Like me, you can pin your hopes on the 2022 VW Microbus: https://www.caranddriver.com/volkswagen/microbus

Chrysler sells Pacifica Hybrid (which is actually a plug in hybrid, so pretty close to all electric in every day situations). 2021 Toyota Sienna is also going to be a hybrid (but not a plug in).

Yeah I looked at that Pacifica hybrid. Sadly the all-electric range is too small for our use case.

Didn’t know about the Sienna. That could be interesting. From what I understand the Toyotas are fairly hackable to turn them into plugin hybrids.

The all electric range is not a big deal in a PHEV. That’s what the gas engine is for!

But the whole point is to be more environmental. There is no point in getting a whole new car just to mostly use gas.

There is certainly a point for most people to use a plug-in hybrid if the price is not too high. Most trips are short. You only take long trips a few times a year. (or maybe a few times a month if you drive a lot, but that still equals most trips being short). Thus you have "infinite range" via the petrol engine and the vast majority of trips are all electric. This makes total sense.

If you're already getting a new car, it makes sense to get a hybrid. But it doesn't make sense to replace a working car to get a hybrid. It barely makes sense to replace a working car to get an all electric, but it makes sense if you have solar.

A lot of plug in hybrids have an incredibly short range. It’s not a bad idea, but many of the implications are due to fleet requirements not customer demand so they end up with sub 20 mile ranges when new and that drops quickly due the large number of charge / discharge cycles.

How can they get so close but then still miss the mark.

> I've been waiting years for an electric minivan. The moment someone comes out with one, I'm turning in my current minivan, which I love, for an all electric van.

Bad news: while you can still buy minivans, they're being phased out in favor of SUVs. Dodge just put the nail in the coffin for the Grand Caravan, and production stops this year: https://www.thedrive.com/news/33702/death-of-an-icon-dodge-g...

The investments are in the SUV/CUV segment where profit rates are higher.

Yeah I noticed that trend too. :( It’s a shame because we had both and the van is just so much easier for hauling 6 people than any SUV out there.

The Dodge Grand Caravan and the Chrysler Town and Country were the same vehicle with badge engineering. The Town and Country was replaced by the Chysler Pacifica in model year 2017, but they kept making the Caravans on the old design with Dodge branding for cost concious buyers. In model year 2020, (Fiat) Chrysler is renaming the low end Pacifica models to Chrysler Voyager --- it could easily have been called a Dodge, but I guess they're trying to clean up Dodge to be muscle cars and trucks, like Ford is trying to do with their line up.

> Dodge just put the nail in the coffin for the Grand Caravan

Its replacement is the Chrysler Voyager (another miniman, same parent company, different brand), not an SUV or CUV.

The Grand Caravan interior was from 2005. It was showing its age. Also why make a minivan that sells around 30k when you can make an SUV that sells for 50k. It makes me sad but that is capitalism for ya.

Same.

The Model X gets pretty close, but is way too gimmicky with it's touchscreen everything and cutesy doors.

A modern minivan is already the most sophisticated vehicle on the road. I just want one in electric.

The Model X sadly does not have nearly the versatility of my Honda Odyssey.

And it costs an extra $100K. :)

The model X is more expensive, but it’s not $100K more than a new Honda Odyssey. Heck, it’s not $100K more than your current Odssey! The X starts at $80k, while the Oddysey costs somewhere between $30k and $45k.

It’s only the top of the line performance trim that costs $100K.

Maybe I’m misremembering but in 2017 I think the maxed out Model X was $138,000 and my Honda was $45,000, so almost $100K difference.

I believe you’re right, prices appear to have dropped.

I don't know about the US, but here in the UK, the word "caravan" does have negative connotations for a lot of people. It conjures images of ungainly and flimsy caravans pulled by cars [0]

[0] https://images.app.goo.gl/Lg62ijPT1Bt9apNeA

Toyota, out of all companies, is planning on releasing an electric Proace:

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/new-toyota-proace-ev-sche...

Not exactly a minivan and probably won't reach the US, but it's a start.

At least they’ll prove it makes sense! Maybe it will motivate Honda to do an electric Odyssey.

Those kind of vehicles are fairly popular in Europe.

Ford is launching an electric Transit at the end of 2021 ('22 models.) We have a larger family, so we're hopeful the range, power and cost will be acceptable. Swapping out low MPG large commercial and passenger vans for electric will prevent a lot of gasoline and diesel usage.

Unfortunately this model is available only in Europe

Supposedly it will have a US launch in a couple of years. We are disadvantaged against the Transit’s relative popularity in Europe, though, so it’s possible they will not see it through.

It's not just "popularity" - EU govt is subsidizing EVs big-time (tax breaks) to where all available EV capacity is going to Europe for many car manufacturers.

>> current minivan

"Current" would actually be a good model name for an electric vehicle.

On that theme, there was the Chevy Volt... but I don't think Resistance would be a good choice.

Watt!?

I would totally drive a Honda Current.

Especially an electric boat.

Nissan had one since 2012, but only recent oneS have reasonable battery sizes

Apparently not here in the US. :(

Mercedes-Benz are currently launching the EQV minivan.