They’ve got the look of a sports car and the technology of an iPhone, but when it really comes down to what’s important, fuel efficiency is what drives these vehicles.
On Tuesday, September 27, UCF Sustainability Initiative hosted the first Electric Vehicle Display outside the student union. The Electric Vehicle Display is a part of National Drive Electric Week, an event focused on promoting awareness of the availability and sustainability of electric vehicles. The event was held on the patio of the Student Union where electric car owners from around central Florida could park their high-tech vehicles and display them to students while they interacted with and even sat in the cars.
Electric car owner Christian Cascone is a sustainable green developer in the area and says that he’s been racing cars his whole life. To him, the Tesla brand was a natural fit.
“This car just naturally fits into our lifestyle,” said Cascone while describing his choice to purchase his 2014 Tesla Model S. “I’ve been racing cars my whole life, but hands down, this is the best car I’ve ever driven.”
Fellow Tesla owner Don Dennis accompanied Cascone with his Tesla knowledge and enthusiasm. Dennis drives a 2016 Tesla Model X, and has found that the biggest advantage of his changeover to electric cars is the fuel savings.
“Fossil fuels are not the way to go, it’s a limited energy supply, and there are more important things to be burning fossil fuels on than running automobiles,” said Dennis.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency website, burning fossil fuels from transportation contributed to 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2014. In the state of Florida alone, over 11,435 pounds of gasoline is burned a year by non-electric vehicles, while only 4,830 pounds is burned by electric vehicles.
To Dennis and Cascone, big money saving is another reason that electric car owners are happy with their decision to make the switch.
“Sure, spending $70,000 on a car may not be seen exactly as money saving,” said Dennis. “But there are plenty of more affordable options out there. My electric bill has gone up by $150, but compare that to the $400 a month we were spending on gasoline, and you can see that the savings are there.”
As students continued to fill the pavilion and ready their questions for the car owners, Dennis and Cascone showed off their favorite feature of their impressive vehicles: the technology. Both models come with a touch screen that controls most of the cars’ functions. Cascone finds that this could be the natural pull that would draw millennials toward electric vehicles.
“This is an IPhone on wheels is all it is,” said Cascone. “It has software updates, so it is constantly getting better over time.”
To bring the Electric vehicle Display to campus, UCF Sustainability Initiatives teamed up with Florida Solar Energy Center and Central Florida Clean Cities Coalition. The event was the first of its kind and displayed five different models of electric cars to students that included two Tesla models (Model X and Model s), two Chevys (first and second generation Volt), and a Nissan Leaf.
“What’s great is that this generation really embraces change,” said Cascone. “I think people will realize as they start driving these cars and other electric vehicles that it’s the future, and that combustion is dead- it’s going extinct.”
