The Truth About Free Electric Cars

Acquiring free electric cars seem to be a far fetched tale for most people around the world. Well, it actually happened in the US, temporarily. In 2009, the Obama administration passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus package.

The legislation provides tax credits as an incentive for purchasing an alternative fuel vehicle. Through this tax credit, people can obtain free electric cars, Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) in particular. Additionally, the tax credit will be enough to take care of all the expenses needed in the purchase of these free electric cars, including the sales tax extra and the shipping. Unfortunately though, the tax credit only run until the end of 2009.

But this free electric car, also referred to as NEV, is not your ordinary car. They look a lot like an enhanced golf cart rather than the conventional sedan. The car is manufactured by Drive Electric and it is called the NEV-48 EV. These free electric cars are street legal, so you are allowed to drive them on any roads that have speed limits of 35 miles per hour or less.

They have windshield, turn signals, mirrors, horn, plus they can achieve a top speed of 25 miles per hour. Even though they are not very fast vehicles, they can be a practical mode of transport for short distances, for instance when going to the grocery.

These free electric cars have several key advantages over traditional cars. One benefit is that it doesn’t have cold starts because it is powered by electricity. Another advantage is that these cars are so efficient than a conventional car since it would need to have an equivalent of 160 miles per gallon to match its efficiency.

Even more, the estimated cost of driving these free electric cars is only at one penny a mile. However, there are also drawbacks to using this car. It is not advisable for snowy roads, rough roads, and long-distance travels. It handles potholes very poorly. And it is open air so it offers less protection and is not ideal to use in very cold temperatures.