Anonymous wrote:On the other hand, you do still have to do all the usual engine maintenance that you have to do with a regular gas car (oil changes, etc.) -- if you have a place where you could set up a charging station at home, might be worth looking into a full electric now that the ranges are up over 200 miles for most of the new ones.

correct, but if you keep track of your mileage you will have a lot of fewer oil changes with my non plug in hybrid i had i was doing yearly oil changes. 12k miles a year maybe half of that was engine based miles.

i would expect that with my plug in, i'd be able go 2 years between oil changes based on engine miles.

and oil changes will cost you 30 bucks... not exactly a deal breaker....

We have on all electric and one plug in hybrid. We generally prefer the ease of the all electric but the plug in hybrid is nice to have if you are taking a longer trip and don’t want to stop to recharge (eg driving overnight). We mainly got it because there is not an all electric mini van.

Anonymous wrote:What’s the thinking if you almost exclusively drive in the city, on short trips? I know it’s terrible for a regular car—but is it bad for EV batteries too? I average like $4k miles a year (work from home), but really like having a car on the weekends.

EVs are more efficient in city driving than on the highways -- short trips are great. The battery is good as long as you keep it somewhere between about 20 percent and 80 percent charged most of the time, which would be very easy to do if you only drive short local trips.

Anonymous wrote:What’s the thinking if you almost exclusively drive in the city, on short trips? I know it’s terrible for a regular car—but is it bad for EV batteries too? I average like $4k miles a year (work from home), but really like having a car on the weekends.

Excuse the $.

What’s the thinking if you almost exclusively drive in the city, on short trips? I know it’s terrible for a regular car—but is it bad for EV batteries too? I average like $4k miles a year (work from home), but really like having a car on the weekends.

Anonymous wrote:Plug-in hybrids can run on electricity only if you want, so you never have to buy gas. It was a big plus this past week!

OTH, some people who own a Tesla found that because they had long stretches of not driving their electric cars during the pandemic, when they did try to run the car, they couldn't even open the door.

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/james-may-annoyed-tesla-model-s-battery/

Full EV cars require almost none of the maintenance of IVE cars. That is the advantage. Over the life of the car it is estimated to be about $12,000 in maintenance costs that you avoid.

Anonymous wrote:Which new ones have a range of over 200 miles? That's great.

Look at the new Hyundai EVs- Kona, Kia EV - Niro, Teslas, Ford Mustang, and then both Kia and Hyundai debuting two new EVs in next couple weeks with fantastic ranges over 250 and maybe over 300.

The VW Id.4 is an electric SUV with a range of 250

The Nissan leaf is at about 225
The Chevy Bolt EV is about 250

Which new ones have a range of over 200 miles? That's great.

On the other hand, you do still have to do all the usual engine maintenance that you have to do with a regular gas car (oil changes, etc.) -- if you have a place where you could set up a charging station at home, might be worth looking into a full electric now that the ranges are up over 200 miles for most of the new ones.

i have a plug hybrid, as tr PP noted, you get about 20 miles of puer electric (provided you remember to plug it in) and when that goes out your car becomes a regular hybrid getting 40 mpg.

my last tank 12 gallons i went over 1000 miles. most of my driving is 15 miles to from work and I get to plug in at work as well, but i do take a couple 50-60 mile trips every weekend so that kills the mpg.

Anonymous wrote:Plug-in hybrids can run on electricity only if you want, so you never have to buy gas. It was a big plus this past week!

This--they are the happy medium or compromise between full electric and gas (hybrid is still gas-powered). Most of the plug-in hybrids have an all-electric range of 20 or 30 miles and charge overnight from an ordinary household outlet. So for daily driving, if it's under 20 miles or so, you use very little gas. But unlike an electric, you don't have to worry about finding a place to charge or running out of power.

Plug-in hybrids can run on electricity only if you want, so you never have to buy gas. It was a big plus this past week!

Anonymous wrote:Is it mileage? I seriously don’t know

That is a phev vs standard hybrid

Is it mileage? I seriously don’t know