Going Electric
Bergen County’s early adopters have wholeheartedly embraced ‘EVs.’ How fast the rest of us follow remains to be seen.
Sherod Gillis, a Mahwah resident, is driving along the Garden State Parkway in his electric pickup and cataloguing its many virtues when he’s stopped in mid-sentence by the sight of a late-model Hummer, General Motors’ civilian version of the military truck known as a Humvee. “Go figure,” he says of a sight that’s downright incongruous. Unlike the Hummers of yore—to many, the quintessential American gas guzzlers—this one, like Gillis’s Rivian pickup, is all electric. Discontinued in 2010, the Hummer was reborn as an electric vehicle in 2022, and in its latest iteration it stands as a testament to the inroads that electric vehicles, or EVs, have made in just a few years. For more than three years straight—from July 2020 to September 2023—sales of electric vehicles in the U.S. have increased every quarter, to a high of more than 300,000 in the third quarter of 2023, with EVs now accounting for 7.9 percent of the U.S. auto market. Most states, including New Jersey, currently offer incentives designed to promote EV ownership. President Biden has set the national goal of having 50 percent of all new cars sold by 2030 be electric. And earlier this year, Governor Murphy announced an initiative whose aim is for all new cars in the state to be electric by 2035. (Keep in mind, though, that that’s a goal and not a requirement.)
We’ve got a way to go to reach that milestone, but nevertheless, New Jersey is No. 6 in the nation in terms of registered EVs (and No. 17 in terms of percentage of population), with more than 123,000 as of June 2023, and Bergen is No. 1 among the state’s counties, with almost 12,000. (Both of those figures include plug-in hybrid electric vehicles—whose motors can be charged by plugging them in, unlike those of traditional hybrids—as well as straightforward EVs.) In 2023 the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office added two EVs—a Chevrolet Bolt and a Tesla Model Y—to its fleet as part of the Bergen County Electric Car Initiative. While there are signs that the market for electric vehicles may be slowing, that lull could, in fact, prove a boon to consumers in the form of lowered prices. Whether we accelerate or stall on the road to electrification will depend, in large part, on carmakers’ ability to ensure that the many advantages of EVs outweigh their disadvantages.
AN ENVIRONMENTAL BOON?
The motivation behind the development of the current crop of electric vehicles is largely environmental. P. J. Ricatto, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry at Bergen Community College and the college’s sustainability officer, notes that “the biggest pro of the EV is that the vehicle itself is carbon-neutral”—that is, driving an electric vehicle puts no additional carbon into the atmosphere. For Bergen residents, that also means not adding to the emissions that have made the county the most polluted in New Jersey. Consider, too, that the act of filling your car with gas has a larger carbon footprint than simply burning that gas via internal combustion. “All the energy that’s necessary to pull oil out of the ground, transport it somewhere and refine it, then ship it by pipeline or truck or barge to another place and then put it in your car is just a huge chain of pollution,” says Justin Manger, a member of Green Ridgewood, the town’s environmental association and himself an EV owner.
Of course, a carbon-neutral vehicle can still have a carbon footprint. In 2022, 41 percent of America’s electricity was derived from non-carbon sources such as solar, wind and nuclear; the rest came from fossil fuels—coal, oil and natural gas. So the size of an EV’s actual carbon footprint depends, in large part, on where it’s being charged. In Bergen, says Ricatto, “most of our electricity is generated from gas-fired power plants, which are relatively efficient.” As U.S. plants continue to transition to renewable energy sources, the carbon footprint of a typical EV will go down. Hillsdale resident Fran Green (who asked that we not use her actual last name in the interest of privacy) decided to lease her Polestar 2—an electric vehicle manufactured by Volvo—in part because she wanted to reduce her personal carbon footprint. When she charges the car at her second home in Massachusetts, where she’s installed solar panels, the Polestar is almost completely carbon-neutral.
Of course, manufacturing any vehicle, electric or otherwise, consumes energy, but studies have shown that producing the lithium-ion batteries that power EVs consumes significantly more energy than the production of a typical gas-powered car. The greater environmental concern regarding the construction of EVs, however, is the lithium itself. The process of mining lithium ore consumes large amounts of water, and toxic chemicals from the mining process can leach into the surrounding water supply. There is a potential solution, says Ricatto, and that’s ditching lithium for a mineral that’s more readily available in the environment. But as with our dependence on petroleum, the lithium habit may be hard to kick.
GETTING A CHARGE OUT OF ELECTRIC
Ask EV owners what they like about their vehicles beyond the environmental advantages and you’re likely to hear the word “fun.” “I just really enjoy the drive,” says Green, who, like so many other aficionados, loves the fact that virtually all of the vehicles accelerate almost instantly. Thanks to the way EV motors are constructed (including the fact that the vehicles don’t have transmissions), most can go from zero to 60 miles an hour in less than five seconds, and many can do so in less than three. “So when you’re making a turn or merging or crossing a street,” says Green, “you never need to worry about whether there’s going to be enough power there.”
Fun, in fact, is what motivates some owners to buy an EV in the first place. Montvale resident Bosco Gong was planning to buy what he calls “a preretirement toy” and was looking at a number of high-end, German gas-powered vehicles when a friend extolled the pleasures of his own Tesla. Wowed after test-driving a Tesla, Gong bought it the same day.
Part of the fun of driving an EV, owners say, is its regenerative braking, which has the added benefit of energy efficiency. In a gas-powered car, braking results in an enormous loss of energy in the form of heat as the brakes engage. While electric vehicles do have brakes, most of the driving—and braking—is done with the accelerator pedal. When the driver releases the accelerator, the flow of electricity from the battery to the motor is halted, but the motor keeps spinning, thereby pulling energy back into the vehicle. For many EV drivers, this one-pedal form of driving—similar, say, to driving a go-kart—offers an enhanced sense of control.
Much of what owners love about EVs is, in fact, found in the negatives. Because there are fewer parts in an electric vehicle, says Manger, “you don’t have oil changes, you don’t need to get new spark plugs”— there aren’t any in EVs—“and you don’t have emissions testing.” You’re likely to need fewer repairs for the same reason. “You should be able to get 200,000 miles out of your EV without any engine or drivetrain issues,” says Ricatto. Since Manger bought his Tesla Model 3 in 2018, he’s only had to replace the air filter, windshield wipers and tires. (A caveat: Given that EVs tend to be significantly heavier than comparable gas-powered vehicles, you may need to replace the tires slightly more often.) Finding a qualified mechanic shouldn’t present a challenge, since most dealerships can handle repairs and maintenance. And getting parts, once a challenge, has become much easier over the past several years.
There was a time when complaints about EVs included a lack of storage space, but as the cars have changed, so has their capacity for cargo. In fact, one of the reasons that Bergen resident Ira Gross bought his Tesla Model Y was its large storage capacity. “You’ve got the ‘frunk’—the front trunk, which is a nice, big storage space. And there are two trunks in the back, a rear trunk and a sub trunk,” he says. And then there’s the happiest negative of all. “I love that I never have to go to a gas station,” says Green. It’s an advantage that goes beyond convenience. Paying for electricity rather than gas equates to a savings of between $6,000 and $10,000 over the life of an EV, according to Consumer Reports.
GOT RANGE?
Of course, that advantage is counterbalanced by the current disadvantages inherent in EV charging. While a typical fill-up at a gas station usually takes only a few minutes, charging an EV at a public station can take a good 20 to 30 minutes. That’s why most owners charge their electric vehicles overnight at home, using what’s known as a level 2 charger. Costing between $300 and $1,200 on average, including installation, these chargers use a 240-volt outlet for faster, more efficient charging, and their costs can generally be defrayed with rebates available from many municipalities, counties, states and utility companies, as well as the federal government. New Jersey, for instance, offers a $250 incentive toward the cost of a level 2 charger under the Charge Up New Jersey Program.
For the majority of owners, as well as those considering the purchase of an EV, the real disadvantage isn’t the length of charging but the availability of public chargers, coupled with what’s come to be known as “range anxiety.” On a full charge, today’s EVs, depending on make and model, can travel anywhere from 200 to over 500 miles. If you’ll just be using your EV to commute to work or go relatively short distances, range anxiety shouldn’t come into play.
Trips that require more than a home charge can be fraught, however, especially if they involve travel through states, like Wyoming or North Dakota, whose charging infrastructure is patchy. Many Tesla owners cite the company’s vaunted network of public chargers as a major reason for choosing the brand. “The Tesla network works well and there are charging stations all over the place,” says Gross. Tesla technology also allows you to determine when and where you’ll need to charge during any given trip.
Surprisingly, New Jersey has the nation’s worst ratio of EV owners to public EV chargers—41.34, as opposed, for example, to Massachusetts at 12.61. But both municipalities and counties in the state are working to fill the gap. Bergen, for instance, has installed new charging stations at the county administrative complex in Hackensack, bringing the total of chargers in county facilities to 37, and is about to embark on a study to determine how many more are needed. “It’s about recognizing the fact that more and more drivers in Bergen County are driving electric vehicles,” as well as providing charging capacity for the county’s own growing electric fleet, says Jared Lautz, deputy chief of staff in the County Executive’s Office, who oversees Bergen’s energy efficiency initiatives.
ELECTRIC (STICKER) SHOCK
Perhaps the greatest downside to EVs is the lofty expense of purchasing one. At roughly $26,000, the Chevy Bolt is at the low end of the EV price spectrum; on the other hand, that Hummer will cost you upwards of $100,000. The average price of an EV, Kelley Blue Book estimates, is around $66,000, higher than the $49,000 overall average car price.
But those EV numbers don’t tell the full story. A variety of incentives can significantly bring down the cost of purchasing an electric vehicle. In January 2024, for example, eligible buyers will be able to transfer the $7,500 federal Clean Vehicle Credit to a dealership as a down payment. And as part of New Jersey’s Drive Green initiative, qualified buyers or lessees can receive up to $4,000 for purchasing or leasing an electric vehicle. Buyers and lessees may also qualify for federal and/or state tax credits. And as more of us buy into the EV market, notes Ricatto, that average price is likely to continue to decrease. If that decrease is significant and prompt and if EV technology continues to evolve apace, those of us not yet behind the wheel of an electric vehicle may soon be enticed to renounce petroleum for good—and maybe have a little fun in the process.
