by Shell Martin

Created on: December 08, 2008

Three years ago, to be environmentally friendly and lessen my carbon footprint, I bought an electric car. I did not buy the over-hyped hybrids, but a TRULY electric car. I had no idea what I was getting into. There are pros and cons to the electric cars you can purchase that are market and to any car that is converted to be all-electric.

Pros

Of course, the biggest pro is that there is no gas. No gas means no carbon footprint, no costly trips to the pump, no oil changes and less of a dent in my wallet. When gas was over $4.50 a gallon it was so nice to pull into the gas station, wash my window and leave.

The car that I purchased plugs into a standard 110 volt-outlet. The normal household outlets draw much less electricity than the 220-volt outlets like what is used for dryers and stoves. This means that charging my car costs me the same as leaving a 60-watt light bulb. If I plug in my car to charge for three hours and turn off a light, that I would normally have on during that time, my electric bill will remain the same. In fact, this is what I have done. I have not had any increase in my electric bill. An added bonus to charging with a standard outlet is that I did not have to install a special outlet in my garage.

Driving an electric car offers you a chance to educate others. People show interest in the cars and will ask about them.

In almost every city, you can find support. There will be either an electric car club or a solar club that point you in the right direction. The internet is a wonderful tool that you can use to find other like-minded individuals.

Depending on how much you drive you may save money when compared to a gas car.

Cons

Most electric cars that are sold on the market are considered to be a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle. This means that they are governed at 25 to 30 miles per hour. This is because they are only crash and safety tested at these speeds. As a result, most states only allow them to be driven in the city where the posted speeds are lower. This means that to get the most use out of an electric car you need to live and work in the city.

You can only go so far on a charge. The issue here is that it takes time to charge the car. Charging is not a 15-minute process in fact, on many models this can be a 6 to 8 hour process.

Customer support is limited from the manufacturers. Owning an electric car does require you to be willing to learn about how the car works and be willing to do some repairs yourself. Repair shops are usually golf cart shops

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