I used to like hybrids, and obviously series hybrids are the coolest kind of hybrids, but now that I’m driving a budget EV, I honestly don’t see the point anymore. Just get the EV and skip the awkward half-way step that inherits the most expensive and complicated parts from both designs.
Seeing a sleek modern car pull away whisper quiet and then start the ICE 3 seconds later with a stutter and a puff of water vapor from underneath is the most schizophrenic sight, it somehow feels more dated than actual ICE cars.
Unless you live in bumfuck nowhere with expensive electricity, zero solar power and a daily 5 hour commute, an EV will likely work just fine for you.
I guess you don’t travel by car except for work commutes?
I’m a few years into PHEV ownership now, and I’m so glad I didn’t get an EV. Just a normal weekend trip to the beach or mountains (200-ish miles from the Triangle of NC either way) would mean I’d have to limit myself to hotels/Airbnbs with a charger. And chargers are VERY sparse everywhere I’ve been.
With my RAV4 Prime, I get 40-50 miles of EV range, enough that most days I use zero gas. But if I want to hit up the beach or mountains, or take a cross-country trip, or drive up to PA or VA to visit my girlfriend’s family, there’s zero hassle to find a charger. It just reverts to a normal hybrid once you run out of electric-only range (around 20% of the battery’s actual capacity).
It also performs far better than any EVs or ICEs I’ve seen anywhere close to its price point.
This “everyone should just have an EV” thing really reads like a modern “let them eat cake.”
I'm from the flat parts of the US midwest. Interesting stuff can be hundreds of miles away. There is absolutely a culture of cramming the family in to the car or RV the moment a long weekend starts and driving late in to the night to reach the destination, getting a day or two there, then hauling ass to get home in time to be back to work/school the next day.
That said, I also daily drive an EV and have no trouble road tripping it. I'm older, I can't just drive 500 miles only stopping for gas and restrooms like I used to, so a 15 minute stop every 1:45 or so is no big deal.
Back when I had a gas car it was a Fiesta ST, which is a great daily driver but a terrible road trip car, so I was already in the habit of renting a car if I was going to be on the road for longer than 8ish hours. This car is more comfortable so I probably won't rent if I'm not in a hurry, but if I feel the need to knock out 1000 miles as quickly as possible the option will always remain.
I don’t commute and I use the EV almost exclusively for trips, including a few countries over, but my EV also isn’t replacing the unique US model of “I spend half my waking hours driving a tank around 3rd world charging infrastructure”, so I can’t relate to some of the answers here.
In all seriousness, you're correct in re: to probably 90%+ of the population. There are definitely still areas where an EV can be challenging as your only vehicle, but those are places with pretty specific circumstances. They're deeply rural, they demand a lot more miles driven per user per year than most areas, there's more practical applications that EVs just aren't good enough at yet and there's a weird cultural resistance to EVs in a lot of those places. Even that's changing, though. It's just slower. Honestly, it's developing a lot faster even in these holdouts than I thought it would.
> It also performs far better than any EVs or ICEs I’ve seen anywhere close to its price point.
Curious what you're using for comparison for "performs better." There are lots of 300-400+ HP EVs when you consider the cost of a RAV4 Prime ($41.5K-$50K USD)
I agree it's a bit privileged to expect people to start converting over to EVs wholesale, especially with the current political climate that's disincentivizing new EV production and charger networks. Moreover, as others point out, if you can't charge at home, the math and logistics stop being quite so favorable towards EVs.
However, as someone who made the jump to an EV a few years ago, if you can manage it it's more reasonable than a lot of people think. I too live in the Triangle of NC, and my current EV cheerfully gets me to the beach every year and up to visit family in Virginia without breaking a sweat. This year, I used ABRP (A Better Route Planner app) to plot out the beach drive and it was as smooth an experience as I've had making that trip. Yes, we had to stop for a charge (because I hadn't charged fully before we left), but I had the chance to grab a snack and stretch my legs for fifteen or twenty before setting out again, so I honestly didn't mind. A lot depends on where people need to go, but thus far I haven't found a lot of places where the chargers are so sparse I really had to worry about it.
I would have to stop once for 10-15 min to cover that 400-mile round trip in my EV (Hyundai Ioniq 5). I've driven 900-mile days, in the winter, through snow, without issue, in the same car. It takes marginally longer.
> It also performs far better than any EVs or ICEs I’ve seen anywhere close to its price point.
My own anecdote is that I vastly prefer driving an EV on road trips. The lack of noise and gear shifts, regen braking, etc., all make it a much less draining experience.
> This “everyone should just have an EV” thing really reads like a modern “let them eat cake.”
This is a very different story for countries that don't have high import tariffs on Chinese vehicles. EVs there are fast becoming the cheaper option.
There is a zero hassle to find a charger for most EVs. The car tells you where to go, it is generally built into the navigation. You would not need to limit yourself to places to stay with a charger.
> Just a normal weekend trip to the beach or mountains (200-ish miles from the Triangle of NC either way) would mean I’d have to limit myself to hotels/Airbnbs with a charger.
I bought an EV just under a year ago and because I park literally right next to my electrical panel I figured I'd probably end up installing a 40 amp EVSE within a few weeks. Here we are, again nearly a year later, and I'm still using the standard 120v L1 cable the car came with because it's plenty. The only time I'm getting below 50% are on road trips where fast chargers are easy to come by.
As a matter of fact the last two vacation rental homes I've stayed in have been in North Carolina, one on Topsail Beach and one near Black Mountain. The one near Black Mountain actually had a 14-50 outlet outside intended for RVs or EV charging but both had plenty of 5-20s outside where I could have easily plugged in my portable cord to easily cover the driving we did in the area, and even if they didn't with 240ish miles of range and a variety of fast chargers in the nearest decent size city 10-15 miles away it's not really a concern.
Toutouxc · · focus · HN ↗
Seeing a sleek modern car pull away whisper quiet and then start the ICE 3 seconds later with a stutter and a puff of water vapor from underneath is the most schizophrenic sight, it somehow feels more dated than actual ICE cars.
Unless you live in bumfuck nowhere with expensive electricity, zero solar power and a daily 5 hour commute, an EV will likely work just fine for you.
pseudocomposer · · focus · HN ↗
I’m a few years into PHEV ownership now, and I’m so glad I didn’t get an EV. Just a normal weekend trip to the beach or mountains (200-ish miles from the Triangle of NC either way) would mean I’d have to limit myself to hotels/Airbnbs with a charger. And chargers are VERY sparse everywhere I’ve been.
With my RAV4 Prime, I get 40-50 miles of EV range, enough that most days I use zero gas. But if I want to hit up the beach or mountains, or take a cross-country trip, or drive up to PA or VA to visit my girlfriend’s family, there’s zero hassle to find a charger. It just reverts to a normal hybrid once you run out of electric-only range (around 20% of the battery’s actual capacity).
It also performs far better than any EVs or ICEs I’ve seen anywhere close to its price point.
This “everyone should just have an EV” thing really reads like a modern “let them eat cake.”
boredatoms · · focus · HN ↗
vondur · · focus · HN ↗
wolrah · · focus · HN ↗
That said, I also daily drive an EV and have no trouble road tripping it. I'm older, I can't just drive 500 miles only stopping for gas and restrooms like I used to, so a 15 minute stop every 1:45 or so is no big deal.
Back when I had a gas car it was a Fiesta ST, which is a great daily driver but a terrible road trip car, so I was already in the habit of renting a car if I was going to be on the road for longer than 8ish hours. This car is more comfortable so I probably won't rent if I'm not in a hurry, but if I feel the need to knock out 1000 miles as quickly as possible the option will always remain.
Toutouxc · · focus · HN ↗
Schiendelman · · focus · HN ↗
dam_jackalopes · · focus · HN ↗
In all seriousness, you're correct in re: to probably 90%+ of the population. There are definitely still areas where an EV can be challenging as your only vehicle, but those are places with pretty specific circumstances. They're deeply rural, they demand a lot more miles driven per user per year than most areas, there's more practical applications that EVs just aren't good enough at yet and there's a weird cultural resistance to EVs in a lot of those places. Even that's changing, though. It's just slower. Honestly, it's developing a lot faster even in these holdouts than I thought it would.
Schiendelman · · focus · HN ↗
neogodless · · focus · HN ↗
Curious what you're using for comparison for "performs better." There are lots of 300-400+ HP EVs when you consider the cost of a RAV4 Prime ($41.5K-$50K USD)
castillar76 · · focus · HN ↗
However, as someone who made the jump to an EV a few years ago, if you can manage it it's more reasonable than a lot of people think. I too live in the Triangle of NC, and my current EV cheerfully gets me to the beach every year and up to visit family in Virginia without breaking a sweat. This year, I used ABRP (A Better Route Planner app) to plot out the beach drive and it was as smooth an experience as I've had making that trip. Yes, we had to stop for a charge (because I hadn't charged fully before we left), but I had the chance to grab a snack and stretch my legs for fifteen or twenty before setting out again, so I honestly didn't mind. A lot depends on where people need to go, but thus far I haven't found a lot of places where the chargers are so sparse I really had to worry about it.
DeRock · · focus · HN ↗
> It also performs far better than any EVs or ICEs I’ve seen anywhere close to its price point.
My own anecdote is that I vastly prefer driving an EV on road trips. The lack of noise and gear shifts, regen braking, etc., all make it a much less draining experience.
> This “everyone should just have an EV” thing really reads like a modern “let them eat cake.”
This is a very different story for countries that don't have high import tariffs on Chinese vehicles. EVs there are fast becoming the cheaper option.
fragmede · · focus · HN ↗
[deleted] · · focus · HN ↗
[deleted]
Schiendelman · · focus · HN ↗
wolrah · · focus · HN ↗
I bought an EV just under a year ago and because I park literally right next to my electrical panel I figured I'd probably end up installing a 40 amp EVSE within a few weeks. Here we are, again nearly a year later, and I'm still using the standard 120v L1 cable the car came with because it's plenty. The only time I'm getting below 50% are on road trips where fast chargers are easy to come by.
As a matter of fact the last two vacation rental homes I've stayed in have been in North Carolina, one on Topsail Beach and one near Black Mountain. The one near Black Mountain actually had a 14-50 outlet outside intended for RVs or EV charging but both had plenty of 5-20s outside where I could have easily plugged in my portable cord to easily cover the driving we did in the area, and even if they didn't with 240ish miles of range and a variety of fast chargers in the nearest decent size city 10-15 miles away it's not really a concern.