Electric Car poll

[audreyh1]

DH hates combustion engine exhaust and fuel fumes.

DH hates smelly gas stations (and for him they are all smelly). Sensitive nose.

DH hates smelling cars on the road or other outside smells when driving. He wants a high quality HEPA filter for outside air.

DH hates noisy cars.

I think you can see where this is going…….

 

[cbbennet]

If I ever get to the point where I just drive around town or a 100 mile radius I might get one. Primarily charging from home. Odds are time runs out and I never own one.

Same here. Kinda sad about missing that.

 

[NW-Bound]

I do live close to work. I know they are L2 chargers and I suspect they are 40a. Kia EV6 should be able to fully charge in about 7 hours at that rate.

I know my company has solar but I think they generate most of their electricity on site with fuel cells powered by natural gas. Not exactly carbon friendly but we don’t need to worry about blackouts.

I just computed that at my sunny SW location, a solar panel the size of a car parking spot of 8.5' x 18' will generate an average of 10 kWh/day in the winter months.

Assuming that you capture 90% of that electricity during the 9 hours you spend parking the car at work, the 9 kWh will allow you to drive 30 miles each day, using an estimate of 0.3 kWh/mile.

 

[Badger]

I have similar concerns, but about a/c, not heat.

And the darn thing needs to be able to get out of Florida - meaning all the way up the peninsula and away from coastlines - on a single charge, in case we have to evacuate for a major hurricane.
After all, I can carry a gas can that I have filled at the start of hurricane season, but don't want to depend on finding a charging station in an evacuation situation.

It is about 425 miles driving north mainly on I-95 from the bottom of Florida to the state line. Then consider the hurricane is also traveling north while you are fighting all the north bound traffic and having to stop or slow down while in the middle of a few million cars. It could easily take 15+ hours (if you leave a day or two early) and you will still be close to the effects of the storm. It happens like a number of years ago when I-10 became a parking lot. Then what? How long can they make a battery charge last?


Cheers!

 

[ERD50]

I'm very likely to buy an EV in 2025 or 2026. Every aspect of fossil fuels is either an environmental or a geopolitical disaster, and I'd like to reduce my contribution to the mess. There will be certainly still be some early adopter issues then, but I'll be going in with my eyes open.

We just bought a new gasoline-powered car, which will help us deal with any remaining limitations of EV ownership.

Unfortunately, any ability I once had to fix cars has been lost to arthritis in my hands, making very long-term car ownership impractical. I've also never had much luck with limiting my driving, and will manage to drive 16K miles this year despite being retired.

My only real solution is to minimize the economic and environmental impact of my driving.

Kinda hard for me to get my head around around those two statements. And as has been mentioned, it sure isn't clear that an EV does anything to improve the environment or the geopolitical landscape.

-ERD50

 

[Aerides]

*Mod Note*

We have an ongoing EV thread (here) as a container for the often contentious and challenging debate on the broader topic.

This Poll thread, however, should not be used as another place to argue and debate EV vs ICE on the whole. We don't need two threads for that.

When this Poll thread ceases to serve its original intent, it will be closed.

^^^

 

[Badger]

In my area of Florida there are quite a few people buying electric glorified golf carts for street use. They can be annoying at times since people often don't think of them as having to abide by the same laws as cars. I guess if I have to limit my driving in the future to my neighborhood then I will sell a car and buy one but I won't be happy. I hope that would be years from now.


Cheers!

 

[Jerry1]

I have two vehicles. I mostly drive my truck and DW has an Equinox that is hardly driven. I could definitely see having our second car be an EV, but given the condition of the Equinox it seems unlikely it will get replaced in our driving lifetime. Maybe by the time we’re down to one car we will also be done with long drives and an EV will make sense. It would be cool not to have to visit a gas station ever again. Unfortunately, right now the economics and the range don’t work for me. Mostly the economics given how new our cars are.

 

[ERD50]

^^^

JMHO, but I'd think it might be best to break out that other thread as well.

One thread strictly for those people who are planning to buy an EV, but are looking for input on the various makes/models. The guidelines for that should be no discussion on whether EVs are good/bad for the environment, are a good/bad economic choice, are a good/bad choice for other people, are they the future or not, are ICE cars doomed, etc. Just a thread for purchase decisions. Maybe call it "Which EV should I buy?". And of course, the posters to that thread need to avoid claiming superiority over ICE, or that will bring in challengers, and... there you go.

Maybe let the existing thread carry on about debate of pros/cons and the future of EV/ICE?

Just my 2 cents.

-ERD50

 

[aja8888]

JMHO, but I'd think it might be best to break out that other thread as well.

One thread strictly for those people who are planning to buy an EV, but are looking for input on the various makes/models. The guidelines for that should be no discussion on whether EVs are good/bad for the environment, are a good/bad economic choice, are a good/bad choice for other people, are they the future or not, are ICE cars doomed, etc. Just a thread for purchase decisions. Maybe call it "Which EV should I buy?". And of course, the posters to that thread need to avoid claiming superiority over ICE, or that will bring in challengers, and... there you go.

Maybe let the existing thread carry on about debate of pros/cons and the future of EV/ICE?

Just my 2 cents.


-ERD50

With all those rues, do you really think anyone here would post in that thread?

 

[ERD50]

With all those rues, do you really think anyone here would post in that thread?

Yes, I do. There are people interested in buying an EV. They've made up their mind, they don't need to hear the ICE/EV pros-cons, they just want info on the various EV models. Why clutter that with ICE/EV pros-cons? It's just annoying to those who want to buy an EV.

-ERD50

 

[pacergal]

"Probably"
We replaced both cars just before retirement, a 2015 Avalon and 2016 Camry Hybrid.
They will both last us at least 15 years and by then we may not be driving all that much. Our town has several charging stations, including one at our bank.

We do love the Camry Hybrid though!

 

[explanade]

I have two vehicles. I mostly drive my truck and DW has an Equinox that is hardly driven. I could definitely see having our second car be an EV, but given the condition of the Equinox it seems unlikely it will get replaced in our driving lifetime. Maybe by the time we’re down to one car we will also be done with long drives and an EV will make sense. It would be cool not to have to visit a gas station ever again. Unfortunately, right now the economics and the range don’t work for me. Mostly the economics given how new our cars are.

OTOH, there are anecdotes of people getting crazy trade-in values because there's shortage of all cars so used car demand is way higher than supplies.

But then you're paying higher prices for new cars because of the same shortages.

 

[mistermike40]

I voted maybe. I have a plug-in hybrid now and love it, and I like the concept of a completely electric vehicle (in theory). I'm not sure how that's going to work out in practice though. I suspect there will be a generation of car buyers that opt for a hybrid over electric as the electric infrastructure is gradually put in place. Of course people are already purchasing electrics but it seems to either be as a second car, or that person doesn't make extended drives very often.

 

[explanade]

Hybrids may not get long-term investment.

As battery supplies get better and costs are driven down EVs become more competitive in price.

I don't know if the deadlines that some states have talked about for banning new ICE and diesel cars would exempt hybrids.

In any event, some early EVs had range extender technology so even though a gas engine never propelled the car, they would keep the batteries charged.

These didn't find great sales and models like the Volt and B&W i3 are no longer being made or will stop being made soon.

Hybrids are priced lower because they don't have high battery capacity nor a big motor but that may change. The low-priced hybrids are in the compact class and people tend to favor CUVs or bigger, at least for now.

 

[Rambler]

I voted “maybe”. We take lots of road trips across the Arizona/Nevada/Utah desert…vast expanses of land with no gas stations, let alone charging stations. Sometimes we’ve seen lines at the charging stations. Until there are more stations and more efficient charging, the answer is “no”. I would, however, like a plug in hybrid and a Tesla rooftop solar system along with a couple of power wall units.

 

[Koolau]

It's kinda funny but I look at EVs like a new C8-Vette. I would LOVE to have one. BUT, I just have way more reasons NOT to than to buy one. YMMV

 

[Out of Steam]

Kinda hard for me to get my head around around those two statements. And as has been mentioned, it sure isn't clear that an EV does anything to improve the environment or the geopolitical landscape.

-ERD50

I don't believe that there's anything about the geopolitical aspects of battery supply that is as bad as turning the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia into the most powerful individual on the planet (by far) for the past half century.

 

[Koolau]

I don't believe that there's anything about the geopolitical aspects of battery supply that is as bad as turning the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia into the most powerful individual on the planet (by far) for the past half century.

Wait. What?

I hope you aren't suggesting we only do business with countries with "good" gummints. Much of our battery packs come from China as does much of the raw materials for same. We could have some real supply chain issues if we wait to buy from folks as moral, decent, altruistic, loving, kind courteous... as WE are here in the USA. But YMMV.

 

[aja8888]

Wait. What?

I hope you aren't suggesting we only do business with countries with "good" gummints. Much of our battery packs come from China as does much of the raw materials for same. We could have some real supply chain issues if we wait to buy from folks as moral, decent, altruistic, loving, kind courteous... as WE are here in the USA. But YMMV.

Name so countries with "good" governments........

 

[Gumby]

Or not. Please.

 

[Out of Steam]

We could have some real supply chain issues if we wait to buy from folks as moral, decent, altruistic, loving, kind courteous... as WE are here in the USA. But YMMV.

I would characterize the United States government as below average in that respect.

 

[Alan]

Thanks for the interesting discussion.

The majority of the posts are now discussing things other than if you are likely to buy an EV so we have decided to close this thread and ask that ongoing discussion proceed in the existing Electrical Vehicle Thread.