Electric Vehicle (EV) discussion thread

It’s really pretty simple math. Batteries are getting cheaper and a bit smaller, so more capacity is finding its way into better prices cars. That’s going to continue. 

I’m a car guy who loves the sounds and smells of a fire breathing combustion engine - but I know that’s on its way out. Having an electric for two years has been eye opening. They’re fantastic. Our sweet spot right now is range of over 200 but much longer is irrelevant as it’s just a city commuter and we have a L2 charger at home. When it makes sense to replace my MDX with electric we will probably do that- but it doesn’t yet. And I’m never replacing my car with electric. I just  hope that I’ll be able to find gas stations!!! 

I’m sure plenty of people are like me - schizophrenic - when it comes to EVs. They’re just so much better for day to day stuff but missing the things I love most about cars. I love them but I hate them too.

I saw a Chevy Bolt this morning in Vancouver with Texas plates. So I guess that puts the "you can't road trip in an EV" argument to rest.

Seen a few Tesla in SWBC with Cali and AB plates. 

There’s a Bolt doing a cross country journey or some crap. Vanity plates “BOLT EV”

With proper planning I’m sure you can go great distances, but you’d need to rely upon fast chargers twice a day to do it and you’d have exposure to potentially waiting for those to be free, etc....

A Bolt from Texas might have been shipped, or maybe it was driven. It certainly could have been driven.

The Kia Niro looks interesting.  $40K USD.  400 kilometer range.

Posted by: Fast-Orange

I saw a Chevy Bolt this morning in Vancouver with Texas plates. So I guess that puts the "you can't road trip in an EV" argument to rest.

Might be a towed car from the back of a large RV. When one can drive a range similar to a gas powered car and recharge in a similar amount of time it takes to fill a tank, electric vehicles will take over fast. That time is coming.

Greg Hill wrote something on FB about needing to charge his EV so he plugged in the car in and went for a run during the charging cycle, you can go check your e-mail have a coffee . The coffee shop and Portland loo are right close to the local downtown charging station, there are more stations going in up here  along highway 16 to where you could get to prince rupert but out east of PG looks pretty slim

I tested a Bolt this weekend and for a little car, it was pretty sweet.  Lots of room for me, I am 6'2" and had to move the sit a bit forward, and it has tonnes of get up and go.  I was a little disappointed to find out the scrap it program is basically a lottery and nothing more, so it is useless you are hoping to take your old car off the road, but the 10Gs in rebates is making the cars pretty attractive.  If you have a regular long commute like me now might be the time to get one.  If I stretch out the payments it is pretty much a wash with the current cost of gas, even with my old beater that I paid next to nothing for.

Anyone have any first-hand knowledge of the Bolt they can share? KenN, what's your expert opinion?  I am curious to know how the battery degrades over time.  Is it mainly related to how many times you charge them, or is it age?

The cars come with an 8yr 100k km (I think) battery warranty that includes degradation. I wouldn't worry about that.
If you really need a battery that will go 400km or whatever the Bolt does, its a good choice. We have found that the difference between 250km and 400km is not relevant to my family.

Posted by: Ddean

The cars come with an 8yr 100k km (I think) battery warranty that includes degradation. I wouldn't worry about that.
If you really need a battery that will go 400km or whatever the Bolt does, its a good choice. We have found that the difference between 250km and 400km is not relevant to my family.

The Bolt is 8yr 160k km for the battery, so I should be good there, but I commute from Squamish to North Burnaby most days which is about 140 km round trip, so my range and battery needs are more than most.  I also need to get around the Lower Mainland during the day.  I started looking into EVs a couple of years ago, but the range was always the issue.

Posted by: chupacabra

I tested a Bolt this weekend and for a little car, it was pretty sweet.  Lots of room for me, I am 6'2" and had to move the sit a bit forward, and it has tonnes of get up and go.  I was a little disappointed to find out the scrap it program is basically a lottery and nothing more, so it is useless you are hoping to take your old car off the road, but the 10Gs in rebates is making the cars pretty attractive.  If you have a regular long commute like me now might be the time to get one.  If I stretch out the payments it is pretty much a wash with the current cost of gas, even with my old beater that I paid next to nothing for.

Anyone have any first-hand knowledge of the Bolt they can share? KenN, what's your expert opinion?  I am curious to know how the battery degrades over time.  Is it mainly related to how many times you charge them, or is it age?

IMO, Bolt is a decent car.  Good range, roomy, doesn't look bad (it's one of those cars that look much better "in person" than in photos).  I have one friend that got one of the earliest Bolts delivered in BC and she loves it.  I think the only two complaints were that tires were pretty shitty (changed them out for better ones immediately) and the dash controls look and feel "cheap".

Also IMO, I think that the Tesla 3 SR+ is as good or better, and due to Tesla's being far ahead of the rest in rolling out high speed DC charging, you can go more places in any Tesla.

Feedback that I've been getting from people shopping for an EV - every single dealer is back-ordered for months, on just about every EV model - mostly due to the new fed incentive.  Hardly a showroom model left in the entire province.  So under current conditions, it's looking like the only new EV that you can get in under 8 weeks is a Tesla 3, because they're the only company building 1000 new ones/day.

Posted by: KenN

Posted by: chupacabra

I tested a Bolt this weekend and for a little car, it was pretty sweet.  Lots of room for me, I am 6'2" and had to move the sit a bit forward, and it has tonnes of get up and go.  I was a little disappointed to find out the scrap it program is basically a lottery and nothing more, so it is useless you are hoping to take your old car off the road, but the 10Gs in rebates is making the cars pretty attractive.  If you have a regular long commute like me now might be the time to get one.  If I stretch out the payments it is pretty much a wash with the current cost of gas, even with my old beater that I paid next to nothing for.

Anyone have any first-hand knowledge of the Bolt they can share? KenN, what's your expert opinion?  I am curious to know how the battery degrades over time.  Is it mainly related to how many times you charge them, or is it age?

IMO, Bolt is a decent car.  Good range, roomy, doesn't look bad (it's one of those cars that look much better "in person" than in photos).  I have one friend that got one of the earliest Bolts delivered in BC and she loves it.  I think the only two complaints were that tires were pretty shitty (changed them out for better ones immediately) and the dash controls look and feel "cheap".

Also IMO, I think that the Tesla 3 SR+ is as good or better, and due to Tesla's being far ahead of the rest in rolling out high speed DC charging, you can go more places in any Tesla.

Feedback that I've been getting from people shopping for an EV - every single dealer is back-ordered for months, on just about every EV model - mostly due to the new fed incentive.  Hardly a showroom model left in the entire province.  So under current conditions, it's looking like the only new EV that you can get in under 8 weeks is a Tesla 3, because they're the only company building 1000 new ones/day.

It looks like I can get the Bolt I want pretty quickly, but I don't mind a wait either.  The Tesla is just more than I want to spend, but they are nice.  Thanks.

FYI that Bolt green colour is tragic.

As to your question about battery life, there are a lot of variables.  How you manage your charge/discharge cycles has a lot to do with it, see here --> https://www.teslarati.com/top-5-tips-to-maintaining-ev-battery/   for a few really good tips.

Bottom line is to avoid extremes of charge state as that starts to affect battery chemistry.  Some makes/models have really good charge management that makes this a lot easier than others.  That said, there were some really poor batteries on the market in the past - first few model years of Nissan Leaf comes to mind.  Most of the modern lithium battery chemistries can be expected to have a usable life of 12 or 15 years, or even more with reasonable care.