Who has or is planning to get an electric car / EV Talk

[I7guy]

Not sure that rings true tbh. A vast amount of electricity is used to produce fuel. It’s also better to make more efficient power plants than efficient engines. I think Toyota have lost a vast amount of market share by being slow to adopt BEVs.
That said in some parts of the world Hybrids will make more sense. Australia being one. But for me I would never buy a hybrid.

Spouse isnt ready for a BEV. But may get a hybrid. She likes the CR-V. I believe hybrids give up a lot but that’s me.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Spouse isnt ready for a BEV. But may get a hybrid. She likes the CR-V. I believe hybrids give up a lot but that’s me.

If you have the ability to plug in at home - even just a "standard household outlet in the driveway" - maybe try to steer toward a plug-in hybrid (Toyota RAV4 Prime, Ford Escape PHEV, Kia Sportage PHEV, Hyundai Tucson PHEV are all roughly comparable to the CR-V.) Can get a taste of "full EV" for around town driving/commute, while still having the "refuel fast basically anywhere" aspect of gas to alleviate potential "range anxiety." They can be great "gateway vehicles."

A BMW i3 REx for a couple years convinced my wife to make our next care a pure EV.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Here in Australia, where EV infrastructure is negligible, my personal choice would be a hybrid. In fact, Toyota recently came out with some interesting comments on June 11th:

Toyota makes startling comments about EVs

Toyota is famously anti-EV. Their claims have long since been debunked, they're repeating old bogus claims.

Note: I am all for more small compact "city size" EVs that weigh little and have small batteries - negating all of Toyota's claimed problems. But no company seems to want to even *TRY* to sell them in the US. The Mini Cooper SE and Fiat 500e are basically it.

 

[dcpmark]

Toyota is famously anti-EV. Their claims have long since been debunked, they're repeating old bogus claims.

Note: I am all for more small compact "city size" EVs that weigh little and have small batteries - negating all of Toyota's claimed problems. But no company seems to want to even *TRY* to sell them in the US. The Mini Cooper SE and Fiat 500e are basically it.

The Chevy Bolt was/still is the perfect city car….. too bad Chevy killed it. I bought a 2022 Chevy Bolt EUV for my kid to drive, and loved it so much I picked up an extra 2023 Chevy Bolt 2LT for my own city car when I heard they were being discontinued. It’s great to run errands around town in, 250 mile range, and it was $23k out the door for the top trim with leather.

 

[Tagbert]

I agree. The flaw to Tesla's plan (to me at least) was it required the dealer to install it. It isn't as simple as putting it in the bed and connecting a simple harness.

For me, the design should be self-contained. The user should be able to install it (ceiling harness in garage) and it should have its own internal thermal management with a cooling fan (electronic trans cooler). It would make sense that in the summer the owner would need to keep the bed open so there is adequate cooling.

The problem would be, when not in use, and removed from the bed, how do you maintain it? There are people who would need that range extender enough that they would leave it in all the time, but I would assume this group is smaller than what would be needed to recoup R&D + manufacturing for them.

Since Tesla has access to SOOOO much user data, I bet they looked at current CT battery usage and saw how small this actual number would be. If I was in charge of the project, that is what I would do. Look at CT charging of existing customers and see how often users charge to >80% and drive until needing to charge again while a trailer is connected (trailer plug connected). I'll bet this was such a small subset of owners, just like most other 1/2 ton pickups...

I think the best scenario for this kind of extended battery pack would be a something that you rented when needed and returned when you didn’t. It would need to be easy to mount and easy to attach. You would just pay for it when you needed it and would not need to carry it around all the time.

 

[Tagbert]

Interesting, must be tight streets I suppose which I know are common over there, no issues like that with my Ioniq 5 here.
A few years back I had a Volvo XC90 as a rental car in Germany, there were a couple streets I couldn’t get through

The I5 does have a large turning radius but no worse than some other cars I’ve driven or owned. It’s not a major problem, but something you need to take into account if you need to do something like turn around on a roadway.

 

[Boeingfan]

Not sure that rings true tbh. A vast amount of electricity is used to produce fuel. It’s also better to make more efficient power plants than efficient engines. I think Toyota have lost a vast amount of market share by being slow to adopt BEVs.
That said in some parts of the world Hybrids will make more sense. Australia being one. But for me I would never buy a hybrid.

I agree. In Australia, with the long distances some people drive regularly, the lack of charging stations located outside of hotels and motels, the inadequate number of charging points at those very stations, and the time it takes to 'fill up' an EV, I personally would grab a hybrid if I could ever afford it. I would choose a Toyota, given their enviable reliability track record, nationwide parts availability, and the fact that they've been producing hybrids for around 30 years. If I still lived in the city (which I happily to have escaped a few years ago now), and drove to close by services or to commute, I still would baulk at all electric, given I'd again be stuck with a vehicle only good for those short distance purposes, locking myself out of long road trips.