This is very well done, thank you. Saving it for some (mostly innocently) skeptical friends & relatives. One thing though:
If I didn’t have these PG&E criminals…
If my brother in SoCal isn’t lying, SDGE responds with “hold our beers…” :(
I keep reflecting on how my experience was so much different than everyone else, and how lucky I got. In 2018 even and the sales dude actually knew his shit, even if he was slightly more PHEV than BEV.
I feel liked I found a damned unicorn based on the horror stories I hear regularly.
I used to do it 1x/week to 100%. I could not find (additional, non-regular age related) degradation at 45k miles.
As long as you leave more or less as soon as it hits 100% I don’t see any real risks. I worry more about the extra distance this implies - ie, cycles on the battery.
Hey now, you day ‘top reason’ and gave 4. Cheater!
For me:
o I had a very reliable cheap car, a Honda Civic. Bought late 1999 so a 2000, I billed it as ‘the best tech the 20th century had to offer’. Ok, a little ironically but not overly so. It was a great car, just even it eventually showed signs of age and needing replacement. Nearly 20 years and 300k mile and hard years/miles at that, I felt like I go a good life out of it.
o I’d been waiting for an EV or something more modern - PHEV or FCEV (hah! not) - that appealed to me, once the Civic had lived out it’s life. Lo and behold, by that time something worked as an only vehicle for where I lived, and I didn’t need to have a ‘second’ car for anything. I had options earlier sure but I’m the type, in my financial advisor’s complimentary phrasing, to drive my car into the ground as gently as I can.
o All the usual EV benefits - fuel cost, maintenance, not having to deal with gas stations. I’ve been in the EV crowd since the late 1990s, knew a bunch of folks who had Rav4EVs and EV-1s, but circumstances were such that I couldn’t get in on that. I was driving a lot when I got mine, if sadly it was spinning down (not that it was spinning down, but that the sudden decrease in cost/mile with an EV was after the peak).
o As far as surprises, a small one. In the early era you needed a house and/or garage to own one. We can kibbitz but pretty much, the property had to be yours. And, you needed specialized equipment to charge the car. In California I was just poor & young enough to have that house thing perpetually out of reach but even once we got something small, a townhouse, installing an EVSE was in question (HOAs but also limited panels in condos/townhouses). But then, I did the math. I found out L1 will work “for now” despite my long commute, and “for now” hit 5 years as of the beginning of this month (November 2023). Now that my commute is 1/4 what it used to be and I’m slowly moving towards retirement, I probably never will need it.
Where & what makes/models?
I’ve seen plenty of stories about people hating on Tesla & causing troubles. Mostly in red areas, even if in blue states.
But for me with a non-Tesla and a Bolt at that, the most I’ve gotten (except once) was what looked like the person’s brain throwing an error. “Uh I think I don’t like EVs, but that’s a Chevy and I’m driving a Tahoe…”
Can we eat them though? The regeneration makes for great all-day munchables.
Parts of the US, much better. Like, more east coast & central US. Others, like big cities especially out west, generally better but not as severe. Tesla sells both the car & network, whereas others don’t so there’s all sorts of disjoint actions (more cars sold but not enough chargers, vs earlier when more chargers but just not that many cars). Tesla can suffer from this as well but they tend to be tighter tied and frankly, they’re solving an easier problem.
That said it will depend on your use case. If you only really do charging at home the public network may be irrelevant. I’m fine with the non-Tesla network with a few exceptions - the people camping out on EA at 85% as they have free charging and “why not go until full?” - and don’t travel extensively.
Silicon Valley here, if actually outside (bedroom community of sorts). EVs are everywhere. The campus I work on has enough EVs of similar make/model to what I have - '19 Bolt EV Premier - such that when I pick up my gf she has to double check to make sure it’s me driving before she gets in. The on-campus chargers pretty much always have people using them, there’s lots, and they’re actually charging. We have more than is normal too.
Still large non-hybrids, regular ICEs and so on, almost to the point that I’m noticing them more. But then I travel to visit family in the midwest and it’s back to the mid-late teens in what I see.
A friend from northern Europe was actually the first person I heard say California is kind of a different country than the rest of the US. From his perspective, we could (should? probably not & can’t) be in the EU.
IIRC there were stories from a few years back that danced around this question. The one I’m thinking of is a guy who parked his car - a Bolt? - in the top covered corner of an airport garage. I want to say DTW, might have been MSP. He reported it was windy as well.
It was also at least a week so definitely cold soaked. IIRC he left home with a full charge, was at like 65-70% when he parked it. Getting back the car did start but was sluggish until it fully warmed up; took at least 10-15 minutes.
Personally I’d have AAA ready JIC, almost no matter what the car was. That’s just good risk management though, and not necessarily anything to do specifically with EVs.
Same uncle who might say “why not put a windmill on the top for free charging and unlimited range”?
(I’d say “joke”, but last time I did someone piped up with “unfortunately not…”)
When BEVs have 500 mile+ per charge capacity…
Call me snarky and unconstructive if you wish (you might be right) but I’ve seen various other n * 100 mile ranges statements just like this. 100+ mile, 200+, 300+… just saying. There will be people unhappy with 1000 mile ranges, in the cold uphill both ways towing a boat while cabin temperatures are 100F+.
It’s a different mindset and practice so depending on the situation where you’re traveling, it varies. California, especially cities? Closer. Sometimes, almost at. Rural Montana? Way far away. Maybe. Depends on the use case.
Amazing how fast the change is happening.
On this we’re in agreement. I’ve been watching this since the late 90s and it really feels like the last 5-ish years it’s hit warp speed.
Other way around for me… if I know I’m not going to be going anywhere soon and I’m higher than 70%, a tiny bit uncomfortable. Prefer no more than 80% tops in those situations and better less.
I do have good infrastructure near me and I’m on a very stable area of the grid; contributes.
In certain places yes. I forget who did the video but they summed up the problem - lots of folks with “free charging for n years” are camping out at chargers the moment they get below 80%. Doesn’t matter if you’re on fumes, they might need that full charge to pick up their kids 5 miles from home. /s but not really
(The excuse I was given when I just wanted in for 10 minutes and their car was at 92%)
That said this isn’t every place and if you know your route it may be no big deal. I was coming back from a trip and would have liked to use the above DCFC, but also knew there were nearby free L2 chargers and I was in for a meal & coffee anyhow. I figured I’d spend about 1.5-2 hours in the area, I just had to get over a small mountain pass and some 25-ish more miles. I was pretty sure I could make it regardless of charging as I knew the route, I just don’t like pulling into my garage with < 5% unless I have to.