Tell me about your hybrid vehicle experiences

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

We had a plug-in hybrid, loved it, charged it overnight and got good mileage the next day without having to resort to gas, so it gave us the best of both worlds. And it was as quiet as you like!

 

[LuvOrlando]

New question, how pricey is it to charge an average battery? Are parking lot chargers sufficient?

I don't think that I am necessarily looking to save money but I sort of feel like the versatility of powering a vehicle with either gas or electric or a blend could make the fuel issues that keep coming up less worrisome. Storm coming, who cares I have a full car on both so I can manage past the fallout, same goes for the political upheavals and all that sort of stuff that keeps showing up in life. However, this stops being useful if the process of getting the electric charge itself is overly complicated, too demanding of my time or attention. Not so sure I want to deal with this at home, at least for now as I do not own our place so thinking of setting it up for temporary housing seems a nuisance. I really like the idea of doing this while I go grocery shopping, that is an hour easy. I could just do a regular outlet charge in our garage, the hybrid Pacifica claimed to have that ability so I guess that is an option. Thinking on it there is a limit to how much more I would be willing to spend for the versatility, I'm not sure what that limit is exactly but just like with most things it is too much at whatever number would cross over into annoying I guess.

 

[kdonnel]

I suppose that makes sense but I don't really have all that much confidence in the idea that any state actually directs tax dollars towards the earmarked purpose of roads and suspect that it is redirected most of the time.

At least in Georgia, since HB 170 passed in 2015, all state gas tax revenue goes to transportation, nothing goes to the general budget. Apparently that means that Georgia is one of the stricter states and might explain why it was also very early to the concept of an annual EV fee.

 

[kdonnel]

New question, how pricey is it to charge an average battery? Are parking lot chargers sufficient?

Depends on your cost of electricity and where you charge.

I would not be comfortable owning a PHEV or BEV if I did not have a way to charge at home. Part of the joy of driving electric is nevering having to deal with gas stations. Pubic charging would be like visiting a gas station.

In my case when charging at home my all in electric rate works out to $0.12 per kWh. That includes all charges, taxes, and fees.

My car has a 91 kWh battery. So 0-100 would cost $10.92.

A PHEV is likely to have a 10 to 20 kWh battery. So $1.20 to $2.40 for 0-100.

Public charging is likely to be several orders of magnitude more in cost. Maybe as low as $0.25 per kWh or as much as $1.00 per kWh. Likely erasing any cost savings.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Going by the Hybrid Pacifica it appeared as though the combination made fuel go a whole lot further for miles I could drive for the same dollars spent, unless I totally misunderstood the driving experience which is completely possible. To be fair I got the vehicle with it almost on empty for both gas and electric so I refilled with gas and didn't touch electric. My impression was that with some electricity to draw on and some fuel to draw on it got a whole lot more miles that I would ever risk if a gas tank alone looked that empty.

With regard to cost to fill assuming other costs equal I would be indifferent to a fill-up cost similar to gas if I got more milage from the combination as a buffer. If I got the same milage from same dollars as an equivalency then it comes down to whether or not the juice was worth the squeeze, as in, is the versatility provided enough to outweigh the complications so it would be a purely pragmatic decision given the way US current events keep veering towards gas instability. I don't like complications so path of least resistance all the way in driving my choices.

 

[sam_gordon]

Depends on your cost of electricity and where you charge.

I would not be comfortable owning a PHEV or BEV if I did not have a way to charge at home. Part of the joy of driving electric is nevering having to deal with gas stations. Pubic charging would be like visiting a gas station.

In my case when charging at home my all in electric rate works out to $0.12 per kWh. That includes all charges, taxes, and fees.

My car has a 91 kWh battery. So 0-100 would cost $10.92.

A PHEV is likely to have a 10 to 20 kWh battery. So $1.20 to $2.40 for 0-100.

Public charging is likely to be several orders of magnitude more in cost. Maybe as low as $0.25 per kWh or as much as $1.00 per kWh. Likely erasing any cost savings.

Shouldn't one factor in how often they need to charge and what the range is though?

 

[Aimeedyan]

We moved to a new town and I started driving a lot more than I ever have - but not on highways. All in town. My former car was killing me at the gas pump (and this was when gas was cheap!) so not long after we moved, I traded it in for a Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid. I don't have to charge it. It's extremely quiet and rides wonderfully.

I average 55-60 MPG on my daily commute - a tank lasts me a loooong time. It gets 35-40 on the highway when we take it on road trips or out of town. My former SUV was getting 17-19 MPG and required premium gas!

I gave up some luxuries from my Infiniti but can't imagine not continuing to drive a hybrid.

 

[Dan Murphy]

We moved to a new town and I started driving a lot more than I ever have - but not on highways. All in town. My former car was killing me at the gas pump (and this was when gas was cheap!) so not long after we moved, I traded it in for a Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid. I don't have to charge it. It's extremely quiet and rides wonderfully.

I average 55-60 MPG on my daily commute - a tank lasts me a loooong time. It gets 35-40 on the highway when we take it on road trips or out of town. My former SUV was getting 17-19 MPG and required premium gas!

I gave up some luxuries from my Infiniti but can't imagine not continuing to drive a hybrid.

Nice to see you, @Aimeedyan. Haven't seen you in ages here.

 

[kdonnel]

Shouldn't one factor in how often they need to charge and what the range is though?

Not sure I follow.

The question was cost.

Are you saying public charging might not be as annoying if you only have to charge rarely because of range or driving habits?

PHEV likely only charge via level 2. Slow, meaning potentially hours of time spent public charging. Really annoying unless you can tie charging to another task. Maybe you can charge at work?

BEV can DC Fast charge but the cost is 3 or more times more expensive than charging at home via a 120 or 240 outlet.

There are plenty of people who own BEV without home charging. I wouldn’t want to be one.