EV requirements for you personally to consider one

[trivan]

Either that or in my mid life crisis buy a Porsche 911.
Age 53 has me thinking of fun

Get a Porsche Taycan!!! Friend has it and its a sweet car.

 

[dez1978]

I have read this thread - as I am looking for a new car and thinking electric. I drive 2 miles to work each way and have charging stations at my office and my apartment.
To my mind the technology has come a long way - so this old gal may go electric.

Either that or in my mid life crisis buy a Porsche 911.
Age 53 has me thinking of fun

I think Porsche makes an EV. you can have your cake and eat it too lol

 

[ZellyB]

We have an ID.4 also! Got it almost a year ago when they first came out. We absolutely love it. 3 years of free charging on Electrify America is amazing, we took full advantage during our trip from NC to Chicago

So glad to hear from another ID.4 owner and that you've had it a year and still love it. I'm completely infatuated with mine right now. It's so quiet and the smoothness of the ride is fantastic.

Someone on here mentioned the big screens as well and one of the things I liked about the ID.4 is that the screen wasn't as big as some of the others.

 

[kdonnel]

I put around 30K miles on my car a year. I'm 100% sure I drive more than 39 miles a day. In the last month, I've made 3 trips of more than 250 miles in a single day. So no. 100-150 miles would be no where near sufficient. This is the swatting away of concerns that @LuvOrlando mentions. Because it isn't a concern for YOU does not make it a less valid concern for others.

Yup this.

Again, becasue it's irrelevant for you, does not mean its irrelevant for others. Where I live and many others, it's not irrelevant. We get it. You love your EV. Cool for you. This post obv wasn't meant for you becasue the question was what would it take for you to consider one. Not why they are so awesome for you. Please stop telling me (and others) I don't need what I said I need.

A lot of the concerns people have expressed are really not problems. That is why I said earlier I wished it was possible for people to have an EV long term to see that for themselves.

I know I had many of the same concerns.

Just trying to help alleviate some of the concerns people have expressed as reasons that don’t see EV ownership as being practical.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

So glad to hear from another ID.4 owner and that you've had it a year and still love it. I'm completely infatuated with mine right now. It's so quiet and the smoothness of the ride is fantastic.

Someone on here mentioned the big screens as well and one of the things I liked about the ID.4 is that the screen wasn't as big as some of the others.

We get asked about it everywhere we go. Get lots of looks at drive-throughs or when driving slowly across town. It's a nice car! Ours is white with black roof. Since it's a first edition, we also got the gray-white steering wheel which matches the upholstery. Almost a year out and still infatuated.

 

[dez1978]

A lot of the concerns people have expressed are really not problems. That is why I said earlier I wished it was possible for people to have an EV long term to see that for themselves.

I know I had many of the same concerns.

Just trying to help alleviate some of the concerns people have expressed as reasons that don’t see EV ownership as being practical.

Again, just because it isn't a concern for you does not mean it isn't a valid concern for others. I promise if you lived where I do, and traveled as I do, you would have the very same concerns as I and many others. Its great that an EV works for you. But pushing off others concerns as not valid is offputting and like saying "thats not been my experience, therefore it doesn't exist"

My husband works in another state, and it's a 6.5 hr drive. about 400 miles each way. Up on Monday and Home on Thursday. So it's a very valid problem for him. Is that an outlier yes. But still a very valid problem.

 

[bcla]

I have read this thread - as I am looking for a new car and thinking electric. I drive 2 miles to work each way and have charging stations at my office and my apartment.
To my mind the technology has come a long way - so this old gal may go electric.

Either that or in my mid life crisis buy a Porsche 911.
Age 53 has me thinking of fun

You may have the perfect case for an electric vehicles - especially one that has limited range. It's not really a big secret how more range is achieved. While battery energy density has improved somewhat, the way is to just put in a bigger battery. Maybe that can be hidden, but in some cases it's just a matter of sacrificing storage space. Obviously for something as large as a semi, they can just make it bigger since the extra battery weight is nothing compared to the load. That's even a case where the lack of a transmission makes it ideal. Tractors have 18 gears just to get them moving where they would otherwise stall if there were only 5 or 6 gears. I believe it would even possible to get an EV to crawl at ridiculously low speeds where other vehicles could only do so by burning a clutch or wasting lots of energy in an automatic transmission to heat.

 

[LYSE]

Again, just because it isn't a concern for you does not mean it isn't a valid concern for others. I promise if you lived where I do, and traveled as I do, you would have the very same concerns as I and many others. Its great that an EV works for you. But pushing off others concerns as not valid is offputting and like saying "thats not been my experience, therefore it doesn't exist"

My husband works in another state, and it's a 6.5 hr drive. about 400 miles each way. Up on Monday and Home on Thursday. So it's a very valid problem for him. Is that an outlier yes. But still a very valid problem.

I would still make that commute in an Ev.

When an EV owner says something isn't really a problem what they most likely mean is that once you try it out you realize it's not actually as big of a concern as you thought before you had the the chance to try it.

 

[dez1978]

I would still make that commute in an Ev.

When an EV owner says something isn't really a problem what they most likely mean is that once you try it out you realize it's not actually as big of a concern as you thought before you had the the chance to try it.

You'd chance a 400 mile trip plus traffic (its near chicago) in your car that EPA says gets well below that?? Bc he's not wasting time stopping to charge mid trip.

 

[LYSE]

You'd chance a 400 mile trip plus traffic (its near chicago) in your car that EPA says gets well below that?? Bc he's not wasting time stopping to charge mid trip.

I would want to use it as an excuse to buy myself a model s with 405 miles of epa range lol, but I would also be fine charging up a little mid trip (probably still needed with the s) the money saved from gas and maintenance (hundreds in your husbands case..maybe 400+ a month depending on what he drives now) makes a short charging stop worth it in my opinion. I'm also willing to bet that in most use cases time lost charging mid trip is made up for by not loosing anytime at all fueling at gas stations when not far from home at the very least it eats up a decent chunk of it.

One last note, you mentioned traffic, the slower the traffic the more range you'll get..unlike ICE cars traffic and its lower speeds does wonders for efficiency.

 

[kdonnel]

You'd chance a 400 mile trip plus traffic (its near chicago) in your car that EPA says gets well below that?? Bc he's not wasting time stopping to charge mid trip.

Sounds like he’s not ready for an EV. I never said everyone was.

If you need to tow? Forget about it. Range is abysmal. Charging would be horrific as at most chargers you would need to disconnect the trailer somewhere near the charger, charge, and then reconnect. Or block all the chargers so you can pull up parallel. Not making any friends.

As I said If you don’t have home charging it is not the same experience.

If you often road trip over 400 or so miles and you don’t anticipate liking stopping every 3 hours for 30 mins, not for you.

It sounds like you asked for advice and ideas but don’t want to hear any contrary to how your mind is already made up.

 

[RamblingMad]

I road trip, so it needs to have a long range. I also drive on less than great roads when I go hiking and camping, so it needs to be able to handle those roads. And it needs enough storage space for my car camping as well.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I would still make that commute in an Ev.

When an EV owner says something isn't really a problem what they most likely mean is that once you try it out you realize it's not actually as big of a concern as you thought before you had the the chance to try it.

IDK the PP has commented several times on educating us poor souls on coming over to being an electric vehicle owner so maybe it's the delivery?

 

[kdonnel]

IDK the PP has commented several times on educating us poor souls on coming over to being an electric vehicle owner so maybe it's the delivery?

Perhaps. It would appear some are reading things into my typing that is not typed. I am giving my opinion. It is to be read as my opinion.

 

[kdonnel]

My husband works in another state, and it's a 6.5 hr drive. about 400 miles each way. Up on Monday and Home on Thursday. So it's a very valid problem for him. Is that an outlier yes. But still a very valid problem.

Here is a 406 mile trip in a Hyundai Ionic 5



So a real world 406 mile trip in an ICE takes 6 hours 14 minutes, no stops for a bathroom, snack, or gas.

That same trip in this example EV takes 6 hours 41 minutes.
27 minutes longer and you get to go to the bathroom and pick up a snack.

I believe many on this thread believe it would take much longer in an EV for a 406 mile trip when compared to an ICE car.

 

[sam_gordon]

So a real world 406 mile trip in an ICE takes 6 hours 14 minutes, no stops for a bathroom, snack, or gas.

I'll disagree with you there (slightly). 406 miles in 6h14m equals stops for bathroom, snack, and gas (they're all done at the same time). 406 miles in 6h14m = 65 mph AVERAGE. By doing 75-80mph on the interstate, by the time you stop 15 minutes (+/-) for a bathroom/snack/gas stop, you've averaged 60-65mph. So a real world 406 mile trip in an ICE takes 6 hours 14 minutes WITH stops.

406 in 6h41min is averaging 60mph.

 

[kdonnel]

I'll disagree with you there (slightly). 406 miles in 6h14m equals stops for bathroom, snack, and gas (they're all done at the same time). 406 miles in 6h14m = 65 mph AVERAGE. By doing 75-80mph on the interstate, by the time you stop 15 minutes (+/-) for a bathroom/snack/gas stop, you've averaged 60-65mph. So a real world 406 mile trip in an ICE takes 6 hours 14 minutes WITH stops.

406 in 6h41min is averaging 60mph.

Plugging in the same trip in Google maps has it taking 6 hours 12 mins. Google doesn’t believe that when factoring in surface streets a driver will average 75-80. I hope no one is driving 80 on the roads to the center of Ocala or the roads out of my neighborhood on the way to the interstate.

The point of the post is that an EV does not need hours of charging for a 400 mile trip like many apparently think based on many peoples posted reservations against owning an EV.

 

[LYSE]

I'll disagree with you there (slightly). 406 miles in 6h14m equals stops for bathroom, snack, and gas (they're all done at the same time). 406 miles in 6h14m = 65 mph AVERAGE. By doing 75-80mph on the interstate, by the time you stop 15 minutes (+/-) for a bathroom/snack/gas stop, you've averaged 60-65mph. So a real world 406 mile trip in an ICE takes 6 hours 14 minutes WITH stops.

406 in 6h41min is averaging 60mph.

Still the money saved is well worth it, it really adds up and that is something I don't think most people understand, mostly because they don't understand the cost of electricity and the units used as well as just how much less regular maintaince an EV has. The cars can literally pay for themselves in savings if you drive enough.

Attached below is my screen shot for a 400 mile trip...very similar to the previous example with an ioniq (this is my Tesla Model y long range)

Average speed will affect all trips planned of course and I would always expect the ICE car to manage it faster but If I'm driving serious boring miles then I'll take the (significantly) lower cost per mile any day.

 

[sam_gordon]

Plugging in the same trip in Google maps has it taking 6 hours 12 mins. Google doesn’t believe that when factoring in surface streets a driver will average 75-80. I hope no one is driving 80 on the roads to the center of Ocala or the roads out of my neighborhood on the way to the interstate.

You missed MY point. Google uses 65mph as it's average. For me, Google has been pretty accurate when you INCLUDE stops. I never said I average 75-80 for the entire trip. But doing 75-80 while you're on the interstate allows you to average 60-65 after factoring in stops. You said 6h14m didn't include stops.

The point of the post is that an EV does not need hours of charging for a 400 mile trip like many apparently think based on many peoples posted reservations against owning an EV.

I know. That's why I said I disagree (SLIGHTLY). I will say I was surprised at the short amount of time they charged. I wasn't crazy about the 20 minute stop for the second charge.

 

[sam_gordon]

Average speed will affect all trips planned of course and I would always expect the ICE car to manage it faster but If I'm driving serious boring miles then I'll take the (significantly) lower cost per mile any day.

I can respect that. I can't remember if I posted it here or in another thread, but I'm a "want to get there" kind of guy. If I can save 45 minutes, I will.

Doing some quick math... 400 miles @ 25mph (using our ICE van) = 16 gallons * $3.25/gallon = $52. How much did those two charges cost you? I'm not being snarky, genuinely curious.

Another curiosity question... how do the EVs handle being out in the cold? Earlier this year a snow storm shut down the interstate. DW & I elected not to try back roads and got a hotel. So we drove to work, drove through snow doing errands (long story, take my word for it), checked into a hotel, then went to work the next day. How would the battery react to that?

Fortunately work does have external outlets (both 50A & 20A) I could use to get a charge if I had cables with me.