I want an electric car.

I currently primarily drive a 1999 Chevy Metro that gets about 30mpg in the city. 90% of my driving is in the city. For longer trips I also own a larger vehicle, but only turns about 17mpg.

I don't care about global warming (I don't buy the hysteria hype). I'm not a "greenie" in that I don't recycle, but I do make sure I'm not running power when I don't need to. I also use cost saving devices and features whenever I can.

I do care about the fact that I'm dropping $4.00 per gallon on gasoline making my operating costs on my Metro about 13.3 cents per mile. Two years ago today I was paying $2.85pg for a cost of 9.5 cents per mile, and I thought that was too much. Four years ago today I was paying $1.78pg for a cost of about 6 cents per mile.

I care that the money I'm dropping into my gas tank is going to other Nations besides my own that are not friends, and in some cases I consider enemies (Saudi Arabia, Venezuela).

I care that even if we manage to get ourselves off foreign oil by drilling ANWR or off the coast the US Oil companies will sell that oil on the open world market and a big chunk of it will go to other countries I consider enemies (North Korea, China).

• I want off oil.
• I want an electric car that gets about or at least 100 miles per charge, that should last me about a week per charge.
• It only needs to carry me, and maybe one passenger, I don't car pool.
• I want to be able to plug it into my already existing house outlet to charge it up, so I don't have to go to the gas station if I don't want to.
• I want an operating cost of somewhere around 6 cents per mile or less, which is what I purchased my Geo to do.
• I don't want an internal combustion engine that I have to maintain every 5000 miles (twice per year) in oil, oil filter, air filter, spark plugs, hoses, belts, etc etc that just add more to operating costs.
• I want it to be battery powered, not solar, so I can drive it in inclement weather.
• I want to buy it used, not new, so most of the depreciation is already over with and I'm paying a real fair amount for the car.

These are things I said I wanted several months ago when gas hit $3.50 per gallon. I am told the car doesn't exist unless I want a golf cart.

Last night I found out the car I am looking for did exist...

...ten years ago...

...just in time for me to buy a used one...

...but I can't because it was killed.

Who Killed the Electric Car? Is a documentary that deals with GM's EV1 and how it was killed by California consumers, politicians, car companies, and oil companies.

This is the car we needed today, and it was here 10 years ago. It was the answer that neither hybrids nor hydrogen fuel cells can do.

Here is some other links related to the EV1 and Rav4 EV.

http://www.pluginamerica.org/ (Chelsea Sexton's group)
http://www.ev1.org/
http://ev1-club.power.net/