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Have You Gone Fully Electric??

9527

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Full electric here. We have a Model 3 and a Model Y. We’ll not go back to ICE.

We only have one 240v outlet in the garage. My commute is 30 miles one way. Wife’s is only 7 miles. No problem filling up both cars. Don’t even need to specifically work on a charging schedule. We just take turns. I always get the priority because I drive more. She doesn’t need to charge every day anyway.

We just got our Y in June but have had our 3 since July 2018. We took the 3 to Toronto in winter and to Moab and Las Vegas in summer. The car have seen temperatures from 0 to 110F. No problem with charging. Would the trip be faster if we drove an ICE. Probably. Would it be more enjoyable? Absolutely not.

I could only speak about Tesla though because both of ours are Teslas. If you’re gonna take road trips, other charging networks are not as convenient as the supercharger network.
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Rousie13

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Full electric here. We have a Model 3 and a Model Y. We’ll not go back to ICE.

We only have one 240v outlet in the garage. My commute is 30 miles one way. Wife’s is only 7 miles. No problem filling up both cars. Don’t even need to specifically work on a charging schedule. We just take turns. I always get the priority because I drive more. She doesn’t need to charge every day anyway.

We just got our Y in June but have had our 3 since July 2018. We took the 3 to Toronto in winter and to Moab and Las Vegas in summer. The car have seen temperatures from 0 to 110F. No problem with charging. Would the trip be faster if we drove an ICE. Probably. Would it be more enjoyable? Absolutely not.

I could only speak about Tesla though because both of ours are Teslas. If you’re gonna take road trips, other charging networks are not as convenient as the supercharger network.
We currently have a 14-50R with a ChargePoint Home Flex EVSE, but I’m looking at getting two 40A Wallbox Pulsar Plus EVSE units. This way they can share the one 240V line and just hardwire them in. Not sure I want to deal with having to swap chargers or deal with level 1.
 

ajdelange

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My wife is concerned about going fully electric for our cars and wanted feedback from others.
Your wife is right to be concerned. There are several aspects of BEV that often are not the ladies cup of tea. The first is the high tech aspect. The guys love this and it is, in many cases, what drives them to BEV but the ladies are often the opposite and are repelled by it. For wider acceptance by them, and a surprisingly large segment of the male population too, BEV are going to need to be dumbed down to the level of ICE cars before they are accepted by everyone. If your wife's eyes glaze over when you explain the difference between a kW and a kWh she probably isn't going to be very happy with BEV.

In much thinking about this post I have come to the conclusion that unless one is passionate about some aspect of BEV (be it the tech or the green-ness or the driving experience) to the point that he/she is able to overlook the considerable potential pitfalls relative to ICE he/she isn't going to like being fully electric. You don't buy a car - you buy a transportation system and the car is but one segment of it. The other two are the fueling and support segments. Neither of these, in the BEV world, approaches what we have in the ICE world. Generally speaking the fueling situation is under control in the Tesla world at least (we'll see about the Rivian world) but even so you don't go anywhere without thinking much more about where you'll get a charge than you would think about where you would gas up in the ICE world. I have never even attempted to show the mrs how to plan a route or what to do in the car to find charging should she get a low battery warning en-route. She is not a techie - just the opposite in fact.

Now we come to the support segment. Tesla service centers are few and far between and Rivian even fewer. Nonetheless given the choice of Tysons or Rockville 10 ans 20 min away we didn't think much of it for minor repairs. Nor, did we grumble too loudly when the computer died in Ogden and we had to drive it an hour to Montreal (where we were given a loaner). But when the other computer died 5 miles away from where the first one did and the car had to be transported to Boston (4 hours away) we did grumble indeed. They can't take them across the border.

This happened late Friday so nothing over the weekend. On Monday some kid with a laptop sat in the car for an hour and fixed the problem and they charged the car and it was ready to go. So Wenesday our son drove us to the nearest hospital in the States where we all took Covid tests and then down to Peabody, MA where we picked up the car and headed for Wolfeboro, NH where we sat waiting for the state of Vermont to process the Covid tests. Results came in on Friday and we headed back to Canada.

So this software glitch (brought on by an OTA download) resulted in an undesired and unexpected 3 day road trip for the whole family. Major disaster? That's the question OP needs to be asking himself. NH and VT are beautiful this time of year and we had a good time on the trip as a family so there were definitely some pluses in this tale. The question for the OP and anyone else interested is whether one can come out of an experience like this one and still have a positive view of electric vehicles. I definitely do but my wife has made it clear that the trucks with my BEV on them are right behind the hearse when my time comes. If you don't think you can come out of such an experience as mine still thinking BEV are the neatest thing since sliced bread or if your wife can't deal with kW and kWh better wait until there are as many charging stations as gas stations, the cars have been dumbed down and there is a Rivian dealership in every town with population bigger than 40k.
 

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My wife of 48 yrs. is non- techie and did not like the Tesla when we test drove one because of the lack of buttons.

However, we are both committed to going EV. She is looking forward to not pumping gas anymore. Loves the idea of being able to charge the vehicle at home. Most of our driving is local. We have solar.

We both accept the minor inconvenience of doing a bit more planning and the extra travel time for long road trips.

Purchasing an EV IMO should be as much if not more about making a change from carbon based emissions as style or performance.

ICE cars can and do break down. If ICE exhaust were black and foul smelling I believe we would pay the attention to it that it deserves.
 
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Rousie13

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My wife of 48 yrs. is non- techie and did not like the Tesla when we test drove one because of the lack of buttons.

However, we are both committed to going EV. She is looking forward to not pumping gas anymore. Loves the idea of being able to charge the vehicle at home. Most of our driving is local. We have solar.

We both accept the minor inconvenience of doing a bit more planning and the extra travel time for long road trips.

Purchasing an EV IMO should be as much if not more about making a change from carbon based emissions as style or performance.

ICE cars can and do break down. If ICE exhaust were black and foul smelling I believe we would pay the attention to it that it deserves.
My wife also is not a fan of the Tesla layout and refuses to drive our model 3 because of the lack of buttons/etc, plus she is not a fan of the styling.

She loves the Q4 Etron because it looks like any other ICE Audi, but lots of questions about what that vehicle will actually have for options/standard features when it comes to the US.

We test drove an ID.4 1st edition and she was ok with it, but still wished it had more of a traditional ICE feel. We ended up reserving an AWD Pro S Gradient ID.4 around 9/12 then locked in our order at the end of September and just got a text from our dealer that it’s already in production. That was a lot faster than either of us thought!

I guess it’s time for me to install the second EVSE in the garage so we’re ready to go.
 

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Not even close to fully electric. I'm not even sure this great push into EVs is good for us or the planet. I'm more aligned with the thinking that we should use what we've got until we can't, i.e. cars that already exist. There is a tremendous environmental cost to building these battery packs, cars/trucks/suvs/delivery vans, and the network required to charge and service them.

I'm pleased that in Illinois we get almost 60% of our electricity from nuclear power plants. But many Midwest states get the majority from burning coal. I live in Chicago and work from home or bike to the office (all year), I barely drive and my 2007 Prius is just fine for that. My kids are almost driving age...they get the Prius...I get something new.

Garage can only fit one car plus the family bikes, lawn mower (which is battery powered!), etc. Wife parks her car on the street. Overnight charging can only happen for one car at a time.
 

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Scott

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My wife of 48 yrs. is non- techie and did not like the Tesla when we test drove one because of the lack of buttons.

However, we are both committed to going EV. She is looking forward to not pumping gas anymore. Loves the idea of being able to charge the vehicle at home. Most of our driving is local. We have solar.

We both accept the minor inconvenience of doing a bit more planning and the extra travel time for long road trips.

Purchasing an EV IMO should be as much if not more about making a change from carbon based emissions as style or performance.

ICE cars can and do break down. If ICE exhaust were black and foul smelling I believe we would pay the attention to it that it deserves.
My wife is the same way, and to a lesser extent I am as well. I think Tesla’s approach to interior ergonomics puts form over function. Physical buttons for climate control are better / safer than playing with a touch screen. With profiles / memory seats I am fine with mirrors and such being buried in a touch screen, but give me real buttons for temperature and let me adjust vents with real physical controls.

We tested most ev’e on the market and ended up with an ID.4. it is a good mix of new EV with physical buttons for common things. There are quirks that I think are pretty dumb, but nothing is a dealbreaker. My wife viewed it as a compromise but she really wanted an EV. A month later she is extremely happy with the purchase. I would definitely recommend it. If the Q4 e tron were available we would likely have gone for that instead but it still isn’t available in the US.
 
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Scott

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Not even close to fully electric. I'm not even sure this great push into EVs is good for us or the planet. I'm more aligned with the thinking that we should use what we've got until we can't, i.e. cars that already exist. There is a tremendous environmental cost to building these battery packs, cars/trucks/suvs/delivery vans, and the network required to charge and service them.
I highly recommend this video on the topic:

 

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I am coming to grips with the fact that I will never get to teach my son (8 months) how to change the oil on a car.

I can only hope that one day he can show me how to tune our Rivian with his iPad or whatever they are using in 15 years.
 

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I just removed our ChargePoint Home Flex this weekend and installed a pair of Wallbox Pulsar Plus units. Install was pretty straight forward and the power sharing is a great feature if you have one circuit. Did not want to have to deal with plugging/unplugging the cars, and I like charging them every night. So far no complaints and their customer service seems great.

Rivian R1T R1S Have You Gone Fully Electric?? 285ACD2D-DF7A-4909-B33D-0596A8219A69
 

ccmun

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I have a Tesla Model 3, with a Model Y, on order, since the kids need more room for road trips. I have an R1T on order. also have a Tesla Solar roof system. i am keeping the Tesla for road trips because of the Supercharger network. I will probably change it in for a R1S, if we are happy with Rivian. I love my Model 3, but after the experience with the installation of my solar panels, and Elon's. erratic shenanigans, I am not a fan of the company.

I do have an ICE Adv motorcycle which I love, and will probably keep until the motorcycle world ramps up with affordable long range EV bikes.

i will never buy another iCE car again and neither will my kids. We just have to learn to adapt to save our planet,
 

EVTrucking

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I have a Tesla Model 3, with a Model Y, on order, since the kids need more room for road trips. I have an R1T on order. also have a Tesla Solar roof system. i am keeping the Tesla for road trips because of the Supercharger network. I will probably change it in for a R1S, if we are happy with Rivian. I love my Model 3, but after the experience with the installation of my solar panels, and Elon's. erratic shenanigans, I am not a fan of the company.

I do have an ICE Adv motorcycle which I love, and will probably keep until the motorcycle world ramps up with affordable long range EV bikes.

i will never buy another iCE car again and neither will my kids. We just have to learn to adapt to save our planet,
Totally agree. No more ICE!
 

ccmun

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I just removed our ChargePoint Home Flex this weekend and installed a pair of Wallbox Pulsar Plus units. Install was pretty straight forward and the power sharing is a great feature if you have one circuit. Did not want to have to deal with plugging/unplugging the cars, and I like charging them every night. So far no complaints and their customer service seems great.

285ACD2D-DF7A-4909-B33D-0596A8219A69.jpeg

Thanks for sharing. What is the box you used to connect the two chargers?
 
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Rousie13

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Thanks for sharing. What is the box you used to connect the two chargers?
I just used a junction box to get power to both units from the main circuit, since both are hardwired. You then physically connect the two units using Cat5/6 cable.
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