Yep. You can do fancy things like pre-condition the battery to use fast charging right away when you connect (and pay), but if you don’t, it will take slightly longer overall but still work fine.
Depends on the network and what kind of arrangement they have with your brand of vehicle.
For my Ford I can pull up to Electrify America and just plug in (credit card info already in the Ford app).
Other places I would need to get their app and then I think preload some $ before it lets you charge.
That truly sucks as a way to sell a product. I’m having a difficult time coming up with an analogy…
Oh, got it: That’s like the owner of a pay-parking lot to have contracts with specific car companies in order for someone to park their car on the lot.
That is how stupid this is.
So, they don’t understand how people pay for things these days?
If I go all the way to Paso Robles, I’ll likely use the free chargers several times a day. I’ll make my wife download an app.
But, would be a lot easier if the Electric Companies built charging stations and put the others out of business with lower rates.
Flagler, CO has two sets of CCS chargers right next to each other (EA and Rivian). Rivian was $0.59 per kwh and EA was $0.51 for EA members, so went with EA. Out of 10 chargers, only one was being used (by us). Build it and they will come?
Agreed. I think they will eventually consolidate and figure it out. I figured by now lots of restaurants and shopping places would have chargers, but it’s been a slow rollout for many reasons. The payment system is ridiculous though.
GM has launched a payment system called Energy Pass that covers (or will cover soon) systems that account for about 70% of chargers in NA. Tesla, Electrify America, IONNA at the start.
OK, we hadn’t purchased a car since 2016 or so, and that was for a 2013.
This New car’s “new” tech pro’s:
Seat memory. There is a 6-inch gap between my wife and me. Nice not to have to fiddle with the seat AND side mirrors every time the driver is switched. The rearview mirror does not move, though.
It drives just like 95% of other cars. No break-in period. No quirks.
Nice acceleration up on-ramps, though there is no skill to it.
Electric rear hatch opener. Eh.
Reverse camera in this car has the aligning lines. Nice. Second car, a Lexus, does not have these, though I recall seeing them in older Camry’s. (My former car (RIP) had no monitor at all, though plenty of windows for great sight-lines.) Also, when pulling into the garage, the monitor shows a bird’s eye view of the car showing how close it is to stuff on all sides. Yes, nanny, I’ll clear some space!
The on-board controls for the charger are nice. Set it and forget it. Added 100 miles in 6 hours last night. So, that is about 33 kWh, and about $9.
Built-in roof rack rails. None of my prior cars had these, I have usually relied on retrofitted ones that clasp onto rain gutters, often not successfully. I’d love to get a rack for,… um… something. Would have to take a step stool with me, though. Bikes will fit inside it, I think, so no real reason for one.
Con’s:
The cruise control controls are on the wheel instead of a separate stalk on the steering column as they should be. I keep hitting the “-” when I want to hit the “+”. Too tiny, and hard to find with just fingers. My driving glasses make this even harder, as they are for distance. So, eyes off the road searching for the buttons. Stupid, when a stalk, especially the ones Toyota has made for the past, oh, 30+ years (wife’s car two cars ago was a 1997 Toyota), would be more intuitive. And no new tech needed!
“Paddle shifters”: They are not shifters, since the car has one gear as an EV. Instead they control the amount of braking (per Googly A.I.'s) for regenerative purposes. I’ll have to play with this a little, more, though while driving, which seems dangerous. And, they’re right near my hands, which implies that I should be using these more actively?
Nanny, nanny, nanny. “There’s a car in your ‘blind spot’.” “Your eyes are off the road.” “I don’t see your face” (my hands were in front of the camera). “Stay in your lane, oh, never mind, let me do it.”
Sound system requires eyes off the road. One toggle on the wheel changes volume. Another changes the station in some order (my wife’s pre-sets, I think). Got to search around for them. Was driving in the dark last night, and it was pretty difficult. And, why is the “Deep Cuts” station on Sirius all the way up at 316 or so?? And, why is there a limit on the number pre-sets?
I cannot easily get into the car, even though it is way larger than my former car (RIP) or my wife’s car of which I am now the primary driver. My head hits the door hole just about every time. Now, I know that some of this is my aging back, but some is also the increased exploding safety systems.
It drives just like 95% of other cars. No break-in period. No quirks. With all the distractions inside the car, I guess it is best this way.
Electric rear hatch opener. Car is taller than my old car (RIP) and I scrape my head on the opened hatch, and I am of average height. Meanwhile, my wife can barely reach the switch to close it, as that is up higher on the hatch than the part that hits my head. Can use the fob instead, I guess.
So, I could probably have had a few more negatives for $20K less, but I successfully didn’t buy the Lexus equivalent, which is about $15K more than this one for no real reason.
They moved this one a few months ago and put something like “alt 2k” at #27. Another reminder that we are old, and the kids don’t listen to classic rock anymore.
1.Awesome feature, although I’m not sure it always comes back to the position that I left it. One thing I would like to add is changing the side mirrors automatically. With our VW ID4, my wife’s preference for driver side mirror leaves me with a huge blind spot. Nearly hit a couple of cars when changing lanes. The added complication is I have to move a dial to L for left (one of four options?) in order to adjust it and can’t see if the L is lit up if it’s a sunny day.
5.With this feature, I almost always back into shopping mall parking spaces as it makes it much easier.
6.Good feature that lets you walk away, unlike filling up with gas.
1.It’s difficult to modulate between 1 mile and 5 mile changes for our cruise control. Annoying.
3.Our nanny system is not too bad. The last Prius we had (2019) wouldn’t shut up.
4.Wish we had a volume knob
5.Our VW ID4 has good clearance. However, rented a Honda recently and nearly put my neck out trying to get my head through the door opening. Also took much longer to get out as I couldn’t easily plant my feet and angle my head at that weird angle.
Well, it sounds like you’d like it to open more, and your wife would like it to open less, so competing ends there. Can you adjust how far it opens? My Tesla lets you program it, I assume chiefly so it doesn’t open and whack the overhead garage door or what-have-you. Obviously, adjusting it will make one of you happier and the other less happy, but thought I’d ask.
This is a feature I’d like to see, everything else is motorized, throw a motor in there!
Oh, it seems that my EV loses about 5% in expected range due to my normal driving habits – and wind and hills and AC and stuff.
But the other day I went down a steep hill and the trip’s MpkWh was up over 99! I need to go downhill more often.
