Electric Car Trip Planning

_{My wife and I are are planning our driving trip to Minnesota from California for our yearly family reunion in our all electric car .  The distance round trip from our home to Dent, Minnesota is an even 4000 miles so here is the scenario.   We bought the electric car, a Nissan Leaf, for a list price of $32,780.  Ouch!  But don’t worry,  you taxpayers will make this lots less painful for me.  Think I would would have paid $33,000 for a car this small with the idiosyncrasies that we will discuss later?  Here goes!}

_{Federal Tax Refund          $7,500}

_{California Tax Refund        $5,000}

_{Riverside City Tax Refund  $2,000 ( If I live there)}

_{Total Tax Refund             $14,500}

_{Thanks tax payers!!!!  My new electric car is going to cost me only $18,280!  Love you all!!!}

_{OK. Lets see how far my Leaf will take me every day on my trip?  According to the EPA I will be able to go 73 miles!!!!  Wait!  How long will it take to recharge may battery?  Twenty Hours.  OK, I can drive one hour(73 miles) and charge for twenty hours, so I will be on the road for 54 days to and from Minnesota.  So what is this going to cost me?}

_{Fuel($4.00 gal/30mpg)         $0.00}

_{Motels($85 night/54 nights)  $4590.00}

_{Food($40.00 X 54 days)       $2160.00}

_{TOTAL                                     $6750.00}

_{We will stay in Minnesota 10 days.  Lucky we are retired otherwise taking 64 day vacation might be a problem.}

_{Now if I take my 4 cylinder RAV 4 that is paid for at $22,000 and gets 30 mpg on the road, we can make it in a relax fashion in 8 days round trip.  Ok lets look at costs here.} 

_{Fuel($4.00 gal/30mpg)         $267.00}

_{Motel($85.00 night 6 nights) $510.00}

_{Food($40.00 X 8 days)        $320.00}

_{TOTAL                                     $1097.00}

_{Difference in cost for one 4000 mile driving trip?  Costs $5653.00 more for electric car.  Lets see now.  Now my $22,000 RAV4 cost less after one trip than my Leaf even with all your tax payer help!!!}

 _{For the “Obama Greens” out there you might want to consider the following;} 

_{According to Wikipedia, the wagon trains on the Oregon Trail made 15 miles a day.(Round trip California to Minnesota  with the family and everything you own(267 days round trip).}

_{How about a  horse??  According to Answer.Yahoo, a couple of horses can make 50 miles a day.(80 days round trip)}

_{President Obama wants 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015.  If he is successful, the tax rebates will cost the tax payers $14.5 billion not counting the governmental cost to run the programs.  Due to overspending by the government many people are out of work with time on their hands to travel, maybe instead of electric cars, wagon trains with oxen and horses might be be a better approach.  I know I know Greens, horses and oxen emit methane, you can’t have it all.}