EV Ask Me Anything
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
jsteele
Site Admin Offline
Site Admin Offline
|
There might not be much interest in this and, if not, that's okay. But, I have seen several threads about EVs and thought that I could answer questions that anyone has about switching to EVs. In the past 15 months, my family has purchased (actually one lease) four EVs. We have gotten rid of all ICE vehicles and are totally electric. During this time, we have taken multiple 1500 mile trips and many shorter trips. One of my sons took his to college (about 2 hours away) and the other uses his for commuting to UMD. I would be happy to answer questions about the buying process (especially used EVs) and what it is like to use them on a day to day basis.
The cars we have are: 2024 BMW i4 2021 BMW i3 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV 2021 Polestar 2 Each has strengths and weaknesses that I would be happy to discuss. |
Anonymous
|
What are some good free to use apps/websites that show maps in North America of charging stations, and prices?
|
jsteele
Site Admin Offline
Site Admin Offline
All of our cars have built in navigation which will show chargers along the route. So we normally use those. I also use PlugShare a lot and I consider it an absolute must-have for all EV owners. On trips that require charging along the way, I will normally plot the trip with the built-in routing and then check each stop with PlugShare. I use PlugShare to confirm the station is operational and to check prices. Sometimes I have to check the charging company's website or app for prices. Incidentally, I have found that Pilot Flying J locations are the most important stations to check prices. The locations are normally great and amenities are good, but the prices are all over the place. I was using A Better Route Planner quite a bit but have basically given it up since I don't really have a use for it now. But it is a very good program. However, it is not free for the advanced features. |
Anonymous
| How's the Polestar? |
jsteele
Site Admin Offline
Site Admin Offline
I haven't driven it much but I liked it. My son is driving it and he loves it. It is very fast and has pretty good handling. It feels very much like a BMW. The technology may be getting a little dated at this point, but still satisfactory. A used Polestar 2 is probably the best value out there right now. You can get a great car for less than $30k. We only paid $23 for a car with 13,000 miles on it and was still under warranty. My son took it to the Polestar service center for a free software upgrade and all around check up and they replaced a bracket that we didn't even know was a problem. All at no charge. That gave me a great impression of Polestar service. I highly recommend the car. |
Anonymous
| What do the monthly subscription fees look like for each of these cars? I heard that Tesla charges a monthly ‘connectivity’ fee. |
Anonymous
| I have seen some great deals on the polestars but I don’t really need a new (to me) car right now. |
jsteele
Site Admin Offline
Site Admin Offline
|
The BMW i4 includes all services at no charge for 4 years. After that, many of the services continue to be provided at no charge. Frankly, since this won't be an issue for 3 more years, I haven't looked at it closely. The BMW i3 has no fees for most services. However, there was one collection of services (mostly involving remote monitoring of charging and the state of charge) that does have a $120 annual fee. We could easily do without those services, but they are convenient so I paid for the subscription this year.
The Equinox EV is a lease which will expire before any subscription fees are required. There is an annual fee after a few years for some services but off the top of my head I don't know the details. The Polestar 2 has no fees of which I am aware. |
jsteele
Site Admin Offline
Site Admin Offline
We have satisfied our car needs for the foreseeable future but I still occasionally look at the used car listings just for fun. There are amazing deals on a number of brands. As I said above, I think that Polestars are probably the best bang for the buck, but I also saw a great deal yesterday on an Audi E-Tron. Electric Mini Coopers are practically being given away. If all you need is an around-the-town car, they are a great option. |
Anonymous
There was a while a few months back where you could get insane deals on leases for Polestar 3 - though not sure what they are now. Took advantage and it is the best car I've ever driven. Handles better than BMW. Software could use a few more updates to get it to be a bit more stable but each one they've released has improved stability immensely. |
Anonymous
| Jeff, which model of the i4 did you decide on and are you happy with the car? |
Anonymous
| Obviously not Jeff, but we have the Chevy equinox and the vw id4. I LOVE the equinox. Far better range than the VW. I was not sold on EVs but we’ve had three now and I absolutely love them. |
jsteele
Site Admin Offline
Site Admin Offline
We bought the eDrive35 and are generally happy with it though there is room for improvement. At the time we were shopping for the i4, our cars were 16 and 18 years old. As such, we were considering replacing both of them. We thought that we would get a BEV for around town and maybe a hybrid for trips. The i4 was going to be our around town car so the eDrive35 made sense. Then we started taking trips with it and found out that long trips were completely doable. It became our "trip" car and I bought the i3 which is a true around town car. Had we planned for the i4 to be our trip car initially, we probably would have looked more at the eDrive40. The range on the eDrive35 is just a little shorter than is optimal. Charging is also slow. But, as I said initially, we have done five 1500 mile trips in it. It is very comfortable on trips and we just have to accept that we will be taking a break every two hours or so. We haven't had a single problem with it and I highly recommend the car. |
Anonymous
| What does this mean? We have gotten rid of all ICE vehicles. |
jsteele
Site Admin Offline
Site Admin Offline
ICE = Internal Combustion Engine. It means we no longer have any cars that use gas. |