I new to both forums and to EV’s. I’d love to get some input as I’m considering the purchase of an EV.
I live south of Portland, Oregon and drive to work in Vancouver, WA every day. It’s a 64 mile round trip and most days it takes about 50 minutes in each direction…although I’ve experienced a 3 hour, one way commute before. Nearly all of the drive is on a freeway. I currently drive a VW Passat that gets about 26-27 MPG. So, I spend about $35/week on gas to get to/from work.
I’m thinking of getting an EV to save $$ but not sure that it would be a $$-saving proposition. Thoughts?
If I do buy a used EV, are there specific ones I should avoid getting?
Your driving an inexpensive, reliable car that should go 200,000 miles without incurring major problems. Gas is cheap and looks like it’s going to stay that way. If you cut your fuel bill in half you would save $910 per year A used 3 year old Hybrid that gets the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon can be had for $14000 You do the math, if it’s favorable to you, Go for it.
Suggest a Volt or plug in Prius. You might get half your trip on battery. Dont forget to figure in the cost of charging setup.
These are both fair size comfortable cars. You might not be comfortable in a smaller vehicle.
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I live in a Portland Suburb and am fairly up on what’s available. Craigslist has a 2013 Smart EV under warranty for just under $10,000 and there are several Leafs under $11,000. There is even a Think City for $8400 but since it is a bankrupt company I would be very cautious, even with the local certified repair facility.
IMHO not suitable for your application. Ok around town but not distance vehicles.
I agree a Volt would be great but I don’t find any around here for under 19k. The Plug-in Prius only gets about 11miles of electric range then becomes like a regular Prius. It’s probably not worth the extra dollars to get a plugin Prius rather than the normal Prius. I average 45 mpg commuting around Portland in my Prius.
I’m from Europe, but I think that the conditions are the same. I drive a Nissan Leaf and I would not change it. The way to your work would be without problem. You can try to agree on charging at work, if possible, which would also help you to save finance. I dont know your tariffs on electricity, but in Czech Republic is cheaper to drive elektric car than any other cars. I can recommend Nissan Leaf.
Plus you can get a better charging cables, then your car will be charged for half the time (I have cables from R-EVC). My friend went to sea by Nissan Leaf (about 450 miles) and his travel costs were 15 EUR!! (he was using fast-chargers and on slow-chargers he used the R-EVC charging cable, total time was 15h, but the price!) Total distance was cca 930 miles, and it was without any problem, so it is definitely a reliable car …:clap2:
Great info. Really appreciate it.
How many miles would be considered “a lot” on an EV? I saw an ad for one that had 45k and the guy was saying that the price is low because “it’s got high miles.” 45k is nothing on a gas powered car. Thoughts?
You mention a Hybrid…I was thinking of pure electric. The advertised range for most of them is north of 80 miles so I should be able to make the 65 mile round trip with a little to spare. Am I off base on that assumption?
As for “charging setup”…are you talking about my garage? Do most of these require 220?
Thanks again.
I think most of us are still asking that same question regarding what is high miles for regular speed EV’s (Low Speeds are an entirely different animal to me). Most ads I see are at 30k miles or lower, with several under 10k. 45K might have 100k of battery life left, but most people are still speculating since very few drivers seem to have hit over 100k yet.
From what I have read, the state of the battery pack is much more important than the car mileage, so it would be good to have someone who understands EV’s to check that out for you. A reputable independent garage that understands EV’s in Portland is Hawthorne Auto Clinic. Their website is www.HawthorneAuto.com; they are actually a certified warranty repir facility for the bankrupt Think City’s.
Stay in touch and post what you decide and how it turns out.