OT: Electric Vehicles--anyone driving them or seriously looked at them?

[vqdriver]

there will always be excuses for just doing things the same way generation after generation. people fear change because it's an unknown and will make myriad excuses for resisting

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by vqdriver

there will always be excuses for just doing things the same way generation after generation. people fear change because it's an unknown and will make myriad excuses for resisting

No excuses needed. This is the way we've always done it!

[Clean39T]

I should add that after driving an EV, it is really annoying to drive ICE cars in terms of engine noise and lag / lack of responsiveness.

[Brian Smith]

Originally Posted by paredown

Has anyone taken the steps to add fast charging and/or battery storage at home?

What do you mean by "steps to add fast charging at home?"
For my family unit, and this isn't uncommon, our vehicles remain parked at home for longer periods than they remain parked anywhere else...why would home be the location that they would need extra preparation for EV charging? If you park overnight on your own property, you're in large part already prepared.
Additionally, battery storage is a feature that comes with the car, not something that one needs to add later in order to operate an EV.

Despite the topic of EV charging having a fair amount of currency, Bard seems to be profiting from trade within that currency more than they are spending currency.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by Brian Smith

What do you mean by "steps to add fast charging at home?"

With many EVs, you can charge from a standard 120 volt outlet, or you can install a 220 volt charging outlet. The latter will charge roughly twice as fast.

[benb]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

With many EVs, you can charge from a standard 120 volt outlet, or you can install a 220 volt charging outlet. The latter will charge roughly twice as fast.

Right... and if you have to hire an electrician to come out and add 220v to the garage you can do something even higher capacity while you're doing it.

I have a detached garage, no way I'm adding 220v out there myself.. for one thing I don't even want to dig up the electrical conduit, for another 220v is scary enough I'd be worried about violating code and burning the garage down.

One of my friends got a Model 3 this Summer and seemed to be able to hook it up himself (attached garage) but I'm not sure he did 220v, I would be comfortable adding a 120v hookup to the existing wiring.

Since the car is at home the most it's the most logical place to have a good charging setup.

On a practical level this will get harder as the cars get more popular but I've never seen free gas being offered. There are actually several places convenient to me I've seen free charging for EVs. We have free charging in our office park. AFAIK that's provided by the Federal Government for FAA employees in the park but it's explicitly marked that it's open for other employees.

And we have free EV charging near town hall in our town. You might say "why would you go to town hall". But our High School, Middle School, Recreation Department/Child care, Police Department, and Fire Department are also within 200 yards of those EV charging stations, so we're actually in the vicinity many times each week.

Neither of these are free cause taxes have to be paying for them but I already have to pay the taxes.

[hellvetica]

The good thing about the full electric i3, is there is no maintenance.

If you get the REX (range extender model), then yes, you do need to change the oil in the little engine.

I looked at the carfax history for my car and there are literally, two tire rotations, and topping off windshield fluid. In 2 years. That's all the service.

You can get a level 2 charger installed at home, but we have lots of public charging nearby (and more being added all the time) on Plugshare. I also use the slow wall charger if needed. I just plug it in overnight after peak hours (9pm) and get a good amount by sunrise.

[vqdriver]

yes and yes
i bought mine earlier this year. it's a plug in hybrid so not a pure ev, but for practical (and tax credit) purposes, the same.
in the past, i'd fill up about 3 times a month. not because i drive a lot of miles, but because i sat in traffic so much. as it stands now, i can go indefinitely without refilling.

i installed a level 2 charging station and can recharge a depleted battery in a couple hours. tbh, i don't get the griping about installing the 220/240. people used to do this regularly in the home for appliances. but if it's for an ev, all of a sudden it's like a some big hurdle. it's just an outlet. if you sell the car and never use the 220 again, you'll have already used it 100x more than that guy who put one in for his compressor when he thought he'd 'need a workshop'. don't worry about the charging station. after it's done, you'll understand it's not a big deal.

i don't know what 'battery storage' is.

fwiw, i'm the only one in a group of friends who doesn't have a tesla in the driveway. and to a person, each one of them says the biggest drawback of a pure ev is that they cannot go off the "charging" grid on road trips. vegas? no problem. san diego, san francisco? tesla's got you covered. mojave desert? yeah, that's problem. but they all have (at least) a second driver and second car which they use in those instances.

Originally Posted by paredown

Now the question part--has anyone shopped for or purchased an EV recently--or come close and decided against it?

Has anyone taken the steps to add fast charging and/or battery storage at home?

[Drmojo]

I bought my Bolt-full electric in 2017.
220-260 range is plenty. I charge for free
most places- work, near my home etc
I have spent about $20 in 21/2 years on
charging. There are now more charging
stations every day. And Tesla is not
the only option now for full EV’s
Quiet, instant acceleration and very fun
to drive!!
GM does not do much to sell the Bolt-
since bulk of their business is ICE vehicles
trucks, corvettes etc
And much of the naysaying is clearly
fossil fuel company propaganda
I urge you to join the rest of the globe
and the 21st Century!!!

[KarlC]

How timely this tread is as I was just going to start one on the BMW i3 versus ???

BMW i3 owners please chime in ......

We are considering selling my wife's Jaguar XJ and getting a smaller car, that would be ezer to park, fun to drive, and save $ overall.

I friend got a used BMW i3 and drove it to 80K miles with no issue, he loved it, best car ever he says. At 80k he started to think about possible upcoming cost and then the $12K 2019 VW eGolf deal came out he got one of those. He like the eGolf also, but says its just a Golf and preferred the BMW i3.

So what do you guys think a used BMW i3 or a new eGolf looks like the cost might be able the same in the $12k range ? That is if VW bring the eGolf deal back as some say they will soon.

The eGold deal........

https://slickdeals.net/f/13163326-21...-10-000-13-500

.

Originally Posted by Clean39T

I had a 2015 BMW i3 BEV (battery only) for two years and it was an exceptionally good car. Between the dealer discounts, employer incentives, etc., I was paying under $200/mon for the top-line model. I could fit two bike boxes and a wheel box in the back, or a road bike with the wheels on. It was very zippy and overall just an excellent car for the short trips I made 99% of the time when I was still commuting to an office (and wasn't on my bike). I turned it in when the lease ran out, after extending the lease as far as I could, just because I no longer commute to an office, and needed/wanted something with more range for longer trips - plus, a BMW out of warranty and with a first-gen battery (85mi range).....no thanks.

To replace it, I picked up a 2019 Prius Prime this past summer. Again, got a combo of dealer incentives and state/federal incentives to get the price way down for the top-line model with all the gizmos and do-dads. I have 1800mi on it since June, and still haven't filled up the gas tank - sitting at around a 1/4 right now. The all-electric range is enough for most everything I do as far as going for groceries, out to eat, running errands, etc. I'm happy to have the 4-cyl engine though for getting out of town for bike trips, work, whatever - or simply for those rare days where I need more than 25mi and want to run the heater and such. The engine is loud and weak. But it does the job. The infotainment system is excellent, and the design of the car shows care went into the little things. I have a roof-rack for it and between that and the interior space, it hauls plenty for my no-kids lifestyle. We'll see how it does though if we get significant snow this year or ice. That's the one place where these cars struggle in my experience.

As for the impacts to the bulk-electric system - yes, there is an impact, but EVs can be part of the solution if the incentives are put in place - they can serve as peak-shifting resources (charging/discharging in concert with the grid's needs). But they can also exacerbate existing problems - if people plug them in at 7p as the sun is setting, that's not good. I expect we'll stumble forward in this space, being the imperfect humans we are..

And as for climate impacts and emissions, well, if you want to make a difference, transportation does matter, but those airline flights make a big deal as others said - and even moreso than that, look at your diet.. There is no bigger contributor to the degradation of our planet than the industrial animal agriculture system. If you want your kids/grandkids to have an inhabitable planet, stop eating meat and drinking milk - or drastically reduce your consumption of it. It's that simple.

Originally Posted by hellvetica

Just recently joined the electric club. Got a 2 y/o BMW i3 (full electric, not the range extender) for the cost of a Honda Civic. Maybe less? I've gotten about 150 miles out a charge.

Super, super happy with the car, the availability of nearby charging (or anywhere in the city - LA).

It's perfect for the minimal amount of driving I do (taking kids to school, grocery runs, getting to trails for running, etc.). The car is extremely quality, well designed (BMW used recycled materials in the build), super roomy despite the cars appearance, and is insanely fun to drive. The 0-60 is 7 seconds I think? Fun to rip around.

BMW is getting a lot of lease returns so these are quite a bargain. It took a month to find the "right" one because I wanted a CPO, specific features, etc. Worth the wait for sure.

Our city also has a bunch of rebates including a used car rebate, level 2 charger rebate, etc.

It's a no brainer for me, and you don't cringe when you pass a gas station.

One thing to note, insurance will be higher on these as they are super expensive to repair. My insurance went up about $25/m, but that's pretty offset by the cost of gas/typical gas powered maintenance, etc.

[hellvetica]

I really like the i3.

We have had 4 Audi's and this is up there even though it doesn't have leather. It has a ton of "luxury car" features which are hard to beat with a Golf. After all, this was a $50k car when it was new 2 years ago. The phone app is one of the best (you can control some functions of the car, climatize the interior, check the charge level, etc.).

The i3 is rear wheel drive and the handling is surprisingly really good, almost sports car like and no body roll. The electronic steering is supposed to be comparable to their sports cars. Overall, it feels nicely made, but can get a bit loud on rough roads due to the carbon/plastic frame. It doesn't bother me much, but worth pointing out. Also the suicide doors ... although they do not bother me since I have a Honda Element. Some people do not like them.

Also worth noting they have not had any recalls, or failures, that I am aware of. That's what the CPO is for anyway, to cover issues at least for the next few years.

[KarlC]

Originally Posted by hellvetica

I really like the i3.

We have had 4 Audi's and this is up there even though it doesn't have leather. It has a ton of "luxury car" features which are hard to beat with a Golf. After all, this was a $50k car when it was new 2 years ago. The phone app is one of the best (you can control some functions of the car, climatize the interior, check the charge level, etc.).

The i3 is rear wheel drive and the handling is surprisingly really good, almost sports car like and no body roll. The electronic steering is supposed to be comparable to their sports cars. Overall, it feels nicely made, but can get a bit loud on rough roads due to the carbon/plastic frame. It doesn't bother me much, but worth pointing out. Also the suicide doors ... although they do not bother me since I have a Honda Element. Some people do not like them.

Also worth noting they have not had any recalls, or failures, that I am aware of. That's what the CPO is for anyway, to cover issues at least for the next few years.

Thx for the input.

Issue wise I have read about some A/C unit and steering column issues, but that's about it.

.

[paredown]

Originally Posted by C50

This article is almost 2 years old ....

https://medium.com/@briankent/the-re...t-c6dc1decf75d

Great rant--I did not know about the "travel" rules that give extra credits to established car makers for every vehicle they sell in CA. What a boondoggle--I now understand why the Fiat 500e is a CA/OR only vehicle...

[paredown]

Originally Posted by Brian Smith

What do you mean by "steps to add fast charging at home?"
For my family unit, and this isn't uncommon, our vehicles remain parked at home for longer periods than they remain parked anywhere else...why would home be the location that they would need extra preparation for EV charging? If you park overnight on your own property, you're in large part already prepared.
Additionally, battery storage is a feature that comes with the car, not something that one needs to add later in order to operate an EV.

Despite the topic of EV charging having a fair amount of currency, Bard seems to be profiting from trade within that currency more than they are spending currency.

My typing outran my brain on that comment--I was thinking about the full solar package--so panels on the roof, battery storage and EV charging--trying to get off the grid as much as possible...

[vqdriver]

i know a couple i3 owners and they really like em in general. they don't like it's vague wet handling tho but i honestly think those tires/wheels aren't doing them any favors.
i like that the i3 has an installed base and wrinkles have already been worked out. i get that the vw would probably use tech tested by audi but it's still a new model. no one is immune.

Originally Posted by KarlC

How timely this tread is as I was just going to start one on the BMW i3 versus ???

BMW i3 owners please chime in ......

We are considering selling my wife's Jaguar XJ and getting a smaller car, that would be ezer to park, fun to drive, and save $ overall.

I friend got a used BMW i3 and drove it to 80K miles with no issue, he loved it, best car ever he says. At 80k he started to think about possible upcoming cost and then the $12K 2019 VW eGolf deal came out he got one of those. He like the eGolf also, but says its just a Golf and preferred the BMW i3.

So what do you guys think a used BMW i3 or a new eGolf looks like the cost might be able the same in the $12k range ? That is if VW bring the eGolf deal back as some say they will soon.

The eGold deal........

https://slickdeals.net/f/13163326-21...-10-000-13-500

.