Electric Car thread

MarkBartra said:
I'd like to try driving an electric car sometime. I have a dream to buy myself a Tesla. I think it's the most popular electric car there is. What kind of car would you like to buy? I have a Mercedes right now. I recently had an accident and I need to buy new wheels. I don't know much about it, my father always helped me. Now I've decided to do it myself. I found a website mercteil. Which helped me choose the best option. I hope it's not all that expensive for electric cars. Since the Mercedes is expensive to maintain.
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Definitely check out the Mercedes EQS.
 
A Rivian ebike to go with my Rivian e-truck. Beyond cool.

But only if the bike has a Gates carbon belt drive and a Nuvinchi hub. If it has a chain, I'm out.😝
 
We ended up putting a deposit on a Bolt EUV. I think it's a great value for the current price. It will hopefully land at the dealership some time next month. I'm still a bit put off by the "slow" DC charging but if I'm honest with myself, 80% of it's use will be for my long commute and not for many road trips. I really, really wanted an Ioniq 5 AWD but it's a lot more money and trying to find a dealership that will sell at MSRP in California is darn near impossible without being put on a year-long list.

2022-chevrolet-bolt_100786459_h.jpg
 
Mulezen said:
^ I’ve seen where Ford is unhappy with some its dealers for raping customers on The Lightning.
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I would love to just be able to order a car via a website instead of getting it from a dealership. But the brands that offer that right now (Rivian, Tesla) are out of my responsible price-range. :p
 
WattsUpDude said:
We ended up putting a deposit on a Bolt EUV. I think it's a great value for the current price. It will hopefully land at the dealership some time next month. I'm still a bit put off by the "slow" DC charging but if I'm honest with myself, 80% of it's use will be for my long commute and not for many road trips. I really, really wanted an Ioniq 5 AWD but it's a lot more money and trying to find a dealership that will sell at MSRP in California is darn near impossible without being put on a year-long list.

2022-chevrolet-bolt_100786459_h.jpg
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So that looks like from what I read, about 10 hours from E to F, if mostly depleted? Overnight charge will be sufficient for a full battery I guess. That's not really a big deal, kind of like gas fairies filling the tank with petrol while you sleep, but it should be much cheaper. I read that Chevrolet will pay for the 240 volt charging station install too. If they do, that's nice as well. For most people I think that range/charging anxiety is overblown. Good luck, E vehicles are the future and we just need politicians to get out of the pockets of special interests and fully embrace the E technology.
 
chunk said:
So that looks like from what I read, about 10 hours from E to F, if mostly depleted? Overnight charge will be sufficient for a full battery I guess. That's not really a big deal, kind of like gas fairies filling the tank with petrol while you sleep, but it should be much cheaper. I read that Chevrolet will pay for the 240 volt charging station install too. If they do, that's nice as well. For most people I think that range/charging anxiety is overblown. Good luck, E vehicles are the future and we just need politicians to get out of the pockets of special interests and fully embrace the E technology.
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Yes. The 240v home AC charging speed isn’t the issue as it’s pretty much on par with every other manufacturer. Where it falls short is DC fast charging. It tops out at 55kw which means that going from 10%-80% will be at least a 45-50 minute rest stop on road trips. That will be fine if you’re going to eat a meal but it would suck to wait around that long if you’re just doing a bio break.

I can confirm that Chevy will subsidize up to $1500 for a 240v home install or they will give you a $500 charging credit (at Electrify America IIRC) if you can’t take advantage of the free install.

At this point, Chevy has confirmed that the Bolt is going to be discontinued probably after 2023 since they’re going to their much faster charging Ultium platform. That’s probably why they slashed the prices pretty dramatically as well as no longer qualifying for the $7500 US federal tax credit.
 
WattsUpDude said:
Yes. The 240v home AC charging speed isn’t the issue as it’s pretty much on par with every other manufacturer. Where it falls short is DC fast charging. It tops out at 55kw which means that going from 10%-80% will be at least a 45-50 minute rest stop on road trips. That will be fine if you’re going to eat a meal but it would suck to wait around that long if you’re just doing a bio break.

I can confirm that Chevy will subsidize up to $1500 for a 240v home install or they will give you a $500 charging credit (at Electrify America IIRC) if you can’t take advantage of the free install.

At this point, Chevy has confirmed that the Bolt is going to be discontinued probably after 2023 since they’re going to their much faster charging Ultium platform. That’s probably why they slashed the prices pretty dramatically as well as no longer qualifying for the $7500 US federal tax credit.
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Thanks for the clarification. For my style of driving and needed range it wouldn't be much of an issue, but fast charging would always be a good thing if the need were to arise. I didn't know that the commercial charging stations pushed DC out directly to the battery.
 
chunk said:
Thanks for the clarification. For my style of driving and needed range it wouldn't be much of an issue, but fast charging would always be a good thing if the need were to arise. I didn't know that the commercial charging stations pushed DC out directly to the battery.
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For our uses, it’s going to be a great car, too. My commute or visiting family is going to be around 70-90 miles round trip so we won’t even need to charge daily. But I’ll probably plug in every night to 80% for those “just in case” situations. This car isn’t meant for long road trips so anything longer than 500 miles, we might just rent a hybrid.
 
Speaking as someone who has owned a fully electric vehicle for 4 years (40kW Leaf with a 150 mile range that now has over 62,000 miles since I bought it new in 2018) the best practice is to keep your vehicle plugged in at home whenever you aren't using it so that the car will always be at 100% whenever you step into it (as much as possible depending how often you use it every day). That "don't go above 80% charge" is NOT for home charging. It has no relevance to lithium batteries and the car's software maintenance developed in this day and age because you are shorting your own range for no benefits at all. When Level 3 DC fast charging on a trip outside your regular range, all EV battery software will throttle back the DC flow once they hit 80-88% of charge because shoving DC electrons that fast into a battery becomes more difficult as the battery becomes full. The last 10% of electrons goes in slow (at a Level 2 speed - 7kWh) so that the battery software maintenence can balance the cells. Most people don't feel it is worth their time to sit waiting for that remaining 10-20% (about 30 miles of range). Now, if you are Level 2 charging at home, the fill at 7-11kWh remains consistent because it is delivered as alternating current, not direct current.

Your car will do better with a full battery every day. Trust me. Plugging it in will become routine and will ensure you (hopefully) never forget that routine.

Most people seriously overestimate the time they spend in their car. Rarely is it over 3 hours of straight driving, even on commutes. The Bolt has a decent range so your chances of running the battery down are extremely slim. And while 55kWh seems like a "slow" DC charge, it really isn't all that slow in reality, considering the possibilities of needing a fast charge are rare. Just chill and relax while your car is connected. Take a walk, enjoy a book, take a nap. And, as you suggested, if you want to take trips over 500 miles per day, either embrace that you will spend more of your drive time to "fill" your car with electrons than if you had to hit a gas station and fill with toxic fluids that pollute the air, or rent a hybrid like a Prius that will give you a 50-60 mpg range. We have a Prius for our long trips and it is a wonderful little car that now sits in the garage and is barely driven anymore. We took it out yesterday just to drive it because it had been over a month since it was last driven. Meanwhile the electric car is driven daily, sometimes multiple times a day.

Whatsupdude - you'll enjoy the Bolt. It's a nice little hatchback with a decent range that will fill 99.99% of all your daily driving needs.

PS - welcome to the EV revolution. 😁
 
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Not to mention electric vehicles are almost maintenance free I would think.
 
Readytoride said:
Speaking as someone who has owned a fully electric vehicle for 4 years (40kW Leaf with a 150 mile range that now has over 61,000 miles since I bought it new in 2018) the best practice is to keep your vehicle plugged in at home whenever you aren't using it so that the car will always be at 100% whenever you step into it (as much as possible depending how often you use it every day). That "don't go above 80% charge" is NOT for home charging. It has no relevance to lithium batteries and the car's software maintenance developed in this day and age because you are shorting your own range for no benefits at all. When Level 3 DC fast charging on a trip outside your regular range, all EV battery software will throttle back the DC flow once they hit 80-88% of charge because shoving DC electrons that fast into a battery becomes more difficult as the battery becomes full. The last 10% of electrons goes in slow (at a Level 2 speed - 7kWh) so that the battery software maintenence can balance the cells. Most people don't feel it is worth their time to sit waiting for that remaining 10-20% (about 30 miles of range). Now, if you are Level 2 charging at home, the fill at 7-11kWh remains consistent because it is delivered as alternating current, not direct current.

Your car will do better with a full battery every day. Trust me. Plugging it in will become routine and will ensure you (hopefully) never forget that routine.

Most people seriously overestimate the time they spend in their car. Rarely is it over 3 hours of straight driving, even on commutes. The Bolt has a decent range so your chances of running the battery down are extremely slim. And while 55kWh seems like a "slow" DC charge, it really isn't all that slow in reality, considering the possibilities of needing a fast charge are rare. Just chill and relax while your car is connected. Take a walk, enjoy a book, take a nap. And, as you suggested, if you want to take trips over 500 miles per day, either embrace that you will spend more of your drive time to "fill" your car with electrons than if you had to hit a gas station and fill with toxic fluids that pollute the air, or rent a hybrid like a Prius that will give you a 50-60 mpg range. We have a Prius for our long trips and it is a wonderful little car that now sits in the garage and is barely driven anymore. We took it out yesterday just to drive it because it had been over a month since it was last driven. Meanwhile the electric car is driven daily, sometimes multiple times a day.

Whatsupdude - you'll enjoy the Bolt. It's a nice little hatchback with a decent range that will fill 99.99% of all your daily driving needs.

PS - welcome to the EV revolution. 😁
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Excellent read. Thank you! I'll do a deep-dive into battery chemistry at some point but I've read that it's the LFP batteries in the Nissan Leaf and Tesla M3 RWD that are safe to keep at 100% but this practice may not be optimal for other Lithium Ion chemistries. Either way, I'll be using the onboard timer for my home charging. It's a practice that I'm used to at this point with my eBike and eScooter commutes.

I'm really excited to join the EV revolution!
 
Glad to see you joining the EV ranks!

Your car's software will have a charging timer option for you to use. I have set my car's timer to always start charging at 11pm. The car checks to see if it needs more electrons, and if it does then the car starts charging automatically. If not, the timer is clicks off. No need to use an outside timer.

Don't forget to always plug your car in whenever it isn't in use. Always. Guaranteed you're going to forget at least once. It's a good lesson in reminding yourself of the change you need to make to have the new technology work for you vs the old ways of simply locking the car and walking away.
 
WattsUpDude said:
We ended up putting a deposit on a Bolt EUV. I think it's a great value for the current price. It will hopefully land at the dealership some time next month. I'm still a bit put off by the "slow" DC charging but if I'm honest with myself, 80% of it's use will be for my long commute and not for many road trips. I really, really wanted an Ioniq 5 AWD but it's a lot more money and trying to find a dealership that will sell at MSRP in California is darn near impossible without being put on a year-long list.

2022-chevrolet-bolt_100786459_h.jpg
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Palm Springs Hyundai MSRP. Never over. Ask for Peter
 
Taylor57 said:
Palm Springs Hyundai MSRP. Never over. Ask for Peter
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I actually was on their list. The waitlist for the Ioniq 5 I wanted (AWD, SEL) was about 8 months long, which isn’t bad. But I also got a follow up text saying they were no longer selling to buyers outside of a 3 county radius. I found that many other dealerships that weren’t charging a “market adjustment” were starting to follow this practice as well. From what I can gather, they started doing this so they can be the service center for the customers they sell to. It’s understandable but a bit disappointing. But I think we’ll be very happy with our Bolt EUV. We won’t be using it for trips that require more than two charging stops (one way) but it’s going to be great for most of our uses.
 
Readytoride said:
Glad to see you joining the EV ranks!

Your car's software will have a charging timer option for you to use. I have set my car's timer to always start charging at 11pm. The car checks to see if it needs more electrons, and if it does then the car starts charging automatically. If not, the timer is clicks off. No need to use an outside timer.

Don't forget to always plug your car in whenever it isn't in use. Always. Guaranteed you're going to forget at least once. It's a good lesson in reminding yourself of the change you need to make to have the new technology work for you vs the old ways of simply locking the car and walking away.
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That's a good tip. I charge at home after 9pm when the rates go down and forget at least once a week. I need to get in the habit of plugging the car in and utilizing the cars "built in timer" to start charging at 9pm everyday. Hey, I just created a new project! I'm still not sold on public charger availability for a longer trip. Many times I have shown up at a charging station only to find them not working or being utilized by another EV. I've also seen the spaces being used by shoppers in ICE cars that either cant read or just plain selfish...
 
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