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  #46  
Old 11-20-2019, 07:08 PM
NHAero NHAero is offline
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Apropos your comment that the cost to get into a plug in hybrid outweighs the return:
If you're comparing a new PHEV to otherwise buying a decent used Honda Fit, for example, I agree (I use this example because buying 2-3 yr old nice low cost Hondas has been my automotive strategy for a long time. I'm still driving the '08 I bought at the beginning of '10, running strong and with minimal repairs.) But, when we wanted a new small economic car, the Hyundai Ioniq pure hybrid (Prius equivalent) cost $3,000 less than the plug in version, and between the Fed tax credit and the MA rebate, the PHEV cost $3,000 less. And all that is before the fact that over half the 'fuel' we put in it this past year has been free from our PV system.

Quote:
Originally Posted by C40_guy View Post
Friend of mine recently bought a Cayenne plug-in hybrid. He can drive 20-25 miles without the gas engine ever kicking on, and his around town use allows him to charge at home (from his solar panels), at the supermarket and the mall.

He may go for weeks without the gas engine turning on...but if he takes a road trip, he has no range anxiety.

Works well for him.

I also have solar panels and generate more juice than I consume, but I'm not quite ready to go electric. My usage is similar to my buddy's, but the cost to get into a plug in hybrid far outweighs the financial return. I'll help save the planet in other ways.
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  #47  
Old 11-20-2019, 07:21 PM
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sevencyclist sevencyclist is offline
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Have Tesla X for close to three years. Works well and cheap to maintain. (free charging so no fuel/energy cost)

Very fast, but not too exciting in the dynamics of the drive.

It is a good battery energy demonstration, but as a car, it is not quite as premium as other luxury car brands in service and quality.

I would not prefer it for fun when I have a choice, but for cruising miles or when carrying passengers around, it gets the job done well.

We had a Nissan Leaf previously, and that felt flimsy. The range anxiety became an issue as the car aged. I still like internal combustion engine cars for fun factor.
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  #48  
Old 11-20-2019, 07:26 PM
pjm pjm is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sevencyclist View Post
Have Tesla X for close to three years. Works well and cheap to maintain. (free charging so no fuel/energy cost)

Very fast, but not too exciting in the dynamics of the drive.

It is a good battery energy demonstration, but as a car, it is not quite as premium as other luxury car brands in service and quality.

I would not prefer it for fun when I have a choice, but for cruising miles or when carrying passengers around, it gets the job done well.

We had a Nissan Leaf previously, and that felt flimsy. The range anxiety became an issue as the car aged. I still like internal combustion engine cars for fun factor.
A very honest report.
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  #49  
Old 11-20-2019, 07:29 PM
NHAero NHAero is offline
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I put in my own 240V Level 2 charger (it's actually an interface called an EVSE, the charger is in the car.) This is what I did:
- Installed a 40A 240V breaker in my main panel (main breaker off, used a headlamp)
- Bought the two types of #8 wire I needed online, for running through the basement (2 conductor plus ground) and running underground in plastic conduit
- Bought the conduit and junction boxes locally
- Dug a trench 18” deep from where I drilled a hole through the foundation to where I placed the PT 4x6 post that I mounted away from the house where we park, and placed the conduit in the trench, then fished the single conductor wires through the conduit, then backfilled
- Mounted the charger (Clipper Creek) on the post and wired it to the junction box

It cost me under $1,000 and a day and a half of work. Charging time is roughly inversely proportional to the square of the voltage, so 240V is close to four times faster than 120V
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  #50  
Old 11-20-2019, 07:32 PM
NHAero NHAero is offline
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We had a 2015 Leaf and I learned that a Nissan mile is only 4,000 feet. Whereas the Ioniq exceeds its rated electric miles.
I haven't driven the X, but the S I drove was an awesomely fun car.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sevencyclist View Post
Have Tesla X for close to three years. Works well and cheap to maintain. (free charging so no fuel/energy cost)

Very fast, but not too exciting in the dynamics of the drive.

It is a good battery energy demonstration, but as a car, it is not quite as premium as other luxury car brands in service and quality.

I would not prefer it for fun when I have a choice, but for cruising miles or when carrying passengers around, it gets the job done well.

We had a Nissan Leaf previously, and that felt flimsy. The range anxiety became an issue as the car aged. I still like internal combustion engine cars for fun factor.
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  #51  
Old 11-20-2019, 07:38 PM
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vqdriver vqdriver is offline
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oh and if tesla is on the radar, they aren't the best at providing oem parts. one of those model s owners was hit in a parking lot and the shop couldn't get a replacement body panel in for like 3 months. of course this isn't an ev issue and would be true of any newer company.... but still.
if this concerns the op, probably an ev from a traditional brand with established supply chain is a better option
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  #52  
Old 11-20-2019, 08:05 PM
Spaghetti Legs Spaghetti Legs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sevencyclist View Post
Have Tesla X for close to three years. Works well and cheap to maintain. (free charging so no fuel/energy cost)

Very fast, but not too exciting in the dynamics of the drive.

It is a good battery energy demonstration, but as a car, it is not quite as premium as other luxury car brands in service and quality.

I would not prefer it for fun when I have a choice, but for cruising miles or when carrying passengers around, it gets the job done well.

We had a Nissan Leaf previously, and that felt flimsy. The range anxiety became an issue as the car aged. I still like internal combustion engine cars for fun factor.
I’m now at about 6.5 years with my Model S and I still absolutely love it. I had a Model X for a service loaner a couple of years ago and it was nice but prefer the Model S over that. I hit a deer recently and my car has been in the body shop for a month, just got it back today (yes it does take a long time to get body parts, not mechanical parts for general service tho) and I was so happy to get back in it. I hadn’t realized how much I’ve slipped into the routine and comfort of driving an electric car. I often commute 60 miles to work and actually had range anxiety in the gas car! I’m also hooked on the 17” screen.

From the pure personal economic and maybe convenience standpoint, a plug in hybrid makes the most sense. My wife has a plug in Prius, which gets about 10-12 mile BEV range. This gets her around town for errands without using gas, although it will very annoyingly run the gas engine for the heat and when, in general, the car thinks it needs to be warmed up. That being said, the Model S is the road trip car.
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  #53  
Old 11-20-2019, 09:07 PM
Sjambok Sjambok is offline
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Wife and I share our Chevy Bolt, which is almost a year old now. We love it, we’re in the process of selling our likely last gas car. We both mainly commute by bike. My office has a charger, which is nice, but wasn’t essential to the purchase. With its decent range of 160-300 mi, depending on outside temp. We have just charged it via a 110V outlet at home. It’s a pretty zippy car so city driving is where it shines. So far maintenance is zero. The dealer didn’t even try and sell me on additional warranties or maintenance plans. I recommend them to most of my friends. Our biggest criteria was needing to get to family that’s over a mountain and about 160 miles away. I paid for them to have a 220V / 50 Amp circuit put in so I can fully charge overnight with my portable level 2 charger. My only complaint is the 1-1/4 hitch the dealer installed makes me nervous carrying my bikes. I’ll be swapping it out for a 2” hitch over the winter.
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  #54  
Old 11-20-2019, 10:23 PM
jlwdm jlwdm is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Clean39T View Post
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.
I am just the opposite. I love to drive and enjoy the engine noise and do not enjoy driving an EV.

Jeff
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  #55  
Old 11-20-2019, 10:57 PM
dustyrider dustyrider is offline
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If I lived in an area that allowed for it, I would buy one. I like the idea of an ev pickup for the occasional dump run and hardware store visit, but if they can sell 70,000 dollar gas pickups, I don’t want to imagine what an ev pickup will go for.

My latest whim is an ev sprinter style van(larger battery capacity for range?) that is solar charged. Park it all week and charge it up, head to your campsite for the week and charge it up for the drive back. Maybe one day they could get it down to a weekend charge which would make the ideal camper! I would ride bikes out of the campsite and be living the “Dream”.

As it stands right now, the two largest metropolitan areas are over 300 miles away round trip. Not that I make the quick turn around in one go very often, but the opportunity to fill up with gas and get home is just too great a convenience.

Right now for me the technology would mean buying an ev for in town and keeping or renting a gas guzzler for out of town, which seems to me to be less environmental conscientious than a owning car that gets really good gas mileage. It allows me to pick a friend up at a major airport and drive back the same day, or drive for ~400 miles without stopping, taking ten minutes to fill up, and do it again and again if I want to hit the coast in my life time.

Of course I have an even weirder approach to curbing my consumption and bought a house next to my work. It’s a 5 minute walk one way! Between my living near work, 40 mpg car, and constant bicycle use I feel like I’m doing alright on the transportation side of things.

Last edited by dustyrider; 11-20-2019 at 11:10 PM.
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  #56  
Old 11-21-2019, 08:39 AM
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oldpotatoe oldpotatoe is offline
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Quote:
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.
If it were only that simple. Having 10% of the human population do the above(700 MILLION people, twice the population of the US), stop eating meat or drinking milk..would that make a difference? Probably but trying to make the the world population to stop eating meat and drinking milk...I guess gotta start somewhere but when you see the 2 BIG population centers, India and China, not really into the game of not eating meat and drinking milk..well...
Quote:
The majority of meats consumed in India are fish, bovine, mutton, goat, pig, and poultry. In Indian context, culture, traditions, customs, and taboos influence meat consumption to a great extent. However, studies show that urbanization has been causing a rise in demand for meat products. India is the world’s second largest exporter of beef.
Humans thrive and react based on threats, crisis, emergencies. I agree with EVERYTHING said, re: climate change and how humans are causing it but I'm also very pessimistic..look no further than 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and the halls of congress. It's gonna be Soylent Green or a world wide pandemic(reducing population in a BIG way) before the human population as a whole gets off their meat consuming, gas driving collective butts.
Quote:
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!!!
I urge to take a look at the 'rest of the globe'....most of the 'globe' are far below the US/Europe/Parts of Asia in terms of financial flexibility and ability to not eat mean, drink milk or buy an EV car.
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Last edited by oldpotatoe; 11-21-2019 at 08:45 AM.
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  #57  
Old 11-21-2019, 09:51 AM
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YesNdeed YesNdeed is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zap View Post
Add another 50 real miles to the range for a total of 350 and I'm in.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a2...t-ev-revealed/
Great read on range, battery design and expected lifespan of batteries.

https://jalopnik.com/why-no-one-is-b...nge-1837952903

A rear drive wagon @ 275hp? Oh, I'm in! And 300 miles on a charge is plenty for most of the driving I do. For the rest, I'll suffer the limitation of planning my trips according to where stations will be in the future. As it stands, my car gets about 350-375 highway miles on a tank. All it takes is a little oversight, and suddenly even petrol stations aren't plentiful enough.
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  #58  
Old 11-21-2019, 10:15 AM
zap zap is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by YesNdeed View Post
Great read on range, battery design and expected lifespan of batteries.

https://jalopnik.com/why-no-one-is-b...nge-1837952903
Yes, probably one reason why some Tesla's combust. German manufacturers want to reduce that risk as much as possible.

Last trip down from D.C the other week, we saw 2 Tesla's parked (one getting serviced) on the shoulder of I95 in NoVa. That's 50% of the Tesla's we saw that morning.
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  #59  
Old 11-21-2019, 10:30 AM
54ny77 54ny77 is offline
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I'm waiting for an EV Cobra kit car with fake big block sound pumped through the stereo and side pipes. Hey, at least my calves wont burn.

Might be waiting awhile.

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  #60  
Old 11-21-2019, 10:46 AM
alancw3 alancw3 is offline
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Charging question. So a few years ago Testa was working on a charging system, like an electric toothbrush, that you had on the floor in your garage and drove over and parked on for the night. Did this ever happen? that made so much sense to me.
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