Jeff Lupient is the President and CEO at Lupient Automotive Group. He went to Hamline University and has over 10 years of managerial experience. He runs a very successful Automotive group.
Electric cars are obviously a better consideration for our environment but at the moment do we have the electric top ups and infrastructure to support an influx of electric cars. The first negative consideration is that they have a shorter range. They cannot travel as far as gas cars, but this is improving all of the time. Some consideration may therefore be given to a hybrid car. The connected problem to this is that if your car is not highly charged and you need to stop, it is not just a five minute job as putting in the gas is. You could fully fill up a gas car in five to ten minutes an electric car will take up to 5 or 6 hours before it is fully charged. Some are 20 minutes and again this is an area that is constantly improving.
You have to compare the situation above with your reason for driving. If you drive for your work and time is money it really may not be a viable option for you to have an electric car until significant progress is made. If you just use your car to pop around the Minneapolis-St. Paul Area, Minnesota, visiting friends and doing a couple of errands then an electric car could be for you.
On the positive side and what makes the electric car a real star is that electric cars require less maintenance. They have far less moving parts compared to a combustion engine and thus there is less that can go wrong. The battery may need to be replaced after 100,000 miles approximately and this can be expensive, so again this is something that you may need to factor into your decision. For small commutes the electric car is also the much cheaper option to run. Luckily many cities such as Minneapolis in Minnesota have begun to allow their electric vehicle owners to park up and fill up free of charge. Some charge a small fee for the parking space but again you would still be saving money compared to the cost to park your gas car.
If you think that an electric car might be an option, you can work out costs online for a definitive answer. You need to put in approximations of where you live, how much you drive your car each week and what kind of mileage you are likely to cover over the year. You could pop in and see Jeff Lupient and his team in Minneapolis-St. Paul Area, Minnesota and speak to one of the team about some advice and guidance.
Although Jeffrey Lupient and his team can advise in the end only you can decide whether an electric vehicle will work for your current situation. If you want to sit on the fence a little while longer whilst still doing your bit for the environment then you may decide on a hybrid car that can work on both gas and electric.