalist of any kind - I do believe that we need to move away from using fossil fuels as quickly as possible. I don't like Big Oil, or the Arabs - and I especially don't like giving my hard-earned money to people who want to kill every non-Muslim in the world!!!
Just wait till they have to spend $10,000 to replace the battery bank. Then the mileage savings don't look so good.
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 @Dr. RawdogÂ
I went the the web site and it is just exactly what @Pointblank quoted.
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Considering that a gas vehicle is cheaper to begin with and that they will drive for over 200,000 miles if taken care of (I had a Subaru that went 360,000 miles) the TCO of a gas vehicle is much cheaper.
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Cost of an electric car is about $15,000 more. Range declines up to 30% over time and warranty will not fix that. Replacement of a batter twice in 200,000 miles means another $20,000 on top of the high price. Total cost is $35,000 more.
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A gas vehicle of the same type will not have any significant costs added on over the life of the vehicle.
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If you run out of energy in an electric car a jump won't work. It has to be towed to a charging station. So don't be driving on any back roads or out of the city because there isn't a guarantee of getting it charged. And if someone does find a charger then they have to wait 6 hours for a "fill up".
 @RalphCramden While you complain about taxes going to people undeserving of the money. Hypocrisy much?
 @Dr. Rawdog  @PointblankÂ
Expect electricity to skyrocket in the near future. 0bama predicted that it will happen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HlTxGHn4sH4
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This will make the electric car much more expensive to operate.
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Skyrocketing energy costs is the reason that I am taking advantage of the governments program to get as many solar panels as I can. It benefits me nicely with all the generous tax credits and rebates from the tax payers.
 @RalphCramden  @Ramsesthegreat You can easily buy electricity for under 10 cents/kWh in most states. Even in high costs states like CA, we have time of use rates (TOU) that allow you to charge during off-peak times for under 10 cents.
 @mike  @RalphCramden  @Pointblank Have you ever driven a LEAF? The LEAF is an amazing car loaded with everything the top of the line cars come with these days. It's got a 5 star safety rating, is quieter than a Rolls Royce, quicker than a BMW off the line and uses 100% domestic energy that can be made from sunlight or wind. It's easily in the same league as the BMW 3 series.
 @RalphCramden  @Dr. Rawdog  @Pointblank I drove my Toyota RAV4 EV for over 8 years and 91,000 miles before selling it last year. It was still rujnning like brand new, and today it's still running like new with over 125,000 miles on it.
 @Dr. Rawdog  @PointblankÂ
If you compare equal vehicles.
 @Ramsesthegreat Â
In many states electricity is very expensive. In California it is .33KWH in some areas. In Hawaii it is .45KWH. Neither can compete with gas or diesel even at $4.50 per gallon. In most of Hawaii there are very few electric vehicles due to the high cost of electricity. That is very true on the island of Kauai.
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Electricity will go up as demand for electric vehicles goes up.
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If you are going to compare vehicles compare similar vehicles. Â A Chevy Volt and a Chevy Malibu that gets over 30mpg (37mpg average per the EPA).
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Here is a web site for TCO over the same period of time. It doesn't consider that the battery bank will decline 30% within the warranty period.
http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/~jarrett/EV/cost.php
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Putting in numbers from the Chevy Volt and Chevy Malibu there is no way a Volt can even come close to that of a Malibu.
@RalphCramden the fuel cost of an average, 22mpg vehicle over a 100,000 mile life at $3 per allon is $13,636. The replacement cost of the batteries for the leaf is around $14,000 very similar numbers, and considering that the leaf costs $0.014 per mile to drive the electricity cost is very minimal to the argument. So price wise over the life the of average battery pack they're very similar. And that's assuming gas prices will stay at $3 per gallon which everyone knows simply won't happen.
@Dr. Rawdog @RalphCramden @Pointblank You are seriously trying to compare the average $30k car to a nissan leaf? Talk about an apples to oranges comparison. A $30k is a pretty nice mid size sedan. A nissan leaf is a crap box with minimal features. Try comparing that to a similiar car in the same class. Jeesh you would think this would be general common sense.
 @Dr. Rawdog  @PointblankÂ
The cost is negligible till the battery needs to be replaced.
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Plus the government gets to borrow money to help pay for the vehicles that our grandkids will have to pay back eventually to make the cost negligible.
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That being said I get every handout that government can give me. I grab all I can. After all it is a program that government wants us to use, right?
 @Dr. RawdogAs you can plainly read on the link you provided the 100,000 mile warranty is only for defects not battery life.
Dr. Rawdog  From Nissan's website: Starting in the spring of 2013
Nissan's new warranty will "protect against capacity loss in LEAF batteries that fall below nine bars, of the available 12 bars displayed on the vehicleâs battery capacity gauge [so around 70%], for the first five years or 60,000 miles in the United States
 @RalphCramden  @Dr. Rawdog  @Pointblank The batteries in the LEAF, Volt, Tesla ARE NOT the same as the ones in the 787. Again, please do your homework!
 @Dr. Rawdog  @PointblankÂ
That is true there is protection. But most are not looking at the loss of 30% of output and just looking at the mileage and saving the planet.
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Another issue is that the batteries are prone to catching fire. The batteries are the same ones that shut down all the 787's. They are also the same ones that caught fire in laptops and caused this fire.
http://www.katu.com/news/local/Firefighters-Laptop-battery-ignites-bedding-188127491.html
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While I like the idea of alternative energy vehicles for me they have to be practical and cost effective. Since the tax payers fund $7500 for each vehicle sold the manufacturers can jack up the price because tax payers will pay for almost 20% of the cost.
 @RalphCramden Battery replacement cost for the Nissan Leaf is about $15-18k right now and they degrade over time which reduces the range of the vehicle. People are likely better off leasing rather than buying until the tech improves and gets cheaper.
 @JohnQ.Public  @RalphCramden Please cite your source! Nissan has not posted any info on battery replacement since the cars are too new. I would guess the cost of a replacement pack would be closer to $5K-$6K in the 8 years of the current battery warrantee.
@JohnQ.Public @RalphCramden Totally agree, until they come up with a better battery personally if I could I would go with a hybred of some sort of a pure electric. I love the look of the Chevy Volt as well as the drive and feel of the Ford Fusion. Other hybreds I've looked at I dont like all too much.
 @RalphCramden  @cantcurestupid  @JohnQ.Public Both the LEAF and Volt have 5 star safety ratings. They are among the safest cars on the road. Please do your homework before posting ignorance.
 @Dr. Rawdog  @cantcurestupid  @JohnQ.PublicÂ
It may be anecdotal for sure but it would be easy enough to verify.
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It is pure physics and mathematics.
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High mileage cars have a low coefficient of drag (Cd). Anything that interrupts that Cd will interfere with the mileage. If the mileage declines by 10% on a car that gets 35mpg then the mileage drops 3.5mpg. On a truck that gets 19 mpg it would drop 1.9mpg.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_drag_coefficient
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I remember having a 1978 Subaru FE coupe that got 50mpg highway and had a Cd of .29 which was way ahead of it's time. I called it my mileage king.
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High milers also depend on cutting as much weight as they can so adding weight is also a big drag on the engine. Most of the time the engines are low horsepower to get the exceptional mileage and big engines get less mileage.
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Cars with more horsepower are not crippled by extra weight, headwinds or car top carriers.
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Do the research. I do.
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 @Dr. Rawdog  @cantcurestupid  @JohnQ.PublicÂ
This is not a debate where there are winners and losers. It is my experience and my neighbors experience. She is clearly frustrated in her decreased mileage. I explained to her how that happens and she is going to get a bigger car in the future.
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This can be verified on the web.Â
http://www.carsdirect.com/green-cars/do-hybrid-cars-get-better-gas-mileage
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Why do conversations with you have to be a win or lose situation? Can't we just have a conversation?
 @Dr. Rawdog  @cantcurestupid  @JohnQ.PublicÂ
http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/13/car-crash-tests-lifestyle-vehicles-crash-test-report.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2206483/Small-cars-dangerous-New-insurance-study-proves-youre-safer-bigger-car-reveals-vehicles-highest-injury-rates.html
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High mileage cars are very susceptible to decreased mileage in head winds or with more weight. Even a car top carrier can drop the mileage 25%.
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My truck gets 18mpg on the highway. It drops to 17mpg with a head wind or going 75mph. If I am hauling a lot of heavy stuff or 4 adults I get 17mpg. I get 15mpg with the camper on it.
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My wife's car gets 30mpg most of the time. It is a mid sized car and it really doesn't matter if it has 4 heavy adults in it, or heavy head winds. It might vary 1mpg but I have not been able to tell the difference in mileage tests I have done on it.
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My neighbor has a little Honda. She gets about 35mpg till she puts on her car top carrier and has a few friends on the vehicle. Then she is lucky to get 25mpg. She got tired or putting on and taking off her car top carrier that is it now on all the time. So she has a 25mpg car. She can't get more than 4 small adults in it. My wife's car can get 4 large adults easily and carry more stuff than our neighbors car top carrier.
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The larger car is clearly the winner here unless someone has enough money to have a bunch of cars, one for every occasion.
 @Dr. Rawdog  @RalphCramden  @cantcurestupid Wind resistance is more critical in an electric vehicle because they are more range limited. Same with hills. Avoid wind, hills, and leave the passengers at home and you'll probably do OK.
 @musicloverÂ
I have experienced just the opposite.
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I went on calls where the truck was barely damaged and the hybrid was totaled and the passengers had critical injuries. These were at highway speeds.
The last isn't true, either - yes, they are light, but that is done by using fiber composites and aluminum, and they are very strong! My friend that lives in Portland has a Honda Insight, one of the first sold in Oregon; he got hit from behind by an SUV - the SUV was totaled, but the Insight was barely damaged.
 @cantcurestupid @JohnQ.PublicÂ
There are lots of problems with the hybrids and electric cars.
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Once they get a head wind or more than one person in the vehicle the mileage really drops off.
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They also fold up like a cheap suit in an car crash. They have to be made as light as possible to get the mileage that they want to make them desirable.
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