mwalsh said:
Yeah, I won't exceed 70mph either. If they want to go faster and I don't feel like getting out of the HOV lane (which is happening increasingly)....just too f**in' bad!
First let me say I don't feel very sympthetic to Googler's plight. He could have known before he ordered that the car didn't fit his driving needs. I wouldn't have ordered if I hadn't had an ample range margin over my typical commuting needs. And it seemed clear to me from his first postings that he was very skeptical of the car he was buying.
Secondly though, I appreciate Googler's reports. The second wave of EV purchasers will not know as much about driving efficiency as the early adopters - not even as much as I now (think I) know after reading this forum for several months. Googler's experiences will not be unique, and they may help Nissan avoid similar bad customer experiences. Also, I think it was Googler who contributed the code to link Google search into this forum, providing the first and only practical means of searching postings. A huge thank-you for that!
Thirdly, this HOV issue is a big one. It looks like the solo carpool sticker may have been the big attraction that led Googler to gamble that the car would meet his needs despite all indications it might not do so. Many people are likely to do the same. But the speed limit is 65. And typical carpool lane speeds are 80. And speed enforcement ranges from sporadic to non-existent. Getting a ticket is like getting struck by lightning. So what is Googler to do?
1. Drive with traffic. Get almost to work quickly. Run dead at the side of the road.
2. Drive in the slow lane. Get to work with ample range margin, but as slowly as ever, and with no benefit of the carpool sticker.
3. Drive the speed limit in the HOV lane, as mwalsh (almost) suggests. Some other drivers will just slow down. Others will pass when they get a chance at the lane openings. Many will get angry. Some will get angry at EV's in general and demand that their legislators take actions to harm EV's. Some will get angry at mwalsh in particular. They will tailgate. They may cause accidents. Road rage is a real danger. Sometimes, rarely, road ragers even carry guns.
None of these options looks particularly good to me. What I'd prefer is a European solution that I think a great majority of Americans would not accept: speed limit cameras. For the first few months of operation ticket just the cars driving over 81mph - but ticket 100% of them, not the 0.001% of speeders who now receive tickets at random. The next month ticket cars driving over 76mph. Then 71mph. Then 66mph. Finally everyone drives the speed limit, gets to work one or two minutes later, and saves a lot of kWh and barrels of oil.