At 118 miles per gallon, the Honda Fit electric vehicle is the most fuel-efficient in the United States. But getting that mileage isn’t cheap — and it isn’t always good for the environment.
Honda announced the eye-popping figure Wednesday, making the small, four-door hatchback more efficient than electric rivals like the Ford Focus, Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i-MiEV. It goes on the market this summer in Oregon and California.
The electric Fit has an estimated price tag nearly twice as high as the gasoline-powered version. It would take 11 years before a driver makes up the difference and begins saving on fuel.
With gas prices falling, the high sticker price for electric vehicles is becoming more of a barrier for American buyers, even though the vehicles are far more efficient than their gas-powered counterparts. That’s hurting sales of electrics.
Through May, carmakers sold just over 10,000 electric vehicles, less than 0.2 percent of U.S. car and truck sales.
That’s because the numbers don’t add up for the average consumer.
Twice as much as the comparable gasoline engine version. Quite a deal. I question the economics. If I drive 12k miles per year and fuel is $3.50/gallon. The fuel costs are $355/year. The 10 year difference between that and my ’89 Camry (30 mpg) $10440. Even my Tahoe (18 mpg) the difference is $19774. Does this electric wonder sell for less than $20k. My guess the payback in fuel efficience is more like 15-25 years with my menagerie. Not much incentive.
Showing you care more than other people: priceless.
If showing up in a 23-year-old Japanese 4-banger doesn’t make a positive enough statement about my concern for the environment and my disdain for conspicuous consumption, not to mention my personal thrift, guess it’s time to drive the big, honking, gas guzzling SUV to all those environmental meetings.
“electric car gets 118 mpg”
Miles per gallon of what? MPG figures for ELECTRIC cars is totally bogus.
Users of electric cars have an interest in range on full charge, KWH/cost for a full charge, and time to charge.
Applying alleged MPG to electrics is pure politics. Trashy politics.
http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2011/08/mpg-for-electric-cars/
The Associated Press article should have indicated Honda Fit Electric’s rating of 118 is the EPA version of MPGe, which is calculated by dividing 33,705 by the electrical energy in Wh/mi consumed by the vehicle in EPA tests. The constant represents the energy content of 1 gal of gasoline in BTU divided by the energy of 1 kilowatt hour of electricity in BTU/Wh.
Gasoline references to electric cars is purely political.
I love this quote from a how to winterize your electric car:
“Add heat.
Some people use electric blankets to keep their batteries warm, others use heating pads or heat tape under the insulation. Generally, these are “plug in to the wall” arrangements, used overnight when the car isn’t running; however, these come in 12-volt versions, too (check the marine supply shops) that you can run off your batteries using your DC/DC converter.”
http://www.electric-cars-are-for-girls.com/winterize.html
I’ve read people in Europe driving with oilheaters in their electric cars to get at least some mileage in winter and still stay warm.