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My Hydro bill will go though the roof
The average household with electric heat costs $100 a month. An EV driven daily costs $20 a month.
So it will increase your Hydro bill from $100 to $120 a month, or 20%.
What has gone through the roof is everyone's gasoline bill !
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The electric grid can't handle the load
IF everyone had an EV AND it was a peak period during the dinner hour, there might be a problem.
But everyone does not have one right now. The peak hour has a cushion factor. And EVs are usually set up
to charge while we are asleep and the grid has almost no load. If you have a powerful EV charger, it will
be the same as running a dryer, about 20 cents an hour. Many EVs charge off 120 volts and have a current
drain comparable to a hallway and two rooms with their lights on.
At this rate the EV charge will cost you 6 cents an hour!
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Batteries cost too much to replace
Actually if you factor in the cost of batteries and the power you consume, you end up realizing a 75%
savings over the cost of gasoline. Yes, just like buying gas at 35 cents a litre again!
Neither does this comparison count internal combustion-related repair costs which are five times higher,
or the fact that there are no Air Care pollution test surprises with an EV. There is no tailpipe!
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EVs Don't go far enough
Statistics Canada fact: the average commute is 7.4 km for Vancouverites
...graph - That's 15 km round trip.
Double it because you have to do some errands every day, and you are still well within the range of one charge
of an "ancient-technology" lead-acid EV. But what if you have to go on a vacation?
Statistics also show that the average family has more than one car. That car won't be an EV, so
what's the big deal? No second car? It's cheaper to rent a car for a vacation than to insure a second one,
unless you drive across the continent each and every year.
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EVs Don't go fast enough
EV conversions (which are the most common EVs on the road today) regularly go on the freeway for their commutes.
Most can run at illegally fast speeds on most roads. They accelerate quite well with traffic in the city.
It does not take a rocket scientist to soup up an old EV to burn rubber or to beat that V8 at the light,
if that's your thing.
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EVs will strand you when they run out of juice
A gas car will strand you very suddenly but an old-fashioned lead-acid EV will warn you ahead of time
that the energy is getting low. If it does appear to run out you are still not stranded! Just park it, relax
and have a coffee. It will magically regain several kilometres of range. You can do this several times, but
does constitute abuse of the battery. Every EV has a very accurate voltmeter or energy gauge which will give
you early warning, and you will soon learn what its range is so it won't likely happen to you.
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EVs just pollute somewhere else
This is true only if fossil fuels are burned to produce electric power. The mix in North America is about 25%
coal (and going down). Even with 100% coal, the EV is still cleaner (carbon dioxide and particulates)
by a factor of two. If the plant is old, particulates will be higher. However, those have mostly been mandated
to clean up their act. There is no contest if you count the pollution created by the extraction, refining,
storage and shipping of the petroleum. Then there is the fact that cars get dirtier every year due to wear and
going out of tune.
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Electric is Less Efficient
There are losses
in long distance electric power transmission, but most power in BC is actually generated locally. Despite this,
the EV is still more efficient because it is three times more so for a given amount of measured energy input.
If you look t the full well-to-wheels comparison, the gas car uses twice as much energy.
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In an accident EVs will electrocute us
The high voltage in an EV is isolated from the chassis, and even if they do, the cables do not enter the
passenger compartment. Even if they do, a collision will likely break the circuit connections in multiple places.
There are also multiple safety disconnects: an inertial switch, fuse, circuit breaker and contactor are all in
series. Anyone of them can shut off the power.
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In an accident EVs will burn us with acid
What's worse, acid or flaming gasoline on your skin? With acid, just ask someone with a water bottle to pour
it on you within five minutes. Many EV lead acid and all nickel and lithium batteries are sealed
(also called dry batteries).
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EV Batteries pollute landfills with toxic lead
It is illegal to dump lead acid batteries in landfills. They must be recycled, and are actually 99% recyclable.
They are ground up, the acid reclaimed and recycled, the plastic is separated out to make new cases and the lead
is easily melted and purified into ingots to make ... new batteries!
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Servicing will be a problem
EVs need very little maintenance. A service tech typically tightens the individual electrical connections every
few months and if required, fills the cells with distilled water which is sold at drugstores and grocery stores.
An electric motor typically can go half a million kilometers before needing a service which typically costs under $500.
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