Electric cars ‘wave of the future’ on the road

IU music professor Daniel Perantoni never has to leave his home to “fuel” his black sedan.

He said he can use his iPhone to heat the car from his office and can power the all-electric car with a charging station installed in his garage. The decal on the side of Perantoni’s Nissan LEAF says “zero emission.”

“I like the car,” he said. “I love the idea. Going green is quite important to us.”

Perantoni is one of a handful of all-electric car owners in Bloomington, but that number might be slowly growing.

Don Seader, owner of World Wide Automotive Service, said the abundance of electric vehicles will be directly related to the price of electric batteries and the price of gasoline.

“If the price of gas goes up to $5, I think the sales of electric cars will spike,” he said.

As of Monday, the average gasoline prices in Indiana were $3.70 per gallon, according to a press release from GasBuddy.

Until then, customers buy electric vehicles for their environmental advantages.

“The real benefit is the carbon footprint and the low emissions,” Seader said. “Carbon dioxide emissions are directly proportional to the fuel a car consumes.”

Chris Perantoni, Daniel’s son and a sales manager at Royal on the Eastside, sold the LEAF to his father about a year ago.

“We’re sold out,” Chris Perantoni said. “We’ve sold six since the cars came.”

Royal is in the process of ordering more, he said.

“I think Bloomington is the perfect town for them,” Chris Perantoni said.

While sales have been successful for Royal, Sustainability Coordinator Jacqui Bauer said two electric charging stations the city installed six months ago are not getting much use.

“We’ve had just a few hours of usage each month,” she said in an email.

The new charging stations, located in Garage Market and Garage Band, are part of a two-year pilot program with Duke Energy.

Bloomington was awarded grant money for the stations through Energy Systems Network’s Project Plug-IN initiative, which was awarded American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant funding through the Indiana Office of Energy Development to expand charging infrastructure.

“This was a way to allow us to explore how much demand there is for EV charging infrastructure at little cost to the city,” Bauer said. “So far, usage has been pretty minimal.”

However, the number of electric vehicles will probably continue to creep up in the future, she said.

“If the stations see a decent amount of use, and that use continues increasing, we’ll probably keep them online once the two-year pilot is over,” Bauer said. “At the rate we’re going, I think it’s unlikely we’re going to install additional stations in the near future, but we’ll have to keep monitoring demand.”

Daniel Perantoni said he doesn’t use the public charging stations because charging his vehicle in the garage provides him enough energy for trips to town.

He said he wishes there were more stations throughout Indiana so the car could run farther distances.

Currently, he is limited to a 100-mile radius, he said.  He’s leasing the LEAF for now and waiting to see how the technology will develop a few years down the road before he purchases an electric car.

Seader said high costs for the new technology deters some customers.

“But as technology improves and there are more and more cars, prices will go down,” he said.

His business currently offers service to hybrid engines, but electric cars do not need the same services, such as oil checks.

“We don’t see a lot of full electric cars, only a few Teslas,” he said. “Basically, we have only had to do tires.”

Sean Flynn is the owner of one of those Teslas. Though the car cost him $100,000, in addition to installing a charger in his garage, he says he is happy with his purchase.

“I’m pretty green, or trying to be green,” he said. “And it’s a fantastic car.”

Flynn installed solar panels at his home in order to create an energy source for his car.

He said this compensates for the fuel he would have used with a standard car.

“It’s taken another vehicle off the road, so to speak,” he said.

Flynn said he worries about the distance his car can travel — “range anxiety,” he called it — but the vehicle is perfect for his 20-mile round trip to work.

All he has to do is charge his car overnight, fueling his battery with about 245 miles worth of energy. He could even charge his car using a regular outlet.

“But that takes forever,” he said, explaining that it would provide only a few miles of range per hour of charging.

Daniel Perantoni agreed that charging his car overnight gives him enough energy for his everyday needs.

“It’s a great little car for going around town,” Daniel Perantoni said.

And while both car owners believe their electric cars are lacking counterparts on the road, they said they believe the number will increase.

“I think I’m part of the minority now, but hopefully not in the future,” Flynn said. “This is the wave of the future.”