Electric Car Ownership - Any Experiences?

[payn]

I'd be much more willing to try for a hybrid under current conditions (though whether they land in a cost range I'd be likely to manage is another story--I'm one of those people who has not owned a new car in my life (neither has my wife, nor I think, my parents when they were alive).

Newest for me was 3 years old. I typically drive me vees for 10-15 years. Just got a newish Tacoma so probably any chance at hybrid or EV is down the road.

 

[Umbran]

I'd be much more willing to try for a hybrid under current conditions (though whether they land in a cost range I'd be likely to manage is another story--I'm one of those people who has not owned a new car in my life (neither has my wife, nor I think, my parents when they were alive).

Well, it isn't like you have to buy new to get a hybrid. Our Prius C that got totaled was bought lightly used, and that was 8 years ago, I think.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Well, it isn't like you have to buy new to get a hybrid. Our Prius C that got totaled was bought lightly used, and that was 8 years ago, I think.

Yes, the question I'm having is relative costs (and to be clear, I don't know--its not something I've researched) if given hybrid is more expensive than a given ICE car, its an issue for me, depending on how much difference it is.

 

[Horwath]

Personally, I will not adopt EV tech until is matures and includes:

1. can be charged in the same amount of time as filling a gas tank
2. costs the same as a gas vehicle without the subsidies
3. insurance rates close to ICE
4. increased range

this are all valid point, but in the end it will when certain governments decide that in, 5,8 or 10 years there will be ban on ALL new ICE personal vehicles, as there is still too far for truck to go full electric.

 

[Mannahnin]

Off topic for this thread, mind you...

With respect, that is only true if you want to buy your alcohol while grocery shopping. I find Wegman's to be horribly inefficient in its use of space and layout, forcing you to wander around to find anything. That's great for the store, as it encourages impulse buying, but not so good for the consumer.

Also, I find every other store in my area beats Wegman's in terms of variety of a given product. If I am looking for flour, for example, I can get it at Wegman's. But I can usually get more different types and brands of flour at the other large chains.

Fair point. Wegman's has some great products (friends of mine rave over their cakes), but I do most of my shopping at Hannaford or Market Basket (preferably newer MBs, which actually have a little elbow room in the aisles and parking lots), which I can navigate quickly even accounting for the usual supermarket layout shenanigans like putting produce and dairy at opposite ends of the store.

 

[Umbran]

Electricians came this morning, shortly after 8 AM, to install the charging station. They were done before 11 AM.

I did setup via the same app I use to find charging stations in the field, and it was only a few clicks and such.

When my wife gets home, we can give it a test.

 

[Mannahnin]

Electricians came this morning, shortly after 8 AM, to install the charging station. They were done before 11 AM.

I did setup via the same app I use to find charging stations in the field, and it was only a few clicks and such.

When my wife gets home, we can give it a test.

Nice!

 

[prabe]

Electricians came this morning, shortly after 8 AM, to install the charging station. They were done before 11 AM.

I did setup via the same app I use to find charging stations in the field, and it was only a few clicks and such.

When my wife gets home, we can give it a test.

Ours was a little more involved than that on the install side (mainly because it's connected to a hub as part of the solar panel setup we have) but less involved than that on the setup/use side--we've pretty much always been able to just plug the car in, we never had to do set up in any app/s, that I know of. (No criticism or anything, just differences.)

 

[Umbran]

Ours was a little more involved than that on the install side (mainly because it's connected to a hub as part of the solar panel setup we have) but less involved than that on the setup/use side--we've pretty much always been able to just plug the car in, we never had to do set up in any app/s, that I know of. (No criticism or anything, just differences.)

Yeah. This thing allows me to monitor the charger and its use, both in real time and historically, from their app.

Now that that is done, it is just "plug in and charge". Or, for us, more likely, "plug in, and then charging will begin in a scheduled low-use window favored by our utility to get lower rates."

 

[prabe]

Yeah. This thing allows me to monitor the charger and its use, both in real time and historically, from their app.

Now that that is done, it is just "plug in and charge". Or, for us, more likely, "plug in, and then charging will begin in a scheduled low-use window favored by our utility to get lower rates."

We can schedule like that, either using an app or using the UI in the car, we just mostly don't. Or, we plug in when we have solar and the power is effectively free, or overnight when the rates are lower. We can monitor the entire solar panel/hub/charger system via apps, but that I know of, that's not how we would schedule charging.