• Tweet
• Share
• Email
• Print

The Obama administration has spent billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to support the electric car industry in our country. Idaho was one of the last states to bring in all-electric cars.

The Edmark Superstore in Nampa just got a few Chevy Volts, last month, and I had a chance to take one out for a test drive. Local car dealerships and a Boise State University club also talked about the viability of green cars in the Gem State.

The dealership has four new Chevy Volts available. “Less use of gas, they're easy, they last a long time,” said Scott Larsen with Edmark Superstore.

The dealership says it’s optimistic about the future of green cars, but admits many Idahoans remain loyal to their traditional gas fueled cars. “People are very large-vehicle oriented, and they love their trucks, suburbans,” said Ron Bovee, Edmark Superstore.

The Volt is known to be very powerful, and can drive up to 100mph. I wanted to see for myself, what the hype was about, so I took the Chevy Volt for a test drive.

It felt like I was driving a car, run by a computer, because it drove so silently and smoothly.

Another big difference about electric cars is how you fuel up an electric car with a charging station, instead of a gas pump.

While the shift from gas cars to green cars is taking longer than expected, it seems the younger generation is more open to the idea. “Green is definitely the future of where people are going,” said Ken Fukumoto, Greenspeed Member.

A BSU club called ‘Greenspeed’ recently set a new record for making the fastest car, fueled by vegetable oil. It clocked in at more than 150mph.

“We're proving that vegetable oil can be fast and so can all the other resources, ethanol, electric cars, diesel cars, they can all be fast. It’s not such a bad thing to drift away from our old fuel resources,” said Fukumoto.

Right now, local dealerships say the big reason green cars, like the Volt aren’t mainstream is because of the price. “They’re $40,000 plus, drop that price down with supply and that'll make it a lot easier to do,” said Larsen.

Car experts say once the demand increases and prices drop, more people may look into green cars.

Edmark Chevy says it only costs an extra dollar on your electric bill to fully charge up the Volt. However, Idaho doesn’t have any charging stations right now, so electric car owners in Idaho can only charge their cars at home.

Car experts say that the main demographic for green cars are mostly people in their 30's and 40's, who are college educated and work in technology-based facilities.