Electric Automobiles
I have been driving my Chevrolet Volt for one month. Driving an electric car with a "low" gear changes the way
you see things. If you drive the electric car in "Drive" and take your foot totally off of the accelerator, it slows
down slowly. If you drive in "low", there is no difference except that when you take your foot off of the
accelerator, it slows down much more quickly. Using Low gear, I can slow down to 5 MPH as I approach a stop
light. This means that the actual brakes are barely being used. My Lexus hybrid shocked me by wearing out the
brakes much more quickly than I had anticipated given that it had regenerative braking. The new Ford electrics
have low gear and also show you how much electricity you are getting from regenerative braking. If I manage to
get used to driving it in Low gear, I will minimize my use of the brakes and the car should go 150,000 miles
without a brake job. If the car doesn't rust, what will be the limiting factor on its lifetime? I have used the engine
for only about one-half hour so far. How long will the engine last if it is only used for 10 hours per year?
December 7, 2011 was one month of ownership. I barely drive anything else.
Long-term impact. Use of gasoline will go down for two reasons. One is efficiency and the other is the use of
nuclear generated electricity. Exxon says that it sees natural gas overtaking coal as the source of electricity.
Next
I have been driving my Chevrolet Volt for one month. Driving an electric car with a "low" gear changes the way
you see things. If you drive the electric car in "Drive" and take your foot totally off of the accelerator, it slows
down slowly. If you drive in "low", there is no difference except that when you take your foot off of the
accelerator, it slows down much more quickly. Using Low gear, I can slow down to 5 MPH as I approach a stop
light. This means that the actual brakes are barely being used. My Lexus hybrid shocked me by wearing out the
brakes much more quickly than I had anticipated given that it had regenerative braking. The new Ford electrics
have low gear and also show you how much electricity you are getting from regenerative braking. If I manage to
get used to driving it in Low gear, I will minimize my use of the brakes and the car should go 150,000 miles
without a brake job. If the car doesn't rust, what will be the limiting factor on its lifetime? I have used the engine
for only about one-half hour so far. How long will the engine last if it is only used for 10 hours per year?
December 7, 2011 was one month of ownership. I barely drive anything else.
Long-term impact. Use of gasoline will go down for two reasons. One is efficiency and the other is the use of
nuclear generated electricity. Exxon says that it sees natural gas overtaking coal as the source of electricity.
Next
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