Living With an Electric Car

By JIM MOTAVALLI October 11, 2012

ALTHOUGH sales of electric cars have remained slow since they came to the American mass market in late 2010, early buyers tend to be true believers and quite likely to give their new vehicles the benefit of the doubt. For many, the honeymoon period is still on, even if for some the romance is definitely over — or transferred to another electric car.

Jackie Eskin, a computer consultant in Fairfield, Conn., who works from home, loves her Nissan Leaf battery electric, which she has been driving for six months and 2,000 miles. “I’m extremely happy,” she said. “It’s wonderful, and I love it.”

Before Ms. Eskin bought her car, she kept track of how many miles she drove each day and found it was rarely more than 15. That convinced her that she could live with the car’s 73-mile Environmental Protection Agency range rating. “I haven’t really experienced range anxiety,” she said. Her major issue with the Leaf? It doesn’t have a sunroof.

Paul Beerkens, a Chicago-based programmer for a hedge fund, also owned a Leaf, but traded it in after only six weeks. He told a reporter for PlugInCars.com (to which this writer also contributes) that dying batteries almost left him stranded during a snowstorm with his children in the car, so he bought a plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt.

To read the entire article go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/automobiles/early-converts-to-electric-cars-remain-committed-with-caveats.html?src=recg