I will be in the market for a new vehicle in a couple of years. My next one won’t be an EV. The one after that we’ll see. My logic. I want it to be able to tow a small camper or trailer, I want to be able to go on long trips knowing that there are plenty of fueling stations and not have to factor in charging stations in my trip plans. I don’t want to spend the money for an EV now and while there are charging stations I have 4 gas stations (they can run probably 40 vehicles through within 10 minutes) within a 1/4 mile of my home. Charging stations there are a total of 3 chargers (which I think will be able to charge 3 vehicles in a much longer time). I want to know that the vehicle can be maintained. Finally I tend to keep my vehicles for a long time. The one I will replace currently is 21 years old and has over 250,000 mile on it. I will replace it with a used vehicle. By the time I replace our other vehicle it may be time to consider an EV. I will hopefully be retired, be driving fewer miles (for longer trips I’ll have my other vehicle that I will purchase in a couple of years) and an EV will make the more sense then.
It’s hard to say. My 2007 Toyota only has 126,000 miles on it. Barring a catastrophic accident, I can’t see me needing a new car in the next 7-10 years.
We buy new cars for my wife when needed. I’d say we’re 2 years away from a purchase for her. Will she want an electric? I’d bet she goes the plug-in hybrid route.
Can you tell why this is a choice for her? I’m considering all options for when I need a new car…and the plug in hybrid is one of them.
If I were to go EV it would be plug in Hybrid.
The plug in hybrid is the best of both worlds.
Gets you around town and is set for long trips also.
Do I wish the EV part had a longer range? Yes.
I saw a plug in hybrid Volvo XC40 for $55,000. The regular XC40 hybrid was $43,000. Not sure though if it’s worth an extra $12,000.
There are lots of things I’d be happier spending $12,000 for instead of a car that gets 30 or so miles on a charge. Would I rather take a trip or remodel the bathroom for that money? Unfortunately, probably
In any case, I’m still happy enough with my Subaru Outback to upgrade to any other new vehicle
The linchpin would be long trips. We would be much more likely to drive the 500+ miles to my in-laws, or to visit our children, in the newest car we own. EVs may be the future, but ICE vehicles are currently king, and for a reason.
I will come back and answer in more depth later but I don’t think the battery usually suffers from
fast charging or sitting. Depends somewhat on the car. As mentioned upthread the Nissan Leaf doesn’t have liquid cooled batteries, just air cooled and as a result that specific brand of EV may have battery degradation due to temperature swings. Including when charging at a fast charger, but pretty much all the other EVs have liquid cooled batteries and that will kick in even when they are parked and not turned on and also while charging. You may have heard a Tesla or other EV making odd noises when you walked past it in a parking lot. That’s the battery conditioning kicking in.
We have a 2017 Chevy Bolt we bought new. I have never noticed any loss of range at all from sitting. I don’t drive every day any more and it seems to be right where I left it when I get in. I don’t write it down or anything so it could be the range dropped from 196 to 195 and I didn’t notice but certainly nothing dramatic.
I’ve vacillated between and EV and PEV for our next vehicle. One of the things I don’t like about a plus-in hybrid is that you lose the benefits of not having the ICE engine infrastructure. You still need to deal with oil changes and other ICE maintenance that goes away with a pure EV. You have a hybrid with the extra weight of both the engine and the batteries. Don’t get me wrong, I may still get one but it definitely has pros and cons.
Good points!
Definitely as with any decisions there are pros and cons. I weigh my own needs with those pros and cons. The amount of driving and road travel that I do pushes me to the plug in hybrid. On road trips I won’t have to think about or worry where my next charging station is or the amount of time it will take. If I end up somewhere over night with a charger I can plug in. If not then I get gas. It’s that flexibility that sends me to plug in hybrid. We all have our own needs and what’s important to us.
It’s not happening anytime soon though as our current vehicles are in good shape and we need a vehicle to tow. Just don’t have the money for a plug in or an EV, and EV vehicles with towing capacity are limited, more expensive and harder on the battery.
My DH wanted a PHEV when we replaced his car in February. But the model he wanted wasn’t available. He wanted it because the distance he drives round trip to/from work would have been completely managed by the battery and he would only need to get gas for longer drives. The PHEV model would have been about $5K more (plus tax on that difference). So maybe a price difference of approximately $5350 give or take. So, trying to calculate to break even, with the slight cost of charging it against the less frequent gas purchases. Based on the average price of midgrade right now here of $3.65/gal (if that’s what he would purchase), it seems, considering only the # of gallons of gas, an 11.3 gallon tank (guesstimating he fills it when it will take about 8 gallons) and currently he is getting about 50mpg with the hybrid, a quick calculation (which may or may not be correct!) seems to suggest he’d have to fill the tank with 8 gal 183 times to break even, not counting the small cost to charge the car. Currently he is getting gas at most 2x/mo (probably less), so it will take between 7.65-8 years to break even. Hope thats close to correct. Actually he probably fills up maybe once every 3 weeks, so it might take closer to 10 years to break even.
As for long trips, this is a little old, but shows that 95% of trips are 30 miles or less. " Data collected on one-way household trips by the Federal Highway Administration’s National Household Travel Survey show that the majority (59.4%) of vehicle trips in the US in 2017 were less than six miles. A vehicle trip is defined as one start and end movement from location to location in a single privately-operated vehicle regardless of the number of persons in the vehicle.
Three-fourths of all trips are ten miles or less. Another 8.4% of trips were between 11 and 15 miles, with the three longer trip distance categories about 5% each. Of all the trips, 95% were 30 miles or less." Nearly 60% of all vehicle trips in US in 2017 were less than six miles - Green Car Congress
and a newer study showed " found that, in 2021, 52% of all trips in the US, using all modes of transportation, were for distances of less than three miles. Some 28% of trips were for less than one mile, and just 2% were for greater than 50 miles." Study: Over Half Of US Daily Vehicle Trips Are Less Than Three Miles (insideevs.com)
For those who have access to a charger either at home or near home/work, it’s really a minor issue. There is a free charger at my supermarket and if I plan to be in there for a while I’ll sometimes plug in. It may only get me a few miles (I actually measure in percent full, and it may only go up 4% or so) but its a nice benefit.
Could someone clarify? I thought the electric range in the plug in hybrids was pretty low. That works for me for my day to day. But it would be hybrid for any longer drive…which is fine with me.
My DH drives about 20-25 mi round trip to/from work. IIRC that’s about the range of the PHEV battery (eta his model claims a bit more- closer to 40, but not sure that’s true for all PHEVs).
That’s what I thought. So really even charging on a 300 mile trip wouldn’t use electric most of the drive…in a plug in hybrid.
Correct. They claim it (2023 prius prime) could get around 40 mi with the bigger battery. Most PHEVs don’t get that much. The benefit of a PHEV is for the many, many short drives around town (as referenced in the links above).
Oh, he just texted that he’s getting about 45mpg, so my calculations are a tad off, but close enough.
Thank you for clarifying. From your initial post it sounded like you have been doing this almost daily. 
I’m not in the market for a new car, but if I were, I’d consider the question whether it is a good time to get an EV. The answer may depend on whether you’re going to buy or lease. Personally, I don’t think it’s a good time to buy an EV from the financial perspective, even with the current incentive.
The bulk of the cost of an EV is in its batteries. Currently nearly all EVs sold in the US use the more traditional Li-ion batteries (same as the ones in your laptops or cellphones), which are expensive to make (due to their use of increasingly expensive metals). In other countries, a new type of batteries (LFP) has been taking more and more market share from Li-ion batteries. They’re not only significantly cheaper, but they also last longer and safer (from fires due to collision or improper charging). They’re less energy-dense but sufficient to deliver up to 300mi range currently (which will likely improve over time). Once they become available in the US, I expect the cost of EVs with a 300mi range to drop significantly. The traditional Li-ion batteries are also expected to improve. The 500mi+ range on some very expensive EVs (typically costing more than $100k) is likely to be found in cheaper EVs in the near future. When that happens, the residue (or used EV) value will drop precipitously. Who wants to buy a used EV with a 250mi range (and likely less with used/degraded batteries), when a new EV would provide a range twice as long?
If you’re in the market to lease an EV, it’s an entirely different calculation. The residue value is preset, and you can get a longer range or a cheaper EV when your current lease ends.
" Unlike pure EVs or conventional hybrids, plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles have electric ranges that are usually between 20 and 40 miles per charge and then revert to regular hybrid operation. Considering that the average person in the U.S. drives less than 40 miles per day, that means that some drivers will be able to do most of their daily travel on electric power as long as they plug in first while reserving the gas engine for longer trips.
If that sounds like how you drive, there’s one drawback you should be aware of: cost. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a plug-in hybrid can cost roughly $4,000 to $8,000 more up front than a comparable non-plug-in hybrid before any eligible tax credits. But those who tend to travel short distances and plug in whenever they get the chance will save money in the long run because it costs a lot less to drive on electricity than on gasoline. A CR study found that a Prius Prime driver who plugs in regularly would save $3,000 over a regular—and already highly efficient—Prius during a typical six-year ownership period. Plus, plugging in at home can be a time-saving convenience over periodic gas fill-ups." (but the price difference has to be calculated)
Probably at the point when there is widespread understanding that for the vast majority of drivers on the vast majority of drives (comfortably into the 9x% range for both) that any “diversity” you cite does not, in any way, make an EV an inferior product. Simply a different one with a different operating experience which is in many ways demonstrably superior.
Just have to lol back. You do understand that the map represents only chargers at hotels, right? That there are something like 100x as many locations total on the map not at hotels, right? I would wager that there are scads of chargers much closer to you. And, you’d likely charge at home overnight.
To answer the original question:
My next car will be an electric. I had a Volt, purchased in 2016. Was a fantastic commute car with unlimited gas range for longer drives. Sold it after 60K trouble free miles (tires once and oil changes every 12 months only) because used car prices were crazy and needed cars with 4wd. My next car will be a full EV. Model Y if I had to buy today, but some of the announced cars look very interesting.
We are a two car family, and not ready to have both cars be Electric. For me, it’s not the road trips, it’s cabin destinations in the mountains that lose power a bit to often.
S21 will almost certainly buy electric when he finishes college.