Evanstonians with EVs eager to share their experiences

Drivers are making the switch to electric vehicles (EVs), globally, nationally and here in Evanston. Over a five-year period ending in March 2024, Cook County EV registrations jumped from 3,794 (in March 2019) to 26,679. In Evanston, those numbers rose from 316 EVs five years ago to 1,239 this spring. 

On the road to a gas-free future

One of the city’s early EV adopters was Jeff Balch, who said he’s “more of a bike guy than a car guy.” He and his wife drive about 4,000 miles a year, mostly close to home.

“That makes an EV a good choice for us because we have no range anxiety,” he said. So, in 2020, he donated his aging gas car to WBEZ and bought a used 2017 Chevy Bolt. 

About once a week, they charge the car at the Robert Crown Community Center, four blocks away.

“We just choose times when there aren’t so many people over there,” he said. Another advantage: “Maintenance is minimal. Because there are no pistons, there are not the same fluids required. You don’t have engine oil.” 

The first year, when he had questions, Balch called the previous owner.

“This is another nice aspect of EV ownership,” he said. “You wind up talking to thoughtful drivers, people who give thought to their carbon footprint. I find this is also true of solar PV owners. We’re beginning to build a friendly subculture of mutual support and awareness.”

Balch has had rooftop solar since 1996, when he moved into his house.

“We’re doing everything we can over a period of years to avoid burning anything for power,” he wrote. 

They’ve driven their Chevy Bolt to Indianapolis, about 200 miles away, on one charge. That was in the summer. The car’s 66 kWh battery, when fully charged, might go 260 miles in the summer but only 130 miles in the winter. 

“So, we pay attention to those things,” he said. “We pause and think about how much energy we have available. And that kind of fits in with our lifestyle, which is to get on the bike every time it’s possible rather than get in the car.”

A crash course in EVs

Katarina Topalov, a member of the Environment Board who teaches environmental biology at the City Colleges of Chicago, also is committed to climate action and aspires to generate electricity from rooftop panels. But her route to EV ownership was more abrupt. 

She and her husband both depend on cars for their commutes to work. They had thought about EVs, but their aging Honda Accord was still serviceable so they hadn’t started looking. Then, last month, someone rear-ended the Honda, and they needed to act fast.  

The following days felt “like an accelerated course in EVs,” she said, “something I thought I would have much longer time to do.” Her husband suggested looking at a Honda CR-V, but she thought, “If I were to buy yet another super long-lasting car, a combustible engine car, it would feel like a failure, so I kept on pushing and we figured it out. It was a crash course in learning all this.” 

They quickly discovered that “thanks to Tesla slashing of EV price not so long ago and coupled with the generous federal and state tax credits, the rest of the EV used car market tumbled.” They test drove Hyundais and VWs, but ended up getting a three-year lease on a 2024 Nissan Leaf. They figured that EV technology will continue to change rapidly and wanted to avoid buying a car that might drop in value before they’d finished paying for it.

Navigating tax incentives is challenging, Topalov said, but they stumbled on an option that is new this year: Buyers can now transfer the value of a federal tax credit for purchasing EVs to dealers.

“The dealership buys on your behalf. We didn’t have to do anything,” Topalov said. Their cost ended up being $9,000 for a three-year lease. 

After a week of driving the new car, Topalov reports that she enjoys the “zippier” handling and that “range anxiety is not a concern.” They hardly ever drive 200 miles in a day, she said.

“You basically can plug it in every night, and that will mean that you start every morning with a ‘full tank of gas’ because it’s fully recharged, and that doesn’t happen for our combustible engine cars,” she said.

They are thinking about getting a special charger, taking advantage of rebates offered by ComEd, but so far, the wall outlet in their garage is working well.

“It’s slow, but it does the job,” she said. 

‘You can be confident’

Ryan Chew’s family bought their new VW ID-4 in December. He was a long-time owner of a nature-oriented kayak-rental business and still owns the pick-up truck he used in his business. Buying an EV “was definitely an environmental/climate change decision for us,” he wrote.  

Since he and his wife bought the VW, the truck has mostly been idle.

“I drive the ID-4 whenever I can,” he wrote, but added that his wife “gets priority. She likes the way it drives and handles and likes the idea that we’re not doing as much damage when we drive.”

They are able to take advantage of the federal tax credit, but not the Illinois EV Rebate program, which operates in cycles and quickly runs out of funds.

“I wish they had prorated it for everyone who got one,” Chew said, “which seems more fair than just giving rebates till they run out.” He said he hopes the state will increase funding for the program. (You can sign up to receive updates on the State EV Rebate program. “There will be future funding cycles as funds allow,” according to the FAQs.) 

Like Topalov, he has reassurances for those with range anxiety. For routine driving around town, they use the regular outlet in their garage.

“Given our driving habits, we don’t even need to plug it in every night,” he said.

Those who drive longer distances “would definitely want to upgrade their electricity to the kind of circuit that washing machines plug into – 220V, rather than the 110V of a normal outlet,” he said. If that’s not an option, you would need to do some research about where to find an accessible plug.

“But for the car your family uses in the metro area, you can be confident an EV can work for you,” he said.

(One place to check for charger locations is the US Department of Energy alternative fuels interactive map.)

The family has driven to Milwaukee to pick up a new golden-doodle, stopping on the way to recharge at a truck stop. With more planning, they might have found a place with a faster charger, Chew said.

“We had a leisurely lunch, so it wasn’t a big deal, but the fast charger would’ve done that in 15,” he said.

‘It’s the future’

Transportation is the single biggest contributor to climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. In the Chicago region, transportation is the only sector in which emissions continue to rise. That’s why reducing how much Evanstonians drive and switching to cleaner electricity are major goals of Evanston’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan.  

EVs are not only cleaner but more efficient than cars with internal combustion engines, which waste much of the energy in gasoline as heat. As Karin Kirk wrote recently in Yale Climate Connections, even if the electricity that powers them comes from coal-burning plants, EVs are still more efficient than internal combustion engines. 

There have been some worries at the national level about softness in the EV market, and Republican push-back against the administration’s clean-energy rules. But as Inside Climate News reported in February, “Despite the storm clouds, sales were strong in 2023. U.S. consumers bought 1.19 million all-electric vehicles last year, up 46 percent from the prior year.” 

“I don’t consider myself an early adopter, but I think that we’re all moving towards it. It’s the future,” Topalov says. “I can tell you that my husband is completely on board for an electric car, and he’s itching to replace his car.” 

Resources

• You can estimate potential savings with a Rewiring America calculator.
• The City of Evanston website provides a quick overview of the advantages of EVs.

Climate Watch is a series of occasional articles and essays about what climate change means for Evanston and what we’re doing locally to make a difference.