I’m looking at getting a new car in about three years and I’m considering going the EV route.
Will mainly use it for work and driving around town. I could get a Level 2 charging station installed in my garage. We’ll use my wife’s (non-EV) car for road trips.
So yeah, any of y’all have an EV? Thoughts? What make/model? What is your real world range? Charging stations in abundance in your area? Took a long road trip with it yet? Maintenance?
Real world range - depends on the season. My car is rated at a range of 210 miles but have averaged ~ 240 in the summer months and 180-190 in the winter months. Be prepared for your range to drop a decent amount during the winter if you're in a climate that gets cold temps. Depending on the model, generating heat will drop the range even faster so be prepared for that as well.
Charging stations abundant? DMV - I have three sets of fast chargers within a 10-20 min radius and a good amount of level 2s around my area, including at work. I'm usually the only car at the fast chargers but that may be because of the time of day I'll fast charge if needed. Electrify America chargers seem to be more dependable vs EVGo in my experience, but I rarely get the rated charge speeds that are listed - I still get fast enough to go from 20% - 80% in around 30-40 min.
Long road trip? I've taken it to Rehoboth Beach in DE (130ish miles away) over the summer and had to use leave the car at a level 2 charger at the outlet mall to let it charge back to 100. I took the bus back to the rental property. About to take it to the 757 to go home for Christmas so I'll report back with how that goes. There seems to be enough fast chargers around the interstate and level 2s in the city for it not to be an inconvenience.
Maintenance - Had to take it in because the software needed an update that wasn't available OTA. Other than that, nothing so far. I do need to get the tires rotated soon but I've already saved on the cost of one oil change so that's a plus
