unexpected "opportunity" to be all-EV family

[Tahoe Man]

We’re thinking about a phev as our second car/road trip vehicle because range anxiety, charging infrastructure, and two small kids. What do folks recommend for that? Highlander still a thing? Also what happens when the electric battery part of the phev goes to zero? Ie what if you can’t plug in for a week?

Plugin hybrids are great. You just charge them when you can, no forced charging. If you can't it's not a big deal. When we road trip, I drive it like a regular hybrid on the freeways. When we get to our destination, I push a button and have the engine charge the battery, then we drive on electric around the city, quiet and smooth. When battery depletes, repeat. We stay at VRBOs, so no forced stays at hotels just to charge. No having to eat at certain charge stops either. Busted chargers, no big deal just continue on gas. No frustrations trying to find a charger or getting it to work or do any type of planning. No calling EA for an hour. No apps needed either. When you get home, your back on electric from your home charger. We're about 75% electric/25% gas and that's doing a lot of roadtrips.

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[BoIsADog]

Had a Ford Mach-E in addition to an R1T. With the underdeveloped tech on the Mach-E, we sold it for a Tesla Model Y Performance. Just from the last month of ownership, I wish I had the Tesla sooner. It definitely makes road tripping and traveling easier, as there are many more chargers to rely on. I've used one Electrify America 350W station with CCS adapter, when a nearby Tesla Supercharger station was full. Worked like a charm.

I agree. I have a Mach E with R1T. Ford's system is underdeveloped. Wish I got a Tesla instead. Before the R1T, I had a Polestar 2. I loved that too. We've been all EV for a few years. Easy.

 

[TheLTrain]

We recently got an R1S as an refresh for my 19 yr old vehicle. Quite the upgrade.

Our other car is only ~14 years old, so we thought we had a few more years. A few shudders and some strange accelerations this week, and we're facing a major engine repair that will be expensive and take ~2 weeks.

Fate has a sense of humor, eh?

So < 2 months after getting a Rivian, we're contemplating buying another car. Not what we expected . . . things could be worse. We'd like to go all EV, though we thought we had a few years to consider all the new models coming out, how to accommodate a second charger in our garage, and save up a bit.

We're looking at the "usual suspects" of other EVs: Tesla (M3 or MY), VW id4, Ioniq 5, Kona, Bolt. The good news is that it now seems dealers have some in stock, rather than getting on a wait list.

For those that are > 1 EV car owners, what's your experience with Rivian plus another EV? Is having a Tesla helpful because of access to Superchargers, or a pain because of different home charging needs? (Or a bit of both?) Recommendations on a "good pairing" in terms of complimentary capabilities?

I should say that range is an important factor as this car supports work activities that can involve regular (but not necessarily daily) 200+ mile commutes.

Many thanks in advance for suggestions and advice!

Dual EV for six months now and loving it. Tesla S is a great complement to the R1T, and one home charger is plenty. Have never had the need to charge both at the same time. Also, an adapter takes care of switching between them. Like having access to the Tesla network and the better efficiency for long trips.

 

[AllInev]

We’re all EV (see sidebar). Rivian handles the long-haul duty, i3 is local only, Golf splits the difference a bit in that it opens up the radius more than the BMW.

Never looking back. Never had to use a Supercharger either.

Similar. Chevy Bolt is our second EV. Doesn’t charge quickly at DC chargers, but consistently provides more than 250 miles of range on a full charge. The R1T is the road-tripper, but the Bolt is an awesome greater-metro vehicle.

 

[photontorque]

You all are the best, thanks! Encouraging to read the positive experiences of so many EV-only households, and it's good to be reminded of other options too. Also great to hear that there are several cases of 2 EVs sharing the same charger, or chargers that can support 2 EVs.

We have some figuring to do, and this discussion helps understand the landscape.

 

[photontorque]

I find it funny how people think they can tell others what they "need." We have a two career marriage and have needed to make intercity trips simultaneously on several occasions in the past year. So we are very happy with two Teslas and not having to worry about those times when we are both need to travel more than 100 miles from home for the day.

Ha! Solving the two-body problem with two Teslas, nice!

I interpret sub's comment to be what I requested -- I asked for advice. We are all products of our own experience, and to be fair the post starts with "Personally".

In any case, good to hear your experience, too! The range on the Teslas, and the charging network, are definite checkmarks in the "pro" column for a Tesla considering our use case(s). (And the ability to get a charging adapter for our existing charger overcomes another hurdle.)

 

[Trandall]

I'm same as apparently many others here R1T and a Mach-E California Route 1 edition. My wife and I are very happy with the choice of dual EV's. The Mach-E I feel is very compelling with the newest update to Blue Cruise. Other good options are Tesla 3 or Y, Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, ID4. @photontorque be sure to let the group know your final decision so we can endlessly debate if you made the right choice.

 

[bgoldber88]

We’re thinking about a phev as our second car/road trip vehicle because range anxiety, charging infrastructure, and two small kids. What do folks recommend for that? Highlander still a thing? Also what happens when the electric battery part of the phev goes to zero? Ie what if you can’t plug in for a week?

Depending on what you're looking to spend I think the X5 PHEV is a nice option. I think the RAV4 PHEV is also supposedly very good, but they're impossible to find and have huge markups.

 

[RivianRiverRat]

2 EV empty nest family
2021 Tesla 3 and 2022 R1T
No issues with charging for the daily 100 mile workday and trips between Huntsville AL and Chattanooga TN
Have both vehicle brand chargers at house
Wife can also charge either vehicle free at work

 

[BigSkies]

We’re pondering the same situation. One of my biggest revelations switching to an EV is that you don’t need as much range as you think for day-to-day.

I only charge the Tesla to 70% daily, and there’s less than 10 times that I’ve dropped the battery below 50%.

My eventual ideal is to have a Rivian and something cheap/short range. Maybe a Bolt or a Leaf. If I ended up with Mach-E/EV6/Id.4/etc, I’d buy the cheaper ones with the smaller battery. There’s really no need to pay a price premium for two long range EV’s.

 

[DTown3011]

Plugin hybrids are great. You just charge them when you can, no forced charging. If you can't it's not a big deal. When we road trip, I drive it like a regular hybrid on the freeways. When we get to our destination, I push a button and have the engine charge the battery, then we drive on electric around the city, quiet and smooth. When battery depletes, repeat. We stay at VRBOs, so no forced stays at hotels just to charge. No having to eat at certain charge stops either. Busted chargers, no big deal just continue on gas. No frustrations trying to find a charger or getting it to work or do any type of planning. No calling EA for an hour. No apps needed either. When you get home, your back on electric from your home charger. We're about 75% electric/25% gas and that's doing a lot of roadtrips.

What are the options for a PHEV 7-seater SUV? I have been waiting for a PHEV Expedition from Ford, which is supposedly coming, but have not seen much movement. Wish Kia would make a PHEV Telluride!

 

[Jason]

We recently got an R1S as an refresh for my 19 yr old vehicle. Quite the upgrade.

Our other car is only ~14 years old, so we thought we had a few more years. A few shudders and some strange accelerations this week, and we're facing a major engine repair that will be expensive and take ~2 weeks.

Fate has a sense of humor, eh?

So < 2 months after getting a Rivian, we're contemplating buying another car. Not what we expected . . . things could be worse. We'd like to go all EV, though we thought we had a few years to consider all the new models coming out, how to accommodate a second charger in our garage, and save up a bit.

We're looking at the "usual suspects" of other EVs: Tesla (M3 or MY), VW id4, Ioniq 5, Kona, Bolt. The good news is that it now seems dealers have some in stock, rather than getting on a wait list.

For those that are > 1 EV car owners, what's your experience with Rivian plus another EV? Is having a Tesla helpful because of access to Superchargers, or a pain because of different home charging needs? (Or a bit of both?) Recommendations on a "good pairing" in terms of complimentary capabilities?

I should say that range is an important factor as this car supports work activities that can involve regular (but not necessarily daily) 200+ mile commutes.

Many thanks in advance for suggestions and advice!

We have had a Model Y Performance and R1T since December. As long as one of them is a Tesla you should have no problems being fully electric. Just drove the Tesla from Austin to Denver and back in March. I haven't bought gas since November. Both vehicles are amazing. I just wish my wife would race me.

 

[fergie]

I got a Kia EV6 a year ago and now have an R1T since January. Gave my 05 4Runner to my daughter. The EV6 (and it's siblings) are very fast at charging and I'm very happy with the car (other than lack of software updates). But it's hard to beat Tesla's charging network.

 

[TexasBob]

Ha! Solving the two-body problem with two Teslas, nice!

I interpret sub's comment to be what I requested -- I asked for advice. We are all products of our own experience, and to be fair the post starts with "Personally".

In any case, good to hear your experience, too! The range on the Teslas, and the charging network, are definite checkmarks in the "pro" column for a Tesla considering our use case(s). (And the ability to get a charging adapter for our existing charger overcomes another hurdle.)

TLR I would not hesitate for a second to get a Model 3 or Model Y. We love the cars even though we have the extremely early builds and all that goes with that. Two EV works perfectly for us 99%+ of the time and takes a bit of planning <1% of the time (and the latter shrinks each year).

We went all EV in 2018. The two Model 3 LR RWDs that we have realistically get 230-250 miles on the highway (originally rated 310). In my experience, I can go a realistic 150-180 miles between charging stops. That means we can go pretty much anywhere. But "pretty much" anywhere is not anywhere. For example, the drive between Dennison TX and Van Buren AR is 207. It requires charging at the SC to 90% and is a bit of a nail biter (but it gets there). In very cold weather it can be maddening, but that is very rare for us.

But, for us, it is 10% of the miles, 5% of the days, that we even take long trips (ie about once every 2-3 weeks it is a long (>100 miles each way) day trip and ~4 overnights a year between the two cars). The level of awesome is very high in that we literally never, ever do the "did you put gas in the car? I thought you were going to put gas in the car! Can we wait until we go to Costco?" foolishness.

We have a Fisker Ocean ONE (360 miles of range) on order and an R1S (x2) and a CT. Will keep two of the four. For Tesla, a 330 mile range (equivalent to a 290 mile other manufacturer) is fine if you are road tripping like I do in our part of the country. For a CCS, we are looking for more range because charging network is crap with lots of useless 50kw "fast" chargers but few with usable speeds and even fewer that work at any moment. So for me a solid 320+ range is required, but the the dual EV works great.

 

[NC-Rivian]

One thing to consider is delivery time. You can get a Tesla in a matter of weeks. Most other EVs are a matter of months - or years. AND you don’t have to deal with the insane dealer markups with a Tesla. Did I mention that I have a Model Y long range and an R1T? Both are terrific machines that excel in their own ways.

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