Tag Archives: electric car maintenance

Sustainability

4 Surefire Ways To Save Money On Your Car Usage

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It’s an inevitable fact of life that you need your car. No matter how much you try and save money by taking lifts with pals, using the good old public transport system and walking once in a while, sometimes only a car will do. A trusty four-wheeled motor also gives you the freedom to go where you want as and when you please. You can drive off the beaten track to find a secluded spot for some downtime, or you can find the quickest route to get to your mom and dads without having to change trains twice before taking a bus across the state.

The world of automotives can be a bit of a minefield. There are a ridiculous amount of cars on the market ranging from the swanky new hybrids that utilize greener and more sustainable technologies to the older, yet more affordable diesel guzzlers. No matter what your vehicle of choice is, you can save money in the way that you use your car. Read on to find out more.

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Buy New… If You Can

One strategy that car dealers swear by is to purchase new off the forecourt. Many people disagree with this stating that the moment you drive your shiny new car away from the dealer, your car has already depreciated in value. While this is true, a new car will give you the reliability and warranty you need to ensure you’re not forking out hundreds or maybe even thousands each year on maintenance. Your brand new vehicle should have at least a three-year warranty meaning that if anything breaks down or stops working during this time, you should get a free replacement. The ability to keep the car for longer before having to trade it in means that you won’t be losing money every time you swap your vehicle. It makes more economic sense to keep a vehicle for six or seven years rather than changing every two to three.

A new car is also safer. They have enhanced features such as side impact bars, computerized technologies that allow you to see behind you and intuitive braking systems that will deploy in the event of a potential accident. Older cars, while they may be cheaper, will have a higher chance of being in rear-end bumps that often mean lawyers like Babcock Partners are called in. Try to mitigate this with a newer, more reliable and safer vehicle.

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Maintenance

There are points in every car owner’s life where it feels like everything’s falling apart at once. Your car’s exhaust might be blowing, the tires threads are near the legal limit, and you need to swap a headlight. In the scheme of things, these are relatively minor outgoings to keep your car running. The bigger issues occur when the drive shafts, cam belt or gearbox need changing. If you have an older vehicle, it can often make more financial sense to purchase a whole new car rather than change a particularly expensive component.

Make sure you check out the manual of your car and complete all of the basic maintenance checks. Change the oil filters when necessary, get your car serviced at the correct intervals and always have good grippy tires on your vehicle. This can make your car more fuel efficient saving you money on gas. By keeping your car well looked after you’ll receive a premium price when you do eventually trade in.

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Common Sense

If you have a particularly busy day ahead of you ferrying the kids to swimming lessons, doing a spot of grocery shopping, checking in on the parents and popping to the library to hand back some books, make sure you’re sensible with your car usage. It makes sense to combine these tasks into one car journey rather than heading home after each one. Try to formulate a route that is the quickest and uses the least miles saving you money on fuel.

When obtaining the all-important insurance for your car, you need to shop around and not accept the first offer you’re given. Even if you’ve been with the same insurance provider for years, there’s no reward for loyalty. If you can save $200 by changing your provider and the cover is like for like then swap.

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How You Drive

You may be one of those human beings that loves nothing better than accelerating through the gears quickly and reaching the speed limit as fast as you can. While this may get you to your destination a fraction faster, you’ll also be consuming more fuel as your speed demon ways rattle up through the gears too quickly. Keep your acceleration at a more average pace to save more money on gas.

Although the thought of car sharing can make you break out in cold sweats as you might need to relinquish the driving duties once in a while, you could be cutting down your car running costs massively. If you carpool with a work colleague and share driving and car duties, you’ll logically be cutting down your fuel expenditure and car usage by half. This makes fantastic monetary sense. You’ll also be doing your admirable little bit for the environment as one less car will be on the road during rush hour traffic.

It goes without saying, but you should be driving sensibly and be the epitome of a responsible driver. Don’t allow yourself to be drawn into roadside arguments, don’t allow your frustrations with other road users lead you to drive erratically and keep to the laws of the land. Simply by using your common sense, you can save money on the roads.

While driving may be an expensive business, there are ways you can cut the costs of your car usage. Car ownership is necessary for millions, but this doesn’t mean you have to forego a decent quality of life to maintain a decent vehicle. Utilize some of these tips to ensure that you remain a thrifty, money-conscious car owner.

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5 Reasons You Should Rock Down To Electric Avenue

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There is no denying the EV revolution has begun to gain momentum, but there still aren’t enough people sat in the driving seats of these vehicles. Of course, it is only a matter of time before this changes, namely because they are becoming more alluring and sexy. At one point it was a market dominated by Nissan Leaf’s and the G-Wiz, but now we have the likes of Porsche set to enter the market and Tesla already doing their thing, which will inherently make going electric more appealing.

However, to wait would be criminal, so what can we do to urge more driver’s to go electric now? Well, the obvious answer – at least in our eyes – is to educate them. After all, the benefits are already available, it is just a matter of getting them into the frontal lobes of people in the market for a new car.

So, without further ado, here are the biggest positives to add to your EV argument:

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  1. Fuel Savings

We don’t want to overload you with math because these arguments rarely hold sway over the Average Joe, so we’ll keep it sweet. The average electric car uses $3.74 worth of electricity to complete 100 miles. A conventional car costs $13.36. That is a saving of $9.62 every 100 miles, or a saving of $1,154 every 12,000 miles (which is the annual average).

  1. Safety Matters

For anyone stepping into a car, the matter of safety is right the way up there. That is where electric cars snatch another point from the gas-using counterparts. Not only do EVs have less moving parts, meaning there is less likely to go wrong, and thus less chance of a collision ending with you hiring the experts at https://www.davidchristensenlaw.com/, they also don’t use gasoline; a highly flammable – and explosive – liquid. The other thing worth pointing out on this front is there is no fire required. Unlike in gasoline cars.They require a spark in order for them to run hot. Do the math.

  1. Purchase Price

Since these cars were first introduced to the market, their prices have tumbled dramatically. The Nissan Leaf has slashed over $6000 from its cost, Honda has reduced the price of its Fit EV by a third, and the Mitsubishi I-MiEV is now under $15,000 when you factor in the federal tax credits that are offered. That is hard for anyone to ignore.

  1. Tax Incentives

We mentioned the federal tax credit thing briefly, but it really demands its own section. In short, the federal government offers up to $7500 in tax credits when you purchase an EV, while some states and local governments offer other incentives too. If the former part of that statement interests you then you can read about it in depth at https://energy.gov. This drastically reduces the cost of a new car, whether you paying upfront or looking to pay it off in finance. We can’t say exactly how much of an incentive you will get in your area, but it is worth looking up when shopping around.

  1. Less Maintenance

If we point you back to number 2, you will notice we touched on the less moving parts thing. To expand on this in the briefest way possible, less moving parts means less maintenance. No engine, no spark plugs, no valves, transmission, catalytic converter, distributor or anything like that. You know what we’re saying.

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Electric Vehicles: Playing With Fire?

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Naturally, any new type of technology is going to spark concerns about safety. Electric cars have been evolving for a while now, and they’re also a new take on something that has already existed for a long time too. So concerns over their safety aren’t exactly rife, and most people are probably more concerned about the safety of autonomous cars. But there are still some concerns that people have with the safety of electric vehicles on the road, as well as in other situations. Read on to find out some of the issues people have with electric vehicles and whether they’re right to be concerned.

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Electric Car Fires

One of the problems that have arisen in relation to electric cars is the risk of fire. A few fires involving electric vehicles have occurred, which have made some people question their safety. Some politicians have even used these instances to put down electric cars. However, these accidents are very rare, which is why they often appear in the news. Most of them are connected to the use of lithium-ion batteries, which are no longer used in mass-produced electric cars. In fact, the rate of fires involving gasoline cars is much higher. However, it’s important to remember that this could be because there are still fewer electric cars on the road.

Safety in Accidents

Safety on the road and how electric cars perform in accidents is also important. Like any other car, electric vehicles need to go through vigorous safety tests and receive a safety rating. In addition, EVs need to conform to specific standards just for electric vehicles. These include things such as chemical spillage from batteries and ensuring batteries are secure in a crash. One benefit electric cars can offer is that their lower center of gravity often means they’re less likely to roll over. Still, if you drive an electric vehicle, you still need to be prepared for accidents by following guidance like the advice at https://www.caraccidentlawyer-ny.com/brooklyn-car-accident-lawyer/. It’s always better to assume that you could get into a crash caused by you or someone else.

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Electric Vehicles and Pedestrians

One safety concern specific to electric vehicles relates to their quiet operation. While this is a benefit in some ways, it can also pose a danger to pedestrians. When pedestrians cross the road, it’s helpful if they can both watch and listen for traffic. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking at ways this issue could be addressed. They have suggested it could be helpful to require EVs to emit sounds at low speeds – something that some vehicles already have. Drivers should be extra careful to watch out for pedestrians when driving an electric vehicle.

Maintenance for Electric Vehicles

To keep electric vehicles safe, it’s important to conduct regular maintenance. Different vehicles have different maintenance requirements, but all should have their electrical systems checked often. This helps to prevent accidents and other issues. Find out more at http://knowhow.napaonline.com/electric-car-maintenance-need-know/.

Electric vehicles have some of their own safety concerns, but they largely share the same issues as other vehicles. They can even be safer in some respects.

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The Best Things About Buying an Electric Car

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If you’re considering buying a car these days, you might want to think about buying electric. Electric cars are a greener way of driving, and they represent the future of cars. There are an awful lot of advantages to buying an electric car. Here are just some of the best things about them. These should encourage you to go out and buy one.

Cheaper

You’ll find that electric cars often end up being cheaper than a lot of regular cars. They’ll be cheaper to buy in some cases. But the main way in which you’re going to save money is that they are cheaper to run. You see electric cars don’t require petrol to run, and instead run on electricity. All you have to do is charge your car at an electricity port overnight, and you’re good to go. You will save so much money by using an electric car that it will more than make up for if you paid more to get one. It’s also convenient as it means you don’t have to pull over on journey’s to fill your car up with petrol. As the cost of petrol increases, it’s becoming less and less affordable. Going electric certainly makes sense in this capacity.

Preparing for the Future

When you buy an electric car, you’ll be helping the environment. But just as important as that you’ll be preparing for the future. There will come a time soon when electric cars will reign supreme. It might be quite a way off at this point, but it can’t hurt to prepare. Indeed, many car manufacturers are already taking steps to prepare, with the release of hybrids. In fact, it won’t be long before you’ll b e able to visit the GK Group and find hybrids alongside their vast selection of used cars. Hybrid cars symbolise the fact that many manufacturers know electric cars will shape the future. They want to try to integrate the green ethos of electric vehicles with their designs.

Greener

One of the best things about buying electric cars is the fact that they are eco-friendly. These days it’s important to look towards greener living. We need to look after the planet and take steps in our daily lives that will benefit the environment. One of the big ways to do this is through buying an electric car. Regular cars produce harmful CO2 emissions that are bad for the environment and pollute the ozone layer. Electric cars produce nothing of the sort. They run on electricity, not petrol and thus have no emissions. They can just be charged when they run low on electricity, so they make for a much more environmentally sound car.

Less Maintenance

A great advantage of an electric car over a regular one is the lack of maintenance. Electric cars contain fewer parts than regular cars. As a result, they are less prone to problems than normal cars are. What you look for in a car is reliability, and electric cars are reliable. They run on a charge so are less susceptible to poor conditions. With an electric car, you’ll likely find yourself in the service garage much less than you would with a regular car.

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Why You Need to Buy An Electric Car

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When you’re shopping around for your next car, you should give serious thought to going electric. Electric cars are the greener healthier alternative to more regular motors. They also look set to shape the future of automobiles. Many manufacturers are slowly beginning to integrate hybrid models into their releases. And there’s likely to come a time in the future when electric cars will reign supreme.

Here are some of the main reasons why you want to think about getting yourself an electric car:

Cheaper

One of the most compelling reasons you should buy an electric car is because they’re much cheaper than petrol powered cars. Okay, to buy they might cost a similar amount, but the running costs will work out to be much less. Because electric cars don’t run on petrol, they cost a lot less to operate. To run 100 miles on electricity is much less expensive than doing the same journey with petrol. Another major advantage is that you won’t have to deal with the issue of rising fuel costs. Each year it seems like the cost of petrol is on the rise, hitting drivers in the wallet. But if you have an electric car you sidestep this issue altogether, and you end up paying the same price all the time.

Look to the Future

If you’ve given any thought to buying an electric car the time to do it would be now. They will only increase in popularity. And in the future there may come a time when the only cars we drive are electric cars. A time when you’ll be able to visit an automotive retail centre and drive away behind the wheel of an electric car. With the news this month that Apple has started work on an electric car the future looks bright. It won’t be long before electric vehicles become the more popular choice, and their prices climb. Make sure you get one now to prepare yourself for the future of automotive travel.

Less Maintenance

When you have a petrol powered car, one of the biggest pains is the constant servicing and maintenance that’s needed. Well, with electric cars you can wave this problem goodbye. They are cheap and easy to maintain. Our friends at Inchcape Toyota clarified that there are fewer moving parts than on cars powered by gasoline and there aren’t problems with fiddly internal issues preventing the car from working. As long as the battery gets plugged in on charge you should have no issues running the car. Think about how great it would be to not have to make that journey to the service garage every few weeks.

Eco-Friendly

Electric cars are much more environmentally conscious than their petrol powered counterparts. These days it’s important that we all to steps to be a little more green. Looking after planet Earth is something that is high on most people’s agendas, and it should be high on yours. An electric car produces none of those harmful CO2 emissions that play havoc with the ozone layer. As such you don’t have to worry about the harmful gasses you’re pumping into the atmosphere. Sure, the electricity must come from somewhere, but it will be a much less harmful source than petrol.

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Tips for Driving an Electric Car

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Range and battery life are a real concern for a lot of people who drive electric cars.  A lot of them are usually very anxious about driving their electric vehicles for long distances. However, individuals who follow these tips and use their cars appropriately will enjoy a longer battery life, and they will not suffer any anxiety while driving an electric car.

1.      Use apps to scout available charging stations in your route.

A bit of planning will literally help you to go a long way in your electric car. Before driving the electric car, it is important to know all the charging stations within your route. There are a lot of applications that can help you to scout for all available charging stations. These applications can help you to pinpoint a charging station on a map so that you do not find yourself hysterically searching for a charging point as your battery life dwindles towards zero.

2.      Slow down

While driving fast may be desirable, it will also drain your battery and grind you to a halt. Slowing down will impact your battery life, and help you to drive for longer without the need to recharge.

3.      Maintain your electric car

Electric cars are much easier to maintain than their oil-fuelled counterparts. However, a lot of people neglect them, and this can be detrimental on the road. A well-maintained electric car can serve its owner better. It is therefore better to always ensure that the tyre pressure is right, and that the tyres are rotated properly. You should also check the battery frequently, and replace it when necessary. Furthermore, you should follow the manufacturer’s manual and use the maintenance tips outlined there. A lot of driving schools these days, such as, my driving school, advice their students on how to properly maintain an electric car so that it serves them well.

4.      Always use the easy route

If there are two ways to get to a destination, always choose the one that will be less stressful to your car, and ultimately, to you. Avoid roads that are hilly or rocky as the vehicle consumes more battery in order to go through such paths. Always choose lanes and routes that are smoother and easier to drive on. This will help the car to preserve energy so that the driver can use it for longer.

5.      Try not to get lost

This looks like a fool-proof tip, but it is very important. Anyone who is worried about the range that their vehicle can cover should try as much as possible to get to their destination on time. Electric car owners should use all the tools at their disposal, including travel applications, GPS and maps to ensure that they do not waste precious energy trying to find their way.

Electric cars have a lot of benefits as they help their owners to reduce their carbon footprint while saving them a lot of fuel money. It is therefore paramount for electric car owners to follow these tips and more that are outlined in mydrivingschool.com.au, so that their vehicles can serve them well wherever they go.

 

About the Author

Mark Long is an avid researcher and an experienced writer on a number of topics. He has a passion for car-related topics, and frequently advices his readers on driving tips as outlined by my driving school at mydrivingschool.com.au