Electric Car Ownership - Any Experiences?

[Zaukrie]

Well, the reason most (urban) apartments don't have parking is that most urban apartment dwellers don't have cars! Most urban dwellers don't need cars.

Moving urban areas into the future is probably best done with expanded public transportation options. Let the roads of Manhattan be filled with electric busses, not personal cars.

That's simply not true in Portland or Minneapolis at all. And, sure, but we're decades from better transit.

 

[Umbran]

I have been driving my Lexus Hybrid 300h for quite a while (2nd one of that model) and it gets great mileage. Prius are still available and Lexus has an upscale version of it.

Well, the gas mileage is only one of the influences on the decision. This car will also have to function as a backup car for my wife's work. Sedans do not work for that.

Basically, the ideal is probably "compact hybrid hatchback", and that narrows the choices considerably.

 

[Umbran]

That's simply not true in Portland or Minneapolis at all. And, sure, but we're decades from better transit.

Sorry, but it isn't clear what isn't true. Ambiguous "that's".

 

[Zaukrie]

Sorry, but it isn't clear what isn't true. Ambiguous "that's".

That people don't need cars in those two cities. That apartment dwellers didn't have cars.

 

[Myrdin Potter]

Well, the gas mileage is only one of the influences on the decision. This car will also have to function as a backup car for my wife's work. Sedans do not work for that.

Basically, the ideal is probably "compact hybrid hatchback", and that narrows the choices considerably.

Lexus CT200h or the new UX. Or a Prius. Toyota still has the best hybrid system.

The 300h just an example of a full sized sedan with great mileage.

 

[Umbran]

That people don't need cars in those two cities.

Um... well, how to put this...
Portland has a population density of ~4900 people per square mile.
Minneapolis ~ 8000 people per square mile
Boston ~ 14,000 people per square mile
NYC ~ 29,000 people per square mile.

My clearly, archetypically suburban area, just outside of Boston, has a population density of 7,000 people per square mile. There are very few apartment buildings here - it is by far mostly single family homes and duplexes with driveway parking.

If I don't consider my own home "urban", then I'm not going to consider Minneapolis or Portland to be "urban" in this sense, either. While they may be technically the "City of Portland", in terms of population density that looks suburban, to me. And that population density is more relevant for considering travel needs than what people call the place.

That apartment dwellers didn't have cars.

I meant that in urban areas. In Manhattan, only 22% of households own cars.

 

[Baron Opal II]

... I am confused? A Hyundai Kia?

I know that they are both owned by the same chaebol (conglomerate), but they're separate brands.

Ah, you've fallen for the classic trap! That's really just a variant spelling of Kona, you see.

(move along, move along.)

 

[Baron Opal II]

Um... well, how to put this...
Portland has a population density of ~4900 people per square mile.
Minneapolis ~ 8000 people per square mile
Boston ~ 14,000 people per square mile
NYC ~ 29,000 people per square mile.

From my experience, it is just as easy to live without a vehicle in the city of Portland as it is in Boston. There is plentiful mass transit options in both. That said, the area that is served by the two services is larger and able to handle a greater number of people in Boston than Portland.

I've also seen plentiful EVs in Portland as well. I'm sure in no small part because "eco-friendly" seems to be a cultural thing in the PNW.

 

[Ryujin]

From my experience, it is just as easy to live without a vehicle in the city of Portland as it is in Boston. There is plentiful mass transit options in both. That said, the area that is served by the two services is larger and able to handle a greater number of people in Boston than Portland.

I've also seen plentiful EVs in Portland as well. I'm sure in no small part because "eco-friendly" seems to be a cultural thing in the PNW.

One good example would be how every taxi I've ever seen, in Seattle, is a Prius. Great public transportation in that city but I always get a rental car anyway, because more than half my travel is away from that system. The city busses and trains don't exactly run to Mount Rainier or Riffe Lake.

 

[Zaukrie]

Minneapolis St Paul is the 16th largest metropolitan area in the US.....I guess there are only ten urban areas in the US?

The issue with mass transit in Portland is that it is largely based on getting to the city, where almost no one works.