[camo]

I got the call this evening that my FE was dropped off at the dealership still all wrapped up. I am going to go see it on Monday. I am still torn on whether to take the leap to an EV over my Sportage. Question, has it been determined the range of the EV6 FE on the highway going 75? 85? Am I really going to save on gas and mantaince? If I get the FE it will be my commute to work (50 miles a day) car and my errands ( running small bottles of welding gas, art supplies, hand tools). Will it work and not be a big step back from my Sportage SX? Any advice, and helpful comments appreciated so I can make a decision to buy the FE that I have reserved.

 

[SirSleepsAlot]

Some things to think about:

1. You'll probably save over $100 per month on gas alone (after subtracting electricity cost).
2. Maintenance is a safety check every 2 years (plus some odds and ends).
3. Global warming!
4. You'll probably need a 240v outlet in garage or wherever you'll charge at home. A home "charger"/EVSE is also needed (~$500-700). You might get away without if you can charge at work.
5. Plugging in takes but a second. You will laugh when you go by gas stations!
6. Range generally will not be something you worry about day-to-day - only for road trips. Road trips will take some planning but there are plenty of apps (e.g., "A better route planner") that do most of the work for you. We've had a Leaf (~80 mile range) for in city driving for 8 years and loved it. However, If you travel at 85mph (Montana? Wyoming? Texas?) you will definitely see the range decrease quickly.
7. EV6 is amazingly fun to drive with about every safety and convenience feature around.
8. Did I mention global warming!?

 

[vijay]

I got the call this evening that my FE was dropped off at the dealership still all wrapped up. I am going to go see it on Monday. I am still torn on whether to take the leap to an EV over my Sportage. Question, has it been determined the range of the EV6 FE on the highway going 75? 85? Am I really going to save on gas and mantaince? If I get the FE it will be my commute to work (50 miles a day) car and my errands ( running small bottles of welding gas, art supplies, hand tools). Will it work and not be a big step back from my Sportage SX? Any advice, and helpful comments appreciated so I can make a decision to buy the FE that I have reserved.

I've been driving EVs as my commute car since 2010 from the very restricted range Nissan Leaf to my long-range Tesla model 3 and as of this evening, my EV6. I'd say that there is almost no doubt that you'll save oodles on gas and maintenance, unless you pay some ungodly amount for electricity. I live in California which has pretty high electricity rates, but they do offer a discounted night rate which is when I charge my EV.

For what you are doing, an electric car will probably give you zero range anxiety as long as you install a home charger that runs about $500 or so. With something like that, you'll be able to charge overnight even if you are very low on charge when you pull into your garage.

Road trips (let's say more than 200 miles one-way) are the one place where you'll feel a slight compromise ... it will take a little planning, but that's all it is. Most highways now have chargers along the way but I'd say Tesla still wins that one with their incredible network of fast chargers. If you don't expect your EV to be a road-trip car OR if you dont mind some planning around your road trips, (I'd say add about a 30 minute charge-and-coffee-break each 150 to 200 miles) and you should be fine. The EV6 does support fast DC charging but (i) I dont think the availability of those chargers are as common as Tesla supercharges are and (ii) the range of the EV6 is still substantially below those of Tesla and (iii) you don't say where you live, but the range of these things drop dramatically in cold weather. Not a problem in California, but very evident in Duluth, Minnnesota where my brother lives and his commute (and only) car is a Plugin Hybrid.

If you can live with that one trade-off (or if you have a second gas car), I'd say it's an easy win in terms of gas and maintenance for the EV6 or similar EV over a gas car (sorry, don't know the sportage so can't specifically talk about that).

Hope that helps.

 

[Bronco7777]

I've been driving EVs as my commute car since 2010 from the very restricted range Nissan Leaf to my long-range Tesla model 3 and as of this evening, my EV6.

Nice breakdown @vijay Just curious. Regarding your LR M3, what is your real world driving range in that car for in-city use? I'm assuming you have 18" or 19" wheels. If you've used your M3 for long distance road trips, what was your real world range on that?

 

[vijay]

Nice breakdown @vijay Just curious. Regarding your LR M3, what is your real world driving range in that car for in-city use? I'm assuming you have 18" or 19" wheels. If you've used your M3 for long distance road trips, what was your real world range on that?

Hi Bronco, I live in California and I have just the normal stock wheels on the LR Dual Motor version. For in-city use, I probably get something just short of the rated range although I'm not certain, because most of my driving involves hitting the highway. I usually charge it to about 270 miles or so, since that's what Tesla recommends and I easily get 200-250 even on highway speeds. I only charge it to 100% if I am planning a road trip. I've been super-impressed by their road-trip charging network. I've taken the car from the San Francisco Bay Area on various road trips including up to Telluride, Colorado (multi-day trip, lots of mountains) and to Arizona, as well as North up to the Oregon border. I drive up to Napa often and I have never felt even the faintest bit of range anxiety because of the excellent well distributed fast charging network.

On the other hand, the clunky build quality, mediocre software and the duplicity of charging me $5000 for "Full Self Driving" that wasn't delivered in the 2 years I had the car led me to ditch the car. FYI Tesla was just rated #27 out of 28 brands in the Consumer Reports Reliability ratings, and I am not surprised based on my personal experience. - Tesla makes some of the least reliable cars, Consumer Reports says. See which brands came out on top.

 

[camo]

I've been driving EVs as my commute car since 2010 from the very restricted range Nissan Leaf to my long-range Tesla model 3 and as of this evening, my EV6. I'd say that there is almost no doubt that you'll save oodles on gas and maintenance, unless you pay some ungodly amount for electricity. I live in California which has pretty high electricity rates, but they do offer a discounted night rate which is when I charge my EV.

For what you are doing, an electric car will probably give you zero range anxiety as long as you install a home charger that runs about $500 or so. With something like that, you'll be able to charge overnight even if you are very low on charge when you pull into your garage.

Road trips (let's say more than 200 miles one-way) are the one place where you'll feel a slight compromise ... it will take a little planning, but that's all it is. Most highways now have chargers along the way but I'd say Tesla still wins that one with their incredible network of fast chargers. If you don't expect your EV to be a road-trip car OR if you dont mind some planning around your road trips, (I'd say add about a 30 minute charge-and-coffee-break each 150 to 200 miles) and you should be fine. The EV6 does support fast DC charging but (i) I dont think the availability of those chargers are as common as Tesla supercharges are and (ii) the range of the EV6 is still substantially below those of Tesla and (iii) you don't say where you live, but the range of these things drop dramatically in cold weather. Not a problem in California, but very evident in Duluth, Minnnesota where my brother lives and his commute (and only) car is a Plugin Hybrid.

If you can live with that one trade-off (or if you have a second gas car), I'd say it's an easy win in terms of gas and maintenance for the EV6 or similar EV over a gas car (sorry, don't know the sportage so can't specifically talk about that).

Hope that helps.

Thanks ViJay! My Wife and I got to see the car on Monday and sit in it but not drive it as it was charging and our salesman had something come up. We are going back on Friday to look at it again. Do you have any suggestions of things we should look at, etc? I know I want to test the self parking, sitting in the back seat (checking if comfortable for passengers and our kids) the heater, heated seats, the heat pump(if I can figure out how to turn it on) as we live in Colorado and being warm driving and commuting is important.

 

[madmike]

The real life range I have seen in various videos is ~200 miles at ~70mph. Temperature/hills etc can of course make major adjustments necessary.

 

[SirSleepsAlot]

Thanks ViJay! My Wife and I got to see the car on Monday and sit in it but not drive it as it was charging and our salesman had something come up. We are going back on Friday to look at it again. Do you have any suggestions of things we should look at, etc? I know I want to test the self parking, sitting in the back seat (checking if comfortable for passengers and our kids) the heater, heated seats, the heat pump(if I can figure out how to turn it on) as we live in Colorado and being warm driving and commuting is important.

I’d suggest don’t worry about heat pump as it’s integrated into heating system to upgrade its efficiency. To test system just put climate on auto and adjust temperature like an ICE car.