Will you buy an electric or hybrid car next?

We just sold a 2011 outback wagon stick shift with 125,000 miles on it to a friend. I honestly miss that car!

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Zhejiang Geely Holding Group acquired Volvo Cars in 2010.

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Actually Chevy changed their mind on that and have decided not to discontinue the Bolt. I believe they are going to upgrade it to their new Ultium platform. Not sure of the price point. GM does a U-turn to save the Chevy Bolt | Reuters

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However, GM did not say when the Ultium Bolt will be available. It is very unlikely that anything of the sort will be showing up at Chevrolet stores in early calendar year 2024 as the last 2023 Bolts are sold out.

Just correcting the incorrect statement that it is discontinued which it is not. There will be a second generation Bolt with a faster charging battery soon.

We’ve had and have multiple Toyotas. We’ve not had any problems, just routine maintenance.

ETA: I recently sold my Toyota SUV, which I bought used in 2015 with 67,000 miles. I used the SUV for 8 years and 100,000+ miles. With 170,000+ miles, I sold it for just a $1,000 less than what I paid in 2015.

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We have had multiple Volvos. The first two went to well over 200,000 miles with just routine maintenance.

The fourth one is my husband’s current car and we are :crossed_fingers:t2:our fingers it goes the run. It has 130,000 miles on it and is a 2018.

And then there is my 2012…engine was replaced by Volvo at 63,000 miles because of a known problem with excessive oil consumption. Well…this second engine did exactly the same thing at 62,000 miles. The replacement engine was a “good will” replacement and is guaranteed for as long as I own the car. As soon as we know what Volvo is going to do about this…we will likely get rid of the car even though I really love it.

And that’s when we will get something else…leaning towards a hybrid or plug in hybrid.

Curious why the 300 number is important to you. The practical difference between 250 and 300 isn’t all that significant in terms of driving/charging experience for the vast majority of people. I certainly wouldn’t pick one vehicle over another on that basis.

Perhaps you mentioned the reason upthread and sorry if I missed it. Just wanted to point out that range tends to be overemphasized by those that haven’t spent much time driving EVs. It might not matter to you as much as you think.

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We often travel 250 miles nonstop. We have a cabin that far away from our house. An EV EPA rated for 250 is unlikely to get that distance on almost all highway driving (where unlike gas range is worse) in all weather conditions. A vehicle rated over 300 does have a shot at doing that at least in most weather. And most of the non-Tesla brands that offer that range in an SUV are know to exceed the EPA range making it even more likely. Having to factor a stop into that commute would be a major change and probably cause us to just take an older vehicle instead. And if we can’t enjoy the new vehicle on our most important drives it’s not worth it.

I see, makes sense.

You might check out what charging is like on your route. Just a 5-10 minute stop would likely be more than enough to get you there.

We have a similar drive and we haven’t made major changes in how we drive it. Usually would stop once for rest room, coffee, groceries, or just to move around. We just end up plugging in for the few minutes we’re stopped and that’s enough.

With Tesla adding magic docks to more and more stations the charging options for ccs cars in some areas has doubled. New York in particular, but also areas of CO, WA, MN, LA, etc.

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I have. There are almost no convenient non-Tesla chargers and the Tesla’s ones are often all occupied ruing our typical commuting times (I have kept an eye on them for the last couple of years). That said, we used to stop for about 5-10 min for gas or bathroom and the loss of momentum is something we would prefer not to deal with. There’s often too much traffic on this route at the times we have to go and the longer we wait the worse it gets. Goal was the pay for a higher capacity charger at each garage, set charging to 100% beefier a trip and power through it.

Also, the rep on the Kia and Hundai EV’s is they get meaningfully below their EPA range like the Teslas and do worse cold weather. So real world range in winter. And while they have super high speed charging potential there would be no convenient option for that during our route.

We haven’t ruled out the new EV9 but if we did do it it wouldn’t be what we used on these trips unfortunately. Whereas if we got the Rivian it could be.

Definitely hard to beat the convenience of charging at both ends of the trip. Hopefully additional charging options will get added along your route in the next year or two just so you have the option.

We have some sort of Rivian-buying habit working through our neighborhood; people love them.

I question whether a 300 range will get you 250 either, particularly at highway speeds. Definitely check the blogs for real-world experience before purchasing.

Depends on what “highway speed” is.

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In my view a vehicle is a tool. If it were me I think I would not choose an all electric vehicle in your situation. You have very little room for anything that might go wrong and it’s utility is compromised. A hybrid would work well if you would be satisfied with an ICE/Electric vehicle.

I view electric vehicles as most useful in suburban or urban settings where the owner has their own charging setting. 250 miles in most cities is more than adequate in most situations if you can park your vehicle most evenings and recharge it. Then it becomes very convenient. No need to head to a gas station every so many miles. It remains to be seen if electric vehicles take over as the choice for personal transportation. Perhaps the technology will reach the point that it is a viable option to replace ICE vehicles in all forms (meaning creating the efficiency needed, the charging network and the infrastructure to provide the electricity cleanly). Or maybe a superior technology might be developed that makes electric vehicle obsolete before the technology is able to reach those milestones.

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and importantly the coefficient of drag of the car design. But in general, the efficiency starts to decline at 45+ mph and a car is really an energy suck at 80. (btw: the Taycan has a transmission of sorts so it maintains efficiency at higher speeds, but at the expense of more parts & weight. But need all you can get for the Autobahn!)

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It helps to know how to drive to maximize efficiency. You can do it for gas vehicles too. Speed and wind and incline and temperature all affect EV performance.

My 2017 Bolt gets a pretty good range – the estimated range from Chevy for a 2023 Bolt is 259. I’d say that’s maybe a little low for my driving habits. Just did a trip to the mountains that was 175 miles and didn’t stop. Charged to 80% before leaving and had about 50 miles left on the Guess-o-meter when I got home. If I mathed right that would be 280 if I charged to 100 and ran the thing out of juice, which I definitely try to avoid doing.

Some Bolt drivers drive so efficiently that they are in the 300 mile club. They post photos online of their car’s dash display showing that their estimated range is 300 miles. I have never gotten that good. I do get above 300 on the max. (It displays a max estimate, a regular estimate, and a minimum estimate.) But have never gotten above 300 on the regular estimate I don’t think.

And honestly I don’t like to bump up against 200 miles w/o charging just like a lot of folks don’t like to drive a gas vehicle with the gas light on. It’s just an uncomfortable feeling even if you do still have some juice left in the tank/battery.

A lot of people love the A Better Route Planner app (ABRP) because it takes into consideration the weather and incline as well as your driving efficiency when it calculates your recommended stops for charging. I prefer PlugShare because I like the user reviews of the chargers and I’m just used to it. I know my car pretty well at this point so I know when I need to charge and just plot it out on Google Maps and check PlugShare to make sure the charger I picked has good reviews. But ABRP could be good for taking those other factors into account.

What is the range with AWD? My husband is looking at this car.

There’s already been plenty of real world range test in comparable weather for all highway for the vehicles I am looking at to know they can reach 250+. We’ll over 250.

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EPA ratings for the Ioniq 5 and related vehicles with AWD:

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