Is an Electric Vehicle Right for You?

Should you drive an electric vehicle? This is a question that may come up when you’re shopping for the next vehicle that you will drive.

There are several benefits to having an electric car, but you’ll also find there are some drawbacks to using only electricity to power your vehicle. Let’s look at a few of each and see if you’ll want to drive one of these vehicles.

Pro: Affordability During Driving

The federal government has created several ways for you to enjoy driving an EV while giving you discounts and tax breaks you’ll enjoy. You could receive a tax credit when you buy the vehicle and another for installing a solar-powered carport or solar panels at your home. You also get to recharge your car overnight at home, which is much more affordable than stopping at the gas station along your driving route to fill your vehicle.

Con: Charging Stations Aren’t as Plentiful as Gas Stations

While you can certainly charge your new electric vehicle at home, you might have trouble finding a charging station, especially if you’re driving through rural areas. You should petition your company to install EV charging stations at your work location so that you and other EV drivers can charge your vehicles while inside performing your job for the day.

Before you buy an EV, you’ll want to know where the charging stations are in your area so that you can park and plugin when you need to. There are more of these being built every month, but they still aren’t as plentiful as gas stations just yet.

Pro: Your Carbon Footprint Nearly Disappears

We know there are detriments to the environment when driving a gasoline or diesel-powered vehicle. Noxious gases are expelled, and fossil fuels are burned in the engines of these vehicles. In fact, the EPA estimates that an average passenger vehicle emits an average of 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.

When you drive an EV, you don’t emit any harmful gases into the atmosphere. This means you’ll have a vehicle that’s much more environmentally friendly than what most people drive. Using renewable energy to charge your vehicle further reduces your carbon footprint.

Con: Charging Time is Lengthy

Filling a gas tank only takes a few minutes, which feeds into our need to be on the move and be busy all the time. That’s not the same when you need to recharge an electric vehicle. If you drive your EV to the point where the batteries are fully depleted, you’ll need to use the entire charging time of the batteries to refuel. This means you need to have a 240-volt charging station installed in your home to ensure you can charge overnight and have a full charge when you get ready to head out for the day.

Pro: The Maintenance Needs and Costs are Much Lower

One of the greatest benefits of driving an EV is the fact that these vehicles have fewer moving parts than typical gasoline models. This means lower maintenance costs and less frequent visits to have your vehicle serviced. Gasoline vehicles require pumps, valves, fluids, and oil changes that are all items that you won’t have to deal with when you drive an EV. Because of this, most EV models will last longer than their gas-powered counterparts.

Con: Limited Driving Range

If the maintenance costs are one of the greatest benefits, the driving range is one of the greatest detriments to driving an electric vehicle. Most of the EV models you see on the road have a driving range from 100 to 400 miles, and that’s all. Once that distance has been reached, the batteries need to be recharged, which takes you back a couple of paragraphs to the fact that this takes a long time. You might look at these two things together as being serious problems for the EV that you want to drive.

Pro: Smooth, Quiet Driving Performance

Not only do traditional vehicles lead to environmental pollution, but these vehicles also contribute to noise pollution and can be rough to deal with when you have older models with transmissions that aren’t as smooth as they once were. When you choose an EV, you’ll have a smooth and quiet vehicle that can almost sneak up on people when out on the road. You’ll be pleased to experience the silent and smooth feeling that you get when you’re behind the wheel. This leads to a high-quality drive that makes any EV feel more like a luxury car when out on the road.

Con: Higher Initial Costs at Purchase

To experience the full benefits an electric vehicle can provide, you’ll pay a higher price for the electric version of a vehicle than what you will for one powered by a gasoline engine. You also need to have a charging station installed at your home, otherwise, you won’t be able to charge your vehicle quickly.

This means you’ll have to shell out more money to start driving the way you want than you would with a vehicle fueled by gasoline or diesel. This initial cost goes back to the availability of gas stations when compared to electric recharging facilities.

Pro/Con: Convenience

The convenience you experience with the vehicle you drive has everything to do with proximity to refueling stations. If you live several miles from the nearest gas station, you’ll ensure you don’t have a low fuel light on before heading home. The same is true of EV models. While finding a charging station might be difficult, if you have a home charging station, you always know you’ve got a place to refuel your vehicle.

If you happen to live in an area where several charging stations are available, you might find driving an EV to be very convenient for you, but if the opposite were true, you might avoid buying an electric vehicle altogether.

Will you choose to drive an EV, or will you continue to experience the drive of a vehicle that’s powered by fossil fuels? This list of pros and cons could help you with that decision.