CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Are you looking to get off of the gas roller coaster?
A local Charlotte man said if you are thinking of buying an electric car, go for it.
What You Need To Know
- Electric car owner Jess Montgomery said if you’re thinking of going electric, go for it
- He said he’s saved more than $200 in the last 31 days charging his car versus buying gas
- The City of Charlotte is pushing to install more charging stations around the city
Jess Montgomery owns a Tesla, which he said charges every night for about $2-$3.
He has an app for his car, and it shows him how much he saves by not buying gas.
“And what I've spent is $63 for a savings of $226 in the past 31 days,” Montgomery said while looking at his app.
Eight years ago, he co-founded the Charlotte Chapter of the Electric Vehicle Association.
“So we meet once a month at the local cars and coffee at Charlotte, show people cars, answer people questions and represent the electric movement,” Montgomery said.
He said one of the statements he hears a lot from people is that buying an electric car is too expensive.
“Take your car payment, take your oil changes, take your gas,” Montgomery said. “Dealerships like to do 30,000-mile maintenance, and 60,000-mile maintenance, add all of that up and tell me after five years whether or not this car is more expensive. It’s probably not.”
Montgomery said he does 99% of his charging at home, but he said charging on the road is more convenient than people think.
“I’ve had times where it tells me to drive below 70 mph to get to my destination,” he said. "I’ve had times where it decided you aren’t going to make the supercharger, so I will redirect you to another supercharger. It does that all automatically, so you don’t have to think about it,” he said.
Montgomery said he previously drove a Honda, but fell into electric car-owning after getting a flat tire.
“We took it to the Honda dealership. They had the Honda Civic Hybrid that was touted to get 50 miles to the gallon. We took it for a test drive and bought it,” he said. "And it started from there.”
He bought his Tesla four years ago and is currently in the beta program for the self-driving feature.
He said sometimes people like to argue with him about the benefits of electric cars.
“They act like I have an agenda and I don’t,” he said. "I’m just a guy who drives cars and this is better. This is much, much better."
The City of Charlotte is trying to make owning an electric car more convenient by adding more charging stations in the city.
Just last month, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles unveiled a new charging station in the city called the PoleVolt.