Verified answer

Probabaly because its cheaper on fuel to get around.

Faulty premise...

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The Nissan Leaf has a 100-mile range. Tesla's electric cars have up to 300 miles of range. Most electric cars on the market today are capable of 100-mile ranges or better. The Chevy Volt has only 40 miles of electric range because its a hybrid, and can switch to gas for longer trips.

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All electric cars on the market today can charge in 4 hours or less. Newer models like the Nissan Leaf have a DC fast-charge mode, that fills the battery in 30 minutes or less from a high power charger.

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Furthermore, Nissan and others have demonstrated 10-minute and 5-minute recharge for future models. Some electric buses already have 5-minute charge capability, like in this news story:

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/11/altairnano-pr...

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Now, as to who would want an electric car, the reason comes down mainly to the cost of gasoline. A 25 MPG car, with gasoline at $3.85, costs 15 cents per mile to drive ($3.85 divided by 25.)

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Contrast this to electric power, which costs (US average) around 11 cents per kilowatt-hour. A typical electric car gets around 4 miles to the kilowatt-hour, so this works out to less than 3 cents per mile - that's FIVE TIMES cheaper than gasoline.

If the only reason you drive a car is to fill it up fast, and drive long distances without filling up, then no, an electric car is not for you. An electric car is certainly not for road trips.

Electric cars are not meant to replace every single automobile. They are a new tool that perform their job extremely well. Think of the difference between a microwave and an oven; an oven can bake, broil, warm, brown, toast and even make a thanksgiving dinner. A microwave cannot do all of those things, yet they are in most homes in the US. The reason is because they perform limited functions better than the oven.

Electric cars drive short distances better than a gas car.

If your 15 gallon tank is only good for 150 miles, then you are paying close to 50 bucks for that trip.

For that much money, I could drive an electric vehicle a LOT more miles, several hundred. Given that I don't go on long trips, and my vehicle is parked most of the day, what do I care if it took 8 hours to charge?

I'd rather pay 5 bucks for the trip, and avoid the gas station.

Thanks, sign me up for an electric car.

Edit: Yankee_Sailor, actually I don't use electricity from coal. Thanks! You do realize that use of coal for power generation is entirely unnecessary and could be phased out with ease.

"Anyone" includes an awful lot of applications.

Electric vehicles have been used caves and indoors to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. At any big mall or policed area you will see electric police run abouts. Parks departments use electric vehicles to avoid the noise and pollution of internal combustion engines while people are trying to enjoy themselves.

Electric vehicles have been used in transit systems because over the long term considering less maintenance and fuel, they are cheaper to operate.

The very largest vehicles: tunnel machines, earth movers are electric vehicles because the transmission required by an internal combustion engine would be cost prohibitive. The vehicle may be directly attached to the mains or a series hybrid configuration is used.

People want electric cars for their cheaper operating costs, low maintenance, freedom from petrol stations, fueling at home, neck snapping acceleration, doing their part to reduce their carbon footprint (power plants have to do theirs,) reduce pollution not only through emissions but all the lubricating oils that the petrol vehicle uses, lower the countries balance of payments, take pressure from the countries need to import oil and just to have the experience of driving an electric car.

The Tesla model S is rated by the EPA at 265 miles on a single battery charge: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/epa-rates-tesla-... Most electric cars can fast charge to 80% capacity in under 1/2 an hour. When you consider that charging an electric vehicle requires only seconds to plug in and does not require a special trip to some hot smelly petrol station where you are forced to watch propaganda at the pump overall fueling the vehicle requires less attention and is a far more pleasant experience.

We all have our prejudices. A little knowledge can go a long way toward changing attitudes.

The fast charge mode uses 220 volts and the charger isn't mounted on the vehicle. In my car 15 gallons of gas would take me about 405 mile.

Who wouldn't want one?

Really, everyone wants what electric cars have to offer - very low fuel cost, extremely quiet and smooth ride, superior acceleration, and low pollution.

But these advantages come with drawbacks. It's just a matter of how well those drawbacks will be fixed in coming years.

I get 600 mile range on a single tank on the highway in my Suburban. I agree with your assessment on the electric car. You also forgot to mention that you can't tow anything or even haul small items... Just a few passengers if you are lucky and it will reduce the range

I see a bunch of answers that don't consider where the electricity comes from.

If it's a coal fired plant, you have a coal powered car.

How green of you!