Will you buy an electric or hybrid car next?

Our 2008 Prius is still on its first battery with significantly more than a 100,000. Zero problems with that car.

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They are sale advisors, they are not getting paid directly, you can’t request a specific person online, so commission is out of the question, which is normally what you expect with a salesperson. The idea is they lie(as implied when other dealers were mentioned) to you about a range so you so they can benefit from sale commission directly is false.
People give misinformation all the time, have you been to Target lately or Home Depot lately?

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This thread has been very informative. For example, I’ve learned an awful lot about Tesla sales people. :grinning:

You’re qualifying your point with the word “directly”. Sales Advisors get quarterly bonuses based on showroom/regional quotas/goals. This is the incentive system implemented after Tesla eliminated their previous commission system in 2019. I think individual sales advisors also get commissions on lease deals, selling pre-owned cars, swag, etc.

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While true, and something to be aware of, the rate of capacity loss may not be huge in practical terms (except for older Nissan Leaf).

Tesla: Battery Capacity Retention Averages 90% After 200,000 Miles includes a graph of capacity loss for older Tesla Model S and X (headline is wrong, should be 88% according to the graph and page text).

Of course, gasoline cars have their own issues. Automatic transmissions in some cars have reputations of short lifetimes. Unfortunately, manual transmissions, which tend to be more durable if not constantly used to teach 16-year-old new drivers how to use them, are hard to find these days.

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Well this thread has gotten long! I actually unsubscribed, but then read through. I’ve yet to find an EV detractor that actually had/has one. Those of us that do, seem to be pretty enthused. :thinking:

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Not anymore, perhaps your information is outdated.
https://electrek.co/2022/05/03/tesla-cancels-employee-bonuses-tied-delivery-quotas-raises-salaries/

Just a few minutes after I posted, our electricity to the whole area went off for 9 hours.

I just don’t like the push to put all our energy needs on electricity. It’s good to have options like gasoline for cars and gas for the stove.

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Ahhh…OK! I did not know about yet another change in their compensation plan. Good to know.

I have a close friend who adores their EV for around town but always takes the gas vehicle for their long road trips. They hate stopping for more than quick pit stops. They will eventually replace the gas vehicle with a hybrid (not plug in) but won’t make the shift to having all EVs until the tech is there to fully charge in the time it takes to fill a tank of gas.

My other issues with EVs, which I don’t think has been mentioned, is no option for a manual transmission. I love driving a stick but know it’s going the way of the dinosaurs :cry:

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My thoughts exactly! On our overnight 1,125 mile road trips, we stop four times after each ~225-mile leg. Those stops are mainly: gas, bathroom, go! We have all our required food/drink in the car, plus we do it at night, so no long stops for meals.

With an EV, it’s got to get back to at least 300+ miles of range in the time it takes to pump gas and hit the bathroom. Until then, EVs will not even enter the selection set for a road trip car. Around town? Sure.

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I view the current EVs like the late 80’s bag cell phones. They’re basically underperforming status symbols for wealthier Americans. I’ll wait for the Blackberry or iPhone version of alternative fuel vehicles.

Hopefully gas prices will drop as more people transition to electric.

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I had to get a new car in December after our car with 220K+ miles died. I seriously considered a plugin hybrid, but the range on a charge was only around 30 miles. My commute is longer than that each way with mostly highway miles. No charger at work. Therefore, drive home would always be on gas. It was my understanding that the battery would make the car heavier than a gas only car and so the MPG on gas alone is less than than on a fuel efficient gas-only car. I bought a fuel efficient car (not an SUV) instead and get great gas mileage. Also heard that the batteries in hybrids often go around 100K and we keep ours much longer and that the storage space is much less. However, I know people that love their hybrids.

I am also concerned that much of the electric generation is not from “green” sources, at least here in the NE. Many of the power plants around here use natural gas (switched from coal). Over 60% of the electric generated in the US is from gas or coal (EIA.gov). So is it really a green source until renewables (and perhaps small nuclear) expand significantly.

As others have said, I also have concerns about having to stop and power up when on a road trip. Instead of a quick refueling/bathroom stop, takes much more time. And if you have to wait for an open charging spot, the wait can be much longer.

Our next car will likely be electric or hybrid, as I will be retired. I would imagine we would also have a car with gas capability for longer road trips.

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We have a Bolt and Tesla and love both!

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I’ve mentioned it before but my daughter bought a Hyundai Kona EV last summer. She loves it.

She bought, did not lease. It’s a small SUV and was cheaper than the comparable small SUV’s she looked at. She was comparing the KIA and the Volvo at the time.

The Kona is only available in a limited number of states right now. We’ve owned Hyundai’s in the past and we’re always impressed by the features for the price and the reliability.

She lives in a city and when she bought the car, her apartment building had chargers. They then bought a townhouse and the parking space wasn’t in a place they could put a charging station in. She found a charger one block from her house and it’s super easy to put her car on the super charger for an hour.

We’ve done quite a bit of driving this summer and the one thing I’m seeing is the building of new charging stations. So hopefully the ease of charging is coming very shortly. And not just Tesla charging stations.

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I think the batteries are still an issue to some extent. We have a 2011 Prius that I still really love and it has been a workhorse. It has 245K miles on it and is starting to really drop in gas mileage. I wanted to sell it about two years ago but it was going to be 3500 to change the AC as no one locally would do it as there was something to do with the high voltage and the AC. Finally found a guy and got the AC changed and it seems to be working so far but now the gas mileage that was reliably 55+mpg is 45…I am hoping my wife just gunned it a few times but I am concerned we might not be able to really get anything out of it. If I had a different vehicle with no battery I think I would get more out of it. Perhaps I am wrong and overall still very happy with it. We paid about 19K and it had I think 15,000 miles so we got our money out of it. Other than the current battery probably dying and AC we never had any issue with the Prius.

We purchased a Camry Hybrid to replace it and it is consistently getting 57-58mpg, it is much more solid than the Prius (felt a bit like a tin can) and has very good acceleration when needed (the Prius did not).

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Yep. Totally this. Righteous luxury. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

That’s completely feasible now in many EVs. The charging time has gone down drastically in cars like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6. They have a 300 mile range and charge in about 18 min.

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There are shops that convert classic cars (e.g. VW Beetles) to electric, leaving in the original manual transmissions.

Yeah, all those police forces that have EVs like Teslas for police interceptors just have them because they’re “underperforming status symbols”.

And all the people who drive for a living who choose to drive EVs? They just choose EVs for the status for their Uber and Lyft.

And all the companies that are converting their delivery fleets to EVs just do it for the status and don’t care how underperforming their trucks are.

I could not be less concerned with status if I tried! I am concerned about what kind of world I am leaving my kids and I try to walk the talk and not drive something that is not adding to pollution Every. Single. Time. I crank it up. That’s why I drive an EV.

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