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ATP: Electric Vehicles

Henry Chinaski

Henry Chinaski

Steve Lepore
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Saw MotorTrend announced the Rivian as its truck of the year. I’m thinking of going electric - what do I need to know? I think Teslas are a stylistic abomination and Musk is a massive douchebag. Other options worth considering?
 
What kind of car do you need? Sedan, SUV, pick up?

The most common non-Tesla EV out there is the crossover SUV. Good options from VW, Ford, and Audi out currently. In the next couple years there will be more SUV and truck options coming.

Every EV comes with a level 1 charging cord, which you can plug into any regular outlet. It’ll charge the car pretty slowly (adding 3-4 miles of range per hour). Depending on your driving habits that may be enough for you. Most people get an electrician to install a 240V outlet in the garage on a dedicated circuit for a level 2 charger. Depending on how much copper wire you need to run from the outlet to your panel box this could run a couple hundred to a thousand bucks. Level 2 charging units are 400-600 bucks generally depending on how many “smart” features you want with it.

For daily driving around town charging at home at night is sufficient. If you leave town regularly, I recommend plugging your route into the website A Better Route Planner to see how your trip would do with charging.
 
Toyota RAV4 Prime has gotten good reviews as a PHEV (plug in hybrid EV, meaning it has a battery plus a gas engine so it can drive a commute on electricity but can also do long trips without worrying about charging stops). A PHEV can be a good entry into EVs, since it’s the road trips/driving out of town that give people the most range anxiety.
 
Best of the fully electric cars in the non-Tesla division are VW ID4, Audi etron (and Q5 etron if you want to spend more), Porsche Taycan, Ford Mustang Mach E, and Hyundai Ioniq 5
 
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BeachBumDeac said:
Toyota RAV4 Prime has gotten good reviews as a PHEV (plug in hybrid EV, meaning it has a battery plus a gas engine so it can drive a commute on electricity but can also do long trips without worrying about charging stops). A PHEV can be a good entry into EVs, since it’s the road trips/driving out of town that give people the most range anxiety.
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I tried to get a PHEV last winter and they all had 0 inventory except the Kia, which was available in December but I waited and by March they were back ordered too. The Kia was an ok car, and I kind of regret not getting. Anyway I waited about 8 months on the wait list for 5 different ford and Toyota dealers, then Settled for a regular hybrid.
 
birdman said:
I tried to get a PHEV last winter and they all had 0 inventory except the Kia, which was available in December but I waited and by March they were back ordered too. The Kia was an ok car, and I kind of regret not getting. Anyway I waited about 8 months on the wait list for 5 different ford and Toyota dealers, then Settled for a regular hybrid.
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Yeah, supply is ridiculously constrained right now, even worse than regular cars. You definitely have to do a lot of leg work to find one. When I bought my ID4 I found it at a dealership 600 miles away, did all the paperwork over e-mail, took a one way flight there and drove it back. Some manufacturers (Toyota, Hyundai, Kia especially) are sending supply only to CARB/ZEV states.
 
Some of these have been mentioned, but I've been looking into getting an EV and leaning toward the ID. 4, the Mach E, Fisher Ocean, Kia EV6, and the Q4 E Tron. Looking for a smaller SUV.

Beachbum, how do youu like the ID. 4?
 
BeachBumDeac said:
Best of the fully electric cars in the non-Tesla division are VW ID4, Audi etron (and Q5 etron if you want to spend more), Porsche Taycan, Ford Mustang Mach E, and Hyundai Ioniq 5
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Yeah, a friend of mine has that Audi Q5 etron and that car is fun to drive.
 
It looks like we are going to see an explosion of new EV offerings over the next 2-3 years with both mainstream and pure play electric (Lucid, Tesla, Rivian, etc) manufacturers. I’m planning to wait a little bit longer to see what else comes to market and maybe if they get some more incremental gains from the battery life. Pretty cool stuff.
 
Shooshmoo said:
Some of these have been mentioned, but I've been looking into getting an EV and leaning toward the ID. 4, the Mach E, Fisher Ocean, Kia EV6, and the Q4 E Tron. Looking for a smaller SUV.

Beachbum, how do youu like the ID. 4?
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I like it a lot. It's a really comfortable car to drive, great for road tripping with the free charging at Electrify America stations. It definitely has some German quirks that take some getting used to, and the infotainment system kind of sucks (though if you're going to use Apple Carplay you don't interact with it much). Supposedly we'll get over the air updates to the software at some point to help with the infotainment, but it doesn't bother me too much.

But I'm a big fan overall of it.
 
Cool - that's what I've been leaning toward, but also looking at the Q4 etron, which I have read is just an audi-fied ID 4 and not that much more expensive.
 
If you only want something for shorter distances (have something else for longer trips), maybe look at the all electric Mini Cooper. Relatively inexpensive, sporty-ish, still get full tax credit, etc.
 
Shooshmoo said:
Cool - that's what I've been leaning toward, but also looking at the Q4 etron, which I have read is just an audi-fied ID 4 and not that much more expensive.
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yeah, I think that is the case. Nicer interior but largely the same. But you have to go to higher trim levels to get the stuff like adaptive cruise control and lane centering (which works surprisingly well on the ID4, I use it all the time on the highway).
 
ConnorEl said:
If you only want something for shorter distances (have something else for longer trips), maybe look at the all electric Mini Cooper. Relatively inexpensive, sporty-ish, still get full tax credit, etc.
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BMW i3 is another good one for just in town driving. Even if it does look like a batting helmet.
 
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