Climate Change

There was a time when if you asked me if I’d ever own or drive an electric vehicle, I’d laugh, shake my head, and say something snarky. I grew up being a fan of “gas guzzlers”, classic American Muscle V8’s or diesel engine vehicles and admittedly I still am. However, one quote the stuck out to me from one of the Professor’s lectures is: “as humans we try, sometimes it may not be good enough; but we still need to try anyways, so that way the next generation will have a clean, healthy Earth to live on…” Some time back, my brother decided to buy a used Toyota Prius, and not only has he saved tons of money on gas, but he also ends up putting out a lot less exhaust in the atmosphere. I want to be able to do the same or at least something similar, but unfortunately, I do not have the funds to buy an electric or a hybrid vehicle right now. I looked around on the app Offer Up and found an E-Bike that would be perfect for me to take to work every day. The original owner bought it on Amazon for his son, but he doesn’t use it very much, so he ended up selling it to me for cheap: brand new it can go for around $300-$400 depending on the model, I talked him down to $180. I used to spend about $50, twice a month to fill up my tank to drive to work. I have had this E-Bike now for at least 6 months, and on average, I have already saved myself $600 and contributed less carbon dioxide to our atmosphere. Also, on electric mode I can get about 25 miles or if I have pedal assist on, I can get around 40 miles before needing to charge. My employer lets me charge it at work, so I end up not having to pay to charge it as well! I am hoping in a few years of doing this; I’ll be able to sell my current car, and with the money I am saving on gas, I’ll be able to put a down payment on a used Hybrid or an electric vehicle.