I'm considering a new vehicle for my wife though we may all ride in it at times. It would primarily be used for gym, groceries, school pickups and so its range would be a non-issue for the most part.

She has a diesel passat currently which is mechanically fantastic but she does not drive enough to let the alternator charge the battery so it dies eventually unless I take the poor thing out and stretch its legs every now and then.

I'm beginning to consider an EV for her since she doesnt go very far and we use my truck for serious road trips (which sucks when her passat gets 52 mpg).

For those of you with EVs or solid car knowledge, what are your thoughts or recommendations?

if the commutes are local and have ability to charge at the house they can be great. Ive put about 70,000 on a Tesla model 3 with no issues. only maintenance has been washer fluid and a set of tires

they can be crazy fast, if driven hard it will eat tires, just like any other car really, but the immediate torque assists in them wearing out faster

also consider a hybrid

They are piling up at dealers, mega incentives are available right now.

https://www.chevrolet.com/curr...0042&vehicleType=all

If the Passat is OK other than the charging issue, consider a battery tender with a quick connect harness (example below) from the battery to exterior for the connection. The mileage is hard to beat and you already own it.
All in, you'll be well under a hundred bucks.

They can't be plugged in backwards and take zero technical skills beyond the initial installation, which takes minimal skills.
Once a week overnight should be enough but it can be left on if the car sits for any time.

Harness:
https://www.amazon.com/Battery...d=AC0UA62Z9ZBMG&th=1

Battery Tender unit:
https://www.amazon.com/Battery...sspa_dk_detail_img_1

And since your wife doesnt drive enough to charge the VW battery, the EV may have enough parasitic drain to discharge its battery before she can blast off. Can you leave your EV plugged in for days at a time? And at what cost? Would being constantly plugged in damage the EV battery?
Before I went EV, I would want to know the answers to these questions.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Consider a Battery Tender

For the Win- You'd be banking a small fortune for the $75 invested.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Sounds like you are wanting a new car. Maybe the wife has swallowed the green weenie, hook line and sinker hence an ev so her liberal friends are impressed.

If not the case I like the hybrid suggestion. Best of both worlds I suppose.

Tesla is the only rational choice for now. Charging speed alone dictates that. Wife has a newish Y, so does my brother. Fantastic vehicle. I love her car. Please note we have a new Tacoma off-road for roads that suck, which are everywhere here in Oregon as I like to get out in the woods.

quote:

Originally posted by jimb888:
Tesla is the only rational choice for now. Charging speed alone dictates that.

Really, depends on your needs. I am going through that analysis right now (stand by for a separate thread). I have determined that a Level 1 home charger, which is pretty slow, will do the job for me even if I restrict charging time to off-peak hours between 9pm and 6am, when Duke Energy offers a small rebate on the monthly electric bill.

Faster charging would be needed for those who drive more miles / day than I do.

Vtail, the part I do not understand. If you are driving around town mostly. You will be using the battery pretty much exclusively. Charging will be done by the braking primarily if a hybrid. If you need to make a trip you do not need to worry about charging. Just put some gas in it and wala. Seems like a no brainer.

I see almost no value in an all electric myself.

There are some nice EV's out there and prices are better today than back recently, still, jmo most new vehicles are way over priced.

If getting an EV I'd lease it, in 3 years they may be worth next to nothing if the market keeps moving to Hybrid or Hydrogen vehicles as alternatives. Who knows, the greens may go after EV's for the pollution of mining the materials.

When looking at charging if time on charge is important, Hyundai/Kia and Lucid lead the pack, much quicker than even Tesla, by a lot.

Link top 10 charging EV

Edmunds agrees that the Hyundai and Kia EV's charge quicker and provide more range per minute charged, They toss in the Porsche Taycan, but that's mega dollars more than the Hyundai/Kia options.

Indecently they provide a slowest 5 EV's topping the list are the Chevy Bolt and Ford Mach-E, Link

Charging speed is based on the charger, the vehicles Tech, and battery type, Hyundai/Kia seem to be at the top of the game there...

You are actually the prime candidate for an electric car. I would make sure you have charging capabilities at your home or forget it. Also double check your insurance some of the rates for EV’s are out of control.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Vtail, the part I do not understand. If you are driving around town mostly. You will be using the battery pretty much exclusively. Charging will be done by the braking primarily if a hybrid. If you need to make a trip you do not need to worry about charging. Just put some gas in it and wala. Seems like a no brainer.

I see almost no value in an all electric myself.

As I wrote, different people have different needs. If I wanted to cover both sides of the coin, say 90% local errands, and the occasional longer trip, a Plug-In Hybrid would be perfect. The local errands would be handled by the 25 to 30 mile battery-only range, and for longer trips, the gas engine would kick in.

However, I took a good look at my specific needs. Over the past several years, I have not made even one trip that is outside the range of a battery-only EV. Not one trip. And in the extremely unlikely case that I were going to be on a longer road trip, my wife's RAV4 Hybrid would handle that.

So, for my needs, a Battery-only EV is the right choice. No gas engine to maintain, no oil to change, no transmission, no spark plugs, no nothing, except for the electric drive system. A much simpler vehicle than a Hybrid, which has both the electric drive system AND the gas engine.

I put a deposit on a Battery EV yesterday (will tell all about it in another thread), and it comes with free, yes FREE, charging at any GM dealer anywhere in the country. Free, for as long as I have the vehicle! They (the dealer) will also pay up to $1,500 for an electrician to install a charger at home, and Duke Energy offers lower rates plus a monthly rebate if I set the system to charge only during off-peak hours, 9pm to 6am.

The choice of a Battery-only EV was a no-brainer, for my needs. However, my situation is probably different from the typical user, who will likely have a mix of local errands and longer distance driving.

You can get a solar charger for the battery. I used to use one on my police car (lots of vampire drain due to lightbar, radios, camera, etc)
It plugs into the cigarette lighter port, lay it on the dash and GTG

I own a Mustang Mach E.

Having a L2 charger or L1 at home is all you need.

I charge up about once a month on my L2 charger that runs from my Solar panels and Tesla power wall.

I'm at the stage of life where I don't drive much any more.

Once you're charged up, if your wife just drives around town your charge will last for weeks or a month or more.

When I get down to about 70% - 75% I charge back up to 90%. @70% I still have 150+ miles of range left. I just plug it in because, well it's an EV.

It's not like you will be charging from 0 to 100% on a daily basis.

There's a lot of FUD in this thread by people who don't own EV's...

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Maybe the wife has swallowed the green weenie, hook line and sinker hence an ev so her liberal friends are impressed.

You would do well to mind your manners.

Old Rugged cross: You paint with a broad brush.

I'm as far from a Greenie that one could be and I drive an EV.

My apologies Anubismp to you and your wife. Obviously I am not a fan of ev's or the green deal bs. And let my disdain for these things lead me to make a post in poor taste. Sorry.

Depending on how far she really goes , used Nissan Leaf’s can be found very cheap - an acquaintance uses one as his commuter car as he rarely drives more than 8 miles a day.

Look for a mildly used SV Plus Leaf. Can be found for $20-21k, for a CPO which has a longer warranty than new, from the factory. I’ve been daily driving mine for 10 years and 7 months. If it’s local transport only and you can get one cheap (sub 25k), EV is the way to go. It doesn’t cost shit to charge, a fraction of what gasoline costs. Just try to skip out on the political commentary concerning it. It’s electric propulsion. Every dollar of gasoline you use, has a percentage that goes to the Middle East, every fucking gallon. EV’s are not some holy grail like the gubmint tries to sell, nor are they the smart choice for towing, road tripping, etc. But for local transport only, they are a killer idea providing you get one used and let the original owner (sucker) eat all the depreciation like the sucker they are. 100% reliance to American kwh power is a good thing. You take your dollars away from the Middle East and put that power generation into America.

Electric motors and reliability can be easily researched for any model for sale. I would just suggest of steering clear of Teslas but I’m biased being at this for so long. I don’t like their build quality nor the fisher price interiors. Just buy used.