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Sunday, September 1, 2013

Electric Cars - A Turning Point

Driving the 405 in Los Angeles you'll notice something now that has played out for the last few years. Cars using alternative fuels have color coded stickers providing them access to the High Occupancy (Diamond) Lane. This allows them to pass you with a smugness once reserved by those in helicopters, private jets, or chauffeured Maybachs. To think you can get to work faster and help the environment isn't exactly a new idea. What is new is the type of cars we see. Where before there were compressed natural gas Crown Vics, Civics, and Prii (Piruses?) we now see actual highway driven electric cars. By far, the most common is the Nissan Leaf with plug in Prii being a close second followed by the likes of the Honda Fit EV, Rav 4 EV, and the even less common Focus EV. But one car I'm seeing more consistently than I might have expected is the Tesla Model S. Who would buy a $100k car and daily drive it on their commute? Turns out a lot of people.

But the other day I saw something that really made me do a double take. It was a driveway with two cars in it that are in the same class and considered direct competitors: the Porsche Panamera and the Tesla Model S. I'll let you draw your own conclusions about what this means but it could be spun a few different ways. Why would someone own both of these cars?