Would I eventually consider an electric car? 🌞 🚘 🔋

My gawd gasoline is expensive these days. So are cars, and oil changes are such a pain in the ass. Diesel more so, which makes the dream of having a diesel truck seem even more off-putting anytime in the near future. Maybe if I have livestock to haul like when have a hobby farm, but it would be nice to have more options for cheap ways to get out of town.

While I’m putting new tires on my big jacked up truck, Big Red and want to squeeze a few more years of life out of him, I’m realistic and know at some point he’s going to have to be replaced. Seeing that they have electric car chargers in rural Delaware County, in Hobart, NY makes me think an electric car would be a very practical option.

Even if they start taxing electric cars at the same rate as gasoline cars — electricity is a much cheaper fuel — mainly because power plants are lot more efficient at burning fossil fuels to make electricity then internal combustion gas engines. Even with taxes, electric cars are about half the fuel cost of gasoline burners, even more so with recent high gas prices.

Electric motors are inherently very efficient, simple and reliable. No oil changes and few things need replacement like gas motors need. The 12 volt accessory batteries do need occasional replacement like is true with internal combustion engines. But I can handle that myself, and toss them in ocean or return them to Autozone or something like that. As they are plugged in the outlet, you can always just leave the heater and defrost on to make sure things are warmed up and comfortable without wasting gas.

I still suffer a bit from range anxiety, mainly because a lot of my weekend trips push upwards towards 200 miles, and I’m in the woods in remote country. After all, all my favorite towns smell a bit like silage and cattle or are deep in the real wilderness where you can hear guns going off any time of week — not the yuppie playgrounds where thousands of cars flock to weekends in Adirondack Park. But it’s rare that it’s more then 90 miles one way, and if more places adapt fast charging, then I could always fill up on the way back home. Even 240 volt, regular speed charging, like in Hobart might work, if I were to park my truck and then go hiking such as along the Catskill Mountain Trail.

I also don’t think my current living arrangement would work, as my apartment doesn’t have any 240 volt outlets and I don’t think my landlord is in a rush to add them. But more and more apartment complexes locally are adding them, and I’m not sure if I want to stay here forever. My apartment is falling apart — it’s cheap and I like the location. Does it make sense though to pay a lot more in rent, just to have a place to charge my car? Maybe if I owned a home it would make more sense.

I don’t do much local driving where I live, so nearly all my miles are highway and rural miles, so the calculation is different from car commuter. Some would argue that an argument for getting a hybrid, but I have very little interest in being a greenie — hell, I might even burn my own garbage — I just want a vehicle that is simple and cheap to operate. It seems like a hybrid just adds a lot of cost, and little of the benefits, especially for highway driving. See more of the wild country, the shacks and the farms. Less spending money on fossil fuels that are baking the planet. Plus money burnt up now is money I can’t spend in the future to build my homestead.

I do really like the idea of having regen braking though, as it would make going down the hills a lot easier — my big jacked up gasser isn’t great going down hills due to the enormous amount of heat the brakes put out trying to maintain speed. In West Virginia, I swear I could strap a turkey on each wheel and roast it going down the hills. Okay, maybe not a turkey, but certainly a field-dressed grouse.

Another thing I’m not sure would work if my camping gear — it’s not really safe to haul a 20 lb propane tank around inside an enclosed vehicle, to say the least. While an electric car isn’t more dangerous then a gasser when it comes to hauling propane, propane tanks really should be hauled in the bed of a pickup for safety in case of a leak or a failure of overflow protection valve. Plus, I have a lot of camping gear, especially for winter camping with the propane heater. I probably would need a new tent if I’m using it all the time for camping rather then occasionally. Would I be able to have a kayak rack on the roof? How would that effect range with the drag of a kayak up top?

Bottoming out the electric car would be another consideration getting in an out of campsites in the back country, as would be hitting rocks and sticks. Electric vehicles are heavy, which is good for traction in snow and mud but many right now are pretty low bottomed, as they are mostly are sedans. I can’t imagine hitting the underside with a rock hard would be particularly good for an electric car, especially if batteries are mounted low. Certainly they would be a lot lower in clearance then my big jacked up truck. I do like the idea of having something that easier to get in and out of parking lots, or driving around city places, or even narrow dirt truck trails.

I do like the idea though of saving a lot of money on fuel and being able to travel more to more distant places. Those 80 buck fill ups suck Biden’s wrinkly ol dick. But I would like to see more affordable options for the electrics, and a lot more fast charging available for weekend trips, along with longer ranges. And maybe in 2-3 years there will be good options or maybe I’ll look elsewhere. I don’t want to necessarily spend a lot of money — it’s just a thought experiment at this point.