Electric Cars
2016-09-02 23:49:11.7454+00 by Dan Lyke 1 comments
So we're gonna bend over and take the pittance that the Germans (VW) are offering in recompense for duping us into gassing our neighbors with the TDI, but this leaves us looking around for a car. We're intrigued by electric cars. But so far as I can tell, nobody really wants to sell them.
A friend with a Leaf describes the range anxiety of an 80 mile car (that'll fall off 10-15% after a few years). That seems to be about what most of the current non-Tesla electrics offer. 60 miles covers Charlene to work and home, with zero margin. Admittedly that's the slightly longer back way, but turn on the heater, and...?
It'd be *super* nice if we could get something that'd take us to the South Bay and back, or, barring that, let Charlene drive her commute and then me take it to Vallejo for calling or take us both to Sebastopol for dancing. The new crop of ~180 mile vehicles sounds attractive for that, but...
BMW has the i3 extended range option, which essentially bolts on a generator making it a plug-in hybrid with a 1.7 gallon fuel tank. Why the tiny fuel tank? Apparently because if it had a real tank it'd be classified as a plug-in hybrid, and not be eligible for all sorts of tax credits and other regulatory benefits. And it looks like it has frankly lousy gas mileage as a hybrid.
The shortly forthcoming Chevy Bolt has the range, allegedly, but a 9 hour(!) charge time. So we could do those things one day, but the car wouldn't have time to fully charge before the next trip. And no ACC option. WhoTF builds a modern car, especially an electric, without ACC?
And so we're back to Tesla, which is pricey. But is apparently designed to actually be an electric car, and not some sort of dodge to game CAFE standards.
I suppose we have to see what plug-in hybrids offer.