Future Of Green Cars
For several years, car companies have been promoting “green cars” which prove to be anything but, and have caused consumers to become skeptical of anything that claims to be good for the environment. Not only that, but being environmentally conscious appears to be costly as well. Some estimates have shown that signing up for “green” car insurance costs 146 percent more than conventional car insurance.
For this reason, the costs and effectiveness of environmental products has caused them to become very slowly adopted. This may change in the near future when Nissan releases the first mass produced electric vehicle.
The vehicle will be called the “Leaf,” and 20,000 reservations have already been made for it. The car consumes no direct fossil fuels and can reach a top speed of 148 kilometers per hour. The car will also be priced well at 32,780 US dollars. In Ontario, a $10,000 electric car rebate will be in effect as well. The average Ontario driver can expect to stop paying for $1,600 of gas and start paying for $360 more a year on electricity.
The car will not be without it’s issues, considering that 100 miles of driving range is not very much when there is nowhere to charge it but home, and it takes 30 minutes to charge the batteries up to 80 percent. There is also the fact that some electrical power comes from fossil fuels, but that is another matter entirely. All in all, the Leaf appears to be a big step in the right direction.