The next time you fill your car with gas, if the amount of carbon dioxide you’re emitting with your daily commute doesn’t give you a slight twinge of guilt, maybe the amount you’re paying for gas will make you wince.
Now imagine if, instead of spending $50 for each fill-up, you were spending $1 per day or less.
Mark Dubois-Phillips, senior manager of technology for BC Hydro, has calculated the savings for someone driving an electric car to be as high as high as $2,000 per year.
Battery-powered cars also never need oil changes or AirCare tests, and will never need air filters, antifreeze, belts, sparkplugs or transmission fluid replaced because they have none.
“The cost of ownership, after your initial cost to get in, is very nominal,” said John Shapitka, sales and finance manager for Southside Nissan, which sells the Nissan Leaf – one of 13 vehicles that now qualifies for provincial taxpayer subsidies.
Transportation accounts for an estimated 40% of all greenhouse gas emissions. In an attempt to encourage drivers to swap their gas-guzzlers for cleaner technology, the B.C. government is offering $7.5 million in direct incentives. It also plans to spend $6 million on new electric recharging and hydrogen fuelling stations.
Under the CEV for BC Point of Sale Incentive Program, buyers of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), hybrid plug-in vehicles, hydrogen fuel-cell cars and compressed natural gas cars will be eligible for up to $5,000 off the price of a new car.
Electric-vehicle owners can also get $500 to help them install home charging stations, which range from $1,000 to $3,000.
The incentives kicked in December 1, and within one week, more than 20 applications had been approved, according to the New Car Dealers Association of BC, which is the co-administrator of the CEV for BC Point of Sale Incentive Program (www.cevforbc.ca).
Association CEO Blair Qualey said the applications were evenly split between the Nissan Leaf (a fully electric vehicle) and the Chevrolet Volt (a plug-in hybrid that has a gas-powered backup engine).
Mark Cunnington was motivated to buy a Leaf mostly by its low operating costs.
“Gas prices are only going up,” he said, “so if you factor that into it, it’s a pretty good deal.”
But despite their long-term fuel savings and zero emissions, battery-electric vehicles have drawbacks.
A Nissan Leaf costs between $39,810 and $42,610, depending on the model, after rebate and taxes – about twice as much as a Nissan Sentra. It takes about seven hours to charge a Leaf, and if you run out of juice in rush-hour, you’ll be calling a cab – and a tow-truck.
“This isn’t the car you’re going to load your family in and go to California and stop every three hours and wait eight hours to get going,” Shapitka said. “This is commuter vehicle.”
But driving from B.C. to California in an electric hybrid might not be such a stretch. The U.S. Department of Energy has sunk more than $100 million into the EV Project (www.theevproject.com). Since 2009, electric charging stations for electric cars have been built from San Diego to Everett, Washington. In Seattle alone, there are already 10 charging stations, with more to come.
There are currently three public recharging stations in Vancouver: one at city hall in Surrey, one in North Vancouver and two in Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island.
An electric vehicle consumes the equivalent of one-third of a household’s worth of electricity, said Dubois-Phillips. Even so, BC Hydro does not expect electric cars to have a significant impact on the grid, although it has concerns about them being charged during peak load times. Apart from practical considerations, like cost, there’s also concerns about whether electric vehicles are as green as their billing.
Because so much power in North America is still derived from coal, electric cars are not nearly as “green” as they might seem, said Sandy Thomas, an American clean-energy consultant who has done detailed comparisons of the relative efficiency of electric, hydrogen fuel cell and natural gas cars.
But because more than 90% of B.C.’s power comes from hydro dams, electric vehicles in B.C. would score high on the green scale.
“Up in Canada, you would be better off with a battery electric vehicle,” he said. “But here in the States, because we have so much coal power, the fuel-cell vehicle is definitely superior.”
John Axsen, assistant professor at Simon Fraser University’s school of resources and environmental management, agreed. “In a place like British Columbia, it’s almost a no-brainer to go for vehicle electrification if you are trying to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions.”
If the thought of being stranded on the highway between Vancouver and Whistler is the biggest obstacle to buying an electric car, there is a compromise. The Chevrolet Volt is an extended range electric vehicle that’s primarily driven by a rechargeable battery, but equipped with a backup gas-fired generator.
The new Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid – due out in 2012 – has a gas engine and 80 horsepower electric motor. •
