For those EV owners out there, what was the hardest part about choosing your EV?

Seat comfort, ride quality, quietness, responsiveness, visibility/blind spots and overall feel of the car were key factors in keeping my wife happy.
Test/guest drives are the key that sells people on EVs.

 

Hope this helps:

• 2005-2017 - owned 2003 Prius, 2010 Prius, and 2017 Prius Prime (25 mi EV)
• 2016-current - own a 2014 BMW i3-REx with 6,000 mi from 'end of lease' and today has 46,165 mi. Girlfriend drives and loves it. The second best EV (or PHEV) to own.
• 2019 - traded in 2017 Prius Prime, $18.3k, for Std Rng Plus Model 3, list $41,000 (net: $22,700)
  • SuperCharger (fast DC charging) network dense enough to leave Alabama and reach family in Kansas, Arizona, California, Washington State, Connecticut, and back to Alabama.
  • Right-sized, comfortable, for two adults and dogs on cross country trips with RV camping and charging.
  • High efficiency, 25 kWh/100 mi, for low cost driving.
  • Autopilot, driver assistance system. Optically based, not 'mapped'. Autopilot paid for itself the third month when the driver had brief medical issues and the car did not crash.

Bob Wilson

 

The overall feel of the car, just like an ICE car, and the general range. I test drove a couple of EVs in a similar price range with acceptable range, and chose the one that I enjoyed driving (comfort, ergonomics, visibility, etc.) - a 2019 Nissan Leaf (40kW battery) I'm having more difficulty now in choosing a new EV, because there are very many more options than there were in 2018 when I was shopping for my first EV. Now I'm choosing between Tesla, Ford, Volkswagen, Kia, and Hyundai (my Tesla test drive is later this week).

 

There were no pain points for me. The only worry was I wanted to be able to get to my brother's house, about 160 miles away, plug in overnight in a regular wall socket, and get home the next day without having to stop to charge. My Hyundai Kona does that easily, as would any EV with a range over about 250 miles.

But the EV enthusiasts on this site are probably not the best audience for your survey. I think you really need from the people who haven't bought an EV and are still hesitating. What's their worry? And that I don't know.

 

Remember this was two years ago when most EVs were little more than 'compliance' vehicles:

1. Driver assistance (aka., Autopilot) - as he aged, my Dad's physical abilities decline and I was 69 years old. So I wanted the most advanced, continuing to improve, driving automation and that was (and remains) AutoPilot. The limits and extra cost of GM's SuperCruise had no appeal and MagicEye remains neither common nor affordable on the EVs I saw.
2. Tesla SHORTS - they lied over and over again. As I learned and confirmed the facts and data, it was easy to see the Std Rng Plus Model 3 was affordable and efficient in 2019. The lying Tesla critics sent me to do a closer look.
3. Long range SuperCharger network - two years ago, I'd tried to use Electrify America and EVgo with our 2014 BMW i3-REx. I was not impressed. Meanwhile, I could easily plan multiple ways to reach my relatives in Kansas, Oklahoma, Arizona, California, Washington State, and Connecticut. I could also take my late wife to her family in the D.C. area and New York. The 2019 EVs had unreliable and too sparse, fast DC charging. I understand is is less bad now but in 2019, there wasn't really a choice.
4. Affordable - trading in a 2017 Prius Prime reduced the price $18,300 bringing the out-of-pocket expense to the low $20,000 without the tax credit the next year.

Bob Wilson

 

Charging infrastructure. Most important tipping point.

 

2019 LEAF Plus
The major problem I had when choosing an EV was availability. I don't know if this is a problem elsewhere but not all vehicles are sold in my province. When I was doing my research it was frustrating to be interested in a vehicle only to discover that I couldn't see or test drive one, let alone buy it. For example the Kia E-Niro was very interesting but the dealers here are not equipped to to sell the vehicle, I've been told that they don't want to invest the $$ in facilities needed to service them but I don't know if that's true.

Our province does not have the incentive programs that BC and Quebec have, and thus the bulk of inventory is sent to them, so even vehicles that can be sold here are very scarce. My local Toyota contact tells me that we will be lucky to get the PHEV version of the Rav 4 here for 2 years.

So, information on vehicle availability and perhaps wait times for delivery would be useful.

 

Consumer Reports publishes many pages of extensive reviews of each car they test. Here is the bottom line of what Consumer Reports thinks of the popular EVs:

 

Having followed some Consumer Reports recommendations on other products (e.g. a dishwasher) and been badly burned, I view their recommendations as having barely more than zero credibility.

 

I'll cut to the quick here. The Leaf was the first EV I could afford. Started with a 2016 SL and traded for a 2018 S to get the refreshed and improved design before the newly elected Conservative government killed the subsidies. No regrets

 

The subsidies are back! (except for Teslas and Chevy Bolts because more than 200,000 have been sold.)

 

I'm talking province of Ontario in Canada. No EV subsidies from the re-elected Conservative government. And, I might add no support for expanding wind or solar energy.

 

Sorry. I had no idea you were in Canada. ;-)

 

I drove nothing but Hondas for 35 years (including two gen-1 Insights), but after Honda ignored all my letters begging them to bring the Honda e to the US, my choice was easy. Now I'm glad Honda didn't bring the Honda e to the US because that left a single small, sporty EV: the MINI Cooper SE. It's the best car I've ever owned and a perfect urban warrior. The MINI Electric's small battery keeps the car's weight low so it still handles like a MINI but the 110-mile range/charge isn't ideal for long trips. We have a Honda Clarity PHEV for long trips but my wife and I love the MINI so much, the Clarity gets very lonely.

 

Similar experience here. We traded my wife's Prius for a 2022 Kia Niro EV. We kept my (now lonely) Camry Hybrid for long trips. 95% of our driving is in and out of the city. We pay about $8.00 for a full charge and get 318 miles for our $8.00 (driving conservatively).

 

In 2019, the market was considerably different than today. However, Munro had reviewed the Tesla products and convinced me they had the best engineering practices and product in a 2019 Model 3 Standard Range Plus:

Even today, the current Model 3 Standard Range Plus leads the EV efficiency in the www.fueleconomy,gov.

Bob Wilson

 

It is always a moving target - what is available now will be different from what is available next year. It would be too easy to get focused on some upcoming model, only to find that you don't like it when you actually get to see it.

So in a sense, you pick from what is reasonably available now that meets your requirements, and accept that there might be something you like more next year.

 

And needs change......my first was a Leaf, and I loved it; it was a reasonable price for me, had enough range for my life, and was a fun drive....while still having a small enough battery that using public charging locations wasn't too onerous (as I couldn't charge at home). Then my life changed and I added a cottage that gave me a several hundred mile trip a few times a month: Now I needed more range, and I could use a bigger battery because I could also charge at home, so I got a Tesla Y. Life changes, needs change, and my choice of EV changed. In a few years, I'll reassess what's new on the market, what's new in my life, and decide if (and what) new EV I want.