Serving The Rio Hondo Community
Wednesday May 4 , 2022
Vol.64 Issue 9
Electric vehicles spark Attention As Gas Prices Surge
Americans just don't have $80 to fill their gas tanks, could electric vehicles take over freeways? Eva Rivera
News Editor
eva.rivera2331@my.riohondo.edu
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ith the average gasoline price in America being $4.24 and California’s at a hefty $5.74 a jump in Electric Vehicle sales has been noticed with a 6% purchasing increase since 2021. According to whitehouse.gov the President signed an Executive Order that set an ambitious new target to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or fuel cell electric vehicles. If by 2030 50% of sold vehicles are electric vehicles then 60-70% of cars on the road will be electric in 2050. Currently there are purchase incentives, like tax credits or rebates when you purchase an electric vehicle. Many are criticizing these incentives saying that the average buyer is in a household that makes up to or more than $100,000 a year. These policies only support consumers already able to afford the high cost of a new electric vehicle. As the transition to all electric vehicles takes place we are faced with the challenge of making electric charging stations available to everyone. In the United States there are 104,000 public
Photographs Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
charging stations and in California the state with the most electric vehicles only has 280 ports for the 930,811 electric vehicles that are on the road according to evadoption. com. By making the switch to an electric vehicle a driver can save money on gas with an estimated cost of $0.10 per kW which is the equivalent of using gasoline that costs less than $1
Graph created by Jasmine Soria for El Paisano Media
per gallon. When an electric vehicle is purchased the buyer becomes eligible for a federal tax credit for $2,500 to $7,500 depending on the battery capacity of the vehicle. Local air districts and electric utilities also offer discounts and incentives to install home charging stations specific to where you are located. The electric vehicle market has many options available like the Tesla Model 3, Chevrolet Bolt EV, Kia Niro EV, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Ford Mustang Mach- E/ GT Performance Edition to name a few. Each vehicle ranges in its miles per gallon utilization depending on the size of the vehicle's battery and if it is a hybrid or not. The Tesla Model 3’s price ranges from $46,990 to $62,990 and gets 126 miles per gallon on a highway giving it the highest range in miles per gallon and is the fastest reaching zero to sixty miles per hour in under 2.5 seconds. This year’s Chevrolet Bolt gets 109 miles per gallon on a highway starting at a price of $31,995 making it one of the most affordable electric vehi-
cles on the market. Kia offers the Kia Niro EV from $39,990 to $44,650 with a driving range of 239 miles with one full charge and goes from zero to sixty in 6.2 seconds. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 starts at $39,950 and has a driving range of 220 miles when it is fully charged and is styled like a large version of a hatchback. For those who want to go electric but still seek the muscle car aesthetic, the Ford Mustang Mach-E serves up both electric vehicle performance with its driving range of 300 miles with a full charge and is priced starting at $43,895. Dealerships are currently not able to meet electric vehicle orders due to low stock of vehicles and long wait lists causing prices in most vehicles to jump making consumers literally pay the price. Price tags may start at the $31,000 range but will be impacted on the availability of the vehicle you will be purchasing. Patricia Sosa, an electric vehicle owner, made the transition from a Hyundai Veloster to a Ford Mustang Mach-E in January and hasn’t looked back.
Sosa began her car hunting journey with a top priority, her new car had to be electric, “I wanted to buy an electric vehicle because I didn't want to add to the earth's failure and I wanted to be the change…to me this is a milestone in making a difference even if it’s so little to the world it is something that at least I’m doing…it’s not for the “Flex” or to show how much money I make, it's because the guilt that was eating at me…about adding to the smog in the earth... Electric Vehicles are the future and they pay for themselves especially with the incentives that the government offers so when I get them I can put in solar panels and charging my car will be free.” Sosa made her case about how beneficial the switch to an electric vehicle has been for her in a short amount of time of owning one,”I get 300 miles on a full charge and the app for my mustang lets me plan out my charges for my trip if necessary,” she shared. The cost of driving her car with gasoline can vary from $80 a month to $160 if she travels more often but only spends at most $30 a month when she drives electric and has to charge away from her home but benefits
from Southern California Edison’s discount on her electricity bill. Sosa’s Mustang varies on its charging times,”It depends how low my battery is, you are not always supposed to charge your battery to 100%. Just like your phone. The car is smart enough to slow down the charging at 80% but you can always take the feature off if you do well with time management. The most I had to wait was 45 minutes with my battery being at 15% and having it go to 80%.” By the end of the year Sosa will have spent $360 on electrically charging her car to get around as opposed to someone who fills up their gas tank twice a month for $120. At the end of the year they would have spent $1,440. As of now only 14 states have adopted California’s regulations in requiring a certain amount of sales of zero-emissions vehicles per year and for all cars sold to be zero emission by 2035. With the average modern car lasting around 16 years the transition to electric vehicles will be a slow course. To help speed up the process, policy makers will have to reconsider and improve other measures so that we can have more than half of the vehicles on the road be electric by 2050.