Electric vehicles gaining interest

SEBRING -- Mar 12 - McClatchy-Tribune Content Agency, LLC - Jay Meisel Highlands Today, Sebring, Fla.

When Sebring area resident Nancy Owen gets in her car, she doesn't turn on the ignition. Everything in her car, including the air conditioning, comes on automatically.

As she drives the vehicle, there's no noise and she can accelerate to 60 mph in about three seconds.

"It rides very nice," she said.

Owen isn't driving the typical car on the road. She's driving a Tesla Model S vehicle, which is totally powered by electricity. When she needs more "fuel," she doesn't go to a gasoline station.

She essentially plugs her car into a charging device that is hard-wired at her home.

When she opens the hood, there's no engine, just a storage compartment. Behind it is a small area for the battery.

While electric vehicles won't replace those with gasoline engines any time soon, there seems to be growing interest.

Last week, the Sebring Airport Authority received approval from Tesla Motors to have a charging station. They expect to have the capacity to charge three vehicles.

Mike Willingham, executive director of the airport, said he expects the charging station will primarily be used by travelers and people who do business at the airport.

Jeff Graber, who works for a company that provides aviation-related insurance and does business at the airport, said he's looking forward to the charging station.

He said during future trips when he doesn't fly, he looks forward to being able to charge his vehicle while doing business.

Living in the Orlando area, he said, he can drive to the airport and back on a fully charged battery because battery can provided up to 260 miles of driving. "I can, but it's close," he said.

He said it can take up to four hours to fully charge a vehicle, but most owners don't wait that long to recharge it.

If they need to recharge it during a trip, they can do it partially, he said.

Graber said he suggested to Willingham the idea of having the charging station. He said some people may want to bring their vehicles to the race track.

He decided to buy a Tesla, he said. "I wanted something big and fast and that looks cool."

But many people may have to wait to buy an electric car. The Tesla Model S starts at a base price of $70,000.

Don Elwell, marketing and public relations director of Alan Jay Automotive Network, predicts that industry-wide, the price of electric cars will come down as supply increases.

Alan Jay sells the Nissan Leaf, which costs between $30,000 and $40,000, depending on options.

Elwell noted that one factor that helps buyers is the availability of a federal income tax credit of up to $7,500.

Currently, the driver of a Leaf can only go 100 miles on a charge, but he expects that to be increased to around 300 miles for future models.

"You're not going to be able to drive back and forth to Orlando (on a single charge)," he said.

Elwell said they've sold more than a dozen electric vehicles, but expects that when gasoline prices increase, more people will be interested.

Alan Jay Nissan has two charging stations that are available at no charge to electric vehicle owners.

Owners of any fully electric vehicle, regardless of whether it was purchased at Alan Jay, can use the stations at no cost.

Graber said he could use the charger at Alan Jay for the Tesla, but would have to also use a special adaptor. But, he added, that charging would take longer for his vehicle.

Tesla has 600 supercharger stations with over 3,000 individual superchargers worldwide. One of the closest is at Yeehaw Junction.

Eventually, Elwell predicts, people will be able to swap out fuel cells as an alternative to charging.

The biggest pluses for the electric cars are that the vehicles need no gasoline and are environmentally friendly, he said.

Alan Jay also sells the Chevy Volt, which primarily uses battery power but has a small gasoline tank.

Owen said she uses her Tesla most of the time. She said she has a regular vehicle and has only had to buy gas a couple times in the last two months.

Her Tesla has a built-in touch-screen control center that includes satellite radio, GPS, hands free phone connection and other features.

jmeisel@highlandstoday.com

(863) 386-5834