It just gets better

I've been busy doing some tweaks on the car, and getting familiar with the charging process. I've come to realize that a deep understanding of charging is the most important part of using an electric car. Driving it is easy - get in, turn the key, and drive around. Driving uses up the energy in the battery pack. The amount of energy in the pack determines your range. Accelerating faster and driving faster will reduce your range accordingly. This would all make total sense to anybody, but actually DOING it brings out all of the little details that you need to know to maximize the amount of energy stored in the car.

After a week or two of occasional use there is something that is really sinking in - the fact that this is just like a "normal" car, but it uses NO GASOLINE. The motor compartment just does not get dirty, other than dust from the weather and the occasional rodential intruder (which appears to be a thing of the past, BTW). Other than the lubricants in the transaxle (which is synthetic at the moment) and the grease in the wheel bearings, the closest thing to oil in the whole machine is my finger oils on the steering wheel.

I suppose that I should make an effort to eventually figure out what the cost is of the electricity that I use to drive around. The problem is that I just don't care that much. I know that it's costing me less money than using the equivalent amount of energy in gasoline, but just how much less I don't know yet. But why do I need to know that? I'm not looking for a return on investment. I'm doing this because I wanted to know what the fuss is all about, firsthand. Is electricity really a good solution for personal transportation?

I'm not about to go on an opinionated soap box tirade in this post - maybe later. Opinions are like - ah, never mind that metaphor... Opinions are what's left over when you've run out of facts. I'm still gathering the facts at the moment.