Electric Cars Can Be Practical

Nissan Leaf

When I said "no" to electric cars, I did so because they can't meet my needs. I live in an isolated small town. I drive 200 miles round trip to see my eye doctor. Most of my wife's relatives live 180 miles away. My grandson lives 300 miles away. I need a car that can easily handle those distances without spending a lot of time charging the car. And right now, electric cars can't.

But there is one (at least) application that electric cars would be perfect for: driving around town. If you're not going to go very far, maybe just to work and back and run errands around town, an electric car would work great. But this would mean owning two cars in my case: one with an internal combustion engine for long distances and one electric for around town. But I own two cars now, my sedan and my wife's compact (she likes small cars). A lot of people can't afford having two cars. They'd need one car that could do both.

You wouldn't have to buy a car with a huge battery (which is what makes electric cars expensive) because you might just need 50 miles of range, not 300, which is rare in the EV world. According to Car and Driver, the Lucid Air Grand Touring went 410 miles on their 75-mph freeway test. However, the Lucid Air Grand Touring starts at $154,000 which is quite a chunk of money. And you can assume in winter that'll cut down to about 205 miles if it gets cold where you live.

The Chevrolet Bolt or the Nissan Leaf might be perfect (although the Bolt has had some issues and the Leaf has been discontinued). 

What do you think about small, shorter range electric cars? Are they practical? Let me know in the comments below.