Would you ever consider owning a Electric Hybrid/Full Electric Vehicle?

[SeaJay]

To regularly charge an EV you need to be able to park your car either in a garage, or close enough to the house to reach the special 240 connection you need to charge the car in a few hours.

Doesn't work for a house in my tight spaced neighborhood just outside of New York City, or in the condo I will be moving to next year.

 

[KrisZ]

For me full electric doesn't make sense at the moment, but a hybrid would be a definite consideration and I would most likely choose it over diesel.

 

[WyrTwister]

We bought a used 2012 Leaf a few years ago , as a second , in town only vehicle , for my wife to drive .

We / she really liked it . She would go run her morning errands , come back for lunch & plug it in to the Level 2 ( 240 VAC ) charger .

That afternoon , she would run her afternoon errands , come home and plug it back in & leave it over night .

We know , going into it , it was going to be an in town only car . We were not looking to save the planet . At the time , with $ 2.00 gas and comparing it to our 2015 Chevy Sonic 1.8l , it was not going to save a lot of money .

All this came to an end , when it was rear ended / totaled , while she was setting at a traffic lite .

I looked at replacing it with a plug in hybrid . Chevy Volt seemed to be the best option . Was hoping for a little more interior space than the Sonic . Volt did not seem to be a lot larger for the driver . And we did not find a used Volt in the price I was willing to pay .

Best of luck to you,

 

[oil_film_movies]

Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
How about this cool looking Leaf.

The Leaf finally looks good now. The 1st gen one made me cringe it was so ugly. ... Is the gold trim at the bottom just something a local dealership is doing, or the owner did, or is that from Nissan?

 

[jeepman3071]

Sure, if it looked like a normal car and not a space ship. A BMW 330e comes to mind.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Too bad you can't get a Volt or Leaf with a sunroof

I'd be interested in a range extender EV (like the Volt or I3). The I3 Rex is the only such car with a sunroof, so that would be my choice.

For a non-Rex EV, I'd choose the Fiat 500e with its big sunroof.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

NO

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
Originally Posted by fdcg27
You're spot-on with the price premium for a hybrid Accord versus a 1.5T, plus the hybrid has an NA two liter, so no turbo to worry about.
Strictly speaking, you lay out $2,000 more. Agree, sans turbo means all the problems with fuel dilution & high turbo oil temperatures doesn't affect the Hybrid. The point I was trying to make is that the Hybrid is more pleasing to drive than the 1.5T. If its like my '18 Equinox 1.5T, the turbo-lag is annoying off the line or hitting it hard when passing, whereas the electric motor in a hybrid launches you immediately when you ask for torque. Driving a C-Max hybrid and Focus Electric may have spoiled me, but there is some value in not waiting for torque to build up.

So, the $2,000 premium does add value to the performance in stop-n-go and passing situations, I think most would agree. ..... As to standard features over the base LX 1.5T, the hybrid base only has Remote Start, worth about $200 really. I guess if you value the better performance at $800 (I would), then the $200 Remote Start feature the Hybrid has would complete the delta-$1,000 true difference.

This is one reason car makers have embraced hybrid tech, as test driving something with instant low-speed torque sells cars.


You're right about that. The Accord offers great torque at any speed when you call for it, courtesy of the battery pack and the electric part of the propulsion system.
Drove the car 160 miles highway yesterday and was very impressed with the right now no downshift acceleration at speed. Of course there were no downshifts sine there is but one gear in the tranny. Car now shows a tank average of 42.2 mpg from new.

 

[Dorian]

I do a majority of city driving. My current tank average is 39 mpg in the hybrid. I purchased this car over a standard Camry 2.5 because of the features it included. It was only $1K more than the other vehicle. Yes the trunk is smaller, but 99% of the time only my subwoofer is in it. However, this car has more power than the standard 2.5. The instant torque is incredible. With the regenerative brakes the car rarely uses the friction pads. So brake jobs should be rare. The only worry is the battery. So in short I likely will only buy hybrids from here on out.

 

[RooflessVW]

I'd love a plug in hybrid version of my Q7! Give me 50ish miles of range electric, and I'll rarely use the gasoline engine. An electric motor built into the bell housing so I don't lose full-time AWD. It could run electric only, gasoline only, or both for increase power. Regenerative braking would also help save the brakes instead of doing fronts every 20k or so.

This is the dream!

 

[littleant]

Will it start at -42. Do they come in AWD or 4WD

 

[RooflessVW]

Originally Posted by littleant
Will it start at -42. Do they come in AWD or 4WD

Do present cars' electronics now work at -42?

And yes, there are now and will be AWD electric vehicles. It's actually easier with less parts involved vs conventional internal combustion.

 

[Spector]

I own a 2012 hybrid and my battery warranty is 8 years, Normally I would keep a car until it drops but the issue with batteries are the cost. Only Hyundai warrants batteries for life (original Owner) and the estimated cost to replace mine is 4-5,000. As I only have 63,000 miles on the car I will never ever save enough $ on gas to offset the cost of a new battery whenever one is due. Now if I owned a Prius with a 2,500 cost to replace and if I had 150,000 on the clock, yea, more than a break even but for me the hybrid will turn out to be a loser in terms of gas savings if I have to replace the battery. I get over 40 on average (Lincoln MKZ) and love it but the battery life really scares me.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted by Spector
I own a 2012 hybrid and my battery warranty is 8 years, Normally I would keep a car until it drops but the issue with batteries are the cost. Only Hyundai warrants batteries for life (original Owner) and the estimated cost to replace mine is 4-5,000. As I only have 63,000 miles on the car I will never ever save enough $ on gas to offset the cost of a new battery whenever one is due. Now if I owned a Prius with a 2,500 cost to replace and if I had 150,000 on the clock, yea, more than a break even but for me the hybrid will turn out to be a loser in terms of gas savings if I have to replace the battery. I get over 40 on average (Lincoln MKZ) and love it but the battery life really scares me.

Retail price for a dealer battery replacement on the 10-15 Prius is right around $3800 today; the batteries list for about $2800 and the job books for 4 hours at $180/hr. Of course it doesn't take 4 hours to do the swap, but shops charge by book time.

Cars are getting complex enough where a $3800 battery is not your only liability - there are plenty of other mechanical issues which can "total out" a vehicle at higher mileage.