Do you have an electric/hybrid vehicle?
 

Last year, my hubby bought himself an all electric vehicle -- the Kia Niro -- which he absolutely loves. And now with the high gas prices, he's laughing all the way to the bank, as they say. I, by contrast, have a huge gas-guzzling SUV.

Anybody else have an electric or hybrid vehicle or planning to get one soon? I guess this is the way all cars are going in the future.
If you have one, do you like it? How do you charge it?

No plans to get an electric here. I drive a Kia van, hubby drives a Nissan Rogue and my son drives an older Honda Accord. All three cars are paid for and run. :) I drive a lot taking my younger son to and from school (bus doesn't run to his school from our house...we transferred him to a different school than one nearby), doctor appointments, errands etc...my 2018 already has over 40K on it. We also love to take road trips and electric makes that a tad more difficult.

"They" definitely need to figure out the charging thing if everyone is expected to make the switch in the future. DH's car can go about 250 miles so it's perfect for his <20 mile commute to work but he probably would have gotten something else if I didn't have a gas powered vehicle we could use for longer trips. Mine is also paid off and I plan to keep it as long as I can.

I have no desire nor plans to switch to electric cars.

We have an aging electrical grid that in many places is tested to the edge, and adding cars to it would be disastrous IMO.

Plus the fact that you can't really go on long trips for travel in an electric car. 250-400 miles is the most you get on a charge, and you'd have to find a charging station if you are going further than that. It takes anywhere from 3-8 hours to fully charge the battery to get going again. What are you going to do at that point - just sit at the charging station? Not many hotels have them, and those that do only have a few spots. You have to pay for the electricity as well, and that is not regulated at this time.

Right now, our society is too mobile and too independent to switch to electric cars. Until they figure out the charging, the disposal of batteries safely, and the mileage part, it's not even a blip on my radar to change, and most people I know feel the same way.

ETA A hybrid I might consider, but they still have some of the same downsides IMO as above. They just charge while driving which is a good thing!!

No plans to get one in the future. In fact, I am waiting delivery of my 2022 Chevy Equinox that was ordered last July. It is made and sitting on a lot in Ingersoll, Ontario awaiting dispatch.

I live in a small town. As far as I know there are no charging stations in town at all. I also agree with everything Pachimac said. And, after seeing all those EV's that ran out of a charge during the whole interstate shutdown in Virginia during bad weather, nope, not interested in one.

I have read that if you use a fast charging station that you might be able to charge the EV in 30 minutes. If my Dad was still alive, that 10 hour drive would end up being 12.5 if the EV could be charged in 30 minutes. If no fast charging available, forget it. A gas fill-up (my car gets about 300 miles a tank), would only add about 30 minutes.

Can't forget to mention that a lot of people cannot afford to purchase an EV especially minimum wage workers.

It definitely is the way of the future, but first, we need some changes in the US. Mainly the right mindset and then we go from there. It will take changes, but hopefully, we can get it started sooner rather than later. I am going to get a new SUV this year or next year. I am questioning a hybrid, but unsure.

California currently has an executive order calling for all cars sold after 2035 to be zero emission. That really isn't that far off! Of course, it is pretty warm in CA which makes it easier on batteries and they could always push it back but I think that's a bold plan. My hubby does research in the area and tells me that all the major car manufacturers have set dates by which they have said they will go zero emission. GM by 2040. But, yes, they have to solve the distance and charging issues. It's really unclear how people in apartment buildings, for instance, would charge their cars.

Anyhow, I hope they can eventually figure it out because I LOVED how clean the air was during the pandemic when there were a lot lower car emissions.

I never noticed a difference in the air during the pandemic but then I don't live in an area that has high pollution either. Just lots of farmland surrounding the small towns in my part of the state. And, the smell of manure was still around... can't get rid of it! :D

I'm also old enough that I probably won't be around to see a lot of these things happen.

No plans to have an electric car, either. There's a LOT to be done before this is the norm. (As they used to say on Seinfeld - "not that there's anything wrong with it".)

My husband wants to get the new Ford electric truck. Although we do not live in an area where we have power outlets, we have an outlet on our front porch to use. The problem is getting one!

I do not have a hybrid or electric car...

I currently drive a 2008 Toyota Sienna with 123,000 miles on it... I mean that I share with my 17 year old son. LOL. Not really a big deal since I work from home and we have two trucks of our own and hubby has a company truck for work, diesel Ford 4 door cab for all his crew. We are truck people. We have a 1996 Ford Bronco (with only 66,000 miles on it) and a Ford Expedition. I usually drive the Expedition so my son can have the van.

We do lots of roads trips, so I'm not sure how the electric or hybrid would do with 6-7 people and luggage crammed in and driving for 12-14 hours... but it might be something to look into.

We are an only EV house- only the lawn mower takes gas! Lol My husband got a tesla model 3 in 2018. At that time there were a ton of incentives both federally & state so the car was very affordable. His car is a long range, advertised is 335 miles on a charge- but just like gas milage- real world range is a bit less. At that time I drove a big old gas guzzling gmc Acadia. We started taking the tesla on road trips & never turned back. As soon as we could we traded the Acadia for my car in 2020- tesla model y. It's a bit bigger than my husband's with similar range. Surprisingly it has so much storage- more than my Acadia due to the front of the car having no engine so its a front trunk (frunk) and no gas tank so a under storage compartment in the trunk. We have 2 kids & 2 60 lb dogs & all travel comfortably. We change in our garage every night by plugging in to a dryer type outlet. Our electricity is fairly cheap to begin with but our hottub costs more per month to heat than our cars cost to charge. There has not been a single destination we wanted to go to that we couldn't. We have kids that play travel hockey all winter & travel softball all summer. Tesla is WAY ahead of the game with the supercharger network- basically like stopping for gas, but stopping to charge instead. I will agree that the charging network in general needs growth in many areas for other brands of cars for EVs to be successful. Honestly we will never go back to a gas car. There are a number of great competitors coming to the market & I can't wait!

Also- prices will hopefully come down as better competition comes to market- any new car is expensive right now but with EV's you can not only take into account no gas, but they have very minimal maintenance costs- no oil to change & way less moving parts than a traditional engine.

We keep our cars for a long time! DH's 2003 Civic needs to be replaced soon, but we're holding off a little because of the crazy prices right now. We're strongly considering replacing it with a hybrid when we do. I don't think we'd go full electric yet--the limitations make me nervous.

I'm still driving my 2012 Chevy Cruze and will until she dies, it's paid for.

No hurry for an electric car here either. I like that if I feel like taking a long drive down back roads I can still easily find a gas station.

I don't drive really long distances any more with my son being an adult (no more hockey and baseball tournaments) and he has his own car. I live close to work (4 minute drive) and when they build the new school it will be close to my home (4 minute walk) so I won't even be driving to work.

we have a tesla model Y. where we live, there is no shortage of tesla-dedicated chargers. in a pinch, we just plug in at home. we also have solar panels.

This is a common thought that's not really true (at least in our experience!) The longest we've EVER waiting while charging was just under an hour- and we were eating at a restaurant so it wasn't a big deal at all. Considering that most cars would have to stop for fuel just as we stop to charge. It's really not that different than a gas car- by the time we've gone to the bathroom, got a snack or took the dogs on a short stroll, our cars are ready to go to the next stop. I actually find stopping every 3 hours or so to be great when we're on long trips. Someone always has to pee by then anyways! ;)

As for hotels- MANY have chargers- you just don't notice them until you look for them! And a number of hotels we've stayed at will let us plug into just a regular 110-wall outlet on their outside walls. It charges only 2-5mph on those, but still can give us a good amount overnight while we're sleeping. Most don't charge for the use of the chargers if you're a guest as well, or it's included in the charge for parking that every guest pays. Even still- the charge for the electricity is set by the local governments & all of our charging is still significantly cheaper than gas.

I thought of this thread as I was watching the local news tonight. My small town of approximately 9,000 people got its first EV charging station. The story showed it as being a Ford model EV charger and it is located at an apartment building. Sign posted states a 30 minute limit on usage, no info on cost was shown.

Now my town is right on an interstate highway but this charger is about 2 to 3 miles from the highway. In other words, you got to go through town to get to it and if you don't know the town, it won't be easy to find.

As for me, I'm extremely happy with my brand new car even though it takes gas. I happen to live in one of the states with the lowest gas prices in the country. $3.46/gallon last week.

No we don't - and don't really have any plans for one. My car is an 06 Lexus and she is my baby... I really don't look forward to the day when I will have to give her up. But hubby said that my next vehicle will probably be electric. His is an acadia suv and the reason we bought that was because we needed a vehicle to be able to flat tow behind our RV. (I can't wait to see how they are going to make RVs more gas efficient!)

We have test driven a BMW 3ii (I think it was) a number of years ago... they were okay, but that one didn't have a lot of power... the petal was to the floor and it could only go 60mph - dangerous when 70mph is the speed limit. Plus charging - we don't have super chargers so it took an hour to charge so my husband could drive the 1.5hr back to the dealer. But I'm seeing more and more teslas around in my area.

Not much places to load it yet

We have a hybrid Toyota Hilander now. It is older. We got it as a replacement vehicle for our van when someone ran into my daughter and totalled it. We had to do some major brake system work right after we got it - of course the problem didn't show up until we had paid for it and were driving it home. But, if things go well with it there is every indication we should be able to get many thousands more miles on it.

I have quite a few friends that have electric vehicles, but we aren't in a rush to get one of those.