New (to me) Car!

It's a bumper sticker.

 

So if El Paso Electric uses a mix similar to SF's figures, my LEAF runs 50% zero greenhouse gas emissions, 40% reduced CO2 from natural gas and 11% coal. Compared with an ICE car which is 100% greenhouse gas emitting and less efficient overall, the LEAF comes out looking pretty good.

Not to mention zero particulates and zero NOx.

 

Oh, EV jargon..."ICE"="Internal Combustion Engine". Practice saying that with a very slight sneer.

 

Setting aside the business about the "right-wing," 60% of US electricity is derived from fossil fuels. Whether there are environmental benefits to EVs, I've got no idea. However, they sure are neat and if I had another more profitable vocation, I'd like to drive one.

 

Saw something new today. My county and local municipalities want to be EV friendly so public money has been going into infrastructure. The county placed DC fast charger stations in Anthony, just north of the Texas border on I-10, Hatch, near the northern boundary into Sierra County on I-25, and two "pumps" at the Dona Ana County buildings here in Las Cruces close to I-10.

All of these are Chargepoint affiliated and will service my LEAF. (Long boring technical details omitted),

The unusual thing is, one of the County building chargers is placarded "handicapped ". I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm all in favor of enhanced accessibility for those who require it but this reserves HALF of the available charging capacity.

Incidentally, these are not free chargers. They get about $5.00 for 15 minutes. My LEAF can absorb about 48 kW maximum but that curves down pretty quickly as charge accumulates. I figure adding 50% would cost me around $12.00. A 50% slow charge from a city charger at the right time of day would cost about $1.60.

Fast DC chargers are expensive to install, service and supply.

 

I'm starting notice other EVs in the community. There are more than I would have thought. So far, I've spotted two other LEAFs, a couple of Spark EVs, one Ford F150 Lightning (belongs to the City), and an indeterminate assortment of Teslas. Oh, and one Polestar. The Muskmobile dominates the scene, perhaps because Elon focused on range. A modern Tesla can reach Albuquerque without stopping to charge which my LEAF cannot.

 

Rivians really stand out with those unusual headlights.

 

Apt comparison. One writer referred to "futuristic dumpster" chic.

 

The Tesla truck is much larger in real life than I expected from seeing it on TV. I think it is also more ugly in real life than on TV.

 

What's more ugly? The CyberTruck? Or Elon Musk?

 

Uncharitable of me, I know.

One thing that I find exciting about the whole EV world is that it's like the beginning of the Automobile Age with all these (often rather small) marquees vying for a piece of the future.