[bigiron]

Do Electric car owners leave their headlights off at night to save battery? Do Electric car owners leave their windshield wipers off in the rain to save battery? Do Electric car owners refuse to hit the brakes so the brake lights don’t come on to save battery? Do Electric car owners refuse to use a turn signal to save battery? Do Electric car owners not run their heater in the winter to save battery? Do Electric car owners not run the A/C in the summer to save battery? Do Electric car owners not have a radio/CD player in the car to save battery? Do Electric car owners come to visit & ask to plug their car in at your house to use your electric for "Free"? Just asking!

[American in Israel]

All your answers, no. The power usage by the wiper is insignificant compared to 100 feet of road traveled, etc.

The brakes actually recharge the batteries so that is not an issue.

Electric cars are twice the complexity as all of them have to have gas power anyway. So with twice the complexity to get done the same job maintenance is twice as much.

I have seen many studies that show the extra you pay for electric is never returned in fuel savings in the life of the car. Part of that is becasue fuel efficiency is directly related to the weight you are hauling around. So with the extra weight of batteries you end up not getting as much back as you would hope. For example look at the hybrid vs non hybrid ford excape. You can pick up 4 miles per gallon going hybrid on a 28 mpg car. Not exciting really.

So electric cars are for hobbyists. Not quite practical. Run out of gas, get a soda bottle full to get to the gas station, Run out of battery, get a tow truck to get you back to your charger.