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Would you buy another EV? What kind?

  • Yes! A Battery Electric Vehicle.

    Votes: 37 47.4%
  • Yes! A Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle.

    Votes: 28 35.9%
  • Maybe, but there are ICE vehicles I'd consider too.

    Votes: 9 11.5%
  • No. Bring on the apocalypse.

    Votes: 4 5.1%

EV 4 LIFE Y/N?

7K views 59 replies 29 participants last post by  llninja 
#1 ·
We've all bought EV's for various reasons, however, are you EV 4 LIFE? :cool:


In other news, I will have owned my Volt for 1 year in two days! I'm still loving the car, though the infotainment system is irritatingly buggy and lacks user friendliness.
 
#2 ·
I'm all over the map for my next vehicle. It could end up being a CTS PHEV, a Tesla model S, a Jaguar iPace, a Volvo V60 hybrid, an NSX, an i8, or even a used ELR. But then again as recently as last weekend I was searching for crew cab Silverados and deciding between a silverado or a suburban. We could even end up with a Subaru Outback. Odds are the next car will turn out to be something not even on my current radar. Maybe an Apple Car?
 
#10 ·
I'm all over the map for my next vehicle. It could end up being....or even a used ELR. ....
Saw a silver ELR out in the wild for the first time!!!
What a beautiful car and so exotic! People probably think it's that Badass Cadddy with the +500 HP.

I was passing it at 80 mph on the interstate in my silver SBox Chevy BEV.
Gave it the thumbs up, but it was illegally tinted and I couldn't see in.

I change my vote:

 
#6 · (Edited)
2040 is a glacial pace. In 2010 when the first volt was released, I was hoping that by now there would be a dozen electrified vehicles from GM. Where are we at today? We have volt g1/g2 and short-loved spark EV (limited availability), the bolt, the ELR, the CT6 PHEV, and the Chevy Malibu Hybrid. Tesla has the model S and X with the 3 on the way. Nissan still only has the leaf. BMW has the i3 and i8. Audi the a3 Etron. Ford has the focus ev, fusion energy, and Cmax. volvo has the v90. Mercedes has one B-class. Toyota has the Prius prime. Then there's the laughable Miev. Hardly a choice if you ask me.

There are more on the way with Ford and VW piling on soon, but every year I'm hoping for somebody to show up with a volt beater with a Rex, yet the volt still reigns supreme. Where's a 300 mile BEV? Why isn't there an AWD electric CUV? Where are the trucks and my favorite, a Voltec Subyukonade? Who is going to be the first traditional automaker to go all-in and offer ice, range extended, and battery-only options for their entire vehicular lineup? In my eyes, it's not happening fast enough.
 
#5 ·
No. The simple reason is the technology is not ready yet and likely won't be for five years. People celebrating a mediocre two hundred mile range in good conditions are just reaching. The near future is some form or REX EV at best. Battery technology still requires half a ton or more of batteries to get acceptable range for local use only, it is no where near usable for regular long distance travel; the idea of waiting an hour between four hour drives is laughable.
 
#16 ·
How can the technology not be there when people are using it every day and living with it just fine? How many products would you like me to name that are also "mediocre" and yet people are using it and have no issues with?

Do you carry around a 10 gallon tank of water when you go for a hike or run? If not, then why would you want a 400 mile range car to sit in traffic 2 hours a day every day 50 weeks a year just so you can "occasionally" go further?
 
#7 · (Edited)
What I really want is a BEV with 450 miles of range and an extensive fast charger network, it might be 10 years before that happens. I would settle for a Gen3 Volt or other EREV with 1/2 Bolt range, 120 miles, which I expect to see much sooner. A 120 mile EREV is effectively a pure electric for all local driving and I can still go somewhere. Let's look at my driving for the last two weeks,

Last weekend went into Boston to see a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. The garage that I park at when I goto symphony or operas is the Christian Science Plaza garage which has (or had) two free EVSEs, one has been broken all year, now both are, so I had to use the crappy L1 that came with the car (they have outlets in the EV spaces). As a result even with an opera I couldn't get a full charge and had to come back partially on gas. If the Volt was 1/2 of a Bolt the trip to Boston and back would be 100% electric with no need for destination charging. All of my frequent local trips, Newburyport, Rockport, Jaffery NH, would be 100% electric with no need for a recharge which would be great because none of those places has charging available.

Memorial day weekend. Went to Northern Vermont, did 980 mile in three days. This trip would have been impossible in any BEV on the market today except maybe a P100 Tesla which would have been white knuckle close to it's range limit (it also costs more than I paid for my house in 1983). Vermont is doable in a Tesla if you stick to the interstate because Tesla has a supercharger in Lebanon NH and Burlington VT but that's an utterly uninteresting trip. We used highways as far as Woodstock VT and then it was all country roads, drove up via Middlebury and back via Fort Ticonderoga NY, not a problem for the Volt which has 400 miles of gas range on top of the EV range (which was depleted on the trip up, got a little charge at the hotel via the Level 1 but not a full charge because they shutoff the light pole outlets at dawn). A 450 mile BEV with superchargers would have been comfortable for this trip but the P100's 315 mile range would have been at the hairy edge, probably would have worked but you couldn't risk it because there is no backup for a BEV (i.e. AAA can't bring you a can of electrons if you run out of charge). A longer range EREV (i.e. Volt with 1/2 Bolt range) would have improved the trip by increasing the EV% to 40 or 50 but a 120 mile range is not as life changing as it would be for local driving.

Bottom line is that I expect my next car to be a >100 mile EREV and the one after that to be a 450 mile BEV.
 
#8 · (Edited)
...Bottom line is that I expect my next car to be a >100 mile EREV and the one after that to be a 450 mile BEV.
I'm with BJ. With the current battery technology and charging infrastructure, BEVs are not the complete answer, and I don't expect to see radically better tech before 2030. Put 100 miles of electric range in a non-compact car (Malibu, Impala, Equinox, etc.), and the world will be better off. But don't expect it anytime soon, because car manufacturers make more money polluting the world, and that's the bottom line.

Oh, and I like pizza too.
 
#15 ·
If anyone makes an AFORDABLE RWD convertible EV (think, miata EV) I am all in... but I can't afford a Tesla Roadster, so instead I am burning E-85 in my heavily modified Miata...

I have even looked into doing an EV conversion on my Miata, but currently they are still pretty expensive to do.

Keith
 
#17 ·
Any affordable EV coupe (doesn't need to be a ragtop), I'm in. I'm suddenly about to become an empty nester as the youngest is headed to a math and science boarding school. So a use Does ELR is a distinct possibility.
 
#19 ·
A "battery only" vehicle with a 150 mile (minimum) range would not work for me as my -only- vehicle, but it would be heavily utilized for about 90% of my yearly travel. The remaining 10% is a fairly even split between distance trips (400-700 miles) and "heavy" work like towing.

Having said that, now that I've been driving mostly EV for a while now, I would be EXTREMELY irritated to go back to a typical ICE vehicle full time.
 
#22 ·
Hear hear on the buggy infotainment system. The only great thing about the Volt is its drive train, which is absolutely superb. The rest of it is cheap and subject to problems, especially the interior. I pray that some upmarket automakers get into the EREV gig in a serious manner. I will be there for them.
 
#24 ·
With retirement a decade out, I think that I will have one more vehicle in my lifetime. I hope that a hybrid, plug-in recreational vehicle will be available before a decade passes. An all-electric Volkswagen micro-bus camper is not going to meet my needs. I need a vehicle with a range extender for about a four-hundred mile travel day with no assurances that an electric charging station will be available. Infrastructure will simply not be widespread enough within ten years to rely on an all-electric vehicle in remote areas. Most of my days in retirement will likely not be spent near an electrical outlet. I may need to purchase a used diesel recreational vehicle to live realistically without always sleeping in a tent until my death. I vote for that pizza!
 
#28 ·
With my retirement possibly in 3.5 years (early retirement) I hope to be able to buy several more cars before kicking the bucket. Getting down to one for the rest of my life is going to be tough. We have an antique 24' airstream that hasn't been used since 1999 with needs some TLC and use. The Suburban I purchased at the time as a tow vehicle needs to either be brought back to perfect working order or I'm going to have to get a newer model as a replacement. There is a pair of diesel Silverado 2500 HDs taunting me at my local dealership, but at over $67k MSRP, it's more than I'm willing to spend at this time. I'll probably end up with a less expensive gasoline model where thenonly condolence is that I could run E85 through it to give OPEC 85% of a finger while sipping 15% Dino juice.
 
#26 ·
It's been parroted that 40% off all EVs which includes commercial equipment are sold in CA and we can speculate privately owned vehicles may bump that up to 45-50%...GM stated 88% of all Bolts sold are to CA, while it's not rolled out to all states, it is rolled out to the CARBs states, half the country and you can acquire CA Bolt's at a huge discount even if you do not live in a rolled out state...With that in mind, a CA vehicle...

SoCal to Vegas is one of the most heavily traveled routes on the planet especially on the weekends...Unless charging speed is drastically improved, you at least have to cover a person who wakes up, does their work commute, maybe goes to lunch and can drive straight from work to Vegas...L.A. to Vegas is 300ish miles...So to factor in a commute a wild swings in weather (you can hit 100f and 40f in the same drive) you need 350ish EPA...

However, what EV advocates seems to be naïve to, you could EV any vehicle, keep the price and performance the same as ICE but give it a 1000 miles of range, there are just people out there who don't yet want them...
 
#35 ·
I love having my Volt. Obviously, I wish I had purchased it under different circumstances (ones that involved selling my 256k mile Cavalier rather than ripping a hydrant out of the ground with it), but all in all, it's so much nicer driving that on a daily basis than said Cav.

I've owned it since March 16th and still have only used 0.27 gallons (the last 0.07 gallons being EMM), since I can go basically everywhere I need to on a daily basis on range, especially since I can everywhere I need to without taking freeways - it just takes a few extra minutes.

However, the Volt cannot compete with the sheer range of our Cruze Diesel (my wife's DD), so that is by far the logical choice to take on road trips, since the per-tank is generally well over 700 miles (obviously if it's winter, that does not help). When you can make it to your in-laws house East of Raleigh without stopping for fuel, it really makes sense.

And then I have my Cobalt and my Camaro for my toys. But thus far, the Cobalt has sat outside, waiting for the exhaust to be re-welded. Normally I'd have had that fixed by now so I could drive it on nice days instead of the Cavalier - but honestly, the Volt is so enjoyable to drive (and the whole no-using-fuel thing), that it's taking a lot longer than it should for me to get that done.

As far as our next vehicle? I guess it depends on where we are in life. There have been talks of a Equinox Diesel, maybe a Cruze Diesel Hatch, not sure!
 
#36 ·
However, the Volt cannot compete with the sheer range of our Cruze Diesel (my wife's DD), so that is by far the logical choice to take on road trips, since the per-tank is generally well over 700 miles (obviously if it's winter, that does not help). When you can make it to your in-laws house East of Raleigh without stopping for fuel, it really makes sense.
That is impressive range... but do you really drive it straight through without stopping? All my cars have had about a 300-350 mile range, and I find that after 5hrs of 60mph-avg speed driving, I am ready to stretch my legs and get a snack or something, so I don't mind having to stop. I can't imagine driving/sitting for 10 hours without a break.
 
#41 ·
No, the plug in prius (prior to the prime) was a PHEV... any time you pressed the gas pedal past about 30% the gasoline engine would fire up to help with acceleration. To be an EREV it has to be like the Volt, i3, or the prius prime, capable of operating as a pure EV until the traction battery is depleted.

Keith
 
#43 ·
Our first Volt, a 2014, pretty much convinced us on the beauty of a plug in electric vehicle. My wife's 32 mile round trip to her business could be made easily in the summer, in winter when cold and raining, sometimes a 2-5 miles or so from home the gas engine would roar to life before she made it home.

We traded the 2014 Volt for a brand new 2016 Volt Premier in July 2016. Now my wife can make the round trip just on electric even in the dead of winter and still have 10 miles or even more range left when she arrives home.

Currently as I type this there is 66 miles of range on the electric range indicator, and gas only mpg's is pretty close now to 50 mpg, on regular gas no premium gas required. the 2014 Volt at best would get low 40's mpg just on gas, and the engine was very loud as well compared to the 2016 Volt.

My wife is waiting for a mid size SUV plug in AWD, with a 75 mile electric range or so and a fuel efficient gas engine capable of 40 mpg or so. In the mean time she is enjoying her Volt, my car is a 2010 Prius, which get great mpg, but not as comfortable or as fun to drive as the Volt.
 
#48 ·
Congrats on the new Bolt. Sorry to hear about your repeated unfortunate fiscal events (leasing).
 
#47 ·
While I am enjoying my bolt it is not ready to replace all my vehicle needs. I still want to be able to tow 3000 lbs and drive 1200 miles in a shot. I think we are a ways from that on both battery capacity and charge stations. I found even going from the volt to a bolt that you need some pretty big charge stations to do any sort of long distance travel.

Let's do the math, Ev's have roughly 3 times the effiency of ice due to the fact that electric motors are 90%+ effiecient vs 30% for ice. But my diesel van gets about 15 mpg towing and has a range of 450 miles. So let's convert that to an ev, 15 mpg/32kw/g x 3 is 1.4 miles per kW. Btw a volt at 40mpg converts to 3.75 m/kW. So it's close enough for estimation. So let's say we will settle for a 300 mile range between recharges. 300/1.4 = 214 kW. So double the current biggest pack available. Then you have to charge it, with the current superchargers, it's a 2 hr charge? To get to a 30 min charge we will need 450kw superchargers. I am not familiar with electric grid, but that might need its own sub station if more than one person is going to charge. Now if we want to equal the range I have now, I would need a pack over 300kw.
 
#49 ·
PHEV - for 90% of my driving I'll be on EV but for the other 10% I'll need gasoline. We simply do not have the EV infrastructure in place in most of the US, including Denver, to be a pure EV driver. Households with pure EV vehicles all have a non-EV car for long distance driving.
 
#50 ·
Two aspects are left out on the poll...

1. What if a family has a 4th child and/or for whatever reason takes in a 4th person (parent who cannot drive for example)? As far as I know, Tesla is the only EV option who can carry beyond five, but extra seats adds cost to the BASE config and the base range may not be enough to justify the high price.

2. It's easy to champion EVs if you have access to another ICE vehicle within your household whether a spouse or another family member...It's very rare to a 2+ vehicle household that's ICE free...
 
#52 ·
I'm beginning to think that EREVs will be required for another 10 years. Battery density needs to at least double before a BEV can do the same job as an EREV, alternatively a 1.5X increase in battery density plus a ubiquitous fast charging network would do the trick but I think that's less likely then a full range EV. A 2X battery density improvement gives the Bolt the same range as the Volt (460 miles), that's long enough that any conceivable day trip can be done without recharging with the exception of very long drives on an Interstate which are the only type of highways where the placement of superchargers is likely to be convenient. The historical rate of improvement in battery density has been about 2X in 10 years, there are frequent announcements of radical new battery types but it will take a very long time for any of them to enter commercial production, the conservative bet is to use the historical rate of 2X/10 years. I'm actually more confident that batteries will get there before a ubiquitous charging network. The problem with putting fast chargers everywhere, not just on super highways, is that it doesn't make any economic sense. Gas stations are everywhere because everybody needs to buy a tank of gas every week. EVs are different, they are charged at home so there will be 0 demand for local fast charging. It's only when you travel for distances that exceed the range of your vehicle that you would need to use a public L3 EVSE and that's not enough demand to justify putting them anywhere except Interstates. As ranges get longer the demand for public chargers goes down which makes it even less likely that a widespread charging network will get built.
 
#53 ·
Still, it would be nice if some commercial entity had charging nationwide like Mobil, shell, marathon. Follow the Tesla supercharger model where you put charging stations near shopping and food so when you stop for lunch, you have a convenient charger, even if there is a price for that charging. Today, we just have Tesla and Nissan. Any non car manufacturer with L2 j1772s would be a welcome sight.
 
#59 ·
The proliferation of commercial Level III charging stations is starting to happen along major routes. Already convenience chains such as Sheetz have started to build out an EV charging corridor: http://www.cspdailynews.com/fuels-news-prices-analysis/fuels-technology-equipment/articles/sheetz-establishes-ev-corridor

Tesla is know to be in discussions with WaWa about installing their SuperChargers at selected WaWa locations.

No information yet on EV charging at the Maryland I-95 corridor rest stops (Maryland House, Chesapeake House)

Pennsylvania Turnpike rest areas currently have Blink network Level II charging at 4 locations and Level III charging at 2 locations.
 
#60 ·
All nice starts, but there is no Sheetz near me. How about charging stations at all exits? First brand to pull that off wins.
 
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