Florida Coalcracker Chronicles: Electric Car Meet in Tallahassee Yesterday

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Electric Car Meet in Tallahassee Yesterday

King of the Hill - the Tesla S - 0 to 60 in 4 seconds

Saturday morning in the park - there was a meet of people that owned or sold electric cars. Some were pure electric - some were hybrids. All of them were really neat. There were about 30 or 40 cars on display - and many more in the parking lot. I drove my 2012 Nissan Leaf to the event with one of my electric bikes folded in the back seat.

It was fun talking to other owners and seeing what they were doing with their cars. It was almost like a hobby club - except most of the cars were their daily drivers. Most of the cars were Tesla - Nissan - Chevrolet - Honda - Toyota - or Volvo.

Easily the favorite - although the most expensive - was the Tesla S - capable of going from 0 to 60 in 4 seconds with a range of 350 miles. Tesla also has its own network of charging stations where one can charge up for free - full charge in 30 minutes. Teslas are very refined - I truly believe it is the finest car I have ever been in. Tesla is having growing pains - their owner Elon Musk has been losing millions on the project.

The least expensive was the GEM Car - now owned by Polaris. One can buy a street legal machine for $8000 new.

A realistic favorite for me - is the 2018 Honda Clarity. It is an Accord size hybrid selling for $35,000. You can plug it in to charge the battery - then drive 50 miles on electricity alone. When that runs out you have a gasoline engine as a backup. This is the perfect city/cross country car. With city only driving you never use gasoline. On a long trip you never worry about the battery running out. It would be like me combining my 2012 Nissan Leaf and our 2016 Honda Odyssey into one vehicle.

There were several Tesla Model 3's - the "cheap" Tesla. This car was originally planned to sell for $35,000 - but all of them at the meet had tags of $49,000 plus.

The city even had one of their all electric buses at the event.

The new Chevy Volts are very nice. They are hybrid. One guy had a 3000 watt inverter attached to his Volt that was powering a refrigerator - lights - and fans. The big traction battery is 300 volts but it steps down to a 12 DC volt accessories battery. The inverter is attached to that. During a power failure - he can partially power his home from the car - not the AC but other smaller devices like a TV.

One that surprised me was a Volvo 60 Station Wagon. It was hybrid - had a gasoline engine and an electric motor that added up to 400 horsepower! It was $63,000 - but it was one very impressive package. Very few cars have 400 horsepower - like the Cobra and the Corvette. That would be a really hot family hauler getting 58 MPG.