Electric Car Ownership - Any Experiences?

[Dioltach]

A guy in my apartment complex has a Rav4 Hybrid and it does this cool alien spaceship "Whompwhompwhompwhompwhomp" noise as it cruises by.

How long before manufacturers let you program your own sounds? And how many people will choose the option "Tie Fighter"?

 

[Horwath]

This is a negative. They are involved in a lot more accidents with pedestrians because you can’t here them coming.

learn to listen better or look at the road.

This happened to me once, I was almost hit by EV, was lucky, then I learned what to listen to and to look both ways when you cross the street(even in one-way street)

 

[Horwath]

I'm pretty sure it's now legally required (at least in the US) for EVs/Hybrids to have outbound speakers to emit noise at low speeds because of this.

A guy in my apartment complex has a Rav4 Hybrid and it does this cool alien spaceship "Whompwhompwhompwhompwhomp" noise as it cruises by.

sounds like a first target to get it's speaker smashed.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

learn to listen better or look at the road.

This happened to me once, I was almost hit by EV, was lucky, then I learned what to listen to and to look both ways when you cross the street(even in one-way street)

Not everyone has full vision, and I have plenty of experience of EVs not being where they are supposed to be (i.e on the road).

It’s particularly dangerous for the elderly.

 

[Professor Murder]

Anecdotal:
A friend had a hybrid, not going into the model. One night while it was charging beside their home overnight the battery caught fire. The fire spread to their home. Everyone was able to get out ok and the house was able to be repaired. The lawsuit stalled when the slagged remains of their car mysterious vanished from police impound...

 

[Umbran]

If you ever plan on doing any long-distance traveling, I would not suggest an electric car.
There's not enough charging stations.

Any really long distance travelling would need careful planning. We have a friend who did a family vacation from Boston to the Grand Canyon and back in a Tesla, for example.

Even if there were sufficient level 3 charging stations, the added time would be notable. So, we do expect to also get a second car for use on longer trips and for my occasional use.

Worse, since there's no industry standard, a given charging station might not accommodate your make and model!

The US industry is about to collapse to one standard. For now, the Bolt uses the second most common plug in the US (the most common is the Tesla).

 

[Umbran]

They tried to have a charger installed at home, and found they'd need to have a lot of additional electrical work done to make it happen... things like that.

We are also planning to get solar panels installed in the near future. If we need the panel upgraded for this, we'd likely need it for that, too, so we aren't too concerned about that.

 

[Meech17]

learn to listen better or look at the road.

This happened to me once, I was almost hit by EV, was lucky, then I learned what to listen to and to look both ways when you cross the street(even in one-way street)

sounds like a first target to get it's speaker smashed.

Not super keen on telling people who get plowed over by a car "Too bad, so sad.. Git Gud and look better."

Especially not super keen on wanting to vandalize safety features on cars. Might be a hot take, but I think not running over inattentive children is a good thing.

Anecdotal:
A friend had a hybrid, not going into the model. One night while it was charging beside their home overnight the battery caught fire. The fire spread to their home. Everyone was able to get out ok and the house was able to be repaired. The lawsuit stalled when the slagged remains of their car mysterious vanished from police impound...

EV fires are a problem. It's not like ICE cars don't ever catch fire.. Look at Hyundai/Kia. They've recalled hundreds of thousands of cars, and issued a warning suggesting owners not part them in garages in the event that they spontaneously combust.

But battery fires are especially troubling because they can be really hard to put out. This isn't something that scares me that much.. Because cars in general are death traps, and it's just something I've come to accept, but it can be a concern for a lot of folks.

 

[Meech17]

We are also planning to get solar panels installed in the near future. If we need the panel upgraded for this, we'd likely need it for that, too, so we aren't too concerned about that.

It'd be a huge, but possibly worthwhile investment to look into a battery for the house as well. I'm sure there's companies out there that could do all three for you in one go. It'd make your house super appealing to certain buyers in the future, and it'd just be sick to have in general.

Tesla's Powerwall is the big one, but I'm sure there's non-tesla options out there as well.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

It'd be a huge, but possibly worthwhile investment to look into a battery for the house as well. I'm sure there's companies out there that could do all three for you in one go. It'd make your house super appealing to certain buyers in the future, and it'd just be sick to have in general.

Tesla's Powerwall is the big one, but I'm sure there's non-tesla options out there as well.

I have solar + sonnen battery.

I can't comment about whether it is better or worse than other products, since it's the only one I have, but it has worked great since I've had the property. Easy to use and I never have to think about it (other than occasionally changing the setting to have it keep a maximum reserve when there is a likely emergency issue coming up).