Electric cars

[jimmy olsen]

How so?
Historically their current setup is a fairly recent post war development. Before that they did follow a more stereotypically European style.

(Quebec City is an exception to this, but overall) 1946 isn't that recent in terms of North American cities.  For instance Miami and Edmonton weren't incorporated as cities until 1895; they've been post-WWII cities for more time than they were pre-WWII cities.

Our population has shifted a great deal since the Second World War.  During the 1920s Florida was the smallest state in the south; today we're the third largest state in the Union.  Turning the clock back to 1939 is simply not a realistic option here.

Eh...Florida is gonna go back to being the smallest state in the south because most of it is going to be underwater.

Are we entering the S curve phase of EV adoption?

[Eddie Teach]

Serves them right for stealing Tom Brady, amirite?

[Zanza]

I currently drive a PHEV and get like 50km range from the battery.  I can recharge it at home easily. That's sufficient for commute and grocery shopping. The gasoline engine basically only is used on the autobahn for long distances. My next car will also be a PHEV, but after that I consider a BEV.

[Josquius]

Nearly bought an electric bike a couple of days ago, but since it's near the depths of Winter now, have put it off till late March early April.   

I need to at some point too. The cycle to work scheme money came back to me luckily but no bike for it. And very hard to find anything sub 2500 to test.
Thinking to buy one abroad then at least it has a throttle.

[crazy canuck]

Did you try out the Bolt EUV?

I'll test drive the Ford Escape PHEV and Kia Niro PHEV. I'd like to try Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV but those are rare and expensive.

The new Bolt is a bit smaller and has a bit less range.

Mind you, I am also paying more than a bit more so value wise the Bolt would probably be a better choice.

[Syt]

Photo from reddit, but I've seen a few of these police VW ID.4 recently.

[Josquius]

Bumping an ancient thread.
Due to reasons I will probably need a bigger car this year.
Buying new of course remains a luxury that I have no interest in.
Nonetheless not buying electric does seem irresponsible. I've done some research on the relative emissions of running down a petrol car vs. an electric and things do suggest electric is for the better.
There is a concern of reduced battery life with time but again much of what I've read suggests this isn't a huge deal with 100k miles+ still giving you 80% capacity at least.

The two that seem to stand out as good options so far are the Nissan Leaf and Hyundai Kona.

Thoughts?

[Threviel]

How will you be driving? What is the use case?

Both are insanely expensive unless you drive alot.

[Josquius]

How will you be driving? What is the use case?

Both are insanely expensive unless you drive alot.

Me- hardly ever. 20-30 mile journeys every other weekend, very occasional trips within 5 miles to shops and such.

Its more my gf who is using it generally every day. Usually going around within the urban area taking the boy, soon to be V2.0 also, to activities, shopping, etc... then on days where she works going to schools that are 20 miles away max, more normally within 10.

Why do you say insanely expensive? The leaf's price seems broadly comparable to petrol cars.

[Tamas]

Will you be able to charge it at home?

In any case though, buy a hybrid. Cheaper mileage than a straight petrol car, can get your indulgence paper green licence plate, yet you won't rely on a future electric infrastructure which may or may not materialise.

[crazy canuck]

Depending on where you live existing infrastructure for EV's is fine. No need to rely on future development. The only exception to that is if you're planning to take your car for long distance trips.

Hybrids don't really make much sense. You have all of the expense of an internal combustion engine and particularly the maintenance of that engine and the extra weight which reduces your EV range which is itself very limited.

If you buy a full electric, your maintenance costs are next to nothing. Further, if you drive it properly, you really don't need any brake maintenance either.  I've had my first electric for over six years now and no work on the brakes has been required.

The other advantage to a full electric vehicle that is manufactured as an electric, rather than just a modified internal combustion model is that you have much more interior space, which, from the sounds of it, is an important factor for you.

There are lots of models to choose from now, I recommend you do a little bit more shopping around to see what fits both your budget and your needs.

[Richard Hakluyt]

My youngest son has a Nissan Leaf which we and his carers use to chauffeur him around to the various places and activities he does. It has been completely reliable and according to my wife is fun to drive, the acceleration is very good.

Now the battery is very limited imo, with a range of only 140 miles, less on cold days and less if you do some fast driving on the motorway. There is an "economy" setting which improves on this but makes the car a bit sluggish. So, if you want to be driving to Edinburgh or Manchester it would be a pain; but, for the suggested use would be perfect.

You can get EVs with much longer ranges of course; but I believe they are correspondingly more expensive.

FWIW it is a motability car and we only had to pay a surcharge of a few hundred pounds for it; which indicates that the government agrees with CC that maintenance etc is pretty cheap.

[Grey Fox]

Wait for model year 2024. Ford and GM will finally have come out with their offerings.

[Zanza]

My current PHEV gets about 100 km from the battery. That's sufficient for daily driving. I don't think I used my petrol engine the last two weeks.

[Barrister]

Bumping an ancient thread.
Due to reasons I will probably need a bigger car this year.
Buying new of course remains a luxury that I have no interest in.
Nonetheless not buying electric does seem irresponsible. I've done some research on the relative emissions of running down a petrol car vs. an electric and things do suggest electric is for the better.
There is a concern of reduced battery life with time but again much of what I've read suggests this isn't a huge deal with 100k miles+ still giving you 80% capacity at least.

The two that seem to stand out as good options so far are the Nissan Leaf and Hyundai Kona.

Thoughts?

What's your parking situation at home?

I do remember you own your own place.  Do you have a parking spot, and hopefully some kind of garage?

I don't have an EV, but I would like one and am interested in one.  As I understand it to make the best use of one you need a level 2 charger installed at home.  It's basically the same kind of outlet that is used for your dryer or electric stove, so nothing outrageous.  Cost is supposedly $1000-$2000.  But that allows you to get a full charge overnight, whereas a standard electrical cord can take most of a day to fully recharge.

If you're just parking on the street though I think the use case for a BEV is substantially reduced.  Then you're stuck finding public charging points which aren't all that quick.