The vehicle is a compact five-door, looking unlike anything else on the road today. The specifications are impressive: comfortable seating for four, 170 horsepower, 0 to 60 miles per hour in just over six seconds, top speed of 92 mph.
And with more than 29,000 miles traveled in two years, the vehicle’s gasoline consumption has totaled … just seven gallons. After two years behind the wheel, Pecco reports: “It is the best car I have ever owned – not just for its energy efficiency, but for the total driving experience.”
It also may be the shape of things to come, he suggests, citing a New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Web site that greets its visitors with the following: “Electric vehicles save money on fuel, increase energy security, are quiet, have lower maintenance cost, and reduce emissions of air pollutants. And, they are fun to drive!”
Pecco continues: “Construction materials are 96 percent recyclable, the body is made of lightweight, but extremely strong aluminum and carbon fiber, the electric motor is much less expensive to maintain with far fewer moving parts than an internal combustion engine, the interior is made of recycled paper and plastic, and it’s competitive cost-wise with more familiar cars on American roads.”
And with the range extender option – basically a motorcycle motor that recharges the battery instead of driving the wheels – Pecco’s BMW can travel up to 170 miles in warm weather (100 in the cold) without a full recharge, he has found. He often makes a 100-mile drive to Boston, then gets a $3.35 recharge at a public station (whose location has been identified by the BMW’s Global Positioning System) for the drive home.
Gail regularly uses it for the 70-mile round trip between Andover and Mascoma Regional High School in Enfield, where she teaches French and Spanish. At home, she and Pecco have their own charging station, which cost about $700, and that is also available for use by guests at Highland Lake Inn.
How cost-competitive is the vehicle? Pecco’s has data comparing the i3 with the Volkswagen Passat he previously owned: With federal and BMW rebates, and with no money down, a three-year lease with a 15,000-mile annual mileage allowance, costs $520 per month – less than the $625 monthly cost for a similar three-year lease plus fuel and oil costs for the VW, with just a 12,000-mile annual allowance.
And the driving experience, in Gail’s words: “Very comfortable, fast and quiet – even when the range extender is engaged. The one major difference between driving an electric vehicle (EV) and a conventional car is that when you take your foot off the gas to ‘coast,’ the EV slows down much faster than anything you’ve driven before because of something called regenerative braking.” For explanation, she cites a car-magazine article, which reports: “The feeling of regenerative braking is one of the most overt indicators that you’re driving a hybrid or electric vehicle. When you lift your foot off the accelerator pedal while driving, the car will immediately slow down, converting the forward momentum of the car back into energy for the batteries.”
The report continues: “Our long-term 2014 BMW i3 uses a regenerative braking system that slows the car down pretty dramatically, but after just a few miles, it’s easy to get used to how strong it is and modulate your pressure accordingly. If you plan far enough in advance, you can avoid using the conventional brake pedal at all.”
So are there any drawbacks? Just one, the owners report: a scarcity of public charging stations outside of urban areas – although more are popping up all the time, and the onboard GPS can help locate them. “That’s it,” Pecco says. “It’s not a difficult problem to deal with.”
For more information about electric vehicles in New Hampshire, go to this “Drive Electric” Web site, offered by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services: des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/air/drive-electric/.
Interested in taking a test ride with Pecco or Gail? Contact them at innkeeper@nullhighlandlakeinn.com. Or call 603-735-6426.