To be clear, missing an exit and ending up in New Hampshire this time was not quite as bad as it used to be. If I was saying this 6 months ago, there would be bigger issues. We currently live 5 minutes from the border, so it wasn't that bad.
Lets step back about a month though because the anxiety of this mistake, and then it's unconcerning conclusion may make more sense. I recently bought an electric car! Stephanie already had one and I got used to both driving it and curbing my "range anxiety." We decided that, since we sometimes like to do longer trips, and I often work in the Boston area, that my car should have a bit more range than Stephanie's. Her 2017 Nissan Leaf gets about 125 miles on a full charge, and it fluctuates depending on which systems are also in use while driving (A/C, heat etc.) We decided on a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt for me. It gets anywhere from 240 to 260 miles on a full charge depending on how heavy my foot is that day.
So, back to my lack of directional abilities. One of the things I hear often about owning an electric car is, "what if I get stuck out in the middle of nowhere and the battery runs out?" My response is usually something like, what would you do if you got stuck out in the middle of nowhere and your gas runs out?" Well, today I drove right past my exit and my first thought was, "crap, how many miles is it going to take to find my way home?" The answer to that question was... about 8. My car still had 150 miles until empty. I could have made it to Rockland, ME... a trip that would have taken 2hrs and 45 minutes. I know your next question. It's something like "yeah, but when you get there (in the middle of nowhere) how do you get home? (I swear I didn't look this up before, I just tried to find a place that was 150 miles north of Amesbury.) Rockland, ME has not less than 4 public chargers, and there are eight more within 10 miles of the center of town. Three are apparently dedicated to Tesla, but there is a station located at 24 Limerock Street with two, tier 2 chargers. I would have had to wait a while to charge up (probably 3 or 4 hours), but I could have done it!
The thing about electric cars is, you just have to plan ahead a little. Stephanie uses hers primarily for commuting. I commute less, but due to the higher range, we use mine for extended trips. We recently did a trip from Amesbury, MA to Fair Haven, MA, a north south traverse of Massachusetts and could have done it on a single charge. We decided to stop and top up at a fast charger for the way home, but it really wasn't necessary. The daily commutes are easy with an EV. Longer trips require a small amount of planning, but it isn't difficult. There are apps and charging stations everywhere, and the infrastructure is getting better and more widespread all the time.
We felt that it was time to make the switch. We were able to make it work financially, and we have the convenience of being able to charge at home (more on that in the next post). Like any big purchase, you have to make sure it will work for you, but we respectfully ask you to consider an electric vehicle for your next car. This post was pretty light hearted, but the reality is that these kind of changes are necessary. I heard about a study done in Europe regarding the lifecycle analysis of an EV vs a Gas powered car, and even in countries that mostly burn coal to produce electricity, an EV wins out from a emissions standpoint. I found a wonderful article summarizing that study here: (EV vs. Gas) though I first heard it on a podcast called How to Save the Planet, also a great resource.
-Nate
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