Ask Lemmy

Fisker Ocean owners that paid full sticker price I am sure.

No regrets, coming up on a year …

• if you can charge at home, it’s a no-brainer, but I know people who say it’s no big deal to go to a charger every week
• level 2 charger was $400 + electrician was same as a stove circuit, so less expensive than I expected. I could get away with less
• you don’t need trip chargers nearby, but you do want them on route you’re likely to road trip. The closest one I’ve used is 100 miles away
• you really need to be able to use Tesla Supercharger network. It makes travel so convenient

I did get range anxiety for a while, but never an actual problem. 1,200 mile road trip fixed that. The first leg from VpBoston to Virginia, my excellent (Tesla) trip planner scheduled charging stops of 10, 10, and 4 minutes, whereas I’d normally expect two stops and a meal, so not really noticeably longer. The final leg was a bit tougher, returning from upstate NY, but mostly because a lack of chargers. It ended up no big deal

No regrets, but I do acknowledge that it's very different and has different challenges. The usual worries before buying about range, mileage, battery drainage, top speed, maintenance fees, towing capability etc, do not actually exist. I understand why people worry, but no, they are not actual issues.

In reality: Software. That's an issue. Car mechanics do not know how to service software. Doesn't matter if it's a subscription to a service or a mandatory but malfunctioning pressure valve, it's software and they don't know about it. It usually not a serious issue, but it might be, especially for cars with a lot of gimmicks and shit. This issue also exist with new fossil fueled cars as well. For most part, it can be ignored.

The charger at home may be an issue. (Maybe i. Europe mostly?) Some cars only accept voltages with a very low resistance. Both Renault and Tesla require a better grounding than the building code in most countries. It's not costly to fix, and it's a one time fix, but it may be a surprise..(that you need to expand on your electric circuit just for this), but you should have done anyway).

I will acknowledge that range is a downside. Not in everyday use, but for longer trips, you will have to plan your trip according to charging. It has never been an issue for me, because I generally never drive that long without pause anyway. Time it to to your breaks is all there is to it.

For a comuter car with home charging, you will have absolutely no issues in switching. It does have many more surprising positives than negatives. Like, never having to set foot on a gas station. Never mind the cost, but the time spent on going there or stopping on your commute to do it, or holding the nozzle in the cold, or being tempted to buy stuff in the convenience store etc. In comparison, I go home and plug in to charge my car, exactly the same way that I charge my phone, so it's ready for the next day. It's not difficult at all. It might take 30 secons and more often than than fueling but it's still much faster than stopping on the road, gas or not.

Only actual real downside for me is that I'm also a cheapskate. I prefer to time my charging to the variable electricity prices, but not everyone has that option and it's completely voluntary.. I'm not sure if it's worth it. Sure, i save a few bucks, but the hassle of it is real. I am considering changing to a subscription model instead, just to avoid worrying about it.

The best advice that I got before buying was: "Just drive it".

Don't think about it: It's a tool, use it. In a lot of ways an EV is much better suited for that, because you only need to worry about it being ready to use. You probably never thought of that for your ICE car, because you'd do refueling and other fluids on the road. If you fuel at home, you'll also have to refill your sprinklers and remember to wash it every now and then.. Maintenance is home based, not on a station.

There's a whole lot of benefits to it as well, but you didn't ask for those, and I think you should just go test drive one to see for yourself.

It all depends on your use case. For me with a 20 mile round trip daily commute and a 200 mile drive every other week where the car is then parked for 36-48 hours at a hotel with a level 2 charger before returning home an ev is great. If you can charge at home I think it's a no brainer if you're looking to buy new or slightly used. If you're constantly driving hundreds of miles in a day then no probably not. Downside are longer road trips, as some other people said in places where charging is sparce you're looking at 50-100% more time for distance traveled. But if you don't mind being more leisurely and chilling out at a restaurant or what have you then it's not a big deal. And initial price. They are still expensive.

If you have a place to charge it and potentially another car to swap/borrow for road trips it is pretty much the best vehicle for city driving/daily commute.

1. Charging at home is much cheaper and healthier for the battery. If you can't charge at home I wouldn't get an EV.
2. Ask yourself how often you do road trips. Depending on where you live a 6-7 hour drive can easily turn into 12+ hours because of waiting around for charging if the chargers are not close enough to each other to utilise charging at the lowest battery % possible. Even the tesla supercharger network can be quite sparce outside of urban/wealthy areas.
3. Price - EVs are still quite expensive compared to ice in general, and depreciation can be killer. A used tesla model 3 is basically half the price now compared to what it was a few years ago when new. Check what kind of tax breaks or other benefits you can get in your region or consider buying used.

I only regretted that I bought a BMW because it eventually broke down and I had to pay an exorbitant BMw tax to fix it. So high it wasn’t worth it. To be clear the fix itself wouldn’t have been too much if BMW didn’t block third parties from doing it.

Loved having electric though. Next car will definitely be electric. Full tank of ‘gas’ leaving the house everyday. Never having to go to petrol stations…

Yes but it all depends on your use case. If you travel a lot for work that involves some mountain passes or states with low EV adoption due to politics you are gonna have a rough time or be very limited in your options.

If your use case is less than 200 miles a day and charging infrastructure is built up in your area then you are all set.

No regrets. Polestar 2 MY22 long range AWD. Ride is a lot harsher than in the BMW i4 for instance (family member has one). But overall I wouldn't want to switch.

I have driven an old Nissan leaf for 5 years as a commuter, and I love it I don't pay for gas or maintenance the electrons are free, and the insurance is cheap. I'm waiting on some more robust options so I can have an EV as my main car.

Have owned one for 2 years. I have made precisely one trip where I was mildly inconvenienced by having to charge one times too many. (That trip was >700km long).

All of the other times it has been amazing. Don’t overthink it too much, really. Just look at all the electric car owners out there - there’s enough of them and as far as I know no one is complaining.

Go for it.

Short answer no. I now have two in my house. VW ID4 & ID3. So nice to drive, cheap to run and the maintenance costs are basically 0.

Model 3 owner (before the crazy) and I love it still. auto pilot is amazing, I hate elon but honestly the super chargers are so much better than the other plug. I may consider something besides a tesla if they get an auto pilot thing and adopt the plug, but unfortunately for the time being i’m stuck giving money to the jumping dip$h1t.

EV driver working in automotive industry here. Based in N Europe, so take my words with a pinch of salt for other geos.

If you can charge at home, don't regularly drive very long distances and are OK with a smaller boot space EVs are a complete no-brainer.

If not all of these are true, the convenience depends a lot on where you live. In Northern Europe, UK and northern parts of Central Europe public charging networks are pretty good although Norway is starting to see queuing to be a thing.

In the US the only good charging network is Tesla's, which means only NACS cars can charge there - EU regulator has done a good job here standardising to CCS2.

Living with an EV does require some changes in behavior. You need to think about tomorrow's needs today to have the right SOC for the next long trip or choose your shopping and dining options to facilitate charging. For me, this is perfectly OK and the pleasure of driving an EV more than compensates for the mild inconvenience. That said, the amount of inconvenience is dependent on the first three factors and the country you live in.

When choosing your car, remember that you can't normally use the top and bottom 20% of your battery (depending a bit on the chemistry), which is reflected in day-to-day range.

Feel free to ask anything related to EVs, batteries, chargers or charging networks.

I went from an 08' VW Rabbit to a '21 VW id.4 a few months ago. Got the $4k tax rebate passed onto the dealer to bring my price down to $19k [~$21k after taxes/fees], it's the AWD Pro S, and doesn't have the Gradient Package [some silvery exterior bits and slightly larger wheels]. I love the car, my family loves the car. The only nitpick I reaaaaaally have and that most people have for the VW evs is the damn driver side window switches lol. You get 2 and have to tap a touch sensitive bit to switch it to the back. Makes no sense. The steering wheel touch inputs for cruise control and media are another controversial choice, but I've gotten used to it.

As far as an EV in general goes. Like most have said, check out the charging network you have where you are and where you plan to be. I've only done one road trip in my id.4 [from buying it in Chicagoland and bringing it home] and while the range was "OK" [about 150 highway miles per charge], since I was along a string of L3s along the turnpike, I wasn't worried about making it to a charger. My immediate area had a couple of L3s, but now there's probably about double/triple around me now that's opened in the few months I've had my car.

That being said, my circumstance have the car as mostly a commuter, so I tend to last on a charge all week, and then L1 charge it Sun-Tues morning to start all over. Any around town stuff during charging time doesn't really make a dent since it's all within a few miles of my home. I also am able to charge at work for free, though sometimes spots get filled. Initially I was thinking about getting a L2 EVSE, but between home and work, I don't really feel the need for one. I'd also need one with a good 50' cord since I park in front of my house, otherwise wife and I would have to re-arrange the cars whenever I wanted to charge.

That being said, if stuff happens and we do go up to my sisters about 40 miles away or something happens to where I do need to charge at a L3, the price per "tank" has been about $15 and taken 20-ish minutes. Most of the time I'm watching a few youtube videos, or going in for a restroom break and by the time i get back the car's about ready.

My car, and I think most EVs nowadays will have a setting limiting the charge to 80% to help with keeping the battery healthy. If I'm not using air conditioning at 80% my estimated range is about 190-200 miles, if it's hot and I'm using AC, it'll go down to 185ish. First upcoming winter, so I'll get to see how much my car is impacted. I don't usually worry about range. I did at first because I had a couple of close calls about charging stations not being available while doing some longish trips back and forth, but I think in general my immediate and surrounding areas that I might frequent have gotten more stations recently.

OH. Insurance for me wasn't much more than what I was already paying, but registration in my state tacks on another $200 dollars a year, presumably since having an EV you're not paying into the gas tax. Some states don't have EV fees, some do. So might want to check that. My co-worker just found out about that and wasn't happy lol.

I own 2 Teslas and an electric lawnmower since 2018 and I live in the Arctic Chicago area. No regrets besides Elon turning out to be a shitlord.

Not yet, but are there any electric cars that aren't spyware with touchscreens on wheels?

Privacy and security concerns, most of them are like big tech on wheels. See Telsa and others spying on users during intimate moments. Also most have major security vulnerabilities.

Yeah, I bought a Tesla and now regret it because Elon is a dipshit.

That said, I've gone over 38,000 miles for less than $900 in electricity. I haven't had to deal with oil changes or any other maintenance items other than tire rotations and tire replacement (the latter was of my own accord they actually said I didn't need to yet, at the time).

I recently did a nearly 4hr trip with no need to charge on the way, and at my destination basically filled back up in something like 25 minutes while checking in to my hotel. So, no range anxiety for me.

The ride is nice, the features are helpful to me, and I have had no other issues with the vehicle.

So if it weren't for Elon I'd love it. I still like it, but I just hate being seen in it now. It's paid off so the financial cost of getting some other EV doesn't make a ton of sense right now, so I guess I'll just drive it until it dies...which at this rate might be a long-ass time.

Yes, I ended up selling and buying a hybrid. Super happy with the hybrid.

• Basically instant "recharge" speed.

• Longer range.

• More vehicle options.

• Don't have to worry about heat or cold draining my fuel.

• Can leave the car stationary for long periods of time without the fuel draining.

• More fueling stations.

• More reliable fueling stations (chargers may be broken.)

• Less software bullshit. (Tesla)

• Less possibly breaking updates. (Tesla) No joke. My car's software literally crashed on the freeway once and I was essentially driving blind because all the screens went blank.

I drive a lot and for long distances. Switching to hybrid made trips shorter by an hour.

And I still got to keep fancy drive assist features. It's like 80% of autopilot, if not more.

Oh! And big one! Even though an electric car may say something like 500km range! That's NOT the usable range! You're not going to be driving the car to 0km. You're not even supposed to charge to 100% most of the time! So most of the time you'll charge to 80%, that's 400km in the battery. But, you probably wanna play it safe, so you'll want to recharge with 50km to 100km left in the battery. Leaving you with about 300km of usable range.

Then the heat, cold, and time will slowly drain your 300km....

Meanwhile, my hybrid has about 700km of usable range, regardless of time and weather.

The big question is if you can charge at home. Depending on the car, it's feasible to do so on a normal outlet if you drive ~30 miles or less per day. A 240 volt outlet can be a game changer on top of that though. My setup charges my car 0-100 in about 6 hours (you know, overnight, when I'm not doing anything and electricity is cheapest). But if I were in an apartment and had no access to overnight charging I'd consider other options.

(Chevy Bolt EUV)

I like the electric part.

What I don't like is that it's a steaming heap of spy-ware on wheels with no opt-out ability.

Which may lead to more expensive insurance depending on your driving style, or could be abused for even more nefarious reasons.

Downsides: Have to go to a gas station to find a squeegee to clean the windows.

Upsides: You have no other reason to go to a gas station.