Re:Q2 2020 Update
by CydeWeys on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @05:52PM
(#23922004)
So you'll be getting the e-Golf? I just looked it up and its range is only 123 miles; is that enough?
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You need 300 mile rated range bare minimum or you are going to be in for a lot of headaches. That range is only actually 300 miles when the climate is good (not too cold) and you are driving like a grandma. If you're in a cold climate or you want to do 80 on the highway or a lot of quick accelerating/stopping or elevation changes that range goes down.
On top of that, you really don't want to drive the car down to 0% charge for obvious reasons so you want to give yourself at least a 5-10% cushion to your destination (aka you never get below that threshold), so slice another 5-10% off the car's useful range.
Then of course the battery natural degrades after a lot of charge/discharge cycles. I love my model 3 long range and this is why other car companies producing EVs under 300 mile range for the same price as a tesla are a joke.
Not if you have 2 cars (or are willing to rent) and a short commute (covid? why buy a car at all?). I rarely drive more than like 25 miles in a day. Even most of the close hikes I do are within about 30 miles of my house.
I could see the e-Golf being a good second car for a couple, and then use the longer range car for longer weekend trips, but as an only car, no. That range is just too limiting, and if I owned a car I would be driving around on an average of at least one drive per month that the e-Golf wouldn't be capable of doing without a recharge but that the Model 3 can. We're talking vacations, going hiking, visiting family who live several states away, etc. I definitely would not remotely consider, as an only car, having one so limiting that I'd be renting another car every month for longer trips. That just doesn't make sense.
The big surprise for me with the non-Tesla electric cars is that they're not even that much cheaper, if at all than a Tesla. The e-golf is apparently around $30k, when for $5k more you could get a TM3 with 100 miles more of range. The Chevy Bolt is closer in both range and price, but you don't get supercharging, and a much crappier interior.
You can get them used much cheaper. A used Leaf, e-Golf, whatever, can be had for as little as $10k. Teslas don't lose value like that. I'd definitely consider a used cheap EV as a second city car.