Each day we burn roughly 8.5 million barrels of oil in our passenger cars and trucks. To feed our oil addiction, we send nearly $1 billion overseas each day, often to governments unfriendly to US policies.
A switch to EVs will make for a more stable and secure United States. Oil payments to foreign nations contribute to half of our trade deficit. US armed forces spend up to $83 billion annually protecting vulnerable infrastructure and patrolling oil transit routes.
Even taking into account the emissions from the electricity produced to charge EVs, these vehicles on average emit *at least* 30% less CO2 than gas vehicles. And that’s today; as we clean up the electricity grid, EVs get even cleaner. Of course, charging EVs based on electricity that comes from solar and wind power is the cleanest way to power the vehicles.
Fuel and maintenance for EVs are significantly lower than gasoline vehicles. Fueling your car with electricity is about 5 times cheaper than fueling with gasoline. Pure EVs require no oil changes and have one tenth the number of moving parts than a gas car. There's no engine, transmission, spark plugs, valves, fuel tank, tailpipe, distributor, starter, clutch, muffler, or catalytic converter.
When Toyota first started selling the Prius in 2000, it sold only 5,800 of these new hybrids, and now more than a million have been sold. It is exciting, groundbreaking, and encouraging that GM and Nissan sold more than 17,000 vehicles in 2011, with tens of thousands of additional sales expected this year and from a growing number of manufacturers.
More than 20 different electric drive vehicles will be on the market within the next three years from virtually every major and several new car manufacturers – with plug-in vehicles and components being built in at least 20 states, creating thousands of new domestic jobs.
Plug-in vehicles are "fueled" by locally generated electrons. This means the money you spend on electricity stays in your community. This helps employ your neighbors, who then in turn spend more money in your community. Money spent locally circulates an average of 5 to 6 times before leaving the community. Whereas less than ~20 cents of each dollar spent on gasoline returns to the local community.
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