Cross Ownership: Volt & PiP, Leaf & PiP

Would be interesting to hear some personal testimonies.

 

We went from a two Prius household, to Roadster + Prius to Volt+Roadster, Volt+Model S and currently are at 85kWh and 60kWh Model S.

My primary concern is a three way tie between future GHG, present GHG, national fiscal health.

We bought the Tesla's because of the range, jot because they were fancy cars. Would have been happy with a LEAF if it had met the range for our needs.

That said, the only car we ever had any range anxiety was the Volt, as the shift from electric to gas was painful (not due to the sound, but to all the other reasons I want to avoid gas).

My biggest surprise is simply how pleasurable the experience of driving electric is. It is so smooth, with full torque at any RPM.
Th responsiveness is instant, and the one pedal driving gives a wonderful level of control and safety.

The buying experience at Toyota was very good, at Chevrolet average, at Tesla unmatched. I definitely like the direct sales model.

Oh, and the winters. Biggest issue for EV buyers is to be well aware of how winter affects range. This is, in my opinion, the biggest challenge for EVs. On the flip side, the heat in an EV is virtually instant. You turn on the heat and within 5 seconds you have heat, no waiting for the engine to warm up.

Off topic generalizations from my experiences with various cars...

Hybrids in general, and the Prius in particular, are wonderful. But if you want to replace a large portion of the vehicle fleet with more efficient vehicles, you need to appeal to more than just the people concerned about the environment and the lower fuel pricing.
You need to appeal to those that want an incredibly quiet an smooth ride,
those that want incredible performance,
those that want lots of storage and passenger space,
those that want something more convenient than stopping at gas pumps,
those that want incredible safety.

It used to be you could get a couple of these, maybe 3 in any one vehicle. Now, with a well designed EV you can get all of them. THIS will bring more people into the market for efficient cars.

 

Elon Musk has done his homework. enjoy the Model S!

DBCassidy

 

We have some other testamonials in other posts...as Zythryn mentioned I think we have near unanimous appreciation of electric drive as far as driving experience. A few electric drive fans have reluctantly returned to PiP Prius or CMAX to get a more roomy car as needed for family space or other hauling.

As far as incentives, this is an ideal period. Plug_in purchase costs are down, electric cost is cheaper than gaso in most places, and Federal incentives are perhaps too big considering the reasonable prices available on some of the plug-ins today. Some observers are expecting a change in Federal incentives at some point, the most obvious change I can think of is they might someday include an income test, hopefully not as severe as the original hybrid tax credit which forced many into AMT calculations. I'd be curious to post-audit the original hybrid tax credit to see how much credit Prius buyers actually got out of it. I am curious to see if the incentives stick around long enough for me but I do not plan to purchase for several years.

 

I would put it as extremely likely all the incentives go away, at least right away. They may slowly creep back, but probably not in the size they were before due to the $2k lower MSRP.

 

I assume you were 100% sold on the Telsa, but didn't need the extra expense of two 85kWh models?

Not sure what "CHG" is?

Just not enough EV range? Would appreciate a more detailed explanation for clarification.

 

GHG is greenhouse gas.

 

We only needed that much range in one car. We would have opted for the 40kWh pack if it were still being offered. The Rav4ev would have been another option had Toyota been supporting it outside of California.

Green House Gas

After 35 EV miles the Volt switches on it Infernal Combustion Engine. That 35 miles only handles about 50% of our trips. In addition, in the winter it would run when the car cooled to a certain level, which happened multiple times on most winter trips.

A Leaf was high on our list, but we really needed 85 mile range in the winter which the Leaf can't provide.

So Tesla got our business and the big guys will have to work harder to get my business back than they would have to keep it a year ago or so (now that I have seen how enjoyable AND efficient a car can be)

 

Very impressive progression and collection of past and present EV/Hybrid vehicles. Your EV intelligence quotient must be off the charts.

I'm aware of green house gas, but was caught off guard with the initials in your sentence. National fiscal health is more concern to me in the near future.

Personally, I would prefer a more basic EV/Hybrid car (less expensive) with better EV range and basic options. The Prius Plug In is almost perfect for me. I can make my daily commute without deviations (charge home & work) all EV. Give me a Prius Plug In (reputation/quality/price) with a solid 60 mile EV range and I'd be content for the next several years.

 

I also would prefer a less expensive option. No one else was, or is yet, building one
As for the PiP being perfect for you, that is awesome! Best thing about this market is there are choices out there. Everyone has different needs, so it is great that each person can get the right tool for the job.

My perfect EV would be a somewhat smaller car with a 200 mile range. While the gen 3 sedan will fit this bill in 2017, I am hoping from more competition by then;-)

 

We own a 2013 Volt (fully loaded) and a 2012 PiP (Advanced, so fully loaded). They're both great cars, but to me they're different "tools" depending on the situation.

The PiP replaced our 2008 Prius (it's for sale, go check out the For Sale section!!), and it's a much nicer car in every aspect (size, technology, styling, ride) compared to the 2008. But the 40K price? IMO not worth it. If I hadn't been able to get a leftover 2012 severely discounted, we wouldn't have even considered it.

PiP compared to the Volt? I like the Volt a little better personally, but they are both most excellent cars and I'm lucky to own both. I think the Volt is quieter, gives a better ride, is perkier, and of course doesn't use gas if you drive less than 50 miles most of the year, 40 miles or so during the winter.

But the Volt is small, hence the PiP as a second car for the family. The PiP Advanced has a better back seat, better hatch, better technology (reads texts, adaptive cruise control, HUD), better dealer service (free first 2 years of service I think) and better mpgs when we gotta use gas. My biggest peeves with the PiP is the short range and the fact that the gas engine comes on if you demand cabin heat or higher power output from the powertrain.

So if it is just one or two of us putzing around town, we take the Volt. If we need to take more than 2 people anywhere, or if we have to drive somewhere far, we take the PiP.

 

I am in the same position as uladriver. We have both and agree with everything he has said. I have a 40 mile R/T commute for work and the Volt is perfect. On the highway, I've gotten 55 miles of EV range. For longer commutes, the PiP clearly gets much better gas mileage and is more spacious. But the Volt is quieter and rides better.