As a mom, I try to set a good example for my kids. I've made some environmentally friendly changes over the years – switching to cloth shopping bags, taking public transit to work – but with two gas vehicles at home, no one is going to name us green family of the year.
I'd really love our next car to be a zero-emissions vehicle. It would be great to never again feel guilty about idling the car on a cold day or angered by gas prices that shoot up without rhyme or reason.
Love, guilt, anger: Driving can be an emotional journey, especially when it comes to buying a car. While the thought of buying an electric vehicle brings out the warm and fuzzy feelings in me, I want to make sure I'm using my head, because a big purchase cannot be taken lightly by a family on a budget.
Speaking of budgets, until recently, only wealthy folks could consider buying EVs. Now there are several sedans available for less than $37,000 in Canada, including Nissan's Leaf, Ford's Focus, Kia's Soul and Mitsubishi's i-MiEV. With government incentives worth up to $8,500 in Ontario and $8,000 in Quebec, EVs have become affordable for a lot more families.
Of course, there are things beyond price to consider. How will the battery perform in different weather conditions? Is a car with a limited driving range practical for a busy family?
I have much to learn about electrical vehicles, so I check in with an expert. Dr. Peter Frise, scientific director and CEO of the AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence research program, cautions that there are several crucial factors to consider before buying a battery-powered car.
"Electric vehicle sales have been slow because, at present, they only fit a certain kind of driver," Frise says. "People really have to examine their own usage pattern. What's the weather like in your area? What are the opportunities to recharge the vehicle during the day at work or wherever you're going? There are a lot of variables."
My husband and I are weighing all our options as we prepare to replace our 2000 Saturn SL2, the car he's been driving to work for the past five years. It's a compact, fuel-efficient car, but we fear its days are numbered. We also own a 2009 Kia Rondo, the family car we take on road trips and use to haul larger loads.
With a family-sized gas vehicle as backup, we're pondering whether my husband could switch to a battery-powered car for his commute – an 84-kilometre round trip.
Frise says a commute that long would be risky, especially in winter. An EV such as the Nissan Leaf has an advertised range of 135 km, but that's based on ideal driving conditions and can be greatly reduced if driving through snow with the heat, headlights, defroster and wipers on.
When it snows in Toronto, it's not uncommon for my husband to sit in traffic for two to three hours, so we would need to research the different battery types to make sure it met our needs. For example, according to Mitsubishi, the i-MiEV has a range of 155 kilometres, but driving it through a winter traffic jam could cut that to just 48 km. Under those conditions, the battery would be nearly drained by the time my husband got to work.
Batteries perform best in temperate climates: "That just how physics works," Frise says. That could be why electric vehicles accounted for less than 1 per cent of Canada's auto market share in May.
Charging is another challenge we would face: A full charge from a typical 120-volt household outlet can take up to 21 hours. For my husband to drive an EV every day, he would need to plug in at the office and keep it at least 50-per-cent charged. To be on the safe side, we'd need to invest another $1,200-$1,800 to have a 240-volt outlet installed in our garage, which would provide a full charge overnight. (The Ontario government offers a 50-per-cent rebate on that cost.)
Some would argue the EV price premium and charging costs are more than offset by the amount of money we'd save on gas. According to the Canadian Automobile Association, EV operating costs are three to five times lower than for a gas or diesel vehicle. Of course, Ontarians just got a hydro bill hike, and prices are projected to increase 42 per cent in the next five years. As for gas prices, who can predict where they'll be in that time?
Nonetheless, using the electric vehicle cost calculator on the CAA website, I calculated my husband would spend $340 at current off-peak electricity rates to go 22,000 km in a 2012 Nissan Leaf, compared with $1,951 with gas at $1.25 a litre to go the same distance in the Saturn. He would also save on oil changes, since electric vehicles need nothing more than an annual battery check (about $60), plus the usual brake and tire maintenance.
Still, if we both wanted to go out after work, we would be fighting over who got the gas car and who had to stay home. Would it be worth the hassle?
I've also wondered about the authenticity of EV marketers' environment claims. Just how clean is electricity, and what about the toxic materials in some of the components?
Energy analysis is certainly complex, Frise says. "You have to consider all the resources used to produce, use and dispose of the product."
In Ontario, for example, hydro is "relatively green" compared with areas that rely on coal-powered electricity, Frise says. CAA's electric vehicle cost calculator estimates how many tonnes of greenhouse gas would be emitted over five years to power different models across Canada. For example, powering a 2012 Tesla S in Ontario for five years would create 1.928 tonnes, compared with 10.321 tonnes in Alberta.
After speaking with Frise, I'm confident that an electric vehicle could genuinely help our family reduce its environmental impact. If we altered our driving habits, maybe we could make an EV work for us.
However, Frise warns me not to let my emotions sway what should be a financial decision: "Sometimes I see people try to tune the data to justify their initial impulse. The fact of the matter is, though, that that's not really the way to buy a car."
Point taken. So, can good vibes and gas savings offset the hassles of charging an EV and counting our kilometres before each trip? Over the next few months, I intend to find out. I'll be testing several electric vehicles to see if they make sense as a second car for our busy family.
Like us on Facebook
Add us to your circles.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Dianne Nice