Can’t resist a Price is Right reference and a handsome driver, especially since both are true. In January, I got to thinking about our environmental footprint and started researching cars. I’d heard too many horror stories from friends about hellish searches for charging stations on trips or cars simply shutting down, despite what looked to be ample battery life, and thusly eliminated any fully electric vehicle. That’s when I learned about plug-in electric hybrids. After reading all I could, we chose the KIA Sportage, as it was the highest rated in our price range and liked the look of it. We, coincidentally, bought it on Valentine’s Day, because enviro-friendly cars are for lovers!

It is a 34-mile electric vehicle (which sounds horrible) and a regular combustion engine, two cars in one. In defense of the low-mile electric, the vast majority of our driving, since Greg works from home, and I am retired (I landed on this kindness rather than continuing to say I gave up after so many rejections), is very local, maybe twenty miles, tops. On our big driving day, we do a loop to a favorite lunch place, the library, and the grocery store, and come home. The car is efficient, y’all, plus it has a cool Blade Runner sound in electric mode for the sci-fi nerds in us. The beauty is that we charge it in a regular three-prong, with a cord made special, all in the comfort of our garage, powered by our solar panels. I mean, seriously! So awesome.

In the event that we visit our parents or New Mexico or anywhere else we fancy, we use hybrid mode, and it does some special calculations to decide what engine is best and when. A cool feature, that I watch like a hawk, is the MPG. Before we went to the Pecos, since, as I mentioned, most of our trips are local and fully electric, it topped out at 999! We’re back at 45, but I am very keen to watch it tick up before our next adventure.