The Wait is Over! (update to Timeline for Rebate and HOV Stickers)

Finally! Today the rebate has arrived!

Overall this was my waiting period was as follows;

It took 10 days for my plates to arrive, which then I could submit the application to the DMV for the carpool sticker. It was 43 days since purchase (or 32 days since application) for my HOV sticker to arrive. and a final count of 50 days for the rebate to arrive.

The rebate arrived much quicker than I expected (after I got the “Rebate approved” email. I thought it would’ve taken even longer.

In hindsight, 7 weeks doesn’t seem like a long time, but when you’re checking your mail box every day for stickers or a check, it can feel like 7 months.

I hope this timeline can help others who are waiting for their HOV sticker or rebate.

🙂

Timeline for Rebate and HOV Stickers

Waiting for rebates sucks. Waiting for the HOV sticker while you longing look at the easy breezy HOV lane while you’re stuck in traffic, Sucks.

Here is the timeline that I have experienced since the date of purchase. Still waiting..
The “Rebate Approved” email says I should receive the check within 90 days. (3 months is another long wait. I hope its sooner).

You can submit the rebate right away after purchase,
You need to wait for your plates before you can submit the forms for the HOV stickers

Update –
Finally got the HOV Sticker!

43 Days (6 weeks) since purchase, 32 Days  (4 weeks) since application

200 Mile Range electric car in the near future

Thank you Telsa for sharing your brilliance and patents.

Fiat and Mercedes already incorporate Telsa technology into their electric cars, and now that Telsa has shared their patents, the manufactures are currently working on cars that will go double the current range (150-200 miles) on a single charge. A 200 mile range would ease a lot of worries for most people and probably make an electric car very appealing. I think a major road block will be charging when electric cars become more popular (which also includes the infrastructure for electricity distribution).

Chevy’s concept car the Bolt is expected to have a 200 mile range and a $30k price tag.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/197327-200-mile-30k-chevy-bolt-ev-and-chevy-volt-2-0-revealed-at-detroit-auto-show

So what happen when the battery runs out

This is the first question most people will ask, (and I have asked it myself)
Now that I own an electric car, I do find the question rather silly. Since a full charge of an electric car is safely 80 miles, (you can push it farther) but 80 is a safe # to stay at where you wont freak out. 80miles is roughly about 1/3 of a normal car’s gas tank MPG. So when you think of it, how often do you really worry when you gas tank is at 1/3? Not very often.

Now imagine only driving with 1/3 of your gas tank, but every morning when you get home your gas tank is filled back to 1/3 again.
On your typical day, you can probably go quite far finishing most errands with 1/3 of your gas tank and not really worry about it.

For now, my daily commute would only be 40-50 miles/ day, and my boyfriend (who was so impressed with the Fiat 500e got one himself) has a 60 mile commute everyday and its been fine. We’ve been able to get the cars home and charge them overnight. The cars only use about 50% of the battery, which is easily replenished to 100% with an overnight charge.

it is important to not think of the Fiat 500e (or any electric car for that matter) as your primary car. Its a commuter car, its gets you from point A – B to save you $ on gas (within a 80 mile round trip on one charge – or unless you have a charging station at your work a 100-160 mile round trip).

Rising gas prices to $4 within the month.

The best part of having an electric car is you want to high-five yourself every time you see gas prices going up. Since we’ve gotten the Fiat500e gas prices have gone up $1, and is expected to be $4 within the month. *Horray*

The Fiat500e comes with an andriod/iphone app that monitors your car’s performance and see how much $ you’ve saved overall and per trip.

🙂

How Do I charge this electric car?

So I learned the hard way, even when people say “there’s free charging” Its not as easy as it sounds, not that its not free, but you again gotta plan.
In my area there are Chargepoint chargers, Blink, and Clipper creek. there are probably more but these are the ones I’ve encountered.

Clippercreek – Free. So this one is the best because you can just plug it in.
Chargepoint – These may be free, or have a fee (its based on whoever owns it) BUT you NEED  a membership card inorder to use it. It took me over 2 weeks to receive the card.
 Blink –  Needs membership and activation to use. This card took 4 weeks to arrive.

 However, you can use a credit card with the “tap and go” at most stations but I have noticed that the rate is higher.

So about 2 weeks -3 weeks before you purchase your car, sign up for all these membership cards because it takes them a while to mail it to you, then you have to activate the card, then you can use it.

So far the only one I have found that I can use would be Clippercreek without a membership.

There are more but these are the only ones I know right now. I’ll update as I find out more.

To Buy or Lease? Should everyone go electric?

Before heading out to a dealership to get an electric car, you should first decide why you want an electric car.
There are usually 2 factors that people consider:
1: “I want to save the environment”
2: “I want to save money”

for me, it was #2, and #1 is just a nice bonus on top. Starting a 40-50 mile daily round trip commute, my big Premium unleaded Gas SUV, was not gonna help my wallet. I wanted to be economical, to spend as little as possible on transportation. My SUV was $500/month + about 300 in gas (with my new commute) = $800 a month.. That’s just too much. So I started researching electric, hybrids, or really cheap cars with high MPGS (like a Honda Civic).

However, nothing was as affordable as the electric car.
My total monthly payments on the Fiat is ~$150 (including taxes) with Zero down (due to the rebates)
Even on a free gas car, I would be spending $200-250 on gas + maintenance)

So, should everyone go electric? 

If you’re good at

• counting miles
• planning
• have a really scheduled commute where you know you’ll be going to and from under 80 miles a day
• have access to an outlet or charger
• have a paid off or really cheap gas car as a backup

then Yes its a good option

So, Should you buy or lease? 
Lease!
Electric is still in its infancy and technology is always upgrading. In a few years, the cars today will be ancient. Lease because there are a lot of great rebates from the Federal ($7500), State ($2500), and City (check your local area) I’ve seen some at ($2000). The rebates make having an electric car very affordable, so if you can manage it in your lifestyle its a great decision.

Fiat 500e Day 1 – finding the sweet spot

After I picked up the Fiat500e from the dealership, there was a full charge of 92 miles on it. It seems like the first 10-20 miles the range doesn’t seem to update really quickly. The first 10 miles the range barely moved a few miles, however near the 20 mile mark, the range dropped 20 miles. I drove a total of 35 miles, charged the car for 3 hours using a 120v (wall out) (that gave me ~10 miles of charge. So I started the drive with about 70 miles. I drove about 25 miles back home pretty ‘aggressively’, meaning how I would drive a normal gas car. By the time I got home I only had a 30 mile range left. (no a/c)

So the “Sweet Spot” where the car performs best is at speed limit on all roads. My parents house is 1 mile uphill, and the car didn’t use much power if I kept the speed at 25-30 mph (which is the speed limit at that area). On the freeway, the car didn’t use extra power if I stayed at 65 mph. Using A/C will drop your range by a 10 miles.