A Dream Come True

My new 2020 Chevrolet Bolt LT on Pilot Mountain

When I was about 14 years old I learned in my 9th grade science class that gasoline engines are very inefficient. (That hasn’t changed much in 51 years; most of today’s cars have gasoline engines that are 20% to 35% efficient.) I already knew that any internal combustion engine (ICE) is a terrible polluter. This was a year before the Clean Air Act of 1970, and 6 years before new cars in the U.S. were required to have catalytic converters. Back then you could literally SEE the exhaust of most older cars.

About that time I also learned that an ICE is quite complicated.

From the day I learned that 3/4 of the expensive, polluting gasoline we burn goes entirely to waste I was never entirely comfortable with an ICE. Especially one that is running while the vehicle is sitting still: at stop lights, during warm ups, to keep the air conditioning running while parked, etc. Burning fuel, AND polluting, AND wearing itself out even when it is not moving the vehicle! Any time you decide to start an ICE, it’s best to keep it running until it reaches its normal operating temperature. Short trips that do not get an ICE to operating temperature are bad for it. And EVERY cold start of an ICE causes engine wear since it takes a moment for oil to be pumped into its moving parts. I started thinking of ways of powering vehicles in other ways, and I never stopped thinking about it.

A couple of years later, when I owned my first car, an 11-year-old, well-used VW Bug, I began learning how much maintenance an ICE requires. Oil changes were every 3,000 miles. Tune-ups were typically done every 10,000 miles and included new spark plugs, a set of ignition points, and a condenser, often a distributor cap and rotor, and sometimes spark plug wires, and an ignition coil. Carburetors had to be adjusted regularly. And in those days most cars engines were worn out before they had 100,000 miles on them.

1903 Studebaker Electric

Something else I learned: diesel engines do not directly power diesel train locomotive wheels. The diesel engine drives a generator which powers electric motors that turn the wheels. (Until I learned that, I wondered how on earth an engineer could possibly operate the humongous clutch that would be required. 😅😂) I had been intrigued by electricity from about the age of four. If electric motors moved trains, it seemed to me they would be perfect for powering a smaller electric vehicle (EV), but with rechargeable batteries, not by an inefficient ICE.

The first electric car was created by a Hungarian priest in 1828. For the rest of the 19th century inventors built electric cars and trains. In 1902, "Studebaker Automobile Company” began mass producing electric cars. But at age 14 I was not aware that EVs had already existed.

1976 1/2 Citicar

Beginning in 1974, Sebring-Vanguard (in Sebring, Florida) built and sold an EV called the Citicar. When I moved to Sebring in 1976 I hoped to find a used Citicar for sale. But, I discovered that the Citicar was just that, a city car, without the speed or range to drive between towns.

General Motors EV1

For the next quarter of a century I heard very little about EVs. I was vaguely aware that GM built a concept EV called the Impact. (The reason I remember it is because Jay Leno joked about naming a car “Impact”.) GM built and leased the EV1 (based on the Impact) from 1996 to 1999. The customers who leased the cars loved them, but GM didn’t view them as profitable. Not wanting to be required to build spare parts for the EV1, they crushed most of them rather than selling any of them at the end of the leases.

Somewhere along the way I learned that gasoline is much less expensive in the U.S. than in Europe. I began to believe (and still do) that if Americans had been forced to pay European gas prices, many/most of us would have been driving EVs long ago. Americans love their cars, and would have figured out a less expensive way to keep driving as much as they do.

Around the end of the twentieth century I rode in a Toyota Prius that was owned by a manager where I worked. She loved the car. And it was very cool to hear the engine shut off when we stopped for a red light. For a few moments the ICE wasn’t polluting and wearing itself out! About 15 years later I drove a friend’s Prius on a trip up into Virginia to attend a Mardi Gras festival. My brother has driven Priuses for years, and my mother bought one a few years ago. I think a hybrid is a good step in the right direction, and all the owners I have known have loved them. But, having an electric vehicle WITH the complexity of an ICE just doesn’t sit well with me. I was certain that I would be happier with a hybrid than with an ICE-only vehicle, but what I have REALLY wanted for most of my life is the simplicity of a battery electric vehicle (BEV).

A decade or so ago I learned that Ford had been building and selling Ranger (truck) EVs (from 1998 to 2012). The restorable used ones I found for sale on eBay required more work (and expense) than I was willing to put into one. I purchased the book “Build Your Own Electric Vehicle” thinking it might help me figure out how to either resurrect a worn out Ranger EV, or start an EV project of my own. I never found the time to do either.

Then I heard about the Tesla Roadster (2008 to 2012), with a 200-mile range. I don’t have a lot of use for a car with only 2 seats (although I loved my 1987 Mazda RX-7 2-seater, but mainly because it had only 3 moving parts in its engine!), but began to believe that practical, longer range EVs would eventually come.

I absolutely fell in love with the Tesla Model S. A couple of years ago I realized I could buy a 2013 Model S for a little over $30,000 with unlimited lifetime supercharging on Tesla’s awesome network! That was still too much money for me, plus it would be out of warranty and expensive to repair. (ie. $1,346.75 to replace the non-automotive-grade information screen if it fails.)

Julie's LEAF

Five years ago my daughter, Julie, bought a BEV: a 3-year-old Nissan LEAF. It had about 17,000 miles on it, as I recall, and she bought it for $25,000 less than when it was new! It has an 80-mile range, which suits her normal daily routine perfectly. I offered to install a Level 2 (240v) charger in her garage, but she really doesn’t need it. Every night she plugs her LEAF into a regular 120v outlet (Level 1 charging) and has a full charge in the morning. I decided that if I could justify owning two vehicles, I’d keep my ICE vehicle for trips and drive a LEAF like Julie’s every day.

A few weeks ago I test drove a 2018 LEAF. It has a 150-mile range and the dealer was asking $19,000. A new LEAF Plus has a 226-mile range. In my opinion that kind of range is getting pretty close to good enough to have it as an only car. But MSRP on a new LEAF Plus starts at $38,200. 

Then I saw a new 2020 Bolt Premier advertised for about $27,000 at Terry Labonte Chevrolet. (MSRP on the Premier starts at $41,020.) The 2020 Bolt has a range of 259 miles. I stopped in and talked to a sales rep who informed me that, in order to get that price, I would have to qualify for a long list of discounts. I looked under the hood of the advertised Bolt and saw…a radiator! Julie’s LEAF doesn’t have a radiator! More complexity!

I was a bit put off by that until I started reading up on EVs. One thing I learned is that the reason the Bolt has a radiator is to condition the battery. A very hot battery can permanently lose some of its ability to hold a charge. That’s referred to as battery degradation. While a battery is very cold it is less efficient. The Bolt protects it’s battery from degradation by cooling it when needed, and keeps the battery more efficient by warming it when needed. Most EVs rely on air cooling. Liquid cooling is better! UK leasing specialist, Select Car Leasing, used Geotab fleet tracking software to determine first-year EV battery degradation on over 6,300 EVs. The Bolt was best, showing no degradation…at all. (Audi was next, followed by two Tesla models, then the Nissan LEAF.)

A Bolt was sounding like the best EV I might could afford. If I could live with the Bolt as my only car, I could sell my Honda Odyssey to help pay for it. But I would lose the ability to carry 8 people or a large amount of cargo. (I haven’t needed that often.) Long trips would take longer, since my range would be reduced AND it takes longer to charge a battery than to put gas in a car.

For weeks I thought about whether an EV as an only car was a good idea for me.

I saw another Terry Labonte Chevrolet ad: a 2020 Bolt LT for around $24,000, after a $8,500 GM rebate. I knew that wouldn’t be my price, since I knew I didn’t qualify for all the discounts. I also saw that a used car dealer had a 2017 Bolt with 12,000 miles on it advertised for $23,000. I decided to purchase a Bolt that day, IF I got a good enough deal. If Terry Labonte Chevrolet could actually come close to their advertised price, I would drive a brand spankin’ new 2020 Bolt home. If they could not, I would visit the used car dealer and try to get a deal on the 2017.

I really like white cars, because they don't show dirt, scratches, etc. as much as colors do. Black, of course, is the worst. But the new 2020 Bolt the dealer was able to sell me for the least amount of money was Nightfall Gray Metallic. It was a loaded LT, which means that it had most of the options that are standard in the Premier trim. After negotiation, the total price, INCLUDING tax, tag, and title fees, was $14,000 below the factory sticker price!

I bought it.

I now drive a car with only one moving part in its motor. A car that does not require that the engine be warmed up to operating temperature every time it's started. That has zero emissions. That doesn’t have an engine wearing itself out while the car sits motionless. That is quiet, whether moving or sitting still. That will run 93 mph (its governed top end) continuously for 176 miles on a single charge. (I will never test that.)

And the color has really grown on me. I think its beautiful. Even much prettier than the white.

When I have driven my ICE vehicle the 615 miles from my house to my February timeshare in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, with leisurely food and gas stops it usually takes me 12 hours. Google Maps says it's just under a 9 hour drive, so my leisurely stops must be totaling about 3 hours. (The older I get, the less I want to hurry.) 

In my Bolt I will drive about 220 miles, then make four 30-minute stops to add 100 or so miles of charge at each stop. (Fast charging gradually slows down after the battery is at about 50%, so it doesn’t make sense to charge it back up to full.) That’s 2 hours of stops, and lunch can be included in one of them. In order to maximize my range I might also set the cruise control to 65 mph, vs. the 70 (or 80) that I normally drive. That will probably add at least another hour total. Stops: 2 hours, driving slower: 1 hour. Even if I take more time at each stop, the trip might not take THAT much longer in the Bolt.

For years I have looked for ways to avoid driving, especially on short trips. I will do without something I want or need until I am going out for something else rather than make multiple trips. I now drive a car that does not have to be driven to some "operating temperature" before shutting it off, whose motor will likely last a million miles or so and does not run unless it is moving the car, and produces no emissions, and that doesn’t experience engine wear from cold starts. I have sat in my Bolt waiting in a parking lot for as much as an hour with the air conditioning and radio running. (Doing that for an hour consumes about a mile of battery charge. Which costs me about 2 cents, if I charged at home.) The only power used is for the air conditioning and the radio. The only sounds are from the air conditioning and the radio. My air conditioner is not powered by an engine that generates heat and toxins for the sole purpose of running the air conditioner compressor in order to cool the cabin.

For the past two weeks I have awakened every morning thinking about where I might go today. I have driven over an hour to purchase a $5 item that someone advertised on Facebook Marketplace. I have visited places that I had not seen in years, and others that I had never seen because I didn’t want to waste the gas.

Sometimes I enjoy a little free charging while I am out. At the moment plenty of free chargers exist, provided by some cities and universities and Duke Energy. When I travel and use fast chargers, my “fuel” outlay will probably be a little less than I would pay for gasoline for an ICE. But when I charge at home, it costs me $1 to add 43 miles of charge to my battery. When gasoline is $2.00 per gallon, I’m getting 86 miles to the “gallon”. When gasoline is $2.50 I’ll be getting the equivalent of 97 mpg. When gas is $3.00, my $3.00 worth of electricity will be taking me 129 miles.

A 51-year dream fulfilled. Really.