WSJ- "I rented an electric car for a 4-day road trip. I spent more time charging it than I did sleeping."

Dan00Hawk

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Apr 10, 2011
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Plainfield
We use our VW ID.4 for local trips with a roundtrip range of probably 200 miles or less. I don't want to deal with charging issues or delays far from home or range anxiety. And we stick to using EA since that's free to charge for us for 3 years. We use the Stinger for anything longer.

I could take the ID.4 up to New Lisbon WI (225 mile each way) area for our summer trip to my sister's lake house as we can hit EA chargers along the way in Rockford, Madison and Tomah. But it's more convenient, faster, and just less stressful to just use the Stinger and spend $75 on gas, instead of free with the VW.
 

Rent Free

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Jan 26, 2015
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We use our VW ID.4 for local trips with a roundtrip range of probably 200 miles or less. I don't want to deal with charging issues or delays far from home or range anxiety. And we stick to using EA since that's free to charge for us for 3 years. We use the Stinger for anything longer.

I could take the ID.4 up to New Lisbon WI (225 mile each way) area for our summer trip to my sister's lake house as we can hit EA chargers along the way in Rockford, Madison and Tomah. But it's more convenient, faster, and just less stressful to just use the Stinger and spend $75 on gas, instead of free with the VW.
Clearly you my friend have more than 2 brain cells with all that common sense.
 

Dan00Hawk

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Apr 10, 2011
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Clearly you my friend have more than 2 brain cells with all that common sense.
Giving me credit for a whole 3+, eh? :ROFLMAO: :p

We really like ID.4, but certainly understand the current limitations with range and charging times. I won't call it "bad", as it can charge from 20% to 80% in about 35 minutes at an EA fast charger, and it easily charges in a matter of hours at home overnight. It ultimately suits our needs just fine as a primarily commuter vehicle for my wife. Perhaps it's because we bought the ID not to "be green", but more because we just liked most everything about it, styling, features, size, price, the way it drove, minimal maintenance, and that it'll happen to save us money on gas compared to anything else. And we thought we'd see what it was like to own something electric and what it was all about. I believe there will be acceptable advancement in charging stations, battery life, range, and most of the issues that folks currently have with EVs. It won't likely get to a "charge up in 5 minutes to get 400 miles" in our lifetime unless there's some new astounding technological leap in battery tech, but there will keep being incremental improvements that'll gradually win folks over. For now, though, an EV is absolutely NOT the right vehicle for everybody.

id winter1.jpg
 
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