Exclusively Electric Garage

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How many people here only have an electric car/s? I had this discussion with my wife a few weeks ago. She is uncomfortable owning two electric cars feeling we need one ice vehicle. So has anyone made the switch? For this to really count, no hybrids or range extenders just pure battery power.
 
Would never work for me. We have one EV and one ICE car. Several reasons for that. For road trips in the US (just did a 2 week one in early March), it is far cheaper to go with the ICE car, not to mention the lack of charging infrastructure everywhere. And at home, we have a cabin which has about 11 kms of rough Forest Service Road, and could never drive that with an EV, or at least any that are available today.
 
I have a mandatory requirement to travel ~750 miles in 12-14 hours and do the same the following day. So our backup for the Std Rng Plus Model 3 is a BMW i3-REx. A second Tesla could replace the BMW i3-REx.

Bob Wilson
 
I an planing on going all electric as son as I can divest myself of my collection of ICE cars. I have a Kona that I drive almost exclusively. I have three other cars. I haven't driven two of them in over 10 years. Ok, they are classics One is a 1970's Porsche 914-6 race car that I am seriously considering converting to electric just for fun. I like not having to worry about old gas or oil changes every year for cars that I don't drive at all. I also have a 1965 Ford Ranchero That on it third restomod (fuel injected v8. 4 speed automatic rack and pinon steering ...) I am planing on selling it as I probably wouldn't drive it even if it was electric which I thought about for a while. And then there's my ranch truck an old f250 4x4 with a gas guzzling 460 . I use it to pick up building materials that won't fit in the Kona. I may get a Volvo XC40 recharge when they come out and just and a nice flatbed trailer to replace the 4x4 pick up. Don't mind having lots of cars I just want them all to be electric. There way more fun to drive.
 
We currently have an ICE Crew Cab Pickup truck and my wife drives a Dodge Grand Caravan Minivan.
However, I'm getting a 2017 BMW i3 BEV with 22k miles for the wife this coming week. Already placed a $500 deposit to have the car brought by the dealer from their Miami to their Orlando location. If the car is as expected, we will be a 2 EV family. I will sell the F150 Crew Cab and will add a trailer hitch to the Grand Caravan which can haul our small trailer. I don't need a $17k truck in the garage for using it 5 times per year. I rarely haul heavy stuff anyways, so I will sell it. That will leave us with 2 BEV's and an occasional use Minivan.. Wife does not drive a lot and the 114 mile range of the i3 is plenty for her. If we take longer trips, we will take the Kona. For trips over 1000 miles, we usually fly and take a rental car at the place we are travelling. At the current gas prices we may as well take the minivan. It's cheaper right now than charging the Kona on a road trip.

Below is the i3 that I'm planning on buying for the wife.. (screen shot from dealers website)

If it wasn't for the lack of towing capacity, I would be ok just with the 2 BEV's.


20200516_183707.webp
 
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I put a receiver hitch on our BMW i3-REx and have a light-weight, trailer. It is fully capable of moving 500-1,000 lbs on the trailer driven sensibly.

Bob Wilson
 
bwilson4web said:
I put a receiver hitch on our BMW i3-REx and have a light-weight, trailer. It is fully capable of moving 500-1,000 lbs on the trailer driven sensibly.

Bob Wilson
Click to expand...
I need to haul about 2000 - 3000 lbs. My trailer is 10 ft long 5 ft wide (loading area). I usually haul tile, appliances and other building materials for remodeling homes.. I have a home flipping/landlord business which I do besides my regular job. The Kona should be capable of hauling 2000 - 3000 lbs but I could lose my warranty, so I don't want to take the risk. I know that there is someone with an eNiro who has towed a car with it but it could void the warranty.. My wife would never let me use the BMW to tow anything.. If I would be towing with an EV it would have to be the Kona. Anyways, our 2008 Grand Caravan with 207k miles is perfect for the occasional towing. The car is worth maybe $1500, so, it's not worth selling it. That's why I decided to add a trailer hitch to it and use it for the occasional towing. All that the car costs me is about $500 to $600 per year for liability insurance and registration. Cheaper than renting a truck every time I need to haul something. Maybe in the long run, a Cybertruck or Model Y is in my future.. I hope that everything with the i3 purchase will work out tomorrow or tuesday.. As the car is in Miami, I have not actually seen it. Carfax is clean and it looks great in the pictures. 22k miles is also low... Getting a great deal on it..
 
Clamps said:
How many people here only have an electric car/s? I had this discussion with my wife a few weeks ago. She is uncomfortable owning two electric cars feeling we need one ice vehicle. So has anyone made the switch? For this to really count, no hybrids or range extenders just pure battery power.
Click to expand...
I only have a Kona Electric. I previously had a Ford C-Max Energi and convinced myself I wanted more battery-only range. Also I'm considering picking up a 2nd car for bike and dog toting and commuting back and forth to work in the Covid-19 world we live in (used to take public transit but not really high on that until a vaccine). The 2nd car? I'm ONLY considering used EVs (in fact I need to post somewhere for opinions... having trouble deciding between several good options).

Anyway, I've driven 600 miles in the Kona Electric to my mom's place without issue, only had to stop and charge 3 times. I'll be headed to the beach in SC this summer, and have already planned the trip and where to charge on the way. It's really not a big deal.

If that doesn't convince your wife, what about this - you can always just rent car if it's that much of an emergency and you need to drive 1,000 miles in short time, right?
 
R P said:
Would never work for me. We have one EV and one ICE car. Several reasons for that. For road trips in the US (just did a 2 week one in early March), it is far cheaper to go with the ICE car, not to mention the lack of charging infrastructure everywhere. And at home, we have a cabin which has about 11 kms of rough Forest Service Road, and could never drive that with an EV, or at least any that are available today.
Click to expand...
Funny, I just did the math on the Hyundai Kona for a cross country road trip we did recently in our Ford CMAX Energi. Using hotel chargers and Electrify America chargers on the Hyundai plan as well as some chargers on other networks the cost would have been about half price in the Kona. So it is entirely doable. Even better would be if EvGo chargers are available along the route, as I have the COVID rate of $0.19 per minute until the end of the year. The EvGo rate works out to be the equivalent of around $0.80 per gallon of gas, the EA rate is closer to $1.50.
 
Clamps said:
How many people here only have an electric car/s? I had this discussion with my wife a few weeks ago. She is uncomfortable owning two electric cars feeling we need one ice vehicle. So has anyone made the switch? For this to really count, no hybrids or range extenders just pure battery power.
Click to expand...

I currently have a 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric and a 2016 Chevy Spark, but I just traded in the Spark to Carvana for a 2018 Kia Soul EV. Still all electric in my garage, though!
 
cmwade77 said:
Funny, I just did the math on the Hyundai Kona for a cross country road trip we did recently in our Ford CMAX Energi. Using hotel chargers and Electrify America chargers on the Hyundai plan as well as some chargers on other networks the cost would have been about half price in the Kona. So it is entirely doable. Even better would be if EvGo chargers are available along the route, as I have the COVID rate of $0.19 per minute until the end of the year. The EvGo rate works out to be the equivalent of around $0.80 per gallon of gas, the EA rate is closer to $1.50.
Click to expand...
Our 2019 Std Rng Plus Model 3:
  • $1.78/100 mi - combined home and free charging around town
  • $2.70/100 mi - all charges at home
  • $3.50/100 mi - all Supercharger billing on cross country trips
  • $3.00/100 mi - Supercharging along with free breakfasts and charging at a motel
Bob Wilson
 
I currently have a 40kwh Leaf and a 21 year old Saturn. With the switch from a 30kwh 2016 Leaf to the current 2018 40kwh I gain a lot more range. Coupled with charging infrastructure that is gaining momentum I seldom need the Saturn for a long run any more. I'm a sentimental fool and still love to take it out now again
and row that 5 speed manual through the gears. If anything big happens I likely won't replace it.

In two more years I will have taken my current EV through the magic 4 years depreciation through the business and will likely be looking at a 60kwh Leaf if they're still making them. That will pretty well have me covered for everything I do. The cost of insuring the ICE for a year would pay for a few long range rentals.
 
I do. I have a 40kWh Leaf, and if I need to do a longer distance drive without taking time to charge along the way, I rent a car. It's still cheaper that way. I just bought a cottage that's about 225 miles from me, which means I need a recharge along the way. I can stop for an hour at an L3 charger without too much trouble in one of several spots, and I'll be able to install an L2 charger in my garage there.
 
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