A few months back I changed my work schedule from a standard 40 hour work week to 9 hour days with every-other Friday off, which has been really nice. And recently I went a step further to spend more time at home and less time at work. I have taken public transportation to work the entire seventeen years I have worked at my job. Much of that is due to my office's busy location down near the State capitol, and I sort of took my time for granted and accepted public transit as a part of my life. I finally came to the realization that I was losing an hour each day either riding my bike or driving to a park and ride and waiting for a bus to take me downtown. Same story going home. In short, I leased an electric car for the next 3 years to get me to and from work. It's a 2013 Nissan Leaf, which is not only my first electric car, but it's also my first new car ever. The car commute means I get home more than a full hour sooner than before. For someone used to cycling every day and taking public transit, this feels like complete freedom to be able to run errands on my way home or stop and see friends, without first having to come home and change out of bike shorts.
The car is really fun to drive. It accelerates quickly without making any noise, it handles well, it is so high tech it feels like a little spaceship. I can set a timer on the car so the cabin is pre-heated for me in the morning before I get in, it has navigation that shows you how far you can go on your current charge, where to find charging locations and it even tells you how many of the chargers are being used and how many are available. I can check the range of the car remotely on my phone, tell it to turn on the AC or heat if I'm about to head out, but probably my favorite feature right now on these 40 degree mornings is the heated steering wheel. I still love my bikes, but I love them even more when I *want* to ride them, rather than *have* to ride them.
The Leaf is rated at 129 miles per gallon 'equivalent,' but obviously it doesn't have an engine so it burns no fuel at all. I can charge the car for free at work and Hanna has free public charging next to her office as well. I also get to hog the carpool lane with the Prius's and drive like I'm entitled because I'm destroying the environment slightly less than those around me.
It doesn't look like much; I kind of feel like I need a license plate frame that says "my other car isn't this lame" or "my other car is a truck."
And finally, if you ever had any doubt whether or not electric cars are catching-on, just take a look at the top of the parking garage at work:
