As I just posted (from a discussion of electric cars in the local tavern)…
It’s not convenient to use. There’s no way to open it electronically, and it has a permanent divider so that nothing really fits there.
Well, that opened a huge rabbit hole and I had no choice but to fall in it.
There’s hope for “Classic cars electrified”. More and more options like the UK has:
Converting ANY Mini from 1959-2000…
They’re hoping to be able to do conversions in the US as well. Anybody have a lead on a Mini with a blown engine?
That article link to this one:
There’s a show over there, highlighting a Welsh car shop…
Vintage Voltage TV Show follows Richard (Moggy) and his team of ‘real working’ ingenious mechanics at Electric Classic Cars in Wales, using the latest technology and engineering advances to restore, rebuild and convert classics into electric dream cars of the future.
So, anyone know people over here that are converting sporty cars to electric? I’m not in the market for a while… but I’ve always said I’m on my last ICE car, and I do love the classics.
I’m picturing you rearranging the trunk, trying to find room for the batteries. “Stop! It’s a Miata!”
Still happy here, but with a twist. We’ve got a Tesla Model Y and a Chevy Bolt.
The lease is up on the Bolt and it gets turned in shortly. I would never consider buying it as the terms of the lease were constructed by GM to make the car super attractive by really pumping up the residual value. Makes no financial sense to keep it.
The Tesla has been rock solid. Great car that handles about 90% of our needs. Only thing we need that it can’t do is carry our kayaks on top. I’m looking at a trailer option instead.
Because of recurring shoulder injury problems, I sold my last motorcycle last month (BOO) leaving me without my main toy. So I bought a BMW convertible for screwing around in. I figure it’s my last chance for a convertible with a manual transmission and rear-wheel drive. I would have loved to gone electric here too, but as said upthread, no e-Miatas yet.
Not exactly sporty, but this shop in Seattle looks to be dabbling in converting air-cooled VWs.
Based on this Rivian towing test it might have been a very intentional decision. TL/DR - significant range degradation if you want to tow.
Don’t want to tow. Only want to use the tow hitch to cary bikes.
Several companies make hitches for the Mach-E.
OK, so it has been just about one full year since I picked up my 2020 Kona EV. I will give my best effort at a “one year review” for this first-time EV owner.
It’s a little hard to get a full charging history, but I’ve cobbled together some estimated stats for the year:
~7,750 miles driven
~$120 charging (plus a little bit more at home that I can’t measure, but it’s a tiny amount, maybe $10)
1 service appointment - tire rotation, free
Some general thoughts about the EV experience:
- I haven’t been to a gas station in a year and I love it.
- I spend more time thinking about charging than I did about getting gas. This is because I charge at work and there is a 4-hour charging limit, so I have to go move my car at lunch when charging. If I were charging at home and constantly topped up, this would not be the case.
- The car definitely has a bit less range in the winter, but this has not been a problem for me in any way.
- Being able to park in an EV space in a crowded garage has been advantageous a couple of times.
- It heats up incredibly fast in the winter and the remote start to preheat is excellent.
- Still really fun to drive, acceleration is amazing, super quiet.
- Long trip planning definitely involves a bit more thought than with a gas car. We haven’t taken many long trips, but I’ve had to be careful making sure there are enough chargers around where we are going. It’s never been a problem, but it definitely requires more thought/research.
- Gas prices are going through the roof right now, and I’m sipping my tea, “filling” my car up for $2.
One year in, I absolutely love my EV. If I have my druthers, I will never go back to an ICE vehicle.
Nice report. I’ve done a road trip in a friend’s hybrid version of the Kona. It’s a fine car. Have you done any road trips?
We’ve only done two short trips - nothing major (thanks, COVID!). The first was about 150 miles, no need to stop for charging. The second was about 200 miles - we probably would have made it without charging, but the second half was fairly mountainous, so we stopped once to charge about 80% of the way there just to be safe.
In both cases, we stayed at a place that had a charger, so once we got to our destination, we never had to worry - just charged overnight as needed.
I would not want to do a long (500+ mile) road trip in this car at the moment. When there is more fast-charging infrastructure in the coming years, it will be better.
My wife has loved her Nissan Leaf Plus and will never go back. Down side of course is that we can’t use it for a drive from Chicago to her Mom’s in NJ.
I’m nine years into my plug in hybrid, a C-Max Energi. Not my fantasy vehicle but it gets me at least halfway through my daily commute on electricity and I can use it for that NJ drive. I drive cars to the ground so unless I change my form then I’m sticking with it for another long while.
My current fantasy car is one of the Lucids. Next a Polestar. Anyone own or at least looking at either?
Yeah, those look amazing and the range is incredible. Juuuuuuuuuust a bit outside my price range, sadly 
Ooooh, I like the towing capacity in the new Tesla “Model D” 
Me too… hence the fantasy!
Even if I could afford it I would have a hard time justifying it. But still fun to imagine owning!
When looking for charging stations in one of the various apps/websites do they show things like limited availability as in hours when you can’t use them?
I got to tour a new corporate facility the other day; they have a large parking garage that can charge 25-30 EVs at a time. The garage is open to the public evenings & weekends (per signs on the wall) but not during the business day or overnight hours. There are security arms that raise up to let you in / out so they could enforce the no public vehicles during the day if they so chose. While the garage is usable it’s not finished yet; there’s still construction equipment on the bottom floor. There are a bunch of boxes in one corner that are yet-to-be-installed panic/intercom systems; there are security cams installed only on the lowest two floors as of now. IOW, a lot of the not-required electrical items are still a work in progress so I’m not sure the EV chargers are up & running yet.
When the garage is completed & really open, would one expect to find these listed as a charging station, & if so, for only the ‘public’ hours? Thinking about this thread where he was going to be getting into town on fumes (electrons?) & maybe not even have the range to get in, let alone to an alternate charging station & if you were planning on charging there but potentially had to wait 15 hrs until it opened back up to the public, including the entire business day you’d be pretty pissed at being stuck.
Are the limited availability chargers common? Do they appear in apps & if so, denote their limited hours?
While many gas stations have limited hours,too they’re always overnight when the majority of stores are closed, not during the business day.
A year and a half later, we finally put a deposit down on a Mercedes EQB. It seems like every time we got close to pulling the trigger on a Kia or Tesla, the prices would jump 20% or availability would suddenly disappear. The EQB isn’t exactly groundbreaking in its capabilities (~200 mile range, 100KWh charging) but it’s roomy enough for six and we like the interior way more than the Model Y. Now we wait.
What does the EQB cost, as you’ve configured it?
Pricing hasn’t been officially released yet but we’re expecting around 55K base plus around 6K in options. That’s a lot for a glorified A class but it’s then only car that meets our needs and is less than the Teslas.