The most compelling reason for the purchase is that we strongly believe fossil fuel use must be reduced for many reasons and EV's are one of the biggest changes we can make at the individual level to meet that need. The UK's Department of energy and climate change says that to hold global warming to less than 2C, among other things "There would need be hundreds of millions of electric cars on the road by 2050, and the amount of CO2 emitted per unit of electricity would need to fall by at least 90%." (BBC News 28Jan2015) So the need for EV's and the need to power them with solar is obvious
By coupling our EV to a few solar panels we have decoupled ourselves from the corner gasoline station and from the gas fired power plant that provides electricity to the Monterey Bay area. Since we were going to buy a new car the decision to go EV translates to a much smaller carbon footprint for our household.
We also wanted to press for change at the societal level and supporting the budding EV industry seemed like a good way to achieve that goal. Nissan's Leaf is an excellent EV and hybrid's are certainly a step in the right direction. But neither of them caught the public's attention the way Tesla has with the Model S. It's been just three years since the Model S came on the market and major auto builders around the world have been forced to respond with EV's of their own. Porsche, Kia, Volkswagen, Fiat, Mitsubishi, Diamler, Honda, BMW, Ford, Toyota, GM, Nissan as well as new auto companies either have entered the EV market or are just about to do so. The first company to offer a 200 mile per charge car for under $40K US will sell a lot of cars.
Not many years ago Toyota came out with the Prius. Nay sayers scoffed but now every manufacturer has a line of hybrid vehicles. The Nay sayers are at it again but the industry seems to be saying that EV's are here to stay. Battery technology will advance and so will solar power technology. As these technologies advance the prices will fall and sales will rise.
The future of driving is as bright as the sun
