[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Hybrid or Full EV Car in Flyover States for ...
___________________________________________________________________
Ask HN: Hybrid or Full EV Car in Flyover States for 2023 (US)
Hello fellow Hackers who read News, My wife and I are about done
with our ICE cars that are both coincidentally reaching their end
of life. We're thinking about trading in the cars and taking
advantage of 2023 tax credits towards an EV or Plug-In Hybrid. My
only reservation with going all-out on a full EV car is we like to
road trip around the South (Ozarks, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana,
etc) and we live in a decently sized city the Midwest; we're not
confident that our region and where we like to travel has a
reliable charging network. A lot of opinions I've seen on Reddit,
for example, seem to be mostly from people out West or North East
where there are very strong charging networks. EV and Plug-in
Hybrid/Traditional Hybrid owners who drive around the Midwest and
Rust belt, what do you think? Also, I'm fine with encouraging a
general discussion on the state of EV adoption in the US or
elsewhere in 2023 because I know that will just naturally come up
in child comments. Please no flame wars on car preferences. Thank
you and have a great day!
Author : droobles
Score : 8 points
Date : 2023-05-13 20:49 UTC (2 hours ago)
| brudgers wrote:
| A hybrid has no more range issues than a gas car.
|
| Electric?
|
| Depends on what one means by "road trip."
|
| One thing if a road trip is about A to B on interstates, and you
| like to stop awhile every few hours because it's on the
| itinerary.
|
| If a road trip is three digit state highways without much plan,
| that's a different thing when it comes to electric vehicles.
|
| Though I can see how finding chargers might be part of the
| adventure.
|
| And I can see how finding chargers might bring up the subject of
| divorce.
|
| All depends on how and why and where you travel.
|
| Good luck.
| local_crmdgeon wrote:
| $15 bucks you live in KCMO.
|
| If you are into Midwestern pride, I'd wait until Factory Zero
| opens and buy one of the GM electrics. Can't get more homegrown
| than Detroit, and by then the CCS chargers at Walmart will have
| opened.
| CalChris wrote:
| If you're going to road trip in an EV you have to plan out your
| charging in advance. Luckily there are apps for that, PlugShare
| in particular. You should have adapters so that your car can
| charge at RV parks. Charging will force you to stop which is both
| good and bad. It's better if you can stop at interesting places.
| Again that takes planning.
| ZeroGravitas wrote:
| Are getting two new cars or trading both in against one new one?
|
| If two then one EV and one PHEV might make sense as you could
| skimp on the battery a little.
| droobles wrote:
| Trading in both to just get one, we've identified with our
| current driving habits we only need one car. I should've
| clarified that in the post, my bad.
| simfree wrote:
| Depends on the charging network your car has access to (CCS or
| Tesla), and how much pain your willing to put up with to charge
| (eg: is spending hours at a Level 2 6Kw charger acceptable?).
|
| Perhaps another aspect to consider is whether you might go
| electric with one vehicle, and plug in hybrid with the other.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| I have driven 100k miles cross country in my 2018 Model S since
| 2018 and have never encountered a down supercharger (and
| primarily supercharge vs charging at one of my homes). It's why
| we only buy Teslas (despite the shenanigans). YMMV. My friend
| with a Bolt doesn't road trip after how hard it was to get it
| from where he bought it near DC down to Central Florida.
|
| A plug in is a great compromise if you're not ready to commit to
| a full EV and have range anxiety. The charging story will improve
| over time.
|
| https://supercharge.info/map
|
| https://www.plugshare.com/
| droobles wrote:
| These maps seem to illuminate that I may have underestimated
| how much charging networks have grown, looks promising! Looks
| like at least most hotels offer some form of charging. Your
| anecdote about your friend though definitely drives home that
| range anxiety for me.
| cbhl wrote:
| I live in the west so I won't comment on charging networks.
| However, I currently drive a PHEV, so leaving some thoughts more
| generally about things I learned when I started:
|
| - EVs are most energy efficient at slower speeds (varies by
| temperature, but in my experience, in the range of 30-45 mph)
| whereas ICEs are most efficient at highway speeds (65 mph). The
| energy consumption at different speeds varies enough that in-car
| range estimates can be off by a lot.
|
| - Some PHEVs can recharge the EV battery from the gas engine;
| others only can recharge the EV battery from being plugged in.
| Check before buying.
|
| - Using heating / A/C will reduce EV range noticeably. This is
| much more noticeable than ICE (where heating will reuse heat from
| the engine, and A/C is powered by the alternator).
|
| - The PHEVs I've seen don't support DC Fast Charging at all. You
| can only use L2 chargers or the provided (slower 110V) AC
| adapter.
|
| - For an EV, DC Fast Charging plugs tend to lock for "safety". A
| malfunctioning charger can leave you stranded.
|
| - Nobody seems to be selling new PHEV Sedans except Toyota (who
| released a new Prius Prime this year; not eligible for tax credit
| under new rules and its charger only goes 16A which is slow even
| for L2 but would be fine for overnight-charge-at-home-and-
| commute-to-work use). Honda and Hyundai discontinued PHEVs in
| 2021, 2022 respectively to focus on just selling EVs and ICEs.
|
| - The tax credit rules changed for cars put into service after
| April 18th, 2023. Cars must "meet critical mineral and battery
| component requirements". In particular, certain Teslas are
| eligible again, only certain PHEVs (currently no sedans) meet the
| new requirements. [0][1]
|
| [0] https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/credits-for-new-
| clean...
|
| [1] https://fueleconomy.gov/feg/tax2023.shtml
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2023-05-13 23:02 UTC)