After driving EVs, we'll never go back!

User: mduclos1@icloud.com

Vendor: Drive Green - Green Energy Consumers Alliance

Action: 3569 - Drive an Electric Vehicle or Hybrid

We bought our new Chevy Bolt in February, 2019, in part because a friend bought one.  Also, because of  people on the Chevy Bolt Users Forum said they were enjoying their Bolts, offering a frank and open discussion of their experiences. We installed a Level 2 charger in our garage, and signed up for the Hudson Light and Power overnight charging rebate program. We found it very convenient to come home and plug it in for overnight charging – no more stops at the gas station in the rain and snow! We only charge it once or twice a week, since it has an EPA rated range of 260 mi.

It’s a really fun car to drive, with nearly silent, smooth and powerful acceleration. It is super stable and responsive to steering since the battery is under the floor, for an extremely low center of gravity. Using ‘one pedal’ driving mode means hardly ever having to use the brake pedal during most driving, providing a smoother, better controlled and more relaxing driving experience.

Taking longer trips does take some advance planning. Using phone applications like ChargeHub.com helps a great deal by quickly locating Level 2 and DC Fast charging stations, and indicating if they are available. After about three years we found we were only driving our gas car about 2000-3000 miles per year, so in 2022 we replaced it with a second BEV, and haven’t regretted that decision either, traveling as far as Florida in less than two days. BEVs (battery electric vehicle) are so much more enjoyable than driving gas cars, we would never go back.

Our experience has been they require very little maintenance, basically rotate the tires, change wiper blades, and change the coolant after 5 years or 50,000 miles. And with the remarkably inexpensive and very clean electricity we get from Hudson Light and Power, we not only save a lot of money, but feel good about the greatly reduced GHG emissions, and other considerations of not using gasoline.