jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I meant to ask with the mpg question is how much do you end up paying for a full charge and how many miles can you go on
a full charge on average. For comparison, a gas car can go about 300 miles on a “full charge” at a cost of about $30. So, $0.1 per
mile.

The savings for EV charging is with home charging where you might pay $0.18 per kWh. We have solar so that cost is reduced to nearly nothing. But let's say that you fully charged our BMW i4 paying $0.18 per kWh. The battery is roughly 67 kWh, so that costs $12.06. The range would be about 240 miles, mean $0.05 per mile.

This changes radically if you rely on public fast charging which can cost $0.40 - $0.60 or even more per kWh. Our i4 came with two years of free charging on the Electrify America network so when we stick to that network, we pay nothing. But if we use other stations, we are paying about the same as gas.

Interesting. It makes a lot of sense to combine an EV with solar panels on your roof.

Anonymous wrote:What I meant to ask with the mpg question is how much do you end up paying for a full charge and how many miles can you go on
a full charge on average. For comparison, a gas car can go about 300 miles on a “full charge” at a cost of about $30. So, $0.1 per
mile.

The savings for EV charging is with home charging where you might pay $0.18 per kWh. We have solar so that cost is reduced to nearly nothing. But let's say that you fully charged our BMW i4 paying $0.18 per kWh. The battery is roughly 67 kWh, so that costs $12.06. The range would be about 240 miles, mean $0.05 per mile.

This changes radically if you rely on public fast charging which can cost $0.40 - $0.60 or even more per kWh. Our i4 came with two years of free charging on the Electrify America network so when we stick to that network, we pay nothing. But if we use other stations, we are paying about the same as gas.

Anonymous wrote:Is your auto insurance higher with the EV?

Yes, but there are several factors involved. Insurance for all cars has increased lately. The new EVs are more expensive then our previous cars and even the used EVs were more expensive than the 16 and 18 year old cars that they replaced. More expensive cars cost more to insure with all else being equal. Also, having two young adult males added to the mix didn't do us any favors for insurance costs. Anecdotally I hear that EVs cost more to ensure than gas cars. That seems especially true in the case of Teslas. But, I can't say for certain about other EVs. Our personal situation has too many other variable to determine how much of the increase was solely due to the cars being EVs.

What I meant to ask with the mpg question is how much do you end up paying for a full charge and how many miles can you go on
a full charge on average. For comparison, a gas car can go about 300 miles on a “full charge” at a cost of about $30. So, $0.1 per
mile.

Is your auto insurance higher with the EV?

Anonymous wrote:How expensive is to install a home charger? Do you need to hire an electrician? What mpg do you effectively get if you charge at home?

The cost of a home charger install can range from $1,000 to $5,000 or more. The charger itself is about $500 for a decent one, give or take a few bucks. The install is very dependent on how far electrical cable must be run and how complex it is to run the cable. There are two ways to go. The electrical circuit itself is 240v. You can run that to an electrical outlet such as a NEMA 14-50 and simply plug your charger in to that. I think it is better to hardwire the EVSE (what a charger is technically called). Hardwiring allows you to run it at a higher rate of amps which means faster charging. Technically, you can install it yourself but you need a permit and likely an inspection afterwards. You really need to have some idea what you are doing, however, because these draw a lot of current which creates heat and you can easily have a fire if things are not installed correctly.

There might be incentives for which you are eligible. The federal government has a 30% rebate for up to $1,500 for many census tracts (unfortunately not mine though). DC has a $1,000 rebate. Some electrical providers, though not PEPCO, offer free or discounted EVSEs. So check for possible incentives.

The MGP is the same regardless of how you charge and is dependent on the car and other factors (such as how fast you drive, the terrain, etc.). Home charging uses AC electricity and is fairly slow, taking several hours to reach 80% or higher of a charge. It works well if you can charge overnight. Fast charging uses DC and can get the same amount of charging in about a half hour. Driving range is the same in either case.

How expensive is to install a home charger? Do you need to hire an electrician? What mpg do you effectively get if you charge at home?

whoa its the legendary j steele!! all hail our glorious leader!

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think our Bolt feels heavy.

Bolts are an exception. Only 3600 pounds. Same as my i3 which is also light. But that's uncommon for EVs.

I don’t think our Bolt feels heavy.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any thoughts on how the BMW EVs drives compared to BMW ICE? Perhaps they are not comparable beasts?? I am trying to adjust to the switch in many ICE vehicles from to V6 twin turbo.

My previous car was a BMW 135i which had a straight six twin turbo. The main difference with the i4 is that it is larger and its suspension is not as firm. As far as power goes, it is very similar. My understanding is that the i4 was tuned to feel like an ICE car because BMW wanted to make switching seamless. With the i4, by default, one pedal driving is not much of a thing. Since that was my first EV, I didn't know anything about one pedal driving. But all our other EVs have it and I got used to it from them. Now I am a big fan of one pedal driving. That is probably the biggest difference between EVs and ICE that I have found.

Thanks for your thoughts. My brother drives an X Plaid and the power is intense. I find the power of a twin turbo too much when it kicks in, especially in lighter cars. But I compare a BMW (especially a V8) as like a suction cup on the road. Extremely good handling. I haven't loved the hesitation, then take off of a V6 twin turbo in a lighter car. But I love BMWs, so have been curious about their EVs. But I've also wondered if EVs in general would have that same lighter but more powerful feel, if that makes sense.

EVs are heavy so I don't think they will feel light to you. In our i4, you can feel the weight when cornering. But the weight is in the floor so it has a good center of gravity and handling is still good. Plenty of power.

Interesting. I should look up the weight. I am driving an older Lexus GX460 and was looking at the new 550, and same thing. Went from V8 to V6 Twin turbo. Lighter and taller. No thanks. I'm curious about the Rivian. All to say that when I do trade in the 460, want to get more serious about an EV. Have already talked to a EV certified electrician about upgrading electrical.

That biggest surprise to me is the additional fees for EVs.

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any thoughts on how the BMW EVs drives compared to BMW ICE? Perhaps they are not comparable beasts?? I am trying to adjust to the switch in many ICE vehicles from to V6 twin turbo.

My previous car was a BMW 135i which had a straight six twin turbo. The main difference with the i4 is that it is larger and its suspension is not as firm. As far as power goes, it is very similar. My understanding is that the i4 was tuned to feel like an ICE car because BMW wanted to make switching seamless. With the i4, by default, one pedal driving is not much of a thing. Since that was my first EV, I didn't know anything about one pedal driving. But all our other EVs have it and I got used to it from them. Now I am a big fan of one pedal driving. That is probably the biggest difference between EVs and ICE that I have found.

Thanks for your thoughts. My brother drives an X Plaid and the power is intense. I find the power of a twin turbo too much when it kicks in, especially in lighter cars. But I compare a BMW (especially a V8) as like a suction cup on the road. Extremely good handling. I haven't loved the hesitation, then take off of a V6 twin turbo in a lighter car. But I love BMWs, so have been curious about their EVs. But I've also wondered if EVs in general would have that same lighter but more powerful feel, if that makes sense.

EVs are heavy so I don't think they will feel light to you. In our i4, you can feel the weight when cornering. But the weight is in the floor so it has a good center of gravity and handling is still good. Plenty of power.

Anonymous wrote:How do you check the health of the battery when buying a used ev? What else is important to check?

How you check the battery is car dependent. There is an app called eFlow that works with BMW, MINI, Audi, Ford, Porsche, and VW EVs that will provide lots of data about the battery. It requires an ODB2 reader. You can buy a wireless one for less than $30. The BMW i3 also has a secret service menu that, if you know the correct codes, you can get into. In the worst case, just charge the car up to 100% and see what it says the range is. That will not necessarily be accurate, but it is better than nothing.

Also, cars.com has partnered with Recurrent which is a company that provides reports about battery status. It doesn't work with all brands, but for several you can simply click and see the report.

If you know what make and model of car in which you are interested, look for a forum for that car. Then check for the common problems and check the car for those. Also get the Carfax report. It might show the common problems have already been fixed.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any thoughts on how the BMW EVs drives compared to BMW ICE? Perhaps they are not comparable beasts?? I am trying to adjust to the switch in many ICE vehicles from to V6 twin turbo.

My previous car was a BMW 135i which had a straight six twin turbo. The main difference with the i4 is that it is larger and its suspension is not as firm. As far as power goes, it is very similar. My understanding is that the i4 was tuned to feel like an ICE car because BMW wanted to make switching seamless. With the i4, by default, one pedal driving is not much of a thing. Since that was my first EV, I didn't know anything about one pedal driving. But all our other EVs have it and I got used to it from them. Now I am a big fan of one pedal driving. That is probably the biggest difference between EVs and ICE that I have found.

Thanks for your thoughts. My brother drives an X Plaid and the power is intense. I find the power of a twin turbo too much when it kicks in, especially in lighter cars. But I compare a BMW (especially a V8) as like a suction cup on the road. Extremely good handling. I haven't loved the hesitation, then take off of a V6 twin turbo in a lighter car. But I love BMWs, so have been curious about their EVs. But I've also wondered if EVs in general would have that same lighter but more powerful feel, if that makes sense.

How do you check the health of the battery when buying a used ev? What else is important to check?