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Old 05-09-2012, 10:26 AM   #32
shikataganai
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Member#: 92634
Join Date: Aug 2005
Chapter/Region: RMIC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SCRAPPYDO View Post
Sure I will agree that passion is usually the reason we buy one car over another. But it would seem there is no real reason to buy an Electric RAV 4 when a gas powered one will perform identically and cost half as much. Still it's your money and if electric vehicles get you off and make you smile then plug in and smile!
You nailed it: passion is why we're not all driving stripper econoboxes with crank windows and vinyl seats, or taking the bus/walking to work/etc. Anything above the bare necessities is a luxury, and different people have differing opinions on what luxuries come foremost. I'll explain my own motivations at the bottom of this post.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Obsessive View Post
You're one of those dreamers who won't actually buy this thing - you'll just talk about it. Enjoy your electric bike.
Quote:
Originally Posted by arghx7 View Post
I call BS. He's not going to buy it. Bump this thread in a year with pics.
It won't be a year, but rather 14 months: Our move back to Seattle isn't happening until June 2013. I won't bump this thread, but you can be damn sure there'll be a prodigiously self-bumped OT thread about it instead to draw in all the flamers as I am wont to do.

If you're doubting my resolve then you might end up disappointed. I was pig-headed enough to ditch my car entirely for 15 months back in 2008-2009, relying on that electric bike, the King County Metro bus system, and Zipcar for all my transportation needs. Over that year I used Zipcars for all of 22 hours in total. I think that shows that I'm plenty stubborn when I have motivation.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SVX WRX View Post
I dont give a **** about gas mileage. I think someone who would spend $50,000 on an electric mini-SUV would, though, and i was pointing out how foolish it is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hardrvin View Post
Cheers shikataganai for interest in something different and although not fully logical but innovative.
I, too, don't give a **** about gas mileage in the sense of how much it will cost to drive a given vehicle a given distance. Cost is not an issue for $50k vehicles independent of powertrain--I'm a physician. I'm not out to save the world, either. I've been down that road and found that it's a dead end, and I fully acknowledge that $50k personal-use vehicles of any flavor are far too expensive to be adopted in numbers sufficient to have a systemic effect.

Instead, my motivation is both to have a smooth, quiet, modern vehicle and to not use gasoline, in and of itself. Why? I figure that it's the most potent statement that I can make, as a private citizen, against our overseas wars and continual spillage of money from our country's coffers to those of Middle Eastern sheikhs. Recall that other N&R thread about the $590k Nissan Juke R? That plaything is going to be sold to those same sheikhs, and that's just obscene, imo. That Seattle happens to have cheap power is a nice perk, but most importantly I can pay $12/month to Seattle City Light to get 100% renewable (offset) power. Therefore I'll be using exactly 0 petroleum (or coal, for that matter) in running a future EV, including accounting for the power generation upstream of the outlet, and by extension will be contributing nothing to our "friends" in Iran, Dubai, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.

Someone following along with my logic, as it were, might then wonder why I don't get a NGV, since natural gas is largely domestically (including Canada) sourced. That'd be a fine question, but suffice it to say that I don't want a Civic GX or a heavy duty pickup truck, the only OEM NGV options, afaik, and my wife (again the primary driver in our household) certainly doesn't want either of them. I'd also rather "refuel" at home instead of at commercial stations, although there do exist garage-bound devices to refuel NGVs at home.
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