We're back!

Back again from hiatus. Well, we really never left. We've just been posting lots over at our official Facebook page. But hopefully we'll have finished two all new test drive reviews to tell you about. First we drove a new 2014 Volkswagen Beetle GSR, and we followed that up with a recent drive in a 2014 Tesla Model S 85. Both were very exciting. So look for those reviews later this week along with a few other stories.

Tesla Model S. The best car. EVER

In some news out of left field. The folks from Consumer Reports have come out an announced that the Tesla Model S is bar none, the BEST car they have ever tested. Interesting because of the fact that it is a full electric car. But that's also one of the biggest reasons why CR says it's the best. Styling is uniquely Tesla, and looks like nothing else on the road. Inside, a 17 inch touch screen panel controls just about everything in the car. Now how it is better than say a VW Jetta TDI?

Well, I'm not sure other than you can take the Jetta on long road trips. The Model S can handle say Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Longer trips are possible thanks to a network of supercharged charging stations that can charge the battery from empty to half full in about a half hour. However, expect a full charge to take 12 hours using normal 240 volt home electric. That can be cut down with an optional charger from Tesla that takes about 5 hours to recharge.

Sticker price for the Model S comes in at a hefty $90,000 give or take a couple hundred bucks. And lets face it. Frankly, it's not a Prius, and that's why we like it. Even though we still prefer our cars to suck gas, not electricity.

So, while it may not fit the need for everyone, it's pretty darn close for some. Unfortunately, for those of us here in Pittsburgh, and the rest of Pennsylvania for that matter. There are no Tesla dealers. There is a service center in Philadelphia, but the closest dealer is in Tysons Corner, Virginia which is just outside of Washington D.C. That is partially due to Tesla's troubles with their store style of dealer system that has the national and state dealer associations up in arms. And that's not to mention the other financial troubles that have hounded Tesla.

Here's hoping that Tesla sticks around for a while. 

Source: Consumer Reports, Tesla Motors.

Electric Cars Are Dropping Like Flies!

Is it just me or does the Coda Sedan look a little too much like an old Civic?

There are many critics of electric cars, especially people who work in the petroleum industry (that's slightly a joke, but only slightly). People cite the limited range of electric cars as a concern as well as battery problems, battery replacement costs, extra strains put on maxed-out electricity delivery systems, etc.

Well, these critics of electric vehicles should be having a party right now because it seems that electric car makers are dropping like flies. In case you missed the huge news from last week, Fisker Automotive is quickly moving toward bankruptcy. It seems that the company continued to tax money from the US government even though it knew that it was losing a massive amount of money with each Karma sold (insert joke about bad Karma here). Now Justin Bieber is going to have to find some new car he can have wrapped in chrome so the paparazzi has an extra easy time of tracking him wherever he goes.

To add to that bad news for EVs, now Coda Automotive has declared bankruptcy. Of course the question that everyone asked was who would be stupid enough to pay $40,000 for a Chinese electric car with no reputation to uphold, but that's beside the point. There are plenty of people who are declaring the death of the electric car at this very moment.

Of course there is still the Nissan Leaf, which was not selling very well until recently. And then there is the Tesla Model S, you know that piece of "vaporware" that the critics said would never come to pass. The Model S has racked up some serious awards and I've personally seen several on the roads here and have to say they look as good in person as in the marketing collateral. But apparently the electric car is dead.

Sure, Toyota backed out of a deal last year with Tesla to start making all-electric powertrains Some other automakers have also backed off of their EV projects. And some really big players like Daimler and Nissan/Renault have declared they are moving forward with hydrogen vehicles.Does this mean the electric car is dead?

If anything the electric car is showing more life than ever. These deaths are a necessary movement in the marketplace, the casualties of faulty planning rather than a faulty plan for powering vehicles. Evidence abounds at this, including the recent surge in Leaf sales as well as big automakers planning on releasing EVs in the near future. The Fiat 500E is coming soon, promising another inexpensive electric car as well as the Smart Fortwo Electric, to name just two. And Detroit Electric is back, although it remains to be seen just how well the automaker survives the next few years. 

As for those who fear that all these electric cars are going to overload the power grid, I have one thing to say: buy a solar array and take yourself off the grid. Problem solved.