Any GTAM'ers own an electric vehicle?

Evoex said:
If you never plugged it in, just get the ICE version. LOL

I imagine we're talking potentially a decade of driving to cover the cost difference. Imagine doing that and then your hybrid system (you never used)? fails. Good luck on the resale.
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You use the hybrid system every time you are in the car. You may not have used the plug but the battery/motor are integral to the vehicle moving on every hybrid plug-in or not.

Time to payback depends on how much you drive. On a city delivery vehicle, I wouldn't be surprised if payback was a year or two as you are buying less than half the gas of the ice sibling (assuming one exists).
 
Scuba Steve said:
Our volt has been trouble free for the last 150000 kms, we use 2-3 tanks of gas a year. That said next car will probably be a full electric if only the Tesla wasn't so terrible inside we would have bought one.

Sent from the future
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I don't have a beef with PHEV, I'm just saying; It's (imo) the worst choice for people who can't plugin at work/home. Normal Hybrid makes more sense
 
GreyGhost said:
You use the hybrid system every time you are in the car. You may not have used the plug but the battery/motor are integral to the vehicle moving on every hybrid plug-in or not.
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Ohhhh, so even PHEV use the engine to recharge the battery? Well I learned something new today.

I was under the impression it *only* charged from the plug.
 
I think for a very specific use case, PHEV's make a lot of sense. If you can plug in at home or work, your round-trip commute is shortish by North American standards (<50 km), and you do need longer range periodically, then it would be decent. Do most commuting on the grid to compensate for the added cost and complexity, but don't sacrifice road trip range when needed.

For me, my commute is more than twice that, so I'm paying a higher upfront cost, still need to hit the pumps regularly, and take on the added maintenance of having an ICE in the system. It just doesn't add up. If someone did one with a battery-only range over 100 km, it would be a much easier case to make, but most barely crack 50 km in ideal conditions.

I suspect the reality is that having a battery that big plus a gas engine is a push for all but the porkiest vehicles, though...
 
Ford's "Powerboost" was a $2500 option on my new truck. Hwy epa it has no benefit, only in town. Fuel tank is also half the size in the Powerboost model to accommodate gear so it was a lose-lose option for me. Plus I keep vehicles long-term so that's just more to go wrong.
 
Priller said:
I think for a very specific use case, PHEV's make a lot of sense. If you can plug in at home or work, your round-trip commute is shortish by North American standards (<50 km), and you do need longer range periodically, then it would be decent. Do most commuting on the grid to compensate for the added cost and complexity, but don't sacrifice road trip range when needed.

For me, my commute is more than twice that, so I'm paying a higher upfront cost, still need to hit the pumps regularly, and take on the added maintenance of having an ICE in the system. It just doesn't add up. If someone did one with a battery-only range over 100 km, it would be a much easier case to make, but most barely crack 50 km in ideal conditions.

I suspect the reality is that having a battery that big plus a gas engine is a push for all but the porkiest vehicles, though...
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This is where my use case worked with the Volt. 55km one way trip to work would eat up majority of the range and I’d be able to drive home half way before the ICE kicked in (in the summer).

Then I started charging L1 at work and my commute was 100% on EV mode.

My next car will be either a hybrid (most likely) or pure EV, as I don’t see the very limited range of current PHEV as being worth it.

I’d need/want 100km EV range as a bare minimum to make my use case work.
 
Are there any PHEVs that have an EV range of 100km? Only one I’ve ever been aware of is the Volt.
 
Evoex said:
PHEVs are also the worst choice for people who can't charge at home or work.
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Not necessarily for some of the reasons that others have brought up, there are still not insignificant benefits. For example, every single time you step on the brakes instead of sending all of that energy from your momentum to 100% waste via heat from the brake pads like an ICE, a PHEV regenerates almost all of it down to the last few miles an hour before the friction brakes come in to play. And stop and go traffic the engine will not run unnecessarily, typically using energy recovered through regen to drive the car for periods of time on that recovered energy instead of starting the car, even a when the battery is "dead". This happens all the time on the Volt as long as you're not jackrabbit starting all the time.

danp said:
They also told me I couldn't pay in cash. I guess they make extra money by financing to you. I have never financed a car and didn't want to start.
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I've had this situation before, however I just went along with their stupid song and dance, had them write the financing, and then just went into the bank attached to the financing as soon as the paperwork arrived in the mail a week later and paid off the loan in its entirety. Never paid a dime of interest and I know that their financing $$ kickback nonsense would have been clawed back by the bank (as typically happens if an open loan is paid off within 12 months), and I also know there is absolutely flying F-all they could do about it. Screw them.

Evoex said:
If you never plugged it in, just get the ICE version. LOL

I imagine we're talking potentially a decade of driving to cover the cost difference. Imagine doing that and then your hybrid system (you never used)? fails. Good luck on the resale.
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Depends on what you pay, assuming one is buying used. Having bought both of our current volts used I only paid about $5000 more than I would have paid for a similarly equipped ICE vehicle, so they both paid for themselves very quickly.

If you are buying new, that argument is quickly depleted, however I find a lot of people still compare apples to oranges, saying "why would I buy a $100,000 BMW PHEV or EV or whatever to "save money" when I can buy a $50,000 Toyota ICE instead", failing to see the apples and oranges thing because it doesn't fit their argument.

Evoex said:
Ohhhh, so even PHEV use the engine to recharge the battery? Well I learned something new today.

I was under the impression it *only* charged from the plug.
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See above. Not the case.
 
I've been waiting for this.


Disclaimer: The GM BT1XX program paid a few of my bills prior to retirement, I've had some involvement with this ...

If I were in the market for a pickup truck, the Silverado EV or GMC Denali EV would be it. Those aren't out yet, but it won't be long now. I think I'd spec it with the smaller battery pack but with whatever consumer-grade trim level got the fold-down mid-gate. (W/T doesn't have that)
 
Brian P said:
I've been waiting for this.


Disclaimer: The GM BT1XX program paid a few of my bills prior to retirement, I've had some involvement with this ...

If I were in the market for a pickup truck, the Silverado EV or GMC Denali EV would be it. Those aren't out yet, but it won't be long now. I think I'd spec it with the smaller battery pack but with whatever consumer-grade trim level got the fold-down mid-gate. (W/T doesn't have that)
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MultiPro Tailgate? 😁
 
Brian P said:
Disclaimer: The GM BT1XX program paid a few of my bills prior to retirement, I've had some involvement with this ...
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I saw these parked in their zebra camo stage in certain places I have access to as part of my job that I probably shouldn't talk about otherwise I might not be able to go there anymore lol.

I see other things there sometimes too that I'm perhaps not supposed to see, or maybe it's OK, I'm not sure sometimes honestly. I do not wander and take photos, that would probably be frowned upon.
 
FullMotoJacket said:
I could McGyver something better out of tomato stakes, zip-ties, and shrink wrap.
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My $100 Walmart tent goes up in 30 seconds, comes down in 45, has ventilation (this Tesla thing will be an oven), and neither cost $4000 nor needs a $125,000 turd to attach it to.

And it packs up smaller too.
 
As the Maverick itch goes away slowly, I'm slowly narrowing down the search for a GTI replacement.

Only EVs on the radar are: Mach-E (front runner), Bolt, and Kona EVs.

I don't think one can go wrong with any of them really, all have variants in the 35-40k range new or used, and all still have ample warranty left on the battery.

Hoping to find something with at least 6-12 months of comprehensive warranty left, and wife said her preference is the Mach-E simply due to styling, but I'd prefer that one with the larger battery...and ideally AWD as I'm not sure how she feels about RWD in a high torque car.

I believe features are all fairly similar, ranges are similar, price is similar. Need to call insurance and spend a few hours to confirm, as hopefully they won't go like the Model 3 ($100/month more than GTI).
 
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This photo just came across our Facebook memories - 7 years ago today our adventure began when we bought our first Volt.

We sold it a few years ago when we bought the Ioniq, then my son bought it back, and it's back in the family, still running great.
 
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