Agreed that it would be nice to see it do what it can. 15 years ago when I was taking EV road trips, I'd take speed, distance and elevation into account and make estimates before starting out, then adjust them on the fly in my head for weather conditions. I was willing to go to that effort then...
We've had EVs since 2008, and I have been doing road trips in them since 2009 (in fact right now I'm in Oregon; returning to Seattle from Arizona).
At home, we used to plug in every night and charge to 90%, but now I don't plug in unless I'm below 60% and then I only charge to 70%. My wife does...
HERE is a post I made when I tried to power my house from Ecoflow batteries while charging them from my R1S. TLDR: I could kind make it work, but it was not nearly as convenient as I had hoped. The difficult part was that the Ecoflow won't allow simultaneous 120V input and 240V output.
If...
Until 2026 (of which almost none were made) Chevy only allowed 400W of output from the traction battery, and didn't have an official way to get juice into the main pack.
My van is a 2025, so the solar panels just feed the 10kWh hour house battery. The company that converted my van (Grounded...
I love my Rivian. And my all-electric camper van with windows and solar on top. Too bad they are different vehicles and brands as I'm still waiting for a longer-range Rivian van. Here's what I bought instead...a Brightdrop. Which (sigh) is no longer made as tariffs made it uneconomical (they...
If you ever think you might not make the next charger...remember you can always drop the trailer somewhere, go charge, and then come back and get the trailer.
That's obviously not Plan A, but it sure is nice to have a Plan B just in case. It can help give you confidence when trying new routes...
I've found over the years that many people (like the author of the article) seem confused by the "compliance" term. Here's how I explain it: almost all automaker profits come from high-volume vehicles. If there is a law saying they have to produce a small quantity of a special type of vehicle...
I don't know if Walmart had committed to a large purchase yet, they likely were still testing a small number.
But even if all went well with the test and Walmart wanted to buy a bunch of them, it is likely that the thing that went wrong was the tariffs. They are built in Canada, so they...
We had a gas Sportsmobile pop-top camper van from 1996 to 2013. We'd switched both of our cars to EVs in 2009, and that camper van was the only gas vehicle we missed, so we have been waiting...and waiting...for an electric camper van to come along.
When COVID hit in 2020 - and not yet knowing...
It is the 600, with the big battery and all-wheel drive. I have put about 8,000 mi on it.
I really like both the van and the conversion. Neither has been completely trouble-free, but once we get the kinks worked out I think we're going to enjoy this a lot.
I bought it converted from Grounded RVs. They had options, and things have changed with tariffs, but I paid 180k for the van plus conversion.
There are many on brightdropforum building them out themselves.
I am not sure the bike is for me, but I do like a lot of the thought that has gone into it. It is always nice to see new options.
Just a quick comment on the price - I have paid anywhere from $800 to $8,250 for an e-bike. I have also built one myself (I spent about $900, plus used several bits...
I am the camping type, and a Rivian owner, and indeed I kept hoping the EDV would get an option for more range.
But they haven't, so i bought an AWD extended-range Chevy Brightdrop converted to a camper van. Other than the noise in the cab at freeway speeds, i like it a lot.
I completely agree that honesty about Bev experiences is helpful.
However, my experience with public charging has been fantastic. And I have crossed the US and Canada multiple times.
Maybe it has helped me that my wife insisted on stops every 200 miles even back in our gas car days. It...
I've also charged many times with the Rivian and with something much bigger (a Chevrolet Brightdrop 600). Of course I always am a little concerned on the approach...but so far I have had zero problems.
If there's room, you could park in a non-charging stall to the right of the chargers, or park...
I didn't need off-road tires, so I swapped mine for some Michelin Defender LTX in the same size before 200 miles. I sold the almost-new oems for $1200. (This was over 2 years ago).
I immediately noticed a better ride and less noise. And they wear very slowly. But their grip isn't great if you...