Yep, large numbers of people don’t have the option to run their own solar farm. Even a condo with a board amenable to solar has potential density issues (more load than generation capacity on high rise condos). I have a nice south facing rear roof, but neighbor’s trees have grown over the years and cut my afternoon sun, and my state and utility is bad for solar incentive-wise. Plus, I don’t have that kind of coin right now. Some places have utility-provided green bill options, and hopefully more generation will become renewable.
Just saw that Chevy is offering 12k in rebates (9k “normal” + 3k if you get the DC fast charge package) on 2021 Bolts. That’s essentially 25-27k for a 250+ mile range vehicle.
It’s as small as my Leaf though, I miss the room in my Prius.
Wish Toyota would get off their @$$ and make an EV instead of their hydrogen fuel cell car that’s only sold in CA (and even if I still lived there, there’s no fueling stations near my hometown, so yeah…).
Not a bad deal. I think they are clearing 2021s in advance of the summer release of the 2022 redesigned Bolt and new Bolt EUV
You can pay your neighbor for a solar easement. When you get the coin.
So my mother is trying to buy a hybrid and can’t. Every place is sold out. She wants either a Toyota Avalon Hybrid or a Lexus ES300h and her only other requirement is that it not have a black interior. There are zero cars that meet these modest requirements within a 500 mile radius.
I’m considering flying to wherever a car is that she wants and driving it to her.
Something about a shortage of computer chips due to Covid. This is, apparently, the worst possible time to be in the market for a new car.
I get that Covid affects everything, but when I bought a car I picked out the trim and the color and the must-have extras and they found me like 4 cars with various combinations of options all with slightly different prices due to option differences. I picked which of the 4 I wanted and they had it for me in like 3 days.
Dealers are telling her that all she can do is either wait and see or order from the factory and get it in 4 months. She wanted to drive it to the beach this summer. 
Ooh, number fun when I googled Chevy Bolt:
Gets 127/108 (city/highway) MPGe
Gets 259 miles on a charge.
So, equivalent to two gallons + a quarter) of gas. Assuming $4/gal in CA, that’s about $8 for 259 miles, or around 3 cents a mile.
That charge takes 10 hours at 220V. So, assuming linear and a 50 amp load, that’s 110kWh. At 20.7 cents per kWh, that’s $22.77 for a full charge.
OK, so, what assumption is wrong?
- The 50amp load? I’m assuming a 50amp Circuit breaker, but the load might not be that high. So, a third of that?
- My electricity costs are higher than average. My gas prices are also higher than average. That was this week, at Costco.
I know “they” use some assumptions for the general MPGe calculation, but those assumptions differ from any specific reality.
Battery size for Chevy Bolt is 66KWh, nominal I believe. Most EVs leave a little nominal unused, but probably 95%-97% is usable. I don’t think MPGe is based on cost, however. Would have to look it up.
Based on 1 gal = 33.7 KWh. Not on cost. So 127 mi/33.7KWh.
DP asked a serious question about whether, considering emissions of electricity generation, are EVs really better than ICE?
The WaPo article he cited was from 2015, and things have changed. Even then, your regional mix of sources affected the breakeven ICE MPG. However, a more up-to-date analysis by the same folks quoted in the article, the Union of Concerned Scientists, tilts (heavily IMO) toward yes. If we move even further along in de-carbonizing our electric power sources, the math will get better. We still have to temper our driving habits and vehicle choices, though.
DP also mentioned lack of diversity in EV models. That is currently a problem, but it is improving. I have a family of seven, and a minivan is the most reasonable type of transport. By the time an EV option arrives in the US, I won’t need it anymore. Mercedes has some nice passenger van options in Europe, but they don’t plan on bringing them here any time soon.
I’m hopeful that my spouse will be okay replacing our minivan with the VW bus when it gets here. Our kids are grown, but minivans are still more comfortable and easier to get in and out of for my spouse than anything else that’s not a giant SUV, which are not as useful as the minivan where we can easily stow all rear seats in less than 2 minutes.
Yeah, minivans are awesome. My ex-MIL had a Town & Country and it was great for road trips. Way more comfy than an SUV.
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I am replying here to Arthuritis’s post in the other thread.
The Audi E-tron has interior head room of 38.1 inches. That’s pretty small.
The Tesla model S has interior headroom of 38.8 inches. A little better but not up to snuff.
What do you drive when you are 6’6" or taller? Cars keep getting shorter and shorter for aerodynamics, but people are getting taller.
I need a vehicle with head room that starts with the number 4.
Wanting extra headroom is very different than calling every vehicle an econobox. The eTron and Model S are pretty typical in terms of car headroom.
Good news for you though: the 2020 Nissan Leaf has 41.2 inches of headroom. That’s more than a full sized Ram pickup and the huge Nissan Armada.
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I call a foul.
This is from YOUR article: “For electric vehicles (EVs), fuel economy can drop roughly 39% in mixed city and highway driving, and range can drop by 41%.”
e·con·o·box
/iˈkänəˌbäks/
noun
INFORMAL•NORTH AMERICAN
- a car that is small and economical rather than large or stylish.
Everything on the available EV list is small and by definition economical.
Look, I want to buy an electric vehicle. I just really want to have one that doesn’t have crappy drawbacks like limited range, limited capacity, and uncomfortable passenger space. It would also help if the infrastructure were advancing more meaningfully. Right now chargers are too few, too far between, lack homogeneity and usability, and fail more often than gas pumps.
I wear size 14 shoes. If great shoes come out and are only available in sizes 5 thru 11, don’t tell me how great they are and how size 11 isn’t that small. Size 11 doesn’t fit my needs and there are plenty of other people with big feet.
I’d buy a Toyota Sequoia EV if they made one. Maybe I’d settle for a 4Runner EV. But a RAV4 EV would be something I’d accept only begrudgingly, and anything smaller is a no deal.
This is a silly hill to die on. No one other than yourself considers a Tesla S or an ETron an ecobox
I wouldn’t call them ecoboxes because they cost too damn much money.
They are size 10 shoes when I wear a 14. Don’t make the argument that there are plenty of people who wear a size 10 and are quite happy with them. Too. Small. For. Me.
Hmmm, I don’t know what tall people drive. But…I imagine it sucks to be that tall. Do you get your bed custom made too?
I believe they mostly drive full size SUVs like Tahoes, Sequoias, Suburbans, and Expeditions.