Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Hybrid or EV?

I'll be in the market for a new car in the next year or so.  So I've been loking at the Nissan Leaf as a possibility becuse almost all my driving is commuting - ~13 miles each way.  The problem?  I also drive to racetracks to volunteer a few times a year with the closest one I go to ~60 miles and the one I go to most ~120 miles with nowhere to plug in at either place.  So, I need a second vehicle that will require insurance and registration to use a few times a year.  That makes almost no sense to me.  That's not even taking into consideration that I also need something that will haul my trailer when I decide to start racing again.  A viable business case could be made for renting a car for the times I need to go farther than my EV range, but pretty much no rental company will allow you to tow with their cars.

Those considerations eliminate the EV from my ownership.  The need to tow also eliminates most hybrids made for high mileage like the Chevy Volt and Honda Prius.  Maybe I'll just buy an RV for the racetrack visits and keep my gas guzzler - well, not really, I get ~16 MPG day-to-day and ~21 on the highway.

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