Electric Cars

It’s been a while.

We did purchase our Tesla Model S and took delivery in March. We went everywhere in it, including a trip to San Diego and back. We love the quiet power of this electric car, we never drove our Subaru.

In California electric vehicles can use the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes (was commuter lane) with just the driver in the car. This makes an electric vehicle a great choice for commuting. We thought, why not get an electric car for commuting and jettison the Subaru. Don’t get me wrong, we love our Subaru and drove it everywhere for 12 years. Lately it’s been just sitting there. Last week we sold the Subie and purchased a Nissan Leaf. It’s all electric. It is very different than the Tesla is, but it is the perfect commuter car. Most noteworthy, the state of California provides a $2,500.00 rebate for the purchase of an electric vehicle and the federal government provides a $7,500.00 tax credit for the purchase of one. That’s $10,000.00 off the purchase price of the car and that made a big difference in our thinking.

Now I’m considering the cost of solar. It will. pay for itself, but over an 8-10 year time frame. If you factor in the lost ROI had the cash for the solar array been invested, solar may never pay for itself. However, the issue is not just the bottom line. It has to do with using clean energy, getting off the grid, and not paying PG&E for energy. I’m not yet sure which way I’ll want to go and I’ll have to get approval from my better half.

We are making big steps toward our plan of reducing our monthly cash flow and spending a portion of the year travelling. Until then, I’ll be checking in as “things” change.

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