Fiat Lux

At last, a solar car at Rancho Deluxe!

Meet Fiat Lucia, La Piccolina Perlina, Bufala Bismalva Bracelet Charm Caven.(Lucia for short.)

2025 started with a fun surprise: a new car! (Or is it a fresh mozzarella? Or an Italian Snowball Cookie?)

I still can't quite believe it.

It’s electric! (Boogie woogie woogie!)

I was an early adopter of electric cars, an influencer if you will, and told everyone I knew to get one. They listened! I drove (and blogged about) a “homemade hybrid” until it was stolen for parts, then got a real one. Last year, I learned about these fat rebates and tax credits you could get for used electric cars. A year ago I wanted one so bad I could taste it…but I have a sensible husband.

Like everyone, we've been chipping away at our footprint. It took us years to go solar, and many tax returns to install more efficient appliances in this old house. We picked the brain of our greenest friend to help us decide whether an EV made sense when our Prius gets 35-40mpg, and I don’t drive it all that much. Thus began a huge planning session in which we had to consider all the moving parts of old Victorian house. There is a spreadsheet somewhere named “Rancho DeLuxe Off-Gassing Plan.”

We hemmed and hawed. We weighed the pros and cons of upgrading our electrical system against downgrading our expectations. A new electric water heater, heater, stove or gas dryer would require installing new 220-volt plugs, and some serious long-term planning, financial and otherwise. Finally, it became obvious that the best use of our next tax return would actually be to insulate the ceilings! That was fun. But no sooner had we found a contractor than our old gas dryer gave up the ghost.

Elegy For An Appliance

Our next step was even more obvious! We sold the washing machine and replaced them both with an all-in-one combo washer/dryer with heat pump technology, like they have in Europe—which miraculously runs on 110 volts!

Our smart friend had pointed us towards this awesome Substack called Volts, where we heard about this amazing new convection/induction stove that also only needs 110 volts…because it has a built-in battery, which can even charge your laptops if there’s a power outage! We got on the waiting list for our dream oven, which even has a name. (Though if we’d had 220 already, my dream oven would have been totally retro!)

While we were saving up our dollars, and waiting for Charlie to be ready, we decided to get ourselves a neat little air fryer since all our friends like theirs. Winter came, and the house did seem a little cozier. After Christmas, the next batch of these cutting edge cuties became available. I couldn’t believe it…we were starting to close in on our five year plan! But when we made a pizza on New Year’s, we realized we hadn’t used the oven for months. I fry an egg every few days, and we boil water for pasta once a week—what sense would it really make to spend thousands of dollars on an oven now?

Maybe we should go back to the first thing on our list?

Fiats appear prominently in my memoir!!!!

The Prius is incredibly reliable, but it is getting more and more quirky as it approaches the quarter-million-mile mark. “Let’s go test drive some EVs,” we said. “And start thinking about whether or not that’s the next step to take.”

We went to one place. We drove one car. “Talk me out of this,” said Dave as I peeled out at the next light and we zoom-zoomed up a hill. Our son the car guy, the one who now uses all the family petrol (Dave rides a bike to school), chose not to. It’s got high miles but still has a good range, good enough for groceries.

It’s a week later and I still can’t get the smile off of my face every time I push that pedal. In my imagination, whenever I’m focusing on living my best life, my right life, my life of the future, I’m driving something electric and sporty and Italian. I consulted my Roman friend on a translation of “Fahrvergnügen,” and we came up with “Guidiacere” for “driving pleasure.” EVs are so fun and torquey! Plus, every time I’ve ever driven one there’s this lightness of spirit, this absolute joy in guilt-free, fossil fuel-free acceleration. But here’s the thing: manifestation is not just about visualization—it’s about conversation. This hot little car is hotter than any stove, even hotter than the little hot plate I went ahead and got for my eggs—and they both run on the sun! (Are you beginning to see the light? Fiat Lux!)

2025 will be the warmest year on record, every year is now. We all need to get our heads around it, and our houses in order. Imagination matters. Conversation matters. Little decisions matter. And the process can be an adventure. With the exception of the criminal element, it feels like we’re all doing it together.

What about you? Do you drive electric? What kind of car? Do you love it?

Do you wish you did? What’s your dream EV?

Zoom zoom!