Do you use your car for travel or camping? If you only use it for the purpose of going to work every day, then you can buy a 4-seater that is reasonable, the budget is moderate. You can consider the Honda Accord, I've been driving it for over 6 years now. Or some other options like Honda Civic, Toyota Camry...
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It would be nice to be able to drive up to Vail from Boulder (103 miles). But this is a luxury that would happen seldom, and can also be managed by a car share option or maybe even trading cars with family/friends for the weekend. or Carpooling. So the main reason that I am looking at cars is for the 15 mile commute (30 miles per day).
I am still finding it very difficult to compare EV to Hybrid to gas options. The websites don't list the battery health, battery size, or current range. I also don't know what the projected battery health would be over then next few years. I don't want to by a car that is going to see battery-death in the next two years. I also don't know how to incorporate mileage/age into my assessment.
Arg - can anybody recommend a thorough article about "this is what to look at if you want to buy and EV/Hybrid"...?
Thanks again!
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I think you may be overly fearful regarding battery health. With the exception of the early Leafs which had cooling problems, replacing an entire battery pack is pretty rare, and the cost of replacement has come down considerably. Generally it’s just a cell or two that goes bad, and those are fairly easy to replace, even DIY.
As has been discussed in the “other” MMM electric vehicle thread, the real savings from owning a BEV aren’t from decreased “fuel” costs, but from reduced maintenance and repairs. There’s a small but non-negligible chance you might have to replace your battery pack in a few years, but buying an ICE vehicle there’s also a non-negligible change that you might have to replace a transmission, engine, or other large repair. And the repair histories from the last ~8 years of ICE/BEVs suggest that battery replacement is less common than major engine repair.
As for finding out range and battery size, that’s pretty easy to do just by looking up and recording each kind of BEV that fits your needs (there are only a half-dozen or so which are likely to fit your needs). Most (all?) allow you to check the battery health, though you might ahve to to do so in person or specifically ask.