Was recently at a Suburu dealership that had the new Solterras. Does anyone have any experience with these? (It’s apparently same as the Toyota.) Curious minds want to know!
@gardenstategal we are looking at that Subaru also. We asked the salesperson to let us know IF one comes in…
@thumper1
There are a few at our dealership. Just read a meh review in CR. But we have loved this brand so much over the years that I’m wanting to know more!
Apparently they had some issue…maybe with the battery or something…and they have fixed this. I wouldn’t buy anyway now…because I never buy a car the first year it’s marketed in this country. I like a better track record than that (no pun intended). But I would like to drive one…to see if I should consider it.
We also have had good luck with Subaru (and Toyota) so we are hoping this one will be good…but…I’m willing to wait.
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It wasn’t a battery issue. The wheels were coming loose and falling off in some cases. They initiated a recall last year and stopped sales for quite awhile.
Subaru and Toyota are really playing catch up with EV development as they didn’t invest in this area for years, unfortunately. Toyota bet on hybrids.
I’d probably look at the Nissan Ariya if the idea of a Japanese established/legacy company is appealing. Nissan has been doing EVs for a long time and they’re good at it.
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The Leaf did not exactly excel with its high battery degradation (LMO chemistry without liquid cooling). The Ariya has liquid cooling, but does not seem to be particularly efficient (i.e. not that much range for its battery size).
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We are in the EV on a road trip. I asked DH again about the hybrid vs phev choice. He reiterated that the PHEV is best if most of the driving is short trips “around town” . If more trips are longer, it’s going to use the gas so the regular hybrid is probably wiser. As an aside, my DH is in buying some chicken at the travel center where these chargers are. The car is almost finished charging (I am taking it up to about 98% as we still have a ways to go). The cost will be less than $9.
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Early Leaf models, pre-2014, had issues with degradation in hot climates. Since the lizard battery introduced in late 2014 I don’t think degradation has been a big issue. I had a 2014 Leaf until a few years ago and still had 90+% capacity. That seemed in line with what others were seeing at the time. I do recall a software issue with the 2016-17s 30kwh that led to faster degradation but I think that was eventually addressed. I view the Leaf as a pretty successful early generation EV.
Personally, I wouldn’t go with the Ariya over comparable options. But I would take an EV from Nissan over one from Toyota any day, if the goal was to go with a legacy manufacturer.
Japanese automakers have all dropped the ball on EV, because they wanted to protect their legacy auto and auto-parts industries. What’s likely to happen over there is going to resemble what happened in Detroit a few decades ago.
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We have an EV, a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), and a couple of gas-only vehicles.
My daily driver is the EV, and my wife’s daily driver is the PHEV. Her PHEV has roughly a 30 mile electric range, which is not quite enough for her 36 mile round-trip commute. So she ends up putting gas in the car about once a month despite driving on average 1500 miles per month after counting commuting and other errands.
For moderate trips of 300 miles or less, taking the EV is great. Realistic range at 75-80mph is a bit over 200 miles, so drive a few hours, hit the supercharger for a short time on the way there, hopefully plug in at the hotel, and come back with another short stop on the supercharger.
For longer trips, we take the PHEV. It’s not fuel efficient that way, but we save time.
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If the EV has fast enough fast charging, and the fast charging along the route is sufficient, then charging stops on longer road trips may be barely longer than stops needed for other purposes.
That’s really not what we have seen.
In ideal conditions, a Hyundai EV (and its Kia/Genesis variants) can go from 10% to 80% in about 18 minutes. But that requires finding a relatively rare and still functional 800V charger capable of 350KW.
For a Tesla Model 3, while there are some 250KW charging stations, many out there deliver only about 120KW, and so our 10%-80% charging times are closer to 30 minutes. And we don’t really need to stop 30 minutes every 2.5-3 hours.
Doing a road trip, I found that, unless 80% was needed to get to the next fast charger, a charge up to 50% or so is enough to drive the next 1.5-2 hours that is the best interval for the people. It also means that overall charging is faster since it is in the lower part of the state of charge range.
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That’s right…it was the wheels! I think they fixed that BIG problem!
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thought this might be of interest.
Yes! We talk about this at work all the time. I want a dumb car. I want simple knobs that turn and few buttons. Only new features I want are heated seats. And probably a backup camera. I don’t have one now, but I see how it could be useful. I wish they made dumb cars. And dumb appliances. Nothing fancy. Turn a knob and press start. Voila
Edit - I will concede the suburbs health maintenance check app on my phone is nice. I can check the tire pressure without getting out of my car. Has come in handy while driving out of town and the light comes on.
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6 posts were split to a new thread: E Bikes - Will you by buying one?
My Chevy Bolt has plenty of knobs and buttons, but also has Apple Car Play and back up cameras. Definitely my favorite car I’ve ever owned.
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This is why defining “road trip” is important in these discussions. Driving in 1.5-2 hour increments would be pure torture for me on my definition of a road trip. I would be stopping 6-7 (!) times on a 1,000 mile trip.
I have an EV on order to be my wife’s daily driver. They are fine to drive around town. But for serious road trips, hauling six people and luggage 1,000+ miles away, they are not efficient enough yet. Someday they will be.
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