Board 8 > Buying an Electric Vehicle tomorrow.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Going with 2023 Chevy Bolt EV 1LT

Planning to buy it outright rather than have a monthly payment.

Thoughts? Anyone else have an EV or even a Bolt specifically?

I can't get behind full ev, but I'm looking to get a hybrid here soon.

All our cars are starting to be electric. Not a fan of the charging time for long trips, but it wasn't all bad.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/8/5/AAN3FoAAEvnB.jpg

Im still not quite happy where battery power is yet. Might get an electric for my next vehicle but Im not rushing to do so

Depends on your circumstance for sure.

This will be a car for my wife to get to work and back and for us to go around town.

On sundays we drive about 75 miles each way to get to church and back so it has more than enough range for that (even in scenarios where heat/cold could impact the effective range)

So we should be able to handle all of our charging in our garage at home overnight which makes it ideal for us I think.

And on the occasions we do go on a trip it's usually to san francisco or LA which are still within the "one way" range of the vehicle, so if we simply limit our hotel choices to ones that have charging available that be fine as well.

But for people who would regularly exceed the range or who don't have a good way to charge at home it would definitely be less than ideal.

I have a Kia EV6.

It works perfectly for me and I have no complaints. I don't live at a house yet, but will be planning on I stalling a charging station when I move into one.

As long as you don't forget to charge your car before you plan on taking extended trips, I've found the battery size to be more than enough.

I have zero interest in acquiring an electric vehicle given how it would require me to completely redefine my lifestyle. I don't use my car enough for that to make a difference, and sometimes when I do I exceed the range or go places where I won't be familiar with the EV stations. Thankfully they're putting some in right across the street from me but those will be in high demand.

I full expect my next vehicle to be a hybrid, or at least something with a lot better mileage. I don't think I'll ever get a pure EV because it simply doesn't fit me, and there will certainly be other options going forward.

I've had a hybrid for about 8 years, and it's been pretty great.

I intend on basically running it into the ground, then getting some form of EV (and I'm looking forward to that day). My thinking is basically that my current car is good enough in most respects, so I'll run it as long as I can while EV prices come down from their "shiny new toy" highs and the charging infra continues to build out.

I just can't imagine having to wait even as little as 30 minutes at a charging station to get somewhere. And then there is the careful line you need to walk of battery too full / charged too often, am I killing the battery life?

Yeah, my current car is a small 2001 toyota that is on it's last legs. Been milking the last of it's life while saving for an EV and thankfully things are in a better spot currently. Still going to cost more than it would for an ICE car, BUT I'll qualify for several rebates and tax credits which when combined equal more than half the cost of the car.

Obellisk posted...

I just can't imagine having to wait even as little as 30 minutes at a charging station to get somewhere. And then there is the careful line you need to walk of battery too full / charged too often, am I killing the battery life?

Yeah, that's why 99.99% of my charging will be done in my garage. And it'll be programmed to occur after midnight or whenever electricity is cheapeast. And pretty sure you can program it to stop charging when it reaches 90%

[Edit] It'll do this stuff:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/2/2/AAXBdhAAEvnm.jpg

I won't even have to think about it unless I deliberately decide to go more than 260 miles in a day.

I'm fortunate enough to have close family because even in that scenario I'll have access to my parent's hybrid if an extensive road trip was necessary for some reason.

isn't over charging not a thing any more

masterplum posted...

isn't over charging not a thing any more

That's what I've heard but not sure. Not positive if people propagating the harm of over charging are just doing old wives tales or not.

Anyway I just got a car after running my 95 Nissan Maxima but I went Hybrid because I need range of around 400 miles+ for my work. Batteries are gonna take a bit to get there.

I would consider electric for my next vehicle, but the costs seem a little too much to stomach right now. Then again, that's true of cars in general. It's just that I'm far less likely to find a decent used EV. I can't drop $40k on a vehicle.

Fortunately, my 2009 Rio is doing fine for now. I drive little enough that I'm not exactly putting a ton of miles on it, especially since the pandemic. Much of my work migrated online and I didn't have tons of commuting beforehand anyway.

I am trying to get solar installed at my house. It's being slowed down by the power company, but I could easily get a charging station added into the set-up if I had an EV. Anyway, at least I can't say I'm not making any effort to support the environment. (This is assuming you accept that EV production and the supply of the energy is more environmentally friendly lifetime than a combustion engine.)

azuarc posted...

I can't drop $40k on a vehicle.

That's partly why the 2023 Chevy Bolt felt like a good one to go in on.

26,500 MSRP

And yeah you get screwed on taxes and all the other little add ons, but I'm still only paying a bit over 30k tomorrow.

Then I'll apply to get 2000-7500 rebate from California
And another 3000 from the central valley rebate

And then my federal taxes will be reduced for a few years with the 7500 tax credit

So I won't get it all back directly, but the long term financial impact will end up being less than 20k

Bolt or Leaf seem like the way to go for the vast majority of people. But the cars are crappy so I don't really want one, and I can afford a fancier one. I would have one right now but the supply issues are making things difficult, and my current car runs fine. Prob in the next 2 years I'll get one.

I am definitely curious about these new battery techs being developed. I would prob do a 3 year lease on an EV for that reason. Things will improve a lot very quickly.

They're already so much better than ICEs though. There's nothing I hate more than filling up gas.

masterplum posted...

isn't over charging not a thing any more

The software still tries to keep you around 80% by default, so it's def still a thing. Same with your phone.

Forceful_Dragon posted...

That's partly why the 2023 Chevy Bolt felt like a good one to go in on.

26,500 MSRP

And yeah you get screwed on taxes and all the other little add ons, but I'm still only paying a bit over 30k tomorrow.

Then I'll apply to get 2000-7500 rebate from California
And another 3000 from the central valley rebate

And then my federal taxes will be reduced for a few years with the 7500 tax credit

So I won't get it all back directly, but the long term financial impact will end up being less than 20k

Oh, hmm. That's not bad at all. I don't live in California, so I can't claim those rebates, but even 30k - 7.5 sounds not all that bad if I really were on the market for a new vehicle today.

And yeah, tax credits for making these moves are great. (For the consumer, at least.) They're bringing the cost of the solar install from a 25k estimate up front to more like 18.

foolm0r0n posted...

The software still tries to keep you around 80% by default, so it's def still a thing. Same with your phone.

My phone doesn't keep me at 80% unless you're saying the gauge's 100% isn't 100%

I think he's talking about EVs with that part.

Lopen posted...

My phone doesn't keep me at 80% unless you're saying the gauge's 100% isn't 100%

The gauge's 100% isn't 100%.

I looked into the MY earlier this year. Id like an EV, but deciders against it. For one my Toyota is only 11 years old and 130k miles. Also I really dislike the full roof sunroof thing. And I prefer having a small amount of physical controls. The cars that offer those really arent great atm. Not worth the price anyway imo.

Id love to never have to use a gas station again!

I have a Chevy Volt (Hybrid electric) and if the Bolt is anything like, its a great car.

neonreaper posted...

Id love to never have to use a gas station again!

Or get oil changes!

Lopen posted...

My phone doesn't keep me at 80% unless you're saying the gauge's 100% isn't 100%

The latest pixels do it at night, and I think iphone has done it for a while

It took all damn day, but EV acquired yesterday

Buying an adapter for the plug in my garage so I can charge it quickly instead of slowly, but otherwise it's freaking fantastic.

Made the 230~ mile trip home without stopping to charge even though it was pretty hot. First time being able to watch a vehicle hit double and triple digits on the odometer.

Now I just need to sort out all the necessary paperwork for credits and rebates, etc

Was 230 miles away the closest place to buy a car? I can drive back and forth to Delaware like 3 times in that distance.

It was the only place I could find the model I wanted.

There are different Bolt EUVs all over the place and there's a handful of trims for the EUV most with price increases and features I didn't care for.

There were some Bolt EV 2LTs, but the only new feature I really cared about was the adaptive cruise control, but that didn't come standard so it would be at least a 5k difference for essentially just one feature.

Meanwhile the Bolt EV 1LT was the cheapest and still had everything else I cared about but they weren't anywhere. Few could be found she the ones that could were often already sold and reserved. Called dozens of dealerships in California before finding a dealership in Burbank that got a stock of them. Was a whole day adventure, but worth it in the end

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/9/7/AANRI3AAEwBx.jpg

Compared to your old Toyota, how different does it feel, and how much of that is just because new car?

I would say a lot of the difference is just going from a 20+ year old car with 300k miles to a brand new car. I've rented cars before for various reasons and even ICE cars would just feel a lot smoother and quieter.

The Bolt feels especially smooth being full electric. At low speeds you really notice the lack of an engine noise and it's got a different acceleration profile that makes it feel zippier.

That's probably inevitable compared to most small cars of the past. The one knock every reviewer always had against my Rio was the acceleration...which I don't even notice because I'm used to it, but of course a newer vehicle that's not 4-cylinder is going to reach full speed sooner.

Forceful_Dragon posted...

On sundays we drive about 75 miles each way to get to church and back

75 miles each way??? Wow, higher beings can't say you ain't puttin in the work I guess

I missed that, that's wild. Are you a scientologist or something.

About 6 years ago our church in town switched pastors (the previous guy retired after 35~ years) and there were issues during the transition period. Now my wife and i didn't really care about the ensuing drama one way or the other, but the end result was that we ended up without anything to DO at our church. We're used to not simply attending, but to volunteer by running the sound board or projectors during service, or helping with sunday school, or something. And the ensuring chaos left us (A) without a consistent pastor, just a parade of random tryouts and (B) with the people handing the administrative side of things letting everything else fall into disarray such that there was no place for us. Meanwhile the head pastor at a "nearby" church (75 miles isn't that far <_< ) was in the process of losing their sound person because they were moving out of state to start a church somewhere else. That's something I have training/experience for so we started going there to run sound/media on sundays for them and we've been there for nearly 5 years now.

It was particularly useful when we first started because at that time I had only just started my job with the IRS and was on a night time schedule for training, 3 - 11:30 PM. My wife on the other hand works at a school and worked from 8 AM until 2:30 which didnt' give us any overlap at all hardly. The most we would see each other would be the drive to and from church during those days.

And now it's just a routine that's easy. There are people who commute further 5x a week so we can manage the 1x no problem.

But it's nice that we're in range to there/back without charging ^_^

Forceful_Dragon posted...

(75 miles isn't that far <_< )

75 miles is more than I drive in a week. That's over an hour in the car. Unless you have a very specific faith, I would think there'd have to be some place closer unless you just like the place. (Or the time together in the car.)

Jesus better be taking the wheel if he's making me travel 150mi a week to see him

Forceful_Dragon posted...

Buying an adapter for the plug in my garage so I can charge it quickly instead of slowly, but otherwise it's freaking fantastic.

I ordered the wrong plug on sunday. Who knew there were two different types of "3 prong dryer plug" >_>

Ordered the correct one yesterday, it showed up an hour ago, and it's working like a charm! Good bye 5 miles per hour, hello 30~ miles per hour.

That's the amount of range on your charging, right? Not...the speed of the vehicle? =p

azuarc posted...

That's the amount of range on your charging, right? Not...the speed of the vehicle? =p

yesss :D

enough to full charge overnight from empty (259 range would take 8-9 hours), though it'll never be that low. Most nights will probably require 1 or 2 hours which will be scheduled for like 3 AM

I've not done as much research on it, since I don't have my own charging station yet, but I think the dealer told me that fast charging was considered to be worse for the battery in the long run?

HanOfTheNekos posted...

I've not done as much research on it, since I don't have my own charging station yet, but I think the dealer told me that fast charging was considered to be worse for the battery in the long run?

That's "DC Fast Charging"

It's a slightly different process than what you are capable of at home. The "level 2" charging from a 220/240 volt circuit is still safe

1 week later, things still going great!

GM is supposed to schedule an electrician to come install a new plug in my garage for free so when that happens I wont have to unplug my dryer to plug in the car. Just have to wait for all the red tape that that process entails.

I think my options were a free plug installation or a free charge card with money on it, but I never plan to charge outside of the garage so I'd much rather have the free electrical work.