The Energy Consumer's Bulletin- a New England energy news blog

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Electric vehicles/Transportation (20)

Having Our Cake and Eating It Too: How to use your heating oil savings wisely

Updated: August 10, 2017.
Compared to many years ago, the last few heating seasons have shown moderate prices and very little fluctuations. According to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA), the inventory of distillate oil (which covers heating oil and diesel fuel) is high. As a result, the likelihood of a price spike is quite low. However, the EIA does project a modest price increase of about 20 cents per gallon on average in the US between now and mid-winter.

Picture of Larry Chretien Larry Chretien

"Ride & Drive" electric vehicle demonstrations are out there - go find your green car!

Some years ago, the words “electric car” would make a lot of people scoff – either because they didn’t think it was ever going to be practical, or they had technical reasons or resignation that the car industry was not interested. Electric vehicles (EVs) are a reality now, and they are giving combustion engines a run for their money. Tens of thousands are on the road; the numbers keep rising, and every car company is jumping in the game. Models like the Chevy Volt, BMW i3, Nissan LEAF, SMART, Mercedes B-Class, Tesla and the Ford Fusion are just a few of the big names out there today. 

I Want to Buy an Electric Vehicle Part 6: Happy With My Chevy Volt After Two Months

Readers of this blog know that my family bought a 2015 Chevy Volt on August 21, 2014.  I’m happy to report that two months later, we are thrilled with the car.  After doing a lot of research on the Volt, Prius Plug-In and Nissan Leaf, we chose the Volt and it is exceeding our high expectations.

Background:  The Volt is a plug-in hybrid.  When the battery is fully charged, my Volt has a range of about 40 miles (I’ve gone 47), more than its 38 mile EPA rating.   If I deplete the battery, the car runs on gasoline (actually gasoline fuels a generator that runs the motor on electricity).

Picture of Larry Chretien Larry Chretien

I Want to Buy an Electric Vehicle Part 5: The Decision

Our new car is a Chevy Volt!

This past Friday, the Chretien family traded in our fabulous 2002 Toyota Prius and bought a 2015 Chevrolet Volt.  After three months of research and test drives, we decided to go with the Volt if we could find a Chevy dealer we could tolerate.  It was a difficult choice because we also liked the Prius Plug-In Hybrid and the all-electric Nissan Leaf.  We would have been happy with either of those, especially given that we loved our 2002 Prius and still love our 2008 Prius.  In fact, we even thought about holding off on buying a plug-in for a year or two because the 2002 Prius has been running great.  On recent highway drives, it was getting 55 miles per gallon (mpg). 

Picture of Larry Chretien Larry Chretien

Drive Greener: Green Cars for a Clean Energy Future

Drive Green, Live Green

At greenercars.org, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released its 17th annual comprehensive environmental ratings for vehicles.  Choosing “green” cars is one of the most important of many steps that an individual can take to reduce climate change and our dependence upon foreign oil.  About 33% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions come from the burning of gasoline in internal-combustion engines of cars and light trucks. 

Tien Le