Garfield High charges up funding with electric car raffle
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SEATTLE - Forget car washes and bake sales. Garfield High School parents have found a creative way to pump up dwindling dollars for education.
It's an all-electric Tesla that gets 300 miles per charge and has a value of $85,000 - all yours for a hundred bucks.
For Garfield High School parents, it's obvious the days of the bake sale are long gone. They're offering up a Tesla with all the bells and whistles to combat scarce funding and deep cuts to educational programs.
"Because of all the budget cuts Garfield High School had to close a couple of their support systems," says Eric Downs of the school's PTSA.
To fight back, parents are trying to raise $80,000 to fund a career counseling and academic support service for the next year. Parents say a college guidance counselor will help some kids who are under-achieving in school.
"The program itself is going to help students look at job opportunities - maybe other apprenticeships - where they can get started and get a job," says Downs.
Last year the school sustained the center for a year by auctioning off a Nissan Leaf. This year they upped the ante with the Tesla and more than 1,600 tickets up for grabs. The raffle winner can take the car or a $50,000 check.
But in the end parents say it's the kids who are the real champs - as they get an extra push down road toward success.
The raffle winner will be drawn at Showbox Sodo on March 1 at 9 p.m.
It's an all-electric Tesla that gets 300 miles per charge and has a value of $85,000 - all yours for a hundred bucks.
For Garfield High School parents, it's obvious the days of the bake sale are long gone. They're offering up a Tesla with all the bells and whistles to combat scarce funding and deep cuts to educational programs.
"Because of all the budget cuts Garfield High School had to close a couple of their support systems," says Eric Downs of the school's PTSA.
To fight back, parents are trying to raise $80,000 to fund a career counseling and academic support service for the next year. Parents say a college guidance counselor will help some kids who are under-achieving in school.
"The program itself is going to help students look at job opportunities - maybe other apprenticeships - where they can get started and get a job," says Downs.
Last year the school sustained the center for a year by auctioning off a Nissan Leaf. This year they upped the ante with the Tesla and more than 1,600 tickets up for grabs. The raffle winner can take the car or a $50,000 check.
But in the end parents say it's the kids who are the real champs - as they get an extra push down road toward success.
The raffle winner will be drawn at Showbox Sodo on March 1 at 9 p.m.
85K? I thought the model Ss were 50k...
@NW-Economist @NW-Economist The base model is $59,900 and unless Congress changes it, purchasing the car qaulifies youf for a $7,500 federal tax credit.
With options, the price can get to over $100,000. The most expensive option is the battery size. There are three battery capacities. The mid-level option adds $10k to the base price, and the best battery adds $20k to the base price.
Washington residents need to stop selling jalopies and raise their property taxes which are low for a state demanding premium Government services as this map shows:
http://taxfoundation.org/sites/taxfoundation.org/files/docs/property_tax_median_2008.jpg
@John Bailo Who wants premium government services ? I want less government,less taxes,less involvement in our daily lives. I want the state government to only fund those items in the state constitution . No more DSHS programs. basic safety nets only.Â
@Maynard G Krebbs @John Bailo While I do believe the money needs to be spent more wisely (to the extent that they waste probably 1/3 or more what we give them) I'd love to hear how you're going to get to work without using the roads, receive water and power, stop your house from burning down in case of fire, follow up on crimes committed (cops don't actually PREVENT anything so...), make sure the felons they DO convict stay in prison, prevent your neighbor from building a structure so ramshackle that it falls on YOUR house....well I could go on for a while.
Make govt officials paid on results, with us voting on the merits of the results. Simple. I honestly don't see things changing until it gets so bad that violent rebellion happens, but I'm not really an optimist.Â
It is pretty damn sad that a school has to hold a raffle to acquire the funding to further kids education. What in the hell is wrong with this state. We pour enough money into the treasury to give each kid a masters degree. Where in hell is this money going????
@LongBeachBum The $$$ go to administration. The superintendent makes over $270,000 per year.
@LongBeachBum Why exactly is it "pretty darn sad", and why is something wrong in this state?  This is the way education has always been in this society.  Schools and school programs have held fundraisers like bake sales and car washes since at least the 50's in all states.  It's normal. Â
I'm not saying that more of our taxes shouldn't be going to schools, I'm just saying that this kind of fundraising is not unheard of, is not a sad or terrible thing. Â In fact it gets the students involved in funding their own education, which is a good thing.
Man, it must be nice to be able to afford throwing down $100 for a ticket to win either an $85,000 car OR $50,000 check. Wow, there are people out there who can't even afford to keep the roof over their head OR eat due to a disability and there's people buying ticket for $100/ea.
Must be nice.
@Grey Wolfe Some people make much better decisions than others as well....Some of us work to enjoy what we have. We do not work to support those who make a lifestyle of poor decisions.
@K00lGuy And some people work full time, have a good education (and student loans to pay off) and can still barely make rent and utilities, skimp on food and forget about entertainment! And you're one that believes that the 47% are all lazy and living off the government.
Wonder if raffle tickets are still available.
@Illuminati They are!
...It's an all-electric Tesla that gets 300 miles per charge...
Well, Tesla said 300 miles per charge.
The EPA said 265 miles per charge.
The car itself says 240 miles per charge because to charge it over 90% damages the battery life (right in the owner's manual).
And to get that 240 miles you have to drive it like a Claymore mine is under the accelerator and a state trooper behind quota is stuck to your rear bumper. You can forget running the heat or air conditioning while you're at it.
So the real range is somewhere between 180 to 200 miles if driven like a "real" car. About an hour on a Supercharger to get back to 240 miles, another hour to get to about 265.
@Howard Beale This just isn't true. I have over 3000 miles logged in my Model S. I have never had to drive slow or turn down the heat or anything and I could easily get 240 miles out fo a charge.
True enough, if you try to get the max range possible, like 280 - 300 then miles, then yeah, you have to drive carefully, but guess what? The same is true of a gas powered car too.
The FUD speard about the Model S is rediculous.
@Howard Beale And $85,000 smackers will buy a boat-load of gas.
Hi Howard, I have one and you'll be happy to hear that what you've heard about how "you have to drive it" is not true. My wife and I have both driven electric cars for years, and we have NEVER driven that way.
Last month we drove ours on a 3,000 mile trip. We went the speed we liked, kept the temperature where we wanted it, make frequent use of the great acceleration, and always arrived at our destination with plenty of charge to spare. If you run it near empty things could get dicey, but the same is true in a gas car. So don't do that.
Range does of course vary according to how you drive it - but again, so does mpg in a gas car.
Electric cars are FANTASTIC around town - gas cars just can't compare. And with over 200 miles of range, you'll never even look at the battery gauge. They are really nice on road trips too; but then they do have the single downside that you have to wait longer to charge. If you're in a hurry, no problem - take a gas car! (Or if you are really in a hurry, fly). If you only have one car, buy a plug-in hybrid and you'll always have gas for road trips.
Many people seen to cite road trips as a reason to not buy electric cars, but if you don't want to spend the extra time to take an electric road trip - then don't, they are really easy to avoid. The 360 days a year that you are not on a road trip are awesome!
@Redmond Chad The problem is, most people don't have $85,000 to spend on these cars. Also, that 200 mile range is only true when the battery is brand new. Like all batteries, it continually looses the amount of charge it can hold as it gets older. That 200 mile range may be cut down to 100 miles after only 5 years. Also, how common are high speed charging stations? I highly doubt they are all over the place. Maybe in the Seattle or Los Angeles areas they are common...but what if you're driving through the middle of Utah or Montana, and your battery is low with no charging stations in site? You'd be forced to stop at a hotel and charge overnight from a regular outlet. What an inconvenience.
@Silver_Shot Your confusing the cost of the battery with the cost to replace. Tesla charges 30k for the top end model but 12k is the cost to replace the battery after warranty expires.
After warranty expires, assuming the battery breaks down then yes it will  cost 8k-12k to replace after. But keep in mind that when you factor in EVs have a lot cheaper maintenance cost every year, plus it easily costs 5k-10k to do an engine replacement on an ICE vehicle. Your still going to be cheaper off with an EV.
That said based on statistics, people keep new cars for 6 years and used cars for 4 years. So by the time warranty expires, most people would already be in a market for a new car anyways.
As far as electric bill, yes electric bill will go up but it will be cheaper then gasoline still and keep in mind electricity is cheaper at night then during the day.(depending on state of course)
As far as long distance driving, by statistics long distance driving makes up only 1% of total driving. So while long distance trips might be more of a hassle its not that big of a deal as you get more benefits every single day. As far as superchargers go, Tesla promises 100+ superchargers by 2015. As far as level 2 outlets(The 4 hour charging ones), there is over 10,000 right now in the US. Home depot sells level 2 chargers at 600-700$.
By my prediction people will begin buying into electric cars at around 2015-2016 (as decent EVs become affordable). By 2020-2022 most new cars bought will be EVs and by 2030 most cars on the road will be EVs. So yes, its not going to happen over night. But the Tesla Model S is the first actually viable EV.(Yes all the other EVs at this point are junk unfortunately)
I said it was $30,000 to replace the Tesla's battery (or batteries), which is the number I've read over and over again on the internet. That's one of the main reasons that car is $85,000. But now you're telling me that even a low end battery costs $8,000 to replace, when I thought it was more around $5,000...so it is actually MORE money to replace a standard low end battery than I thought. So after the warranty expires on the battery, you will either have to spend $8,000 to $12,000 to replace it, or another $50,000 or $60,000 to get a new electric car. There goes the money you saved on gas by driving electric.Â
Also, you're not taking into consideration that your electric bill costs will go way up with an electric car that you have to plug in and charge every night. So all this money you electric car fans boast about saving on gas and car maintenance, you really just end up having to spend elsewhere.
You also didn't address the problem that high speed charging stations are only common in certain parts of the country. So yes, electric cars may be nice for local driving, but they are still horrible for going on long road trips. If you're forced to stop and recharge at a hotel because there are no high speed charging stations around, a regular power outlet takes 2 days to recharge a car like the Tesla that has a 300 mile range. Electric cars just have a very long way to go before most people will start buying into them.
@Silver_Shot The biggest issue with electric cars is people falling into lies made by fear mongers.
First of lets start with the lie that the battery is going to go down to 100 miles in 5 years. Completely not true, the battery gas an 8 year warranty(unlimited miles on top end model, 100k miles on lowest end model) on it first of all, second of all, Tesla unlike most other electric cars instead of using large batteries, uses small batteries. The reason why standard charge only charges to 90% is because it rotates these batteries. So that the wear on the batteries is evenly distributed. It is similar in concept to MLC SSD hard drives which are limited to 1k-10k cycles before they stop working. But due to rotating the, number of cycles the lifespan can increase up to 50k-100k cycles. This is why your Tesla battery is going to last 10 years no problem if not more.
Next myth, 30k to replace a battery? who told you that? After warranty expires, the price to replace the low end battery is 8k, price to replace high end battery is 12k.
Now then lets rehash on some stuff, electric cars do not need to cost 20k, your looking at it from a gas car perspective. Look at it this way, unlike gas cars, there is very little maintenance that needs to be done to electric cars. To add to that your fueling costs are much much cheaper. If you want to see how competitive an electric car is for your usage. Do the following: Cost of loan per year + cost of fuel per year + cost of maintenance per year. Depending on how much you drive, you will notice that a 30k electric car is actually cheaper to own then a 20k gasoline car.
Now as far as real range goes, people seem to be confused a bit, It depends on your driving habits just like a gasoline car. If you plan on going 70mph+ on the highway with heat fully on and everything, yes your mileage will drop to 180-200 miles(just like gasoline car, the faster you go the more miles you lose). If you drive around town even with heat on you can easily get 300 miles, in good conditions you can even get 400+ miles.
Other benefits you get is instant torque making traveling inside cities faster and the best part? On a gasoline car, you lose 1 mile for every 2 minutes you stand still. So if you wait for someone for 30min or stuck in traffic for an hour or 2, the gasoline car is eating up gas. Electric cars don't use up electricity standing still.(other then to power the appliances of course)
@Furd I don't ever plan on buying one, for the reasons I mentioned.
Once electric cars get under $20,000, have at least a 300 mile range, battery replacements don't cost $5,000 (the cost of a replacement battery for the Tesla is $30,000), and high speed charge stations are as commonplace as gas stations all over the country...then I will highly consider buying one.
@Silver_Shot @Redmond Chad How long have you had your Tesla?
It's a great idea, but one hundred smackers seems a bit high a for a ticket.
@Mumblix Grumph It's a fund raiser.
@Mumblix Grumph Not to worry. The parents will happily fork it over. Most the kids have Cell phone plans and shoes more expensive.