Proposed 90/10 EV rule

bwilson4web

bwilson4web

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In August, I bought a $15k, used 2017 BMW i3-REx to be my City car and backup for my 2019 Tesla. After six months, EV life has become:
  • City EV - the BMW i3-REx has a short wheel base which easily handles city traffic. The BMW only runs the range extender engine to keep it usable about every 60 days. The 108 mi, EV benchmark fully handles trips local to Huntsville and out to neighboring cities. But the short wheel base becomes tiresome on Interstate highways.
  • Highway EV - the 2019 Tesla Model 3 has a longer wheel base and better suspension to deal with Interstate highways. With the expected battery degradation down to ~210 mi range, it is no longer going through daily, short drive, wear. Tesla Nashville reported a battery replacement would cost "$15,000," the cost of the 2017 BMW i3-REx.
My recommendation is with today's battery chemistry, have two EVs:
  • Short range, cheap, used EV - use this one for City errands.
  • Long range, new EV - use this one for all long distance trips in comfort.
Bob Wilson
 
I remember logging all of my trips when researching EV's and about 90 percent of my trips were (and probably still are) less than 20 miles round trip. We bought our first Smart fortwo cabrio EV and I still use the second one we bought for top-down short trips.
 
Do you alternate usage enough that one of the vehicles doesn't become a rodent motel? That
was one factor in the evenrual pasturing of my Prius.

_H*
 
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