April 18th, 2019 by Danny Orbin, Manager of Information Services 

Some may have noticed the new car Macon Electric Cooperative employees have been driving around Macon County lately. It’s the new Chevy Bolt EV. EV stands for Electric Vehicle, we like to call her Evie. She is all-electric; no gas or any other fuels needed.  This car has a 60-kwh battery pack which is estimated at 238 miles per charge. It will take eight hours to fully charge from a drained battery with a 240-volt charging station. With a 120-volt charging station it will take twice as long to charge and with a super charge station it will take about an hour and a half.

I was truly amazed by the power this little car has with it’s 200-hoursepower motor, going 0-60 mph in about 6.5 seconds. So, the real question is, “Would I personally own one?” The answer is, “Yes!” If I drove under 200 miles daily, at 2.8 cents per mile (compared to 8.6 cents with gas), it would be an extremely cost-effective choice for me! Now, if I were to take a long trip, it would require some planning to find routes that include towns with chargers available. The good news is that more and more places are installing chargers, especially hotels. Web sites like https://openchargemap.org provide locations with charging sites and the type of equipment available.

Are electric vehicles our future? Well, I believe there’s a strong possibility. The technology is there, and the price of the technology is starting to decrease. I’m old enough to remember Saturday mornings watching George Jetson flying around in his vehicle. Although electric cars aren’t flying yet, who knows what 30 years will bring.