We have a Volt and just thought I’d comment that depending on where you live the cost to charge it is not too different than the cost of gas - we are socal and SDGE is expensive. Recall seeing a comment on Tesla Forum that in this area the cost of electric is equiv to $3/gallon gas - of course it varies by time of day and time of year with SDGE. With gas at $4 it makes perfect sense to charge it and it’s the green thing to do.
I live in NC. My latest electric bill was $187.28 for a big old house (built in 1973, original crappy windows, probably pretty leaky as far as AC). We have all the usual suspects for energy usage, electric stove and oven, dryer, electric water heater, A/C (it’s been in the 90s here), and plug our car in frequently. I drive a fair bit too and charge most nights, though not always, since COVID has curtailed our getting out and about somewhat. Even if the cost to charge the PHEV would still be the same as gas in your area, if you are running on the EV then there are zero/low emissions, so still better.
Dirt on the wheels is often dust from the brake pads. While different brake pads do have different amounts of dust, EVs have an advantage in that they can use regenerative braking for light braking, reducing the use of the brake pads and any dust generated.
Trust me. I am the car wash in our house. It was not simply due to less brake dust. The wheel area next to the exhaust was the yuckiest. 
But I do agree that regenerative braking can be a brake pad saver.
I didn’t realize it was that expensive. We live in the Bay Are and powered by the good folks at PGE. I know they have a night rate. I’ll check on the costs. That is a factor, but the pros of EV are becoming manifest and chargers are everywhere.
It’s still good to know this.
It hurts to find out what a horrid person I am! 
For avoidance of doubt, just kidding.
No, it’s just sheer laziness, plus the way our house, garage, and driveway are configured. It was too much hassle, but you’re right: there’s no legitimate reason that I have for not plugging in the PHEV.
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For anyone that’s interested, here’s something fairly recent from Edmund’s on the costs of powering an EV. Many of the points have already been made here (and it’s really opened up my eyes), but take a look at this too:
https://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/the-true-cost-of-powering-an-electric-car.html
We have a Model S and Bolt EV. We like both cars. Love the speed of the Tesla— esp when some young punk in a BMW 3-Series thinks he can get ahead of me while both waiting to enter the freeway. Not going to happen! The Tesla is great, but there were things the Bolt had that the Tesla didn’t (for a while) such as an inferior backup camera.
I will be getting a new car soon, but it won’t be a Tesla. Some things I dislike (however it is perhaps I am too old fashioned)— but I dislike having not having the orange blind spot indicator on my mirrors. Yes, I know there are other ways of detecting someone is in my blind spot, but I like that feature from the Bolt and most other cars.
The main reason I am not getting another Tesla is the change of the panel display in the S model. I already feel I am looking down between my steering wheel way too much (for my blind spot indicator); however, I think it’s going to be worse for me to now look toward the middle screen in the car for everything.
Again, I am old fashioned, but I hate all the digital knobs in all cars. I accidentally hit seat warmers and I don’t need that in California. Too much fidgeting. The music channel ($10/month— i forgot the name of the service) is terrible, IMO. The Bolt can connect to Apple which is nice. Do you listen to Pandora or Spotify or listen to audio books?
I think I am contemplating the mustang Mach E to Audi EV. I guess I am more of a been there done that and while the Tesla was nice, I am ready to try something else.
Agree that there are lots of good reasons to own an EV, but fuel savings are not huge in CA. You definitely want to charge off peak whenever possible and know your electric provider’s tiers and times. Carpool lane is all the motivation we need!
I was really just commenting to show that not plugging in your current car is probably a wash on fuel costs. But it’s certainly easier to plug in at home vs going to buy gas.
Our stickers expire end of this year and a great looking Mustang Mach-E caught my eye in the parking lot last night - may want to have a look but guessing the Tesla leases better.
While the blind spot warning in the mirror is a better way to have it than the Tesla diagram in the center screen, you may want to minimize the dependency on it by adjusting your mirrors as described at https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15131074/how-to-adjust-your-mirrors-to-avoid-blind-spots/
I think this is a better article (or at least I found it easier to understand) and maybe you can use it to calculate your savings if you plug that PHEV in. I don’t know how much you spend on gas per month, but you could easily save $50 a month//$600 a year by plugging in, depending on how much you drive and what kind of gas mileage your PHEV gets. How Much Does It Cost To Charge an Electric Car? - Kelley Blue Book As I mentioned I think in the 4 months we have had the C-max we’ve only filled it up 2 or 3 times and it is driven every day.
Do the test drive. You will either fall in love with it or truly hate it. Make an appointment for the test drive. I have a 3. You definitely want auto pilot. FSD is a gimmick right now but allegedly there is about to be a huge update. It was on sale for owners at some point for $4500 and I still didn’t buy it. I use AP all the time. It is a dream for driving in downtown traffic. Reduces your stress level like you can’t believe. Customer service at Tesla is atrocious. Luckily, the cars are near perfect and once you buy you rarely need them anyway. The thing updates and fixes its own bugs while sitting in your garage! No oil and essentially no maintenance! Twice they have fixed a problem in my car without even coming to my house. The other repair was done by mobile service and I didn’t even need to be there. They told me to leave it in the driveway and they could unlock and lock it without me there. I am a bit of gear head and chose my 3 over a corvette. Literally half the price and the drive is at least 50% better. I will never drive another brand of car. That’s how much I love this thing. I had a NEMA 14-50 outlet installed. If you tell them its for an RV you will get a better deal than if you tell them it is for a Tesla 
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Okey dokey, folks. I have made the appointment with Tesla for us to test drive. I am going to have to say this: for a techie company, I’m just a wee bit concerned about Tesla’s website. It’s not easy to scroll on the pages for a particular model.
In addition, the customer service is, well…how can I say it? Ok: weird! I had a rep on the online chat who was wonderful, but he just essentially ended the chat once an appointment was made, although I had a ton of questions. When I called the Tesla Showroom during regular business hours, I was told by voicemail to leave a message. That doesn’t exactly give me confidence for future service dealings with Tesla if we wind up getting one.
I am going to keep an open mind, but I am old enough to remember DeLoreans. I trust Tesla isn’t that. It’s just that I would have thought they would be exuding customer service. I’m not quite sure I see that, and I have learned to trust a careful first impression.
I’ll report back after the test drive. I have never been inside a Tesla, so this will be quite the experience for the family and me !
I’ve had the Model Y since December. We bought instead of lease due to big rebates from the state. The car is spacious and comfortable and I love all the trunk and frunk space. This was a perfect road trip car; we could fit so much into the storage spaces and not have to put anything in the passenger cabin. I also love the multiple cameras, the parking help AND the onboard entertainment component!
Driving an EV took a bit of getting used to, but now, I don’t see myself ever owning a gas powered car again. I don’t charge at home (yet) as my car came with one year free supercharging. I put my car on supercharge once a week and do my shopping at TJ whilst its charging.
I took a 1,000 mile road trip back in the spring time with no hitches and one near miss when the EV station was closed for repair!
I didn’t think I would ever like an EV, but I am definitely a convert.
Thank you so much for this! I had my doubts when I started the thread, but the amount of collective intelligence here on CC is amazing.
We have a test drive booked for the Model Y this weekend and will report back. I am thinking we will go for it, but there is a wee bit of hesitation in going with Tesla vs. another brand. I have absolutely no preference, but we want a good, reliable, safe EV to transport our family for the foreseeable future.
I like multiple ways- of course I also do your suggestion.
I have had excellent service with Tesla. That’s been, for me, one of the pluses.
Here, where every other garage seems to have a Tesla or two, their service department reeks. Thankfully, it is located less than 5 miles away. When Mr. could not get a hold of them to schedule an urgent fix, he just drove there and harassed them - the lock on the drivers side door became inoperable, so to drive the car, he had to climb in over the middle console, lol, which he demonstrated to the techs. Embarrassed, they quickly ordered the part and then sent a tech to do the repair in the parking lot of Mr.’s employer. That said, other than the unfortunate incident, we have not had a need to contact the service department.
@mynameiswhatever this is almost exactly my experience. My buying experience was atrocious. Very similar to what you described. They used to give really good trade prices, so I traded in my car. That basically quadruples the level of suck. I can’t imagine if I was also financing through them. After you get through the horrible buying service, the car service has gotten good here though. And again, you just don’t need service with this car.
Why did giving you a higher price for your trade-in make things worse? I entered the info for our current car on Tesla’s trade-in section on the website, and it gave me the same price that Carmax is giving. We would be fine with this price.