EV thread

What vehicle is this? I really like the idea of plug in hybrids - the math definitely pays off if you need to buy a car anyway, just not for those that would sell one to buy something else.

2012 Chevy volt. Got it a few years ago with <75k on it. Was looking for something like a mazda 3 and this was the same price. Drives nice, like a big golf cart.
 
Guess that's the problem with the government taxing at the chargers, they'll have to tax by the mile when people charge at home.

What voltage charger do you use and how long to recharge?

Only 32 mile electric range?

110 charger, about 10 hours. Planned on getting 220 but haven't really needed it and I'm a master procrastinator.

Yeah not a ton of range but on gas it gets 38mpg so not a big deal when it runs out of juice. 7.5 mile commute so I can go to work twice per day and not use gas.
 
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110 charger, about 10 hours. Planned on getting 220 but haven't really needed it and I'm a master procrastinator.

Yeah not a ton of range but on gas it gets 38mpg so not a big deal when it runs out of juice. 7.5 mile commute so I can go to work twice per day and not use gas.

Mrs App had a Fusion plug in hybrid but her commute one way was longer than the range. Tried charging it at her office but decided it was easier to always run on gas.

I hated that car and wouldn't recommend owning one. It was a good day when George Floyd rear ended us on interstate and it got totaled especially since nobody was hurt.

Had she been able to commute round trip it'd probably been great other than the horrible design of it.
 
In 2013, my wife bought a Prius plug in hybrid. Mostly because, at that time, you could drive it in the car pool lane (green sticker). She has probably plugged it in 2 or 3 times total. So somewhat of a waste now that she can't even take it in the car pool lane. Horsepower is pretty awful in it. It does get really good gas mileage though.

I will be getting a new vehicle in June of 2024. The Prius will go to my then 16yo. We also have a Ford Expedition that we share, it will end up being my wife's car.

I have thought of getting the F150 Hybrid or full electric. Though I will re-consider depending on gas prices and what other hybrids are available at the time. Don't think I like the idea of a full electric. Just seems like a pain in the ass.

I mostly drive 15 minutes to work every day. So the electric will be considered.

You just have to do the math: Will more money spent on the initial purchase eventually pay itself off with gas savings? I'll let you know in June of 2024.
 
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As far as hybrids go, when they show me a DIESEL hybrid, then they'll have something. As it is, all the expensive tech and batteries only serve to make a gas motor the approx equal of a diesel.
 
As far as hybrids go, when they show me a DIESEL hybrid, then they'll have something. As it is, all the expensive tech and batteries only serve to make a gas motor the approx equal of a diesel.

You mean like this? Hell beef it up a little and maybe it only gets 150-200 miles per gallon. This should have been the hybrid/EV market starting point. Light weight, ultra range. But what do I know. People want fast so they can speed light to light and get pulled over on the interstate.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/31595...lkswagen-xl1-diesel-hybrid-capable-of-260-mpg
 
You mean like this? Hell beef it up a little and maybe it only gets 150-200 miles per gallon. This should have been the hybrid/EV market starting point. Light weight, ultra range. But what do I know. People want fast so they can speed light to light and get pulled over on the interstate.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/31595...lkswagen-xl1-diesel-hybrid-capable-of-260-mpg
Too bad its a VW - but yea, that's exactly what I'm talking about. I hear you about people wanting "fast", I've never really cared myself.
 
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Mrs App had a Fusion plug in hybrid but her commute one way was longer than the range. Tried charging it at her office but decided it was easier to always run on gas.

I hated that car and wouldn't recommend owning one. It was a good day when George Floyd rear ended us on interstate and it got totaled especially since nobody was hurt.

Had she been able to commute round trip it'd probably been great other than the horrible design of it.

Curious what year Fusion hybrid and what you didn't like about it....my wife has a 2017 Fusion plug in hybrid and it has been great for us. We live in the city, she has an 8 mile RT commute so during the week hardly ever needs to use any fuel and it makes me feel better about our other family car being my '05 LJ and it's sub 15mpg performance. Only thing that is less than ideal is the lack of trunk space due to the batteries but with a hitch and a hitch mounted cargo carrier we have made week long vacation trips work.

Like @srimes Volt, it gets 35+ mpg when on fuel and over the course of our ownership we've averaged overall a 60+ mpg once you factor in long vacation trips where we don't plug it in at all. It's all battery range is just less than 20 miles these days but that works ok for us and since it is a hybrid there is no range anxiety. We just charge it on a standard 110 wall socket overnight and it's good to go by morning.

The one other downside (but this isn't tied only to this car these days) is the lack of a spare tire. That messed us up on the way back from a beach vacation when we were travelling on a holiday weekend a couple summers ago....but I've bought one that fits from a junkyard and now take it with us on longer trips so I can control my own destiny.
 
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Curious what year Fusion hybrid and what you didn't like about it....my wife has a 2017 Fusion plug in hybrid and it has been great for us. We live in the city, she has an 8 mile RT commute so during the week hardly ever needs to use any fuel and it makes me feel better about our other family car being my '05 LJ and it's sub 15mpg performance. Only thing that is less than ideal is the lack of trunk space due to the batteries but with a hitch and a hitch mounted cargo carrier we have made week long vacation trips work.

Like @srimes Volt, it gets 35+ mpg when on fuel and over the course of our ownership we've averaged overall a 60+ mpg once you factor in long vacation trips where we don't plug it in at all. It's all battery range is just less than 20 miles these days but that works ok for us and since it is a hybrid there is no range anxiety. We just charge it on a standard 110 wall socket overnight and it's good to go by morning.

The one other downside (but this isn't tied only to this car these days) is the lack of a spare tire. That messed us up on the way back from a beach vacation when we were travelling on a holiday weekend a couple summers ago....but I've bought one that fits from a junkyard and now take it with us on longer trips so I can control my own destiny.

It does get good mileage and was a nice comfortable driving car.

The lack of spare got her once. AAA had to haul it.

The difficulty with opening the doors when it’s 40 below and the battery dies. Good thing for Google on that since the manual was in the car.

The difficulty with opening the trunk when you pull said dead battery out to get a new one and someone closes said trunk with no battery.
 
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It does get good mileage and was a nice comfortable driving car.

The lack of spare got her once. AAA had to haul it.

The difficulty with opening the doors when it’s 40 below and the battery dies. Good thing for Google on that since the manual was in the car.

The difficulty with opening the trunk when you pull said dead battery out to get a new one and someone closes said trunk with no battery.

I can't say my volt does any better at 40 below since I don't live in the 9th circle of hell.
 
I can't say my volt does any better at 40 below since I don't live in the 9th circle of hell.

That day she drove it to the gas station to make sure it had enough gas to not freeze.

Shut the car off, pumped the gas.

Went inside to pay.

Came back out and it was deader than dead.

Need to open the doors to open the hood.

Can’t open the doors because there’s no visible key hole.

Battery is in trunk which also needs power to open since there’s no key hole.

Manual that explains how to get in is in glovebox inside locked vehicle.

Smartphone saved the day, yes Zorba it did.

Popped the little cover off for the key hole which surprisingly didn’t snap due to cold.

Got the hood open.

Found the jump posts in the engine bay that connect to the car battery in trunk. And got her home.

It’s not bad if you know what to do and it’s not 40 below and you’re standing around trying to figure it out.
 
One more thing about the Fusion. We were hit in the fast lane from behind on I35 doing about 75.

The car took it like a champ and was easy to drive to the shoulder safely. There were 3 of us in it.

Once on the shoulder it never started again and was totaled.

Nobody seriously hurt. Mrs App jammed her toe because she’s the only one that knew we were going to get rear ended so she braced her foot in the dead pedal area. Daughter in back seat and she was fine.

The kid that hit us had to be going over 100. His Audi was fucked and puking coolant everywhere.

The car did its job as we were all ok. But the SUV we replaced it with is much more functional (trunk) but gets worse fuel mileage.
 
I just LOVE how CarCos build in bullshit tech pointless gadgets - that cost more and adds unreliability - then have to add yet MORE tech to overcome the first tech's shortcomings. And you get to deal with this nonsense and pay for it too! Woo Hoo!

Remember girls, it was GM who first deleted the passenger side keyhole (to the best of my knowledge)! How much further we've sunk since then.
 
both ICE and EV's have various inefficiencies throughout the process. None of it's really comparable in between, so the only fair comparison is work out vs total life cycle cost including production. If you want to just accept that it's more expensive but understand the environmental impact, then replace money with carbon on the input side. In the rare circumstances the two are compared in those contexts, electric never seems to live up to what's being sold to us.

I like the possibilities that electric could facilitate. The ludricrous torque, the low center of gravity, the ability to actively control each wheel independently all sounds pretty cool. I'd live without the noise if I could hit 60 in 2 seconds and go around any corner I want with the pedal on the floor without crashing. All other things being equal, I'd be all over an electric vehicle. But right now all other things aren't equal, and probably won't be for decades.
 
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both ICE and EV's have various inefficiencies throughout the process. None of it's really comparable in between, so the only fair comparison is work out vs total life cycle cost including production. If you want to just accept that it's more expensive but understand the environmental impact, then replace money with carbon on the input side. In the rare circumstances the two are compared in those contexts, electric never seems to live up to what's being sold to us.

I like the possibilities that electric could facilitate. The ludricrous torque, the low center of gravity, the ability to actively control each wheel independently all sounds pretty cool. I'd live without the noise if I could hit 60 in 2 seconds and go around any corner I want with the pedal on the floor without crashing. All other things being equal, I'd be all over an electric vehicle. But right now all other things aren't equal, and probably won't be for decades.

I was shocked the first time I saw someone open the 'hood' (trunk) on their electric F150. For a truck with a bed, you wouldn't think a trunk would be useful. Guess it can be good if you don't have a bed cover and want to lock tools in there. It can also be used as an ice chest.

I mentioned the ice chest to my wife who quickly reminded me that I would never need an ice chest that large and you could just put a normal ice chest in the bed. But it looked really cool in the commercial and I had a vision of filling it with beer for tail gating...
 
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The company I work for has a huge fleet of leased delivery truck of various sizes (6,000 -ish trucks). Some run routes of less than 45 miles, some 400+ in a day. Our fleet is leased from two major players in the industry for redundancy and based on proximity by location. We have tested all manor of alternative fuel trucks. Natural gas, propane, electric, gas, diesel, and hybrids of various design in the last 10 years. None of it is ready for prime time real world work.

99% of the fleet remains diesel powered. None of the other trucks proved to be viable over the standard diesel all things considered.

I drive a 2500 series truck because I need it. I have had a trailer hooked to my truck more than 50% of the miles since new. There is not and will not be a viable electric for me in the next decade.

If diesel engines were not regulated into oblivion we could have some super efficient diesel electric hybrids. The complexity, cost, and reliability of the emissions systems killed it for us. They have some awesome small diesel hybrids in Europe.
 
Mark my word (and I know I say this all the time), but one day it will cost just as much to charge your EV as it will to fill your tank with gas. I'd bet just about anything on that. Perhaps I could be wrong if we were to embrace nuclear power as a nation, but the environmentalists love to hate nuclear, so we'll see.

In addition, remember that batteries degrade over time. Buy a brand new EV down here in Arizona (where it's hot) and you might find in the first year your battery has 100% capacity, then the following year it has 90%, 80%, etc. This is at least what I've heard from the folks I know down here in Arizona who own EVs.

I think it's a cool technology in many ways. I always preferred electric RCs over gas / nitro because they're much more fun to drive with all the torque. Still, I think for most of us at this point in time they're more of a novelty than a replacement for ICE vehicles.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you typed “at this point in time”. Even 5 years from from now the charging, battery technology and vehicle selection will be leaps and bounds ahead of where it is today…
 
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