It is nearly two years since I began my daily journeys in a clean, electrified vehicle — no particulates, zero emissions, human friendly, child friendly. I found myself driving in a light bubble that seemed to push the smell of gas to the periphery.
e-Car Club Nissan Leafs outside Northampton Derngate (Image: T. Larkum)
Becoming free dependence on oil/gas in my personal driving, it was initially easy to enjoy heightened optimism about air pollution and environmental concerns. I hoped that most drivers would to switch to electric vehicles — soon. If I could do it, many could.
Things have changed in an uncomfortable, challenging way within the history of those two years, though. EV range is the least of my worries.
I’m now accustomed to the ease and the smooth nature of the LEAF, and I sometimes take for granted what I fell in love with — the fluid ambiance and the sublime quietude that comes with a zero-emissions electric vehicle.
Remember the old saying,
“you don’t know what you have till it’s gone”?
I recently left the Nissan LEAF at the shop to get a tire changed. It was going to take a day, so Nissan offered me a nice new gasoline-powered loaner. Immediately, I felt the “rougher” feeling of an ICE car … just turning it on. No magical quiet jingles like the LEAF provides.
Taking off was fine, but not nearly as responsive as my LEAF, which moves like a silent airplane through time and space — without the smell of diesel or gasoline. I feel as if I am on a private plane in the LEAF. In the gas car, I was presented with a gravelly sound and feeling from under the car, a rumbling engine, and bad smells of gas. I felt I went backwards in time. It was similar to, but not nearly as deadly as, the day after the last election.
Read more: Clean Technica