When do you think you'll buy your first electric car?

californiamilleghia said:

probably never , but I would consider converting an old car to EV when there are kits to do it , 

Kits like LS swaps for common old cars, or are you expecting the aftermarket to come up with generic EV conversion kits that will allow any car to be turned into an electric? Because I think the latter is a little unlikely. The former exists already for a non-trivial number of cars, especially if they can trace their lineage back to the original Beetle in some way.

Mr_Asa said:

I'd have to own my own home before I could do that.  Not installing a charging point in a rental home.

A charging point is an outlet, really. You take the charger with you when you change homes. The difficulty of installing said plug will vary from place to place just like it does for non-rentals. It would have been fairly easy in the last place I rented if I remember the location of the panel properly, but it's been while.

For me it depends how much I'll end up traveling for work again post-pandemic. If I go back to the amount and distance that I used to travel in times before, it makes a lot of financial sense to get an electric car with a suitably long range.

Probably within a year or two. My wife and I drove a Mach E and we both really liked it. If they weren't so damn expensive and hard to get right now, we might have already traded the Fusion on one. It's the perfect vehicle for her needs (short commute, 97% of her driving is within 50 miles), and she's currently dailying the Expedition, which is not well-suited to her use. But for now, the cost is too high, I don't have enough equity in the Fusion, and I need to factor in the cost of getting a charger installed in my garage.

I'd like to go EV for my wife's next vehicle to replace her Mazda CX-7. The Tesla Y is a bit pricey, but perfect size-and-capability wise. But their control-freak characteristics put me off. So I wouldn't mind waiting another year or two and see what else comes out as EVs flood the market. My son has been very happy with his Hyundai, and I like their new design language, so I'll be particularly looking at their offerings.

I don't have any fixed plans to get rid of gas cars, but I could see buying an electric once the last gas cars are 10+ years old just to have a newer and more reliable car.

alfadriver said:

Pure EV?  No idea.  If I can get a hybrid Escape that can tow 3000lb, I would get that.  

Hybrid Escapes CAN tow 3000lb, with two or three caveats.  I looked into this, after being really impressed with them.  (They drove like a regular vehicle, this meant a lot to me)

They cannot reverse uphill with much load, and IIRC this was the main factor in Ford's giving them a 1000lb tow rating - reverse is entirely electric and the little motor doesn't do very much on its own, comparatively speaking.

If the battery runs out while going up a long steep hill, you lose a LOT of power.  This sounds like it is at odds with the first caveat, but I have heard it enough times from people who've experienced it to accept it as true.

Third, the lack of decent engine braking, especially after the battery is fully charged, can make long downhills especially fun.

In a flattish area, I'd totally go for it.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Given that we live in the warrantee world, I'm sticking with what is rated.  

That, and we also factor in gas cost vs cost.  I'm not getting a hybrid for the sake of getting a hybrid.

But the kicker for us at the time- none around last September.

Keith Tanner said:

 

Mr_Asa said:

I'd have to own my own home before I could do that.  Not installing a charging point in a rental home.

A charging point is an outlet, really. You take the charger with you when you change homes. The difficulty of installing said plug will vary from place to place just like it does for non-rentals. It would have been fairly easy in the last place I rented if I remember the location of the panel properly, but it's been while.

Almost every garage I have seen only had 110v, and just enough service capacity to run a garage door opener.  As enthusiastic as I am for EVs, I don't see a 110v 15a circuit charging a car very quickly.  

...edit: it occurs to me that my northeast-midwest bias may be showing.  All houses have basements, and that is where the huge 220v circuits for a clothes dryer go, not the garage or a laundry room adjacent to it.

2013

It won't be a car.

As soon as possible when one fits my price range and needs.........it's getting close. I will keep my ICE vehicles for fun though. I would like my daily to be an EV.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Keith Tanner said:

 

Mr_Asa said:

I'd have to own my own home before I could do that.  Not installing a charging point in a rental home.

A charging point is an outlet, really. You take the charger with you when you change homes. The difficulty of installing said plug will vary from place to place just like it does for non-rentals. It would have been fairly easy in the last place I rented if I remember the location of the panel properly, but it's been while.

Almost every garage I have seen only had 110v, and just enough service capacity to run a garage door opener.  As enthusiastic as I am for EVs, I don't see a 110v 15a circuit charging a car very quickly.  

 

...edit: it occurs to me that my northeast-midwest bias may be showing.  All houses have basements, and that is where the huge 220v circuits for a clothes dryer go, not the garage or a laundry room adjacent to it.

 

My last two garages had either main or sub panels that could handle 220v charger. And both had basements :) Some of that is selection bias because that's also the sort of house I'm liable to buy. My old house back in Ottawa (built in 1912 or so) might have been more of a challenge. But that has nothing to do with whether it's a rental or not, although obviously you're not going to want to invest a lot of money into trenching a new cable to a standalone garage if it's not yours. Might be worth a conversation with the landlord, though, as I suspect that EV friendliness will become a value-add for rentals as times goes on.

I think I still have a Level 2 charger in a box that I bought when we got the Leaf.

I never installed it. We always had a full car the next morning on 110V.

Part of that of course is the smaller battery on a Leaf compared to more recent stuff, but the fact remains that for all the driving around town I did all day, I had plenty of time to recharge overnight, and that's not battery size dependent. Apart from travel, there were only maybe a handful of occasions I needed to charge more quickly near home (so by not installing the 220V charger, I did make myself go sit in a Burgerville parking lot for an hour a couple of times over two years).

Travel was when we regretted the Leaf's small battery/range.

I'd guess 5-10 years.  I shouldn't need another car for at least 5 years or so, at which point I'll have to see how I feel about the infrastructure. It will definitely be in heavy discussion. 

rslifkin said:

I'll probably end up with an EV of some form in the fleet whenever one that interests me is available at a price I'm willing to pay. 

That about sums things up for me. The early short range EVs wouldn't fit my current commute. The new crop with 200+ mile ranges would be fine, but are out of my price range, and I have no idea how long it would be before one in good shape would be price competative with a gas powered car. I just bought a low-mileage (by my standards) daily driver last year, which I plan to hang onto for a while.

My wife wants her next vehicle to be a minivan. Not currently much there in the EV market, and it will be even longer before it depreciates enough for us to buy one.

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

I think your post reflects one of the big hurdles people have to get over. "Price competitive with a gas powered car" only refers to the initial purchase price, not to maintenance or cost to operate. We've spent somewhere around $300 to fuel our EV over the past 18,000 miles and $18 on maintenance - new interior HVAC filters. A gas car would have required 3-5 oil changes over that time, never mind fuel costs. And as the miles ramp up, the maintenance costs for the gas car would keep adding on.

It's not a complete tradeoff, but the fact is that you can spend more on an EV and come out ahead in the long run. If you're paying cash, you do have to pay yourself back. If you're financing, it's easier because you can take the monthly savings and apply them to the payment. The biggest problem is that people just don't think this way.

tuna55 said:

2013

Same! I think we got our Leaf right around the same time as you. 

I had to trade it in on a used Accord because it wasn't quite up to my daily commute, but things have improved and I'm back in an EV. My wife drives a plug-in Pacifica, so we're driving mostly electric-powered miles now. 

If I can help it, I won't ever buy another gas-powered car for daily use. Electric is perfect for the commuting life - quiet, fast, and always with a full tank of electrons in the morning. Doesn't hurt that most are very comfortable cars that pre-heat and pre-cool when you tell them to. I do not miss stopping at gas stations or changing oil at all. Added solar panels to the house, and really started saving money. (Don't tell work, they reimburse me for mileage)

I would love to have an electric powertrain.  My big turnoff is that I stare at screens all the time and don't want to do it while driving. I don't like the rolling-iPad interior design of Teslas.   

I want electric propulsion with analog controls.  This leaves me either buying a golf cart or doing a conversion at some point in the future.

I got a Soul EV in 2015 after my parents' good experience with their 2013 Leaf.  Maybe a dozen family members now have or have had an EV at this point.  I'd get another once my teen needs a vehicle.

I'm adamant that our next vehicle will be an EV. That being said, we work from home and our current ICE vehicles have plenty of life left so there's no impetus toward purchasing a new vehicle at all.

For a commuter, I would seriously consider it, but not a long-trip vehicle.  I would consider replacing my wife's Infiniti with an EV of some sort.

My intention with my '61 C10 is that it is the "last" truck I own.  When the gun is finally pointed to my head, I would probably convert it to electric, rather than get rid of it.  EV West has ben working on a "drop-in" EV crate motor, which is currently (no pun intended) a bit steep, but it does use SBC mounts.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Almost every garage I have seen only had 110v, and just enough service capacity to run a garage door opener.  As enthusiastic as I am for EVs, I don't see a 110v 15a circuit charging a car very quickly.  

 

...edit: it occurs to me that my northeast-midwest bias may be showing.  All houses have basements, and that is where the huge 220v circuits for a clothes dryer go, not the garage or a laundry room adjacent to it.

My house was built in 1974 and only has 110v in the garage. However, there's a laundry room with a 30A 220v dryer plug right next to it. It's unused, as we have a gas dryer. So for me, all I'd need to do is get that 220v plug moved over one wall.

Then again, I only have a 125A panel for the whole house and pole barn, which has it's own 30A panel running off the main one in the house, so I'm already cutting it close. I really should upgrade the whole thing to a 200A panel. Then I could put in a 50A circuit for the garage.

Tough for me.

I really really want an Alpha Wolf EV truck right now, but in 9 years I will be moving to a relatively remote area and may only be able to charge at the house.

If the Alpha comes in at $40k for the 4wd version I will probably buy one.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

It occurs to me that with the timeline I posted, I may never actually own an electric car, because I'll probably be too old to drive at that point, and I'm 43 now.

 

 

That’s depressing, even if that totals 30 years you’ll be 73 and that leaves plenty of good years ahead.

In reply to racerfink :

I feel the say way. Electric cars are fast but driving a car is so much more to me then just a way to get from one place to another.

Since I'm in my 60's I don't think that gas & diesel vehicles will disappear in my lifetime and unless they make some major, major improvements in battery power density there will still be a need for petroleum powered vehicles.