Electric cars: can our situation work with one or not?

[aetherie]

Hi all! I'm hoping the collective wisdom of the forums can help me out here. TL;DR husband and I need a new-to-us car within the next year and are trying to figure out whether or not we can go electric.

Car Use
Our current car is a 1st gen Honda Insight, which we love, but we're hoping to make a small human next year and will need a car with a backseat. We live in Burlington, VT and we work at the same company, 4 miles from our apartment. Right now (summer) we are biking to work 5 days a week, which means our car sits at home a lot, sometimes for a full week between grocery runs. When winter hits, we will bike when the weather allows but probably drive to work most of the time. Once a month or so we drive to visit my parents, 95 miles away. So our car use can be summarized as: weekly short city trips in the summer, daily short city trips in the winter, and ~monthly longer trips year-round.

Charging Options

The main factor that makes me nervous is that we live in an apartment complex with no way to charge a car at home overnight. However, our workplace has two free charging stations which we could use on days we drive to work. There are also stations at the grocery store near our apartment and various other ones around town - Burlington has a pretty solid charging network. When we visit my parents, we usually stay the weekend, and they would let us plug in at their house. But if 95 miles is beyond the range of the car, we would have to look into places to stop along the way.

Questions
Do you think we could make this work? We'd be looking at a used 2015-ish Leaf, if that makes a difference.
What have I forgotten to take into account?

[gaja]

Is there any place you can cheaply rent or borrow a leaf for a few days? Not being able to charge at home, and having to stop to charge when driving to your parents, can get pretty annoying pretty fast. Depending on what you mean by "winter", 95 miles could be out of range at least half the year. I would at least test drive that distance and try the charging stations on the way and at home before making a purchase.

You can always make it work. As long as you have electricity, it is possible. But when I've talked to disgruntled EV owners (there are not a lot of them, but they exist), the main reason they are selling their car is the lack of charging possibilities at home.

Is the grocery store so close that you can leave the car plugged in there and walk home? Or are the chargers there speed chargers?

[sokoloff]

I have a 2015 LEAF and no way could you count on 95 miles in the winter when the ‘15 was brand new and it’s lost about 10% of range since new.

Love the car, but it’s a 75-mile with confidence car, not a 95.

[aetherie]

Is there any place you can cheaply rent or borrow a leaf for a few days? Not being able to charge at home, and having to stop to charge when driving to your parents, can get pretty annoying pretty fast. Depending on what you mean by "winter", 95 miles could be out of range at least half the year. I would at least test drive that distance and try the charging stations on the way and at home before making a purchase.

You can always make it work. As long as you have electricity, it is possible. But when I've talked to disgruntled EV owners (there are not a lot of them, but they exist), the main reason they are selling their car is the lack of charging possibilities at home.

Is the grocery store so close that you can leave the car plugged in there and walk home? Or are the chargers there speed chargers?

Good idea about borrowing one - will look into that. The grocery store is a 15-minute walk from home, and it has Level 2 chargers but not speed ones.

[aetherie]

I have a 2015 LEAF and no way could you count on 95 miles in the winter when the ‘15 was brand new and it’s lost about 10% of range since new.

Love the car, but it’s a 75-mile with confidence car, not a 95.

Good to know - thanks. There's also a 2017 one on Craigslist and the owner claims 120 miles in good weather but it's twice as expensive...

[wordnerd]

A well cared for 2015 has maybe 95 miles of range, but if that trip is all highway, it's going to be less. Either way, you're going to want to plan a stop to charge because it's stressful to get that close to 0. There are likely places to charge in between. The most reliable (and free) would be Nissan dealerships. I wouldn't plan my trip around a single (non dealership) charger on the chance it's out of order. Search Facebook to see if there's an EV club for your area. Those groups tend to update maps of local chargers. Also note that your range will be lessened when it's cold outside.

Sounds like your plan should work, especially if biking is a reasonable back up option for you (if you can't get to a public charger one night). Do check the rates for the charging stations you plan to use to estimate your costs.

[pbkmaine]

I think, given your parameters, you need a hybrid like a Prius rather than an electric. Cold weather really affects battery life.

[aetherie]

I think, given your parameters, you need a hybrid like a Prius rather than an electric. Cold weather really affects battery life.

Thanks for the reality check. That's the way we're leaning as of today - probably either a Prius or a newer Insight. Unless we can find something like a Prius Prime or Volt that does full electric for short trips and gas for long trips, which I think might be ideal, but nobody's selling them used!

[Ecky]

Funny, I live in Burlington and also drive a Honda Insight. I've probably seen your car around!

The generic answer is "Honda Fit". Super useful hatch, decent enough fuel economy (40-50), reliable, inexpensive. If you want to get off fossil fuels, look into a PHEV. If you're looking for something used and under $8,000, the Chevy Volt should be on your short list. Most other PHEVs won't have been out long enough to depreciate into that price range.

[CCCA]

I think, given your parameters, you need a hybrid like a Prius rather than an electric. Cold weather really affects battery life.

Thanks for the reality check. That's the way we're leaning as of today - probably either a Prius or a newer Insight. Unless we can find something like a Prius Prime or Volt that does full electric for short trips and gas for long trips, which I think might be ideal, but nobody's selling them used!

I live in California so there are lots of used first gen electrics around.  I would look into the Plug-in Prius and also the C-max Energi as hatchbacks that might work (if you can find them used).

[aetherie]

Funny, I live in Burlington and also drive a Honda Insight. I've probably seen your car around!

The generic answer is "Honda Fit". Super useful hatch, decent enough fuel economy (40-50), reliable, inexpensive. If you want to get off fossil fuels, look into a PHEV. If you're looking for something used and under $8,000, the Chevy Volt should be on your short list. Most other PHEVs won't have been out long enough to depreciate into that price range.

That's awesome! And yes, I managed to find exactly one Volt nearby (ish) and am emailing the seller now. It looks perfect.

[Rob_bob]

Chevy Volt, 50 miles EV then run on gas for long trips.  Or the Chevy Bolt with 200+ EV only, not likely to find used ones yet though.

[cchrissyy]

I think the prius is a very good idea for your situation.
Also, no need to change cars until the new human is actually here.  I agree you'll need he back seat and the trunk for baby stuff. But between now and the date of baby's arrival, there is no point changing cars, and besides, what if your jobs or apartment changes in the meantime, or what if baby takes longer to come than you think or turns out to be multiples. Better not to lock in the car decision until you really know what you need.

[aetherie]

I think the prius is a very good idea for your situation.
Also, no need to change cars until the new human is actually here.  I agree you'll need he back seat and the trunk for baby stuff. But between now and the date of baby's arrival, there is no point changing cars, and besides, what if your jobs or apartment changes in the meantime, or what if baby takes longer to come than you think or turns out to be multiples. Better not to lock in the car decision until you really know what you need.

Fair point. If we changed jobs or apartments, or had twins, I don't think that would affect our car choice. (If we had triplets... dear lord. I don't want to jinx it, but what are the odds?) You're absolutely right that a baby could take longer than we think, and maybe we should stick with what we have until we know for sure.

One thing I didn't mention in the OP, though, is that my dad's car is on its last legs and he has expressed interest in buying the Insight off us. So that's one factor making us lean toward doing this sooner than later: a guaranteed good price for the Insight, and helping out my parents.