Environment, Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Electric, At Last!

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This post is part of a series called Thankful Thursday, where I list some things to feel thankful for. To some extent, focusing on what is wrong appears to come naturally to most people, who tend to complain, complain, complain when they get together with family and friends. (I’m no exception, that’s for sure.) So focusing on things to feel thankful for seems like good spiritual practice, a way to counterbalance the tendency toward negative thinking.

On last week’s Thankful Thursday’s post, my first one, I started with a humdinger—a new driveway and steps. As someone whose life is mostly filled with small, simple pleasures, I didn’t think it would be possible to top this. But, holy cats, was I ever wrong!

Last Friday, after over a month of waiting, our daughter Dee’s new electric car, a Tesla Y, was delivered to our home by the woods. (Tesla sells directly, and because there are no service centers in Maine, this one was shipped from New Jersey.)

Isn’t it a beauty? And isn’t it great that our new driveway was ready to welcome the new car?

Obviously, an electric car needs a charger, and we had one ready and waiting.

Now, this is Dee’s car, not ours, but she will be staying with us for a few more years while she saves money to buy a house. This means we will get the benefit of her electric car when we drive here, there, and everywhere. (Actually, we don’t go too far, and the car’s 320 miles per charge will be just fine for us.)

For dirty trips to, say, the transfer station (formerly the dump), we will use our Honda Fit, which is 14 years old and has seen its share of wear and tear. When the Fit no longer runs, we hope to buy an electric car, a used one.

So hot diggity dog! Here we are, an electric-car family, at least for now.

I can’t imagine anything will top this for the next Thankful Thursday.

But you never know.

Addendum: My blogging friend Eliza asked where the Tesla will be serviced. Fortunately, we won’t have to take it to New Jersey. There’s a dealership in a nearby town that services Teslas.

80 thoughts on “Thankful Thursday: Electric, At Last!”

  2. congratulations! I hope you and family enjoy the new car. I’m thankful today for a functioning air conditioner- 106 expected today.

      1. Laurie as a former New Englander I understand how hot 80 is! I think in my seaside New England town it got 80 about 5 days a year. Stay cool!!! John

  3. Getting a new car is definitely reason to be thankful! And I’m thankful you’re not contributing to the pollution of our planet by purchasing a gas-guzzler, ha! Yes, it’s a beauty, and I hope you’ll continue doing Thankful Thursday posts!

    1. Thanks, Debbie. So very thankful. And I do plan to continue with my Thankful Thursday posts, but they will feature much smaller pleasures. 😉

  4. Congrats to all and Thankful Thursdays’ sounds super as it invites all of us to seek out our blessings. Today I am thankful that we are getting a Generac generator installed. I have been wanting one for a few years as we live in FL and are facing what is to be a busy hurricane season. In the past we have been without power for two weeks and recently with the May 10th tornado a few days and no wifi for two weeks. Now that we have both been retired for a few years and my husband has health issues it seems like a necessity so my heart is full of “thank you’s” as I didn’t know this blessing would be ours!

    1. Thanks, Linda. That new generator is certainly something to be thankful for. A blessing is right! Now you don’t have to be nervous every time a bad storm comes your way. So happy for you!

  6. I couldn’t afford a new car of any sort, but I’m glad you’re pleased with yours. If I were to get one, it certainly wouldn’t be electric. There isn’t the infrastructure to support them for anyone who does more than very local driving.

    1. It was an expensive car, but Dee is an excellent saver and paid cash. Also glad I live in a state where there is an infrastructure to support electric cars, and this is true points south as well. Know plenty of people who have gone on road trips with their electric cars and have done just fine.

      1. I just realized how grumpy I sounded. Part of the reason’s that I’ve been living without air conditioning in my car for two months — supply chains issues and backorders made for a very long wait! Now, it’s fixed, and believe me — having air conditioning again is worth a thankful Thursday!

  8. Smart choice and eco-friendly? I’m grateful for the portable air conditioner we got a few years ago. It cools the air near my favorite chair, so I can read and puzzle in comfort.

  9. Nice colour says the non-driver who knows nothing about cars…..and doesn’t even remember what her husband drives even though she sits in it nearly every day at some point….. 🙂

  10. Congratulations to Dee and so lovely you can all enjoy electric driving Laurie! 💚

  13. Nope, I don’t think anyone would beat an electric car not even me – tankful I’ve lost a 0.5kg in weight this week. Our son had a Tesler electric car and he loved it. We were tempted

    1. Hard to beat the new car. However, I am a huge fan of simple pleasures, and that’s primarily what Thankful Thursdays will feature. Congrats on the weight loss—I know from personal experience what a struggle it is—and glad to read your son loved his Tesla.

  15. You are going to have fun — while doing the planet a favor. Just be sure you know where to find Tesla charging. Some poor guy on the island I go to found out the hard way that sometimes an ordinary charging station can’t do Teslas.

  17. wow, so far you’ve had extremely thankful-worthy weeks on this journey so far, Laurie! And I love the look of your new charging station in its natural surroundings.

  18. How exciting to have an Electric car Laurie, for the whole family to use, and congratulations to Dee for saving for it. Not only is the car good for the environment, but they are so quiet to drive too…(our neighbour has one). Enjoy…

    PS My thankful Thursday is….we have just bought a new bed! (I won’t even mention how old the other one was…but I’m happy to say some bits of the old one can be recycled! Good news!)

    1. Very exciting! We are so thrilled to have it here.

      A new bed is something to be very thankful for. Glad to read the bits of the old one could be recycled.

    1. Thanks so much! At home on our charger, four to six hours. On the road, a super charger will give an 80% charge in 15 minutes, about 200 miles of range.

  22. Congratulations on your new arrival; I bet the stork needed a long rest after delivering that one. 🙂.

    A charging point at home is essential, obviously But what progress is being made in the US with the provision of a network of publicly accessible chargers? One of the major reasons given in the UK for resisting the move to EVs is the flaky infrastructure of public chargers. This is an issue for people travelling a long distance from home, but also for those living in accommodation where a domestic charger can’t be fitted. How is it on your side of the Pond?

    1. Many thanks! We have a really good network in our part of the state and in points south, say, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Rural northern Maine is sketchier, but we never go there so that is not an issue for us. One charge will take the car 320 miles, and most of our trips are 30 miles or less with the very occasional excursion to the coast, which would be 120 miles round trip. Should be good!

      The public infrastructure is growing by leaps and bounds, and the Tesla infrastructure is well developed. Those living in apartments would have a harder time, but our daughter, who lives in Massachusetts, has a charger for EVs in her complex.

      So I guess the short answer is that the network is pretty good and getting better.

      Hope this helps.

      1. That sounds promising. But I do wonder how parts of the west / mid-west will cope. Back in the day I seem to remember driving for hours in that part of the US without seeing a settlement of any size. I think if I were recreating some of our road trips in an EV I’d been forever panicking about running out of charge. But, of course, I’d get an Olympic medal (gold, probably!) for panicking!

      2. Some of us are born worries. I know I am. 😉 However, because I am a homebody, I am not troubled by the number, or lack thereof, of charging stations in the Midwest or West. I have no plans to travel across country. There are plenty of charging stations in my part of Maine as well as south of here. However, the range of the car is 320 miles, which will more than cover whatever daytrip we might want to take. For those who want to hit the open road, availability of chargers might be a concern, but for us it’s not. I do want to add that the software in the car will plan your trip for you and tell you where there are chargers. Handy for roadrunners.

  23. WOW!!! I would love an electric car but they are so expensive at least here in the UK and there aren’t many second hand ones around. Platypus man is right about the lack of public charging points too and there are so many different companies operating them each needing a different app or whatever. Luckily dreams are free!

    1. Electric cars are expensive. I’m hoping that in the years to come, the prices will drop so that more folks can afford them. Perhaps through buying second-hand lease cars, which is what we are hoping to do. We are lucky to have lots of charging stations in this part of Maine and in points south. No worries there. Plus, with a range of 320 miles, Dee’s car will get us where we need to go—and back again—without any trouble.

  24. Amazing! Such a thing to be thankful for 🙂 We were hoping for an EV a few years ago but that is definitely out of our reach for now. Maybe our next vehicle?? Enjoy!

    1. Thanks, Katie! Maybe by the time you are ready for your next vehicle, the cost of EVs will have dropped enough for you to afford one. We are hoping the same thing for ourselves.,(Technically, the car belongs to our daughter.)

  25. Eliza asked the same question I had so thanks for answering that. It would be interesting, ‘if’ sometime in the future Dee feels like sharing how much the electric costs to charge it. I don’t see one in our future, but the industry is certainly an interesting one and knowing someone is a good way to learn.

    1. The cost of running the electric car will be on our electric bill, and I would be happy to share that information on my blog. It also might be interesting to calculate the cost in gasoline. However, I must admit that math, ahem, is not my thing. But I will do my best. I have a friend who is good at such things. He and his wife have an electric car, and he has kept close track of the cost of running it. I’ll run my numbers by him to be sure I am figuring the cost correctly.

  27. Congratulations on the Tesla. Mike bought one used almost ten years ago and he loves it. I joke that it’s our “third child” as he loves that car. Laurie, thanks for sharing the idea for Thankful Thursday. It’s good to take a step back and focus on the positive. It’s nice that Dee can live with you while she saves for a house. You have a wonderful family.

  29. Congratulations to your daughter, and you 🙂 How fun! I don’t feel that I need a car right now, I have everything so close (my work is 200m one way, the nearest health centre 150m away, a big grocery store 300m away, my garden is 7.5km away.) I do have an electric bike that I ride all over, and I love that.

    1. Thanks. Maria, the best thing is to not need a car at all, and it’s wonderful that everything is close by so that you can make do with an electric bike. However in Maine, and in most of the United States, having a car is essential. Very expensive and a real burden on folks who don’t earn much.

      1. My pleasure. I know, I had a car or truck most of the 9 years I lived in the US. It would be very difficult to be without one there. The public transit is very different in Sweden and Europe. If I’m going somewhere that takes less than one hour I take the bus, more than one hour I take the train. It’s mostly when I need to carry things, like If I purchase plants for the garden, then I rent a car for the day.

  35. How exciting to have a new electric vehicle in the family and tell Dee congratulations on the beautiful new car!! Please keep us updated on what it’s like to switch to electric.🙂

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