EV / Plug-in hybrid owners: how do you clean your windshield in summer and winter?

Do you use a squeegee? Paper towels? Microfiber? Bucket of dirty water with or without anti-freeze? Windex? Go to car wash once per week? Something else?

Please state if your car is parked inside or outside.

Reddit thread: Reddit - Dive into anything

Tangential threads on best tips for cleaning the inside of your windshield:

Give me your best tips for cleaning the inside of your car's windshield

I do the same thing with the plug-in hybrid and the ICE car (both parked outside): use the squirty thing and windshield wipers until it just looks too bad, then either use the filthy once-soapy water and squeegee at a gas station or take the whole thing to the car wash. For the inside, it’s Windex and paper towels.

There is an excellent video (probably lots more than one) on YouTube about how to clean the inside of your windshield. In my opinion, the right tool is everything. I have something I picked up at an auto parts store which is a triangular microfiber pad that swivels a little forward and back to go along with the curves of the windshield, on a plastic stick that is long enough to reach all of the windshield from one place, i.e. the driver’s seat. So a spritz or wo of window cleaner on the window, ,and move the pad firmly all over the windshield’s inside until all traces of the window cleaner are gone, and voila! I’m not clear why the type of propulsion makes any difference. And I live in San Francisco, which usually has temperatures only between 45 and 75 Fahrenheit, so not very typical summer and winter weather.

p.s. you might want to change your title to reflect that you are interesting in how to clean the inside of your windshield.

What is the significance of EV / plug-in hybrid to the question? IANA expert but I’d have assumed the cleaning process is identical between an ICE and an EV.

Mine is square,

and the stick part comes apart so it fits in the glove box!

I’m interested in the outside, which is why the inside link is tangential (but related and on-topic IMO).

I clean my ICE windshield with a squeegee when I go to the gas station. EV users don’t frequent gas stations. So they need another strategy for cleaning their windshields. Some keep a bucket of dirty water in their garage during the summer. Some switch to microfiber cloths and windex. Some buy a candy bar at the gas station and use a squeegee.

The switch from ICE to EV autos will involve a number of adjustments. This is one of them.

D’oh!! :man_facepalming: Makes sense now. There are none so blind as those who haven’t noticed yet. Like me.

I personally very rarely use a gas station squeegee these days, so they’re out of sight & mind for me. Back when I lived in snow country they got used a lot during the snowy part of the year.

As to this:

I wonder how much sales of Powerball tickets will be affected?

You can still pull up to a pump with an EV and just clean your windshield. No one really cares, and you may go inside and buy something. You can also check the air in your tires.

I had the same question.

Yeah, I didn’t get it either.

My wife and I have a plug-in Kia Niro. We take it through the car wash whenever we remember and there’s no line. Both the front and rear windows have a spray controlled from a tick* on the steering column. I’m sure I have used a gas station squeegee at some point.

For the inside, my wife found the solution. A Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

* typo, but too good to correct

The only time I remember using a gas station squeegee was on long road trips when there would be bug splatters that the car’s sprayer and wipers couldn’t clear.

People routinely do that?

I’ve been at superchargers that have squeegee buckets near the chargers. I’ve also been at superchargers at gas stations where I’ve walked over to the pumps and grabbed a squeegee.

As for the rest of the time when I’m not supercharging, I use a microfiber cloth and some Rain-X glass cleaner on the outside of the windshield. On the inside of the windshield I do the same as I did on my ICE cars, which is leave them dirty.

Absolutely. And, in wintertime, I use the squeegee to clean road salt and grime off of the side and rear windows, as well.

Yeah. Up here in the frozen North, road grime gathers on every exposed inch of a car, including the windows. The wipers only reach a fraction, albeit a large one, of the visibility space. It’s much more convenient to use a squeegee when one is a foot from one’s hand than go through a car wash.

Heck, I’ve used that squeegee to clean on and around my door handles.

Snow country is simply beastly.


I’ve found these glass cleaning cloths work well. I only use it on the inside though. Which is difficult to reach some days.

How well can cleaning clothes made from glass work?

I don’t know. But they’re itchy as hell.

That’s the answer. Works for me every time.