I just bought 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV. Actually to complement my 2017 Prius Prime. I was wondering to seek the forum opinion how resilient you folks are to ditch ICE part of the car you drive. After long thoughtful deliberations instead of going for Toyota RAV 4 Prime I just bought second car - Chevy BOLT EV. I believe cost-wise it makes sense, and functionality-wise as well. well I will miss 4 wheel drive on mountain road trips, but done 2 ft snow plowing with my Prime on winter tires well. It might be an "odd ball", but Prius Prime is perfect for short errands on EV and long road trips if u need to do one. I did several from Houston to Lake Tahoe, CA, Salt lake City, and more that 5 to Summit country in Colorado. Saying that I think the range anxiety can be effectively removed having BEV for city+ driving and Plug-in for backup and road trips. I have less than $20k worth 2017 Prius Prime and just bought $28k Chevy Bolt EV. the Prime is the Advanced and has all needed for road trip, Bot is is bare bone city-basic. Do you Guys is I would be better off having one high-tech Plug-in car (RAV4 Prime)? I like my Prime. It drives some electric errands and is more comfy than Bolt for longer drives, it has all safety 'thingies' needed as well... In my case ... my opinion is: Let yr Lady drive Prime to stay safe and me enjoy 'fun E-Drive" of BEV. Even vehicle redundancy issue plays in my favor. I want to hear your thought.s folks! Cheers!
No one persons experience will tell you what the correct solution is for you. However, since you asked... In general, I recommend people take a close look at their driving habits. This will give a better understanding of what type of range you need. Second, do you have the ability to charge at home, work, both or neither? How many cars in the household? If two or more, a BEV as one of those is typically easy to do. In my particular case, since you asked, We went from a pair of Prii to one BEV and one Prius, to BEV & PHEV, to a pair of BEV. We haven’t bought gasoline in 7 years now and are thrilled! For us, our BEVs meet all of our needs. We find them much more convenient to ‘fuel’, more pleasant to drive, cheaper to fuel, safer, and more fun. We will never go back to ICE
As much as I want to switch to a BEV for my daily drive, the bottom line is that there is no affordable BEV that is comparable to the cost of PRIME and the reliability of Toyota, at least not yet. This is considering the initial purchase cost with incentives and tax credits, and the ongoing cost of gas vs electricity. We are now a two-car household, and I can live with a BEV as a daily drive charging only at home. But if I have only one car, BEV just does not work even with longer ranges offered on some very expensive models. The fact I do ~600 miles a day trip many times a year, the lack of charging infrastructure or time it takes to charge makes it impossible for me to drive BEV on those trips.
I can "easily" drive across America in my ice/battery Prime, I can't do this nearly as easily in a bev. Rob43
I would definitely go all-electric, once a sufficiently good one comes available. For us, for now, it would pretty much have to be a Tesla, for us, because only they have sufficient long-range-driving charging infrastructure. However, Models S and X are too expensive, and Model 3 and Y have their “Wth?!” single-center-screen dashboard setup. To my wife, for whom cars are 90% fashion statement, it’s an absolute no-go. For me the screen is “what the freakin’ Hell?!” oh well, buy it anyway. in my personal view, the Bolt is basically good, but cross-country charging infrastructure is insufficient, it’s interior is a little GM-plasticy and it’s front seats are a bit on the narrow side. It has a lot of great upsides though, like the available virtual overhead view of the car, it has excellent forward visibility, and it’s really easy to get into and out of. The Hyundai Kona, and Kia Nero EVs look promising, but again, no Supercharger network yet.
Actually, refuting my own statement here, VW’s Electrify America charger network is coming along pretty quickly, including in the places where I would need them. Still, currently, they only have a total of 1909 chargers in 411 stations in the US. Tesla has more than double that at 908 stations (not sure how many chargers in the US, but world-wide they average 8.8 chargers per station). So, getting better at least. Good luck finding Kia Nero or Kona EV though, since they are strapped for batteries, and are unwilling to create their own battery supply chain, like Tesla. GM is heading that direction though, which is a good sign!
Our plug-in owners group here in Minnesota (which is joining the National Electric Auto Association this coming Thursday) would very much like detail on what you consider "sufficient" for availability. Adding to the challenge of location, equipment cost and installation, there is also factors of speed, quantity, and operating costs. Here in the north, we have the challenge of snow removal and ice mitigation too. Needless to say, infrastructure is very much at its infancy. Requirements of what's needed continue to be researched. None of it is finalized yet. Remember, we must also figure out how those chargers will be used and how they will be paid for. Then, there's the matter of agreement. Think about how the lack of a plug standard plays a role in all of this. In other words, the "availability" equation is far more complex than most people realize.
Yes, definitely. Our main need would be to go from Austin to Houston (~200 miles) and back periodically, and also to get there with around 80ish miles of range left, so that we can still do stuff upon arriving. No issue whatsoever with a long-range Tesla, but again my wife flat out nixes the Models 3 or Y for its interior design (again, if it were just me, I’d say “oh well, weird, but I’d take it). However, as I replied to myself, it looks like Electrify America has been making some excellent progress since the last time I checked. Fair chance that’s not an issue anymore. Driving in town, which is by far the vast majority of our driving, is no issue at all for us. Charging at home is easy and economical.
i think prime and bolt are a perfect combo. if you want rav prime, you'll have plenty of time to think about it.
