Will you buy an electric or hybrid car next?

Funny. And great response. Unlike, the idea of driving every car to determine if it’s right for you. Not going to happen.
I’d love to hear from someone like your brother. I’d bet he has some great insights.

What is it about cold weather performance that your brother thinks needs improving? Because while cold does affect battery range and charge speed, it doesn’t really do so to an extent that would affect most people’s use of the car. And these cars are selling and doing well in cold climates.

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I didn’t ask him.

Based on my research, extreme cold and heat can reduce range by almost 50%. That’s a problem for some of us long distance drivers.

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Can you link to that research?

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That’d have to be pretty extreme cold. Real-world experience I’ve seen suggests anywhere from 10-20% range loss in cold winter climates in the US. I drive where winters are below freezing and my range loss is less than 10%, and only in the winter. Some of this depends how much one blasts the heater.

This was more of an issue 7-8 years ago when range for something like a Leaf was 85 miles. Most EVs are in the 250+ range now, and Lucid is pushing 500. So I do have to wonder what the magic number is for some folks.

More than 60% of cars sold in Norway are EVs and it’s pretty cold there.

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Much of that is likely due to greater AC or heat use. Heat is not free with EVs (although heated seats are much cheaper than cabin heat), and heavy use of AC or heat use is a greater percentage of EVs’ relatively low energy consumption than for ICEVs, where the heat is free because it is waste heat, and AC cost is less noticeable when so much more energy is consumed overall.

However, 50% seems like an extreme worst case.

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Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. If I were in the market for a new EV, and had $200,000 to spend :grimacing:, the Taycan Turbo S would be at the top of my list.

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FYI - RL winter ranges for several EV models currently on the market vs EPA ranges:

And this is from Norway:

Nowhere near the 50% someone’s “research” indicates.

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Amazon wants to purchase 100,000 EV vans made by Rivian:

And Ford (which cleverly snatched “model e” TM from under Musk’s nose) announced 8,000 will be laid off :frowning: in its ICE division while the main focus shifts to EVs.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a40669316/ford-layoffs-to-fund-evs/

Does not matter if we want this or not, EVs are coming.

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Our non-hybrid Honda Accord can go 550 miles w/o needing to fill the gas tank.

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Now if I were in the market for another hybrid, I might consider trading in our Toyota hybrid for a nice used low mileage 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder:

I just need another $2,000,000 +/- to close the deal. :laughing:

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If I were looking for a minivan currently I’d look at the Chrystler Pacific plug-in hybrid. You can get enough range to do most errands around town on electric but you have the ICE for longer trips. It’s been around quite a while so it’s not a new thing.

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What do you mean by extreme? My northern Ohio guy hasn’t had that problem. Some loss, yes, but nowhere near 50% and not a problem for him with his regular driving. But maybe you’re talking about Alaska or northern Canada?

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The upcoming 2023 Corolla Cross hybrid has my attention. 194 horsepower and AWD.

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@sushiritto - my husband and I call these kinds of cars “pizza delivery vehicle.” Why? WA State Lottery commercial. :rofl: :rofl:

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You got the model with the 18 gallon tank and you always drive downhill? :wink:

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Yes.

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We looked very closely at this car as well. Checked a lot of boxes. What ultimately swayed us away was the lack of AWD availability on the plug-in hybrid version.

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You’re right about that and it’s because the government is forcing it not because the public is demanding it. Not a recipe for success.

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