I bought a cheap used EV at the beginning of july. A 40 kwh Nissan Leaf. I was really nervous about the idea of daily driving an EV, but I knew I’d figure it out if I just got one and forced myself to. I felt like I was making a potentially really bad decision.
This has not been the case. I plug in at home and charge midnight-6am for 8¢ per kwh. I leave at 100% and get home with ~50%, while running the AC in 105 degree heat. I’ve fast charged it twice, once because I wanted to see how it worked, the second time to show my wife how it worked. I’ve never needed a fast charger.
It’s like driving a normal car, except it’s cheaper, quieter, smoother, faster, (for at least the first 100 feet) and I don’t have to burn almost a gallon of gas each way back and forth to work.
Yep. I got a Bolt EUV for a decent price and love it.
I live in an apartment though with no home charging. I’d hasn’t proved a problem for me though because there’s fast chargers 5 minutes away from work and I like to sit in my car on lunch break anyway lol. So I just charge on my lunch break once a week and I’m set. It’s about half what I spent in gas per month! It would be around a quarter if I could home charge.
Next month gonna take a 2000mi road trip in it! Bolts charge really slow (relative to other EVs) so it kinda makes me regret not getting a Hyundai with way faster charging but eh, I take like two of these trips a decade. What’s a couple extra hours? Besides 2.5hrs of driving then 50 minutes of charge/nap time could be a nice cadence.
What I like about it is just less anxiety about having hundreds of moving parts and service items just waiting to go wrong. EVs are so much simpler, mechanically.
Totally agree on the fast charging experience - instead of near misses, roaring engines, chemical smells, I have to sit for 20-30 minutes and read while listening to birds. Your Bolt should charge faster than my Leaf, and I’m pretty sure your battery has active cooling, which makes fast charging even easier/faster than my Leaf.
EVs are so much simpler, mechanically.
And there it is. That, to me, is one of the best parts. I know cars. I know a lot about car engines and drivetrains. Combustion cars are Rube Goldberg machines.
In a combustion car I worry about the oil level and condition, the transmission fluid level and condition, the rod bearings, the main bearings, the timing belt or chain, all the guides for the timing chain, the spark plugs, the ignition system, the fuel pump, the fuel injectors, the questionable fuel that I may have unknowingly bought, on and on and on.
With my EV, I mostly just have to make sure it gets 120 or 240 volts across these two contacts for a few hours.
I bought a cheap used EV at the beginning of july. A 40 kwh Nissan Leaf. I was really nervous about the idea of daily driving an EV, but I knew I’d figure it out if I just got one and forced myself to. I felt like I was making a potentially really bad decision.
This has not been the case. I plug in at home and charge midnight-6am for 8¢ per kwh. I leave at 100% and get home with ~50%, while running the AC in 105 degree heat. I’ve fast charged it twice, once because I wanted to see how it worked, the second time to show my wife how it worked. I’ve never needed a fast charger.
It’s like driving a normal car, except it’s cheaper, quieter, smoother, faster, (for at least the first 100 feet) and I don’t have to burn almost a gallon of gas each way back and forth to work.
I wish I could have bought one sooner.
Yep. I got a Bolt EUV for a decent price and love it.
I live in an apartment though with no home charging. I’d hasn’t proved a problem for me though because there’s fast chargers 5 minutes away from work and I like to sit in my car on lunch break anyway lol. So I just charge on my lunch break once a week and I’m set. It’s about half what I spent in gas per month! It would be around a quarter if I could home charge.
Next month gonna take a 2000mi road trip in it! Bolts charge really slow (relative to other EVs) so it kinda makes me regret not getting a Hyundai with way faster charging but eh, I take like two of these trips a decade. What’s a couple extra hours? Besides 2.5hrs of driving then 50 minutes of charge/nap time could be a nice cadence.
What I like about it is just less anxiety about having hundreds of moving parts and service items just waiting to go wrong. EVs are so much simpler, mechanically.
Totally agree on the fast charging experience - instead of near misses, roaring engines, chemical smells, I have to sit for 20-30 minutes and read while listening to birds. Your Bolt should charge faster than my Leaf, and I’m pretty sure your battery has active cooling, which makes fast charging even easier/faster than my Leaf.
And there it is. That, to me, is one of the best parts. I know cars. I know a lot about car engines and drivetrains. Combustion cars are Rube Goldberg machines.
In a combustion car I worry about the oil level and condition, the transmission fluid level and condition, the rod bearings, the main bearings, the timing belt or chain, all the guides for the timing chain, the spark plugs, the ignition system, the fuel pump, the fuel injectors, the questionable fuel that I may have unknowingly bought, on and on and on.
With my EV, I mostly just have to make sure it gets 120 or 240 volts across these two contacts for a few hours.