Would you get an electric car?

[Tom'sMark]

Personally I would not as (where I live) there is not enough infrastructure and if I go on a long journey, I have to wait around 1 hour every time to recharge the batteries.

 

[kanewolf]

Personally I would not as (where I live) there is not enough infrastructure and if I go on a long journey, I have to wait around 1 hour every time to recharge the batteries.

You could rent a conventional car for road trips. Hybrid vehicles give the best of both technologies.

 

[Gururu]

I don't travel far a lot and I would not use one for road trips. Probably fine but would require planning for charge locations. For city driving I am sure 100% fine. However, I know and enjoy working on gas engines and love my 5 speed, so it would be a downgrade in my quality of life.

 

[kanewolf]

I don't travel far a lot and I would not use one for road trips. Probably fine but would require planning for charge locations. For city driving I am sure 100% fine. However, I know and enjoy working on gas engines and love my 5 speed, so it would be a downgrade in my quality of life.

Except that you would NEVER get the instantaneous acceleration of an electric with a gas engine. If you love acceleration, then electric is more fun.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Personally, I wouldn't go full electric, as is similarly pointed out above, the infrastructure is not even 30% built out to accommodate the higher number of vehicles or the queues to use the charging stations. It's like a real afterthought.

Funnily enough (or maybe not) where I'm from they tried a booking system for timed slots at charging stations. This led to absolute bedlam, as some people just didn't give a crap, went ahead in queues sometimes resulting in arguments are fighting. It has since been scrapped.

My brother went with a plugin hybrid (Ford Kuga), and according to him, it's amazing. It uses the EV during shorter trips or lower speeds, and then combines both EV and petrol or switches over to petrol alone. Now, it's mostly used for school journeys, buzzing locally (about 50 miles) with maybe 1 or 2 slightly longer journeys for various things (kids after school, shopping, visiting family etc.) each week. He gets a month out of the petrol/EV combo. Now, he did get a charging port put in the house, for which you get grants to cover some of the cost.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Except that you would NEVER get the instantaneous acceleration of an electric with a gas engine. If you love acceleration, then electric is more fun.

I've not tried a full electric yet, so can't attest to that, but I know it's true. I did drive another MHEV (Mild Hybrid EV), another Ford, the Puma ST. It combines both EV and Petrol for Sport mode. And there is some kick in it. The steering, acceleration, handling all change and it becomes a different car altogether.

 

[Gururu]

Except that you would NEVER get the instantaneous acceleration of an electric with a gas engine. If you love acceleration, then electric is more fun.

Never drove one so I suppose it could be. I hate automatic cars because there is far less interactivity than a manual, which has a clutch, brake, gas and stick. Do the electrics come close to that level of "one with the car"?

 

[punkncat]

I would not purchase an electric car. I also would not purchase a hybrid.

Several years back, probably around 5 years, the owner of our company replaced our fleet of ICE only vehicles with Hybrid Prius. The first two years realized huge savings. These last three years (or so) we have for sure spent more on these vehicles than some good ICE vehicles would have done. We have actually gone through three of them since then as being too messed up to continue repairing. The biggest issue is obviously the battery. We have a guy that will come out and basically "un-wire" the bad cells. The car is cool with that for a few but always turns out to have the car see the battery as bad as a whole. We have replaced a head gasket in one, engine in one, transmission in one led to it going to scrap mentioned above. We also have quite a bit of issue with headlights and the 12V SLA battery it uses for the hybrid gas motor. Another aspect are the tires. These use a low rolling resistance tire that is too expensive for the short life they live in miles.

A side items that has been a curiosity to me is, how long until after these charging stations go in across the country it is inevitable that a great deal of them would be out in the country somewhere. People will be pulling in with exhausted batteries, can't get away, obviously have some money to afford most of these cars, and will be a sitting duck for a new kind of highway robbery.

 

[Ralston18]

Also in the "no" category.

I like the overall idea etc. but I believe that there is still too much uncertainty involved with respect to recharging costs and convenience. Not too mention the future costs of vehicle repair and battery replacement. I have read about the tire problems (mentioned by@punkncat) as well.

Here is an article that sort of sums it all up. Article is now over 1 1/2 years out of date. Maybe there will be an update to adjust for gasoline and electricity prices.

https://www.edmunds.com/electric-ca...html?msockid=006a0e3ba956648d16de1baca8f1654f

Staying with my trusty 2012 F-150. Just under 50K now.

 

[gamerk316]

I would not purchase an electric car. I also would not purchase a hybrid.

Several years back, probably around 5 years, the owner of our company replaced our fleet of ICE only vehicles with Hybrid Prius. The first two years realized huge savings. These last three years (or so) we have for sure spent more on these vehicles than some good ICE vehicles would have done. We have actually gone through three of them since then as being too messed up to continue repairing. The biggest issue is obviously the battery. We have a guy that will come out and basically "un-wire" the bad cells. The car is cool with that for a few but always turns out to have the car see the battery as bad as a whole. We have replaced a head gasket in one, engine in one, transmission in one led to it going to scrap mentioned above. We also have quite a bit of issue with headlights and the 12V SLA battery it uses for the hybrid gas motor. Another aspect are the tires. These use a low rolling resistance tire that is too expensive for the short life they live in miles.

A side items that has been a curiosity to me is, how long until after these charging stations go in across the country it is inevitable that a great deal of them would be out in the country somewhere. People will be pulling in with exhausted batteries, can't get away, obviously have some money to afford most of these cars, and will be a sitting duck for a new kind of highway robbery.

As a Prius owner, I have to ask what model year your company went with? Those early gen Priuses were built like tanks, due to Toyota over-engineering the hell out of them. My 2013 model is still going strong; only thing that ever died on it thus far is the *normal* battery (and 18 months of non-use during COVID likely had a thing to do with it).

 

[gamerk316]

For my use, no, but only because my home really can't be upgraded to support the necessary charger, though my use case (40 miles to/from work, with an occasional 120 mile jaunt to company HQ) is optimal.

I will note PEVs are an excellent halfway point.

 

[Eximo]

I had a 70 mile range EV, without fast charging, for about 3 years. I could commute with it daily using a standard 120 volt outlet in the US (Europe has a real advantage there) I eventually did install an EVSE though.

I could reach the closest cities one way, which at the time was pretty much every regular destination I would normally use. If I was staying the day I would just plug in at the destination home. If not I would use one of the public chargers either before my engagement or after. Usually around 2 hours of charging time. For a while there I was commuting about 40 miles one way, and basically I would drive to work, take it to a parking garage with free charging during lunch, and then drive it home. (Using public transport to get to and from the car, which was extremely convenient that it worked out that way)

Now throughout that, I also kept a gasoline car, but I don't believe I actually ever had the occasion to take it on a long trip. 1.5 years of that was in the middle of the pandemic, so your results may vary. As that car aged, the range on the highway started getting worse, maybe 60 miles at 70mph.

I replaced it with a 250 mile range car, with fast charging (non-Tesla, though now Tesla supercharger capable) Despite the lack of charging infrastructure I can still drive cross country relatively easily. And that has only gotten easier. Stop for 25 minute for every 3+ hours of driving. Electricity cost on the go is roughly the same price as gasoline.

As to planning, it is only the time you have to plan for. The navigation units in EVs basically tell you where you need to go charge to get to your destination as quickly as possible.

My advice: They are truly economical if you can charge at home. If you can't then you basically lose all fuel cost savings. Still nicer for the environment.

For home charging, take a look at your electrical panel. You will need at least a 50 amp breaker installed for a 7.2kW charger (40 amps, about 25 miles per hour of charge), on the higher end is 60 amps for 48 Amp (9.6kW), and for the big ones 100 Amps for 80A (14.4 kW). Depending on the vehicle that means you should be able to go from near zero to 100% overnight.

If you are looking at an EV today, look for a car with an 800V system, that will cut your fast charging time to 15-18 minutes on passenger cars. 400V cars still take around 25-30 minutes depending on the total capacity. The larger the vehicle, the bigger the battery will be and the longer it will take to charge. Vehicles like GMs trucks and the Hummer have dual 400V packs, so they'll charge at 800V.

Make sure the EV has a heat pump. You do not want resistive heating in an EV, it kills the range by as much as 25%. Heat pump will maybe use up 10% on the high side, but more regularly like 5%. You can save a lot of range by preheating or precooling the car before any trip.

And yes, having instant acceleration is fun.

I should add that any car you look at for range Lop 20% off of that for any normal use. You don't charge to 100% unless absolutely necessary, and of course you never actually go to zero unless you have stranded yourself. So on my 250 mile range car, I usually only charge to 80% which gives me about 200 miles average, with worst case of about 170 miles in the winter.