Europe, part 1: London

Arriving into London

Our family decided to take a holiday in Europe this summer - requiring a massive carbon splurge (30 tons' worth, in fact) which I double offset at Terrapass.com. The trip is also mitigated in part because Elliot and I are tagging along with his dad on his business trip, and we have limited our flights to the unavoidable transatlantic - all other travel will be by rail. We are visiting 5 countries and staying with friends and family all along the way.

We arrived in London on Friday, and we spent all weekend sightseeing in a frenzied attempt to get over our jetlag. Trains were our main mode of transport, and Elliot was delighted.

On our way to visit the British Museum (we've been listening to A History of the World in 100 Objects, and reading The Red Pyramid), we got off at the Russell Square underground station, where we decided to exit via the stairs instead of the elevator. We had no idea what we were in for! Up and up we climbed, on an endless spiral staircase with no exits which seemed to go on forever. We were much relieved to emerge at last - and it occurred to me that this might have been one of the many Tube stations used as air raid shelters during the blitz.

Our friends told us later that Russell Square Station is over 140 feet deep - meaning we had climbed the equivalent of 14 stories!

Finally! Emerging at last from the ultra-deep Russell Square underground station in London.

In general, we are loving London - though we have been surprised at not seeing more bicycles. And so far only one electric car!

Elliot on his first ride aboard a double-decker English bus.

Considering an EV? Now there's a spreadsheet for that...

Last year, our family made the switch to driving electric - partly due to Elliot's constant nagging, partly due to the environmental benefits of driving electric, but also partly due to the cost savings. Driving an EV, it turns out, can often save you money. We figured this out by developing a spreadsheet. People keep asking me to share it, so here it is! 

Click on the spreadsheet or the link below to download this spreadsheet in CSV, Numbers, and XLSX formats. Enter your information in the BLUE cells. GREEN cells will automatically populate.

Elliot with FrankE, our all-electric Fiat 500e.

One of the biggest savings, we realized, was on maintenance. We've had our Fiat 500e for a little over a year, and our total maintenance cost has been... zero. We had to take it into the dealership once, for a software upgrade, and they rotated the tires while we were there (all at no cost). We would normally have had to change the wiper blades, but (unfortunately) there hasn't been any rain here in California. We'll eventually have to change the tires - but probably not before the end of our 3-year lease.

The biggest reason, IMHO, that the car companies and dealerships aren't keen on having us all switch to EVs is that their business model is built on the profit they make from parts and service. Remember, with EVs there are no spark plugs to replace, no oil filters or air filters or fuel injectors or radiators or fan belts or the zillion other things you just have to replace on a regular basis in a gas car.

And did I mention that EVs are WAY more fun to drive?

People also ask us how much it costs to charge the car. We mostly plug in at home, using just a 110v plug, so we incurred no EVSE (aka charging station) installation charges. The additional electricity cost is roughly equivalent to the cost of plugging in an additional fridge.

A few things you need to know to complete the spreadsheet:

* State rebates vary - a lot - by state. California's current rebate is $2500. Our dealer did the paperwork for us, and we received our rebate within a couple of months. (I've heard that there have been backlogs in CA, but we didn't experience one.) Check out this awesome map to find out what rebates your state has available.

* The Federal government offers a $7500 rebate for most EVs, but this is only available for car sales. (For leasing, the dealer gets the federal rebate and usually rolls that into the cost of the lease.) State rebates are only available for 3-year leases (at least in California). But again - the monthly cost of a two-year lease is often lower because it includes the state rebate.

* I entered $20/month into the spreadsheet as the cost of public charging - which is approximately what we pay, using public chargers for maybe 20% of our charging needs. Your costs may vary. You can find more information on charging rates at Chargepoint and NRG-eVgo and BLiNK. You can find a map of the many charging stations now available at PlugShare.

* I included a section for car-sharing. We share an old Prius with two other families, in order to have access to a long-range gas car - or a second car - on the rare occasions when we need one. (Our lease with Fiat also includes 12 free days of car rentals per year.) We regularly drive our EV from Palo Alto to San Francisco and Berkeley. (I've also driven it as far as Monterey and Sonoma.) We have only needed a gas car about a dozen times over the past year - usually because we just needed two cars on the same day (a problem that would be solved with better public transit).

Questions? Comments? Please let me know what you think!

Carbon-free Transportation: Part 1

As a thank-you to our Kickstarter supporters, we're creating a series of videos featuring Professor Elliot looking at alternatives to pooping cars. In each episode, Elliot and his camera-toting mom will visit a different expert to learn about a new form of carbon-free transportation.

Our first episode features Nissan Leaf expert Maddi Hausmann:

EV Shopping with Elliot

Our family went shopping for an electric vehicle last weekend. Elliot was thrilled - he even passed up a play date with his best friend so he could join us.

First, we tested a Ford Focus EV. It belongs to our optometrist, who wants to sell it so he can get the new Rav4 EV.

At first I wasn't too keen on it - the styling feels dowdy to me, though Elliot & his dad thought it looked "sleek". But inside it was pretty sweet - the good doctor got leather seats, and the Focus driver seat comes with an electric adjustment nob that rivals a La-Z-Boy for comfort & adjustability. Upside: a 6.6kWh charger means it fills up on a level 2 charger in 3-4 hours. Downside: no DC fast charger.

Later we test drove the Chevy Spark, and Elliot asked about that:

Our last test drive was in a 2013 Nissan Leaf, so new it was still covered in plastic! (And seriously off-gassing. I told Elliot to hold his breath until we could roll down the windows.)

Elliot - high on that 'new car smell'.

The 2013 Leaf also has a 6.6 charger, and a ChaDeMo DC quick charge port, and a "braking regen" drive mode that feels almost as fun as the BMW Active-E (and helps increase range).

While there was no clear winner, we felt that the combination of 3.3 kWh (read: slow) charger and current lack of fast-charging infrastructure for the Spark put it in last place. I liked the look of the Leaf (in silver, anyway), and the braking regen is a big draw. Plus the Leaf is a clear winner on trunk space. And most importantly, the speed of quick charging on the Leaf makes it a viable car for longer distances - and a better model for encouraging others to go EV.

But the cost of the Leaf (we were quoted $362/month for a three year lease) is almost double the cost of the Spark ($199) and significantly higher than the Ford ($225).

The upshot: we're going to wait until after we do our taxes to see how much we can afford - and hope that in the meantime the 2013 Leafs come down in price!