Anyone have some good electric cars?
So I have always hated Tesla and don't like that they've in a lot of way tarnished the name of electric cars. The second you say electric cars every person and their mom says OHH you're getting a tesla! Quite annoying.
Anyways, I'd like to hear from some of you folks some models of electrics you like. I have always been a gearhead deep in the gas and oil, and I still enjoy my cars, but an electric would be fun and a cost savings for me, especially since I have a ton of roof space for solar panels if I wanted to.
It sounds superficial but a big reason I used to hate electric cars is they are for the most part, hideous. Then again, to me, most new cars are hidous, the designs are just not good. But I think i can look past that.
It would also be a huge bonus if there were any models out there with the least possible features. I prefer cars with manual locks/seats/doors and no screen, which is of course impossible with current cars (sadly). But the less digital garbage the better.
The Polestar 2 is great at being a (fun) car first and a electric car second, if that makes sense. The door handles are just regular door handles, the instrument cluster has an extremely clean and minimal design without visual noise, there's physical buttons for the radio and defroster and the gear (direction) selector! Range isn't as amazing as Tesla 3, but as a daily car I think it's nicer. Also the optional tow hitch is rated for a 1t trailer load which is a bit more than the Tesla 3.
Skoda Enyaq is another good alternative, though slightly bigger, more of an SUV. The Honda E was really fun to drive, but a bit expensive given size and range. For smaller cars the Renault Zoë is a a top contender, and quite popular here Kia has a whole range of great EVs, as does VW.
If I was in the market for a new car, I'd be seriously looking at the new Mazda 6e right now. It looks slick as hell, and it's one of the very few non-SUV non-5-door-hatchback EVs on the market. Another alternative is BMW i4 and i5. The i5 is even available as a stationwagon / estate , which as far as I know is a first for EVs.
The Lucid looks slick as well, for those with deeper pockets :D
You didn't mention where you live or what size and budget you're looking at, some of these models may not be available in all markets, and as you can tell wary greatly in size and cost
Seconded on the P2! I bought a 2021 launch edition in October and still get excited every time I get behind the wheel lol.
The 2024+ Long Range Single motor (rear wheel drive) is rated for 655km which is pretty decent. Compared to the 2021 first gen dual motor (long range) which was rated at 390km
Concur on the PS2. Been super happy with ours.
Chose it because we disliked Musk and wanted buttons.
Cupra Born as the second car. Also been a problem free and fun little thing.
Today I would look at the EX60, I4 or Polestar 4.
All good Cars I didn't know about! I'm super out of the loop with electrics. I'm more in tune with 1967 to 2002 myself.
The polestar seems cool but a little too SUV like for my taste. Dang the Mazda 6 is sweet but of course we won't get it in the US!
Thanks for your input!
No personal recommendation, but around where I am, I think that Hyundai Ioniq has been the most-increasing-in-prominence car in the same base price range as the Tesla Model 3.
The Hyundai Kona is less-expensive than the Ioniq. I know a few people that drive that and say that they like it.
If you're determined to have less stuff, the Slate Truck isn't out yet, but as sold, base, it doesn't have automatic windows or a screen or or a radio or speakers. No car computer. No cell radio to phone home. You get airbags and climate control, and you can mount your cell phone or tablet or whatever on the dash if you want a car computer, and that's pretty much it. Also considerably smaller than current trucks. Kind of a 1980s no-frills truck, but electric.
I would not get a Hyundai Kona. It was never meant to be a EV, they just fitted batteries under a regular ICE car, so a lot of it just doesn't make sense.
I leased a Kona EV for the last couple years and I really liked it. Great city car, albeit a little cramped on the interior. The range was great but the charge time was pretty ass, making long road trips quite tedious.
I have the Ioniq 5 now and I like it almost as much. The range is a little better but the charge time is leagues ahead; more than twice as fast. It's bigger and feels like a boat in comparison with the Kona but I just tend to prefer smaller vehicles. If you go with the Ioniq I'd recommend the AWD, it makes acceleration so much smoother.
Wow that Slate truck is refreshingly simple, and kind of cute. I don't think it will ever come to the south east Asian market anytime soon as we are just flooded with Chinese EV, but I hope they get the traction they need to be sustainable.
I drive a Volkswagen ID.7 since soon 2 years now, had a Tesla Model 3 before that. Absolutely love the VW. It's a "real car" with manual controls where you expect them yet all the modernities you can imagine. The AR HUD is absolutely awesome giving you all the relevant information incl. navigation where you're looking without having to take your eyes off the road.
There's a big screen as well though, but it's not something you have to poke at to do regular stuff as in Teslas.
I don't have an electric car so I don't have any first hand knowledge/advice to give. However, the guy who runs the YouTube channel Technology Connections has a Hyundai Ioniq that he really likes and I believe it is a genuine expression. I think the biggest thing he doesn't like deals with how the car's internal navigation system handles recharging stops.
There’s an ICCU issue with them he experienced and while he still likes the car I believe he doesn’t recommend it as much until that gets sorted.
Taycan 4S Cross Turismo (wagon). Absolutely incredible car all around. Competent on a racetrack, comfy on long roadtrips, tons of cargo room, easy installation of a roof box for even more cargo, very fast DC charging.
Ain't perfect and I could rant about software/infotainment but I'm not paying for the now-expired internet connectivity and it's been totally fine not having that, especially with Android Auto working with GrapheneOS.
I have been seriously looking at one of these, what's your experience with maintenance costs?
Did my own cabin air filter replacement, fairly straightforward. I run separate sets of summer and winters on their own sets of wheels so I swap those out twice a year myself.
Only big ticket item so far was replacing brakes at 20k miles since I wore through them with five full track days. and I mean FULL, like every lap HARD braking from 140mph down to 65-75mph, and going as long each day as possible while leaving to recharge after 20-35 minutes of pushing it each session.
No real other maintenance so far and I've had it 3.5 years and its a tad over 30k miles. There have been a few scary error messages that all went away after the car was shut down and left for a few minutes, mostly camera/ADAS stuff but one time it was an error about the chassis leveling or something. AC stopped wotking once during a road trip but came back after the next charging stop.
One warranty repair done for a proximity sensor that stopped working well. And a few recalls. But the brakes have been the only spendy bit, that and it's the last season for this set of winter tires so tires and brakes basically!
Nice thanks for the info!
sure thing! Happy to answer any questions or review builds or listings, or give advice on options!
This car really is a treat to drive. Especially with four wheel steer and all the other performance goodies. But even the base Taycan sedan on springs with zero options is amazing to drive, honestly. Had one for a loaner and it was honestly great.
I've got a first-gen 2017 Chevy Bolt, battery upgraded by recall in the 2nd year we had it (price of being an early adopter). No complaints, no issues beyond having to tape over the chrome on the dashboard so I don't get blinded.
The only maintenance so far has been tires; brakes last forever thanks to one-pedal driving. Eventually we'll have to do the regular chassis stuff like bushings and struts, but at 60+k mi we're still a little ways away from that.
Srsly the best car I've ever owned.
Bolts live up to their name too. Much quicker than you’d suspect.
I have a 24 Aryia. I’ve got 13k miles on it and so far it’s been great.
I have over 40k kms on mine. No issues at all so far, aside from they really hobble that 400hp off the line so you don't cook tires.
I have the mid range one but I believe the top model has AWD and so you get a lot more go from a standing start.
I have the top model and you really don't. The power doesn't really come on until you're doing like 30-40 kph, even in stupid spaceship sound mode with all the traction control off.
I can't find the data now but from memory the AWD model is supposed to do 0-100kph in about 4 seconds as opposed to the 7.5 or so of the FWD models, so I assumed you'd be able to feel the difference 😆.
It's apparently 0-60 in 5 seconds, but the Subaru Solterra does the same with half the horsepower. They may have changed it for 2025, but you can't melt tires on the 2024, trust me. Once the power comes on it rips, just not out of the hole
Interesting that duel motors and AWD make hardly any difference! I'm quite happy with my single motor FWD performance, and it seems like they might be similar.
I also have a 2024 Ariya! Also love it, only had it less than 6 months (bought an ex-demo car for about 60% of the price of a new one).
Nissan have been making Leafs for years, built in Japan, we got the 63kWh mid-range model. It's not a huge SUV but big enough we can easily fit three kids in the back and they have leg room. Has all the bells and whistles, like adaptive cruise control, steering assist, auto wipers, auto-lock/unlock, bluetooth, beepy things when you get too close, uses Lidar not cameras like tesla, but also have cameras so you have the overhead 360 view. All sorts of beeps and barps for various warnings but you can turn off anything you don't like.
I'd say the most unusual part is that there's no separation of driver and front passenger footwell, just one giant gap. After reading about it online I did what others do and bought a baskety container thing and velcroed it to the floor so now there is so much storage for all the books and jerseys and whatever, on top of the two glove boxes.
Comes with free updates to the satnav maps that you can also do yourself (I ended up using my wife's Windows computer as I didn't get their software working on Linux, maybe someone else has had better luck).
There are things I don't like but overall, a solid car, no regrets. If you have more money they also sell a higher spec AWD version with a bigger battery. We get about 300km range on our 63kWh version by the time we fill it with stuff and 5 people.
We have an Audi e-tron GT. Wife wanted a 4-door car with a trunk and I wanted a low-slung sporty drive.
Not manual by any means, but it has Apple Car Play and buttons for almost everything else - aircon, media, driving controls etc.
We charge with excess solar so driving it is basically free.
How do you like it? Have you taken it to a racetrack? If not I highly recommend doing so if you have one close enough that also has DC charging nearby
The drive is very good, comfortable and you have the power when you need it available, but it’s not scary.
I’m not much of racetrack person myself. I can tell you that two child seats fit in the back, and on long journeys the battery lasts 300 miles even though the car is four years old.
There have been some recalls for it, to replace parts that I don’t know what they’re for. I haven’t figured out how to “log in” to the car so it always says “welcome guest” but I’m fine with that.
Honestly that's pretty fucking awesome.
My wife has a Honda clarity PHEV that goes about 40 miles on a charge and for the most part she only needs the engine for highway driving day to day.
From an engineering and tech standpoint Honda makes an impressive hybrid system I just wish they had it on the Odyssey. You can get it on the Civic and Accord hybrids.
I'm personally looking at the Pollstar and Volvo wagons since I won't get a Chrysler Pacifica PHEV. But I'm also taking a serious look at the Porsche Taycan as it's essentially a wagon.
The mustang Mach E is actually a decent car, one of my best friends wanted an EV and had not even thought about Ford when I suggested it. He test drove one and took it home that day!
I have also tested the VW id BUZZ and it's great but as a van it's not as good as the Odyssey.
What I want more than anything is Honda to get it's shit together but I'm at 200k and I won't wait forever so one of the above vehicles is going to get my money if Honda won't sell me what I want.
Toyota also makes some PHEVs as well. We've had a Toyota Prime for a few years and it's been fine.
I just don't like the Toyota hybrid. Prius prime was good when I test drove it but the rest are meh.
Fair
Do not buy the Hyundai Ioniq. The car itself is great (although it has a lot of modern features you dont want) but dealing with Hyundai is such a nightmare that I will never again buy a Hyundai.
A few years ago I got into a wreck in an Elantra (only me, no one else harmed) and none of the airbags went off. If I had been forward thinking enough to document it, I'd have filed a lawsuit immediately.
The car was great while I had it, all the bells and whistles, great mileage, everything. But I won't ever get one again for safety reasons.
Modern airbags only go off if you crash in a direction that they can help, e.g. if you slide sideways into a pole, you'd only expect curtain airbags to go off, not the one in your steering wheel. Airbags are dangerous so you only want them to go off when they aren't going to make things worse.
Though by the way you italicised "none", perhaps the car is full of airbags all over and they still didn't go off?
I also seem to remember a massive recall from a decade back because the world's biggest airbag manufacturer found many of their airbags didn't go off properly.
Dunno about the recall, but you're right in that I had airbags all around me. I hit a tree in the driver side door, neither airbag around the doorframe went off. I'm lucky I made it out with just a broken shoulder bone, among the other injuries I could have/did sustain.
Allegedly it was a spinout caused by over correction (I got knocked out by the impact and don't remember most of that night), so maybe the spinning motions fucked with the directional sensors, but I would expect in the event of a spinout collision, every airbag should go off, at least programming wise.
I don't know if airbags are connected enough to coordinate with each other, but you kind of expect they should err on the side of going off if unsure rather than not going off!
Just looked up the recall, apparently 100 million airbags recalled starting from 2013. It seems to have resulted in the bankruptcy of the company!
It might be a little early to be related to your crash if it was just a few years back. Hopefully you're doing ok now!
Very much might be then, it was a 2012/2013 Elantra, wish I'd known about the recall.
I have a Citroen E-Berlingo and I love it.
I wanted something with the best indoor space / outdoor footprint ratio I could get and also a car with a small battery, because imo big batteries on EVs defeat the purpose (too heavy, wears out tires and roads faster) and 99.9% of the time I travel less than 100km a day.
The same electric platform is on all Stellantis cars if I'm not wrong (eg. E-208, E-C3).
Also what I like about it is that I could opt out of all the "connected" junk and now it looks like a normal car (I don't use navigation, apps or anything, I just want my car to transport me).
The absolute most basic electric car you can get is probably the Dacia Spring.
Great, small car. Less than 20.000€ in Europe. It's the closest thing you can get to a bare-bones electric car, and it's absolutely lovely.
About a month ago it got a face-lift, giving it a solid-state battery.
Absolutely worth checking out.
Dacia Spring on the official UK Dacia website.
I have a 23 Mustang Mach E. Due to where I live, I felt AWD was necessary and that limited my EV options substantially (along with all the tax incentive changes happening at the time I ordered it in 2022).
Honestly though, while it's bigger than what I wanted and doesn't have as many manual features as I would prefer, it is a supremely fun vehicle to drive. I wish EV charging infrastructure was better so that taking it on a road trip was more feasible.
I bought my parents' 2021 Mach E last fall and I love it. I have the RWD extended battery version and it has plenty of range for what I need, mainly local driving and going between St. Louis and Kansas City. There's several high speed charging options on that route so I haven't had any issues and I can charge at home for daily drives.
I got a 2023 MME GT and my sentiments are almost the same. Great car. Scary fast when you put your foot all the way down. Feels huge, but I am coming from a Honda CRZ. All in, I'd say the CRZ was more fun, but the MME is a much better car overall.
The new Leaf is supposed to be pretty good, as far as appliance oriented transportation is concerned. VW has been putting out decent cars too for a while. Both these manufacturers fundamentally understand how to put a car together which puts them ahead of Tesla. I’m wary of Toyota and Honda offerings as they’ve spent a fair bit of time avoiding them. USA big 3 make some compliance cars, which are appliance grade but I’d only consider them if they’re dirt cheap.
Up-market, Volvo and Polestar are putting out some interesting cars, and if I had USD200k I could only use on a car, it would be a Lucid - politics aside, I think they’re doing some great engineering. BMW and Mercedes’s offerings are not inspiring, but Audi has some interesting stuff they share to some extent with VW.
The up front costs of car + solar are not negligible, but the operating costs are dirt cheap. I spend less on my payment than I used to spend on gas.
Leaf from Gen2 with battery temp control is good.
Love my kia Niro ev. Looks like any other normal car. Fun to drive.
We've got the Kia Niro Wind and I agree they're fun to drive. Wish it'd charge faster (capped at 75kW I think?) for long trips, but it's been more than fine for what we need
We’ve had our Niro EV for over 6 years now and it remains an excellent vehicle. The only failure so far was in the AC. Other than that, it had required almost no maintenance.
We did a proactive reduction gear oil change and had the brakes cleaned once due to lack of use (regen and driving style mean the brakes are not used frequently).
Love that it just looks normal.
Also had our AC die, leaked and needed a piece replacement. Was fixed under warranty though so not really a problem.
BYD is very popular here in Australia. Tried one out and it just goes.
BYD is very popular everywhere, it just overtook Tesla as the biggest EV manufacturer.
Personally I avoided BYD due to the whole China data sovereignty thing, but from what I hear their cars are solid.
My neighbor has a Volvo EX90, and he swears by it. It replaced his older Tesla S, and he says the build quality is leagues apart.
EX90 is far from a "simple" car, though. And a lot larger than most people need.
The EX90 is the largest in that model line. I've personally been looking into the EX40. I just haven't researched the tracking, if any, involved with this model.
I cannot speak to the tracking of other models, but it is my understanding that it mostly comes down to time and position, as mandated by the SOS-system that all modern cars have. Beyond that, there's the mobile app (optional, but recommended) that doesn't seem to require any permissions that aren't expected.
The above should mostly be considered an opinion as it's based on my 2019 XC90. The firmware seems to be the same as the newer models, though. And I doubt that the leap from XC to EX is very long. As for the smaller models, I co sider them to be in the same family, so it wouldn't surprise me if the tracking is more or less the same across all of them.
That's a bit of a problem with eclectic cars. Most of them are huge SUV's or tiny city cars. Is there even an electric estate car?
Going by Volvo, as those are the cars I know best (recently replaced my tank of a 940 with an xc90), maybe ex40 or ex30 is your thing? Or is that still too big?
BMW i5 Touring and Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo are the only electric stationwagons I know of. I share your dispair at the lack of "medium" size electric cars. For a decade there was only one sedan, the Tesla S. And later a second sedan, the Tesla 3. At least these days there's greater selection of sedans, though still not many wagons. Although to be fair there's hardly even fossil wagons for sale these days.
The prevelance of tiny or massive EVs kinda make sense. Small city cars are usually used for shorter journeys so they can get away with a smaller lighter batteries. Big SUVs are heavy to begin with, so the heavy battery doesn't make that a massive difference. Fossil sedans and estates can be relatively light but are still often used for long journeys, but a longrange sedan EV will be very heavy.
That's my issue too. I want an electric wagon or car. Not an SUV. Basically an electric 2004 wrx wagon is what i need!
Kia ev6 has been going strong. The only downside for me is the first gen doesn't have wireless carplay.
We got a relatively cheap adapter that works great. It’s from Ottocast. I don’t know what the current/new model is like but ours works pretty well with two phones of the primary drivers.
I see Rivians around a lot. Not sure how good they are but they are way prettier than Tesla's. Polestar also makes some nice vehicles. Both are still a little pricey though.
The wife and I love her Volkswagen id4. It is comfy, gets good mileage, and is cheap on the used market.
They all devalue badly.
Shop used right now to take advantage. Low mileage EV's are crazy cheap. We saw 'used' vehicles with less than 30 (not thousand) miles for half off, straight from the dealer, full warranty. Much cheaper than a combustion counterpart.
At the price we paid, even if the car is worth $0 at the end of five years, we'll have done alright.
Which I don't understand really.
The only think about the VW I don't like (I drive one for work), is that it uses your phones internet to connect, so if you want to use Wifi and connect to your car...you cant.
That may be an optional setting I haven't found yet, but beyond that I like the car.
I’m waiting for it to get the id.Buzz. I want one of them badly. Can’t wait!
If you can handle the slow charging any chevy bolt from 2022-2024 is a good buy for second hand. If you need bells and whistles you'll need to spring for the mid trim euv which has adaptive cruise, lane assist and some automated driving on the highway. For the auto driving you'll need to spring for onstar so it'll be a monthly subscription. You could also import a BYD if you're in the states.
https://www.wired.com/story/this-is-how-you-get-a-chinese-ev-into-the-united-states/
That article says you can't import a byd unless its a subcompact that you license as a low-speed vehicle. Meaning it can't go over 35mph, so basically a golfcart.
You can always go the route of converting an older car. https://www.fellten.com/system/mini
Not a real option. Expensive and no one can fix it.
Buddy of mine has a Fiat 500e and it's surprisingly non-gadgety. If you don't need cargo, more than one passenger, or out of town range it's probably exactly what you want.
Doesn't have one pedal driving though. At least his doesn't. That's a no-brainer feature on an EV.
I only drive manual so I don't need 1 pedal drive..I forgot fiat made the 500 electric !
I wouldn't knock it until you've tried it. I would never get an EV without 1 pedal drive. The only downside is it takes a few days to get used to, which isn't great when test driving and coming from 2 pedal. It feels weird at first.
I think if he's used to a manual he'll be fine. 1 pedal just feels like aggressive engine braking.
For me the adaptation period was... 2 hours? Maybe?
Pretty much all BEVs are single speed direct drive. You should reserve judgment till you drive one.
1 pedal driving actually feels more like a manual than an automatic. The regenerative braking feels like engine braking (because it is). I vastly prefer driving a a BEV with 1 pedal driving to a manual transmission in city traffic or on hills - the two of which make up the majority of my driving. I also vastly prefer driving a manual to driving an automatic in the same situations. Automatics legitimately feel unsafe to me by comparison - they WANT to run away from you going down hills and rear end the people in front of you.
One pedal is one reason with so many Teslas have front collisions.
Same thing people said about automatic transmissions and cruise control. Non-issue.
EDIT: Don't bother arguing. I get it, you don't like Elon. Shit on him all you want. If you want to criticize a car, learn what you're talking about first.
Generally, anything that isn't a Tesla because politics aside, Teslas are built terribly and are reportedly already falling apart, so not only is the Tesla brand saddled with baggage, but the cars themselves are built like crap.
Performance-wise if you're filthy rich, the Rimac Nevera is one of the fastest EVs in existence and snatched performance records left and right when it launched.
If you have mech and electrical skills, you could also build your own out of something like a Geo or an older Civic by swapping the gas drivetrain for the drivetrain out of a wrecked EV, although you'd need a custom controller for it.
The ford lightning has been a very good truck for me so far.
Range is a bit less then I would like but having all the plugs and the capacity to move things around are things I use every day.
Absolutely loving my Mustang Mach-e, gets almost 400km of range, Cost's under $40k CAD used, and just an absolute blast to drive.
Traded mine in for the lightning, but the MachE was a great car except it made the kids in the back seat car sick.
I have a Chevy Blazer which is nice except it lacks android auto. If I drove professionally their OnStar is enough better than Android Auto (and I assume Car Play) as to be worth the price, but I don't drive much and so it isn't worth the cost.
My wife has a Pacifica PHEV which is a decent compromise - we probably save $200/month by driving electric, but can make long trips through desolate areas without worrying about finding a charge (some of them are desolate enough that we have to worry about finding gas - though if you plan either will work: gas just needs planning the next 20 miles while electric is plan the next null.
Of what I’ve personally driven, even for just a test drive.
Tesla S: meh Tesla 3: cramped for a tall guy Rivian truck: middle back seat is super uncomfortable. Only option is 1PD (one pedal driving) and I hated that. Everything else about it was cool Polestar: again, not good for tall people MachE: great unless you have to ride in the back seat. Plenty of room, but likely to induce motion sickness Lightning pickup: perfect, no notes except its overall bigger than it needs to be. Loading stuff up in the bed is more of a pain than it needs to be. Some people don’t like the range, but I’ve done a couple 1500+ mile road trips and never minded it.
I'm sorry, how TF does one pedal driving work? That sounds terrifying
Instead of a brake pedal, you take your foot off the go pedal with the electric wheel motor slowing the wheel down and stealing its energy
Is there any way to control how fast you slow down?
They have a setting for intensity and they always have a traditional break as well. It took a fair bit of getting use to when i started driving an EV but feels perfectly natural now. On the rare occasion i drive a petrol car, i have some close calls when I take my for off the accelerator and it just keeps going
Cards on the table, I've only driven one EV and it has a brake pedal.
The more you lift off the pedal, the more it brakes. You also change the settings on the car to change the severity of braking with regards to the lift off pressure
any that have the option of not being tracked?
No, but that's not EV specific.
if it has license plates or even just any number of bumper stickers, it's already been being tracked.
true enough, but there are degrees of tracking
sure, and I agree that constantly connected cars can consume crap
Pretty sure tracked vehicles generally aren't allowed on roads or I'd be driving a tank to work :>
I have only drove electics in car sharing. Models were Tesla Y and VW iD.3. I really liked Tesla for how fast it would speed up. But really fuck the main console and controls. Nothing is more annoying to me is 1 pedal driving (can be changed) and to look at main console to check speed. Fuck that shit with the deepest corners of my heart.
iD.3 was kind of fun. Also is quite powerful machine with lower range. Drive controls are bullcrap but at least they work. It has a better console imo and what is epic is windshield projection of speed and line assistance. Going from Tesla's "Look at the left bottom of the screen on the console" to "Just keep looking ahead while glancing slightly down on the road to check speed" is an insane difference to me. I believe SAABs had this first back in the day. It is indeed a game changer. Should really be in every car.
My city also recently had an influx of BYD electrics and it seems people like them.
Chevy Bolt EUV (sorta kinda bigger than a normal Bolt) Premier without self driving: very good.
Cheap feeling like any American car. Infotainment is trash; you can't skip tracks on CarPlay using the steering wheel controls most of the time because it's always indexing. A problem no other OEM or even the cheapest of aftermarket radios I've ever touched has had. Remote climate control (essentially what we always mean when we say remote start) is locked behind a $50/mo OnStar subscription. Spies on you to sell data.
But, it costs like $30-40 a month to drive, it's zippy enough, I've got front and rear seat warmers, it's a hatch, and most importantly, it was a steal. We got it like four days before the tax credits were eliminated. Before that I'd have said EVs were the only deals to be had in the automotive space. Now there simply are no deals. My $18k Bolt Premier was the last chopper out of 'Nam for getting anything resembling a decent deal of a car.
We like it. Charging at home is nice. We hope it doesn't break. Hybrid is a smarter buy because of the added flexibility afforded by gas but again, you weren't getting any 2022 fully* loaded hybrid with 60k miles for $18k. Since this isn't our only vehicle this was the easy choice.
FYI they dropped the EUV naming. The new 2027 Bolt is just the SUV version now without the distinction.
Yeah. It's a great looking car and all the upgrades sound great. I don't think I could go for that model though due to the lack of CarPlay. I don't think companies replacing existing value with enshitified subscriptions should be rewarded for those decisions. Then again I could never afford a new one anyway, haha.
I love my iX, fantastic family car.
Man, I love how ugly that thing looks!
The beaver 🦫
THE BEAAAVERRRR
UK. Wife has a Mini Aceman.
Gets about 200 miles range and is very fun to drive.
The only thing I dislike is the almost total absence of any physical buttons.
I got a 2021 Chevy Bolt. Insanely cheap, has worked great. We have the highest trim model, but you can get lower ones with less features.
In the peak of used car nonsense post covid, we traded a 2012 Nissan Sentra (no trim level) with 80k miles for the 2021 Bolt with less than 3k miles. After tax incentives, I think the difference was $2,500. It didn't make sense at the time and still doesn't. But people were really afraid of electric cars then.
I don't recall special EV fear at that time. I recall insanely cheap gas prices in the summer of 2020 and a drastic reduction in commute demand. Once the excess oil was depleted and production hadn't come back up to speed by like summer of 2021, gas prices shot up. I'm deep in a sub/urban mix, so that affects my experience, I'm sure. While all cars had their market value increase at that point, used EVs and Hybrids had an additional 50%+ markup, comparatively. I was shopping for them and ended up passing on the idea due to excess price. I vaguely remember prices being about $12k for ~2010 Priuses and $5k for 1st gen Leafs with deteoriated 50-mile batteries. I don't recall Volt/Bolt prices and was already disinterested in Teslas.
I think it was peak buyers remorse. People wanted electric but didn't fully know the downsides. For example, our Bolt had a battery that said like 230 miles. I'm in the Midwest... Cold highway driving makes that like 140 or so, no joke. It's just not a road trip car.
We knew that going in, so it's a great second car. But I think some people realized that no road trip ability plus hour long charging stops were just not going to cut it.
Legit in the dead of winter it was like 60/40 driving vs charging time. Charging for an hour got you like 90 minutes of driving.
Rivians are everywhere here in LA, but they seem to only be for the rich.
I’m keeping an eye on Aptera, a solar powered vehicle based in San Diego that may start delivering this year.
Aptera has been saying this since 2017.
Personally, I like the Mach E, but I have some fundamental complaints about EVs right now, specifically, they looks like ICE cars. The propulsion method has changed, but the packaging has not updated to fit the new capabilities. Electric cars now are like jets in the 1950's, we need to move past old frames and ideas and work to make the vehicle fit the motor better. Also, EVs are too damn big, and thats because charging infrastructure is a fragmented PITA right now. We wouldn't need 250 mile+ capable vehicles if you could count on having a fast charger at most highway exits.
I’ve been following them for a few years and they’ve been very transparent about their progress. They’re building their production-intent validation vehicles now, so unless there are any major flaws they can’t work out, shipping this year or next seems possible. The world needs a vehicle that costs nothing to operate — at least in places with a lot of sun like California.
Well, I don't know if you saw the news, but Aptera'a first vehicle rolled off their low volume production line yesterday!
Maybe they will make deliveries this year...
I've had one on pre-order for 10 years at this point. Tell me about how close we are.
Lucky enough to have a 2025 Peugeot E-2008 GT, and it's a great car honestly.
I quite like the design though if you're into the smaller and sleeker cars it may not be for you.
BMW i3 is pretty cheap used and a ridiculously fun car for what it is. Highly recommend that as well (I commented earlier talking up the Taycan but that ain't cheap)
The Oshkosh NGDV looks promising, there's also the Rivian EDV.
MG ZS EV. Nothing comparable in value for the price. Yes it's Chinese. No (other) downsides after a few years but software that greets us with the wrong date (but shows the correct one).
Very happy with a KIA EV6.
I just bought a vauxhall/opel frontera.
Its not the fastest or sleekest out there but its cheap, got lots of physical buttons instead of everything deep in menus on a touch screen. Its got manual seats, its even got a metal key to start the "engine". The screens dont do too much either, they are quoted as saying they went for a sort of digital detox with this car. I am very happy with it personally.
Its a mid sized SUV and its perfect for me and my small family.
Take a look
https://www.vauxhall.co.uk/cars/frontera/overview.html?ppc=GOOGLE_3388182988_21767604605__&_vsrefdom=mca
Been seeing a bunch of ionics around my semi rural area with very much not the infrastructure already existing.
There are no good electric cars.