Many people talk about the future of electric vehicles but Sonoma's Mayor has gone further and purchased a Chevy Volt, one of the top-selling "plug-in" cars on the U.S. market.
Joanne Sanders told the city council at a recent meeting she has bought her first American car from Sonoma Chevrolet.
"It's very high-tech; the kids love it," she said.
At the time, she said she had driven over 760 miles and hadn't yet gone to a gas station.
"It's really liberating," she said. "It saves over $400 a month, which goes a long way to cover that debt. There are lots of benefits, like the HOV lane. It's $1.60 for electricity to go $40 miles."
Sanders tweets about the mileage savings on her Twitter account.
Patch went for a ride in Sanders' new set of wheels on Friday. It was smooth and quiet, around town.
The vehicle uses both a rechargeable lithium battery and a gas generator. It automatically switches to gas when the battery needs charging.
Sanders says she has just driven 1,618 miles, using one tank of gas that cost her $25, whereas that distance would have cost her about $325 in her previous vehicle, she said.
The base model Volt gets 38 miles per charge, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
Sanders charges the Volt at home, with an outlet on the side of her house, under a carport, as seen in the attached video.
We took a few minutes to check out some of the city's Charge Point charging stations. Drivers can use a credit card to activate the chargers or purchase a ChargePoint card. According to the City staff, the ChargePoint card works best to operate the stations. To obtain a ChargePoint card, drivers can call a phone number and it will be sent by mail. Once you have it, just swipe it in front of the station. Here's the website for more information on purchasing a ChargePoint card. To use a credit card, it must be contactless. Contact your credit card company for more information.
The city of Sonoma has two city-owned charging stations at a parking lot near the corner of First Street East and East Napa Street. They were installed with grants obtained by the county of Sonoma.
The County of Sonoma last year was voted "Most Electric Vehicle Ready Community for 2011" by a group called Bay Area Climate Collaborative. Eleven agencies were nominated for the award, according to this Patch story. Agencies were judged on the number of installed and proposed charging stations, adopted policies and ordinances in support of charging stations, ease of permitting for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, outreach and education to catalyze the EV market, and a number of other criteria.
TELL US: We'd like to hear from other readers about their electric cars. Have you bought one? What is your savings estimate? If you haven't bought one, are you considering it?
