Anyone have an electric car?

How much driving do you do? I considered it as well but I drive too many miles each day considering the typical charge range (and charging stations remain insufficiently ubiquitous).
 
Many MANY friends/family happy with the Teslas. But they are in areas with lots of support. We travel and move to much to go full electric, but they really make a lot of sense for a run around car or basic commutes, if you ask me.

When we moved from DC to Miami I went to the Tesla store and spent a lot of time talking to the sales folk...the trip down I95 with the charge stops changed our minds, as it is only about 10 min to fill up gas and 30-40 min for charge (assuming no wait at the stations!) and other unknown factors.

But here in Miami I wish we had one.
 

In cold weather climates, the battery life will be shorter as well because the only source of heat would be electric heat. Heated seats and steering wheels are nice to have's but I've always wondered what it would be like to heat the entire passenger cabin with electric heat. Should be warm because it's radiant heat, but not sure about the comfort in terms of humidity and what the dry heat would do to the interior, like leather seats.
 
My wife has had the Chevy Bolt for about 2 years. Couldn't be happier. It's so much fun to drive. I call it the little black rocket. We don't even have a special charger, she does little enough driving that charging over night with a regular 110V outlet is sufficient. I think she has not even used a public charging spot so far. Boulder, CO.

I am considering replacing my ICE truck too with an electric. Mach-E, ID.4 and Ariya are in the running.
 
I looked seriously at the BMW i3 and Hyundai Kona. The range wasn’t a big deal for me. However, living in the Rocky Mountain foothills around 7,000 feet elevation, the lack of tread depth on EV’s would make it a summer-only car. Because of their requirement for lower rotational mass, EV’s are equipped with big rims and low profile tires. Low profile tires aren’t good in snow. There’s just not enough meat available on the tires for our tread depth requirements. Lack of tread depth (on a lot of new cars) has become such a widespread problem that in 2019 Colorado had to create a winter traction law for driving in the mountains.
Dedicated snow tires are a ”must” for anyone living in snowy climes. There aren’t a lot of choices yet for EV snow tires.
 
Maybe consider hybrid? Audi hybrids are nice.

But electric in a more rural, snowy environment that has only okay sun coverage and a shaky power grid seems untenable to me. You’re going to pay a lot to charge it. You can’t offset the costs with a solar system or your employers at-work charging stations. Cold is bad for range. And when power is down it’s a liability, not an escape plan.

Tesla’s specifically aren’t great in cold, snowy climates especially if they use salt on the roads. Generally you don’t want your door handles retracting and freezing into the car body. They also they have a poor track record with rust.
 
Hybrid would get my vote over full electric at this stage of the game unless it's a second runaround you want to squeeze into and live on the outskirts of a town only wanting to do a few chores.

I'd like to think if I had to do an emergency semi-long journey in the middle of a cold night I could get there without stressing over battery levels or factoring in finding charge points (that actually work) and the time they take.

I think there's a few years to go yet before the whole package comes together .... and hopefully it will ... but for now I'm not convinced I'd want to jump in with both feet.
 
My opinion: Hybrids suck. I call it "the worst of two worlds" :)
I had A3 e-tron hybrid for two years and thought it was great. As a commuter car in the bay area it hit all the right notes: it got me into the HOV lane during rush hour, solo driving.

And...that's all the notes it had to hit. :D

But yea, I've never kept an Audi beyond the lease term because I wouldn't want to pay to maintain one long term. Feel similar about all electric cars right now TBH.
 
I never understood where people got the idea that electrics are better then gasoline powered cars. Making car batteries ain't that good for the environment, quite the contrary, and they have to be replaced at some point. Just like the battery in your smart phone degrades from use. And they aren't zero emission, as the power that comes out of the socket has to come from somewhere. So instead of coming out of your car exhaust it now comes out of the fossil fueled power plant's chimney. Might be a little more power efficient as a gasoline engine ain't the most power efficient. But then again a combustion engine car doesn't need those car batteries that are shite for the environment.

If you want to save the planet its probably better to become more efficient in our power use then to chase like lemmings after technology that promises to ease our conscience but only serves to make a few people rich.
 
FYI, not everyone buys one to "save the planet". I bought one because I like the look, I can charge at work for free, and in the end it saves me money. Also, because it's fast as hell and fun to drive for the price.
 
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