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Comment by jliptzin | Hacker News Reader

You just need a good EV. PHEV is like buying a typewriter with a screen when everyone is already buying computers. I have had a pure EV since 2019 and never had charging problems like that and I drive a lot. I have the 14-50 at home and it charges quickly, every morning I’m at 80% charge. Spend $100 to get an electrician to fix that for you.

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Different people have different driving patterns and different needs.

Some parts of the country have less (and crappier) charging infrastructure. Those parts of the country coincide with areas where places are further apart and you need more range. For some of us who happily live in flyover states, a PHEV is an awesome in between.

I'm glad that an EV works out for you. Hopefully charging times (and charging infrastructure) will improve so that an EV works out for me as well. Until then, a PHEV works well for me and is far more efficient than a pure ICE.

I lived in a rural location and now in suburbs and still never had any issues, even 4 years ago when there were far fewer chargers. Here is a map of the level 2+ chargers in the country:

https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity_locations.html#/fi...

With 300 miles of range all you have to do is get to the next charger and if you're willing to spend 5 minutes in advance to plan your road trip it really doesn't add any extra time if you stop to charge while eating, using the restroom, etc. I like the extra cargo space not having an internal combustion engine gives me.

Who has a real 300 mile range? That Bolt was going to get lucky making over 180.

I've done 300 actual miles with my model 3 (long range) and now with my X as well. I've heard the Ioniq has good range as well and I'm sure more models are being released every few months from other brands with actual ranges over 300

> I lived in a rural location and now in suburbs and still never had any issues, even 4 years ago when there were far fewer chargers. Here is a map of the level 2+ chargers in the country:

As he said, different circumstances can shift the solution point. What you have someone that doesn't have a data plan on their phone, or doesn't carry a smartphone and thus doesn't have access to a mapping app? Or the charge point requires a smartphone app that I don't connectivity to use with?

For me as well an EV is questionable. My gas burning SUV is $1100 a year to insure, tax included. A Tesla Model 3 at the same level insurance would could me $6014 a year before taxes. I don't drive enough to save $5000 in gas and maintenance a year.

Then there's my garage. Long story short, the best it can do right now is 120V 6A charge speed. To properly upgrade my garage to support a full EV would cost an additional $2500. Assuming if I also have to upgrade the electrical mains from 100A to 200A, it's $15,000 to $25,000. And my electricity costs 20 cents a kilowatt hour.

Does buying an EV it still make sense after all that if you were in my circumstances?

> A Tesla Model 3 at the same level insurance would could me $6014 a year before taxes.

I find that incredibly difficult to believe. According to [1], the average cost to insure a Model 3 is $2500, which tracks with what I am paying.

Who quoted you $6k/year?

[1] https://www.forbes.com/advisor/car-insurance/vehicles/tesla/...

TD Insurance and Intact as well as a from an insurance broker.

You must have a terrible record or something. No one is getting quoted $6k/year unless they have a felony hit and run on their record or something equally as egregious. Not even in Canada.

I just got on Intact’s website and got a quote for one John Smith, 18 year old male from Branford, Ontario. John wanted a quote on a Tesla Model 3 Performance. Their quote was $3200/year.

You want to try and explain why it is that you are getting quotes that are twice that of the highest risk drivers?

You are right. I mistakenly failed to pay the parking meter on time 7 or 8 years and was issued a ticket. Of course I threw myself at the mercy of the courts; a simple mix up of days I pleaded. It was not the statutory holiday I thought it had been that would have waived the parking fees. And I paid my ticket immediately. But they would have none of it. So unforgivable was my crime, so heinous, so far murder or rape, that there could only be one punishment that could be appropriate for my sin; to be executed.

I await on death row now. The chosen method of execution is to be killed by old age 60 or 70 years from now, being withered and worn by the ravages of time. Most cruelly in the interim, I am expected to work a 37 hour work for 48 weeks out of the year in grueling conditions. A climate controlled office with an ergonomic chair in front of a computer with Visual Studio Code open.

Sometimes it seems like if it would not have been kinder to simply kill me there and then. Those days I ask myself why they keep me here. Just to suffer?

tl;dr

No accidents, no claims, no criminal activity on record except the one parking ticket. I don't pretend to comprehend why the quotes are that way for me.

In comparison my current SUV is $1100 a year same level of coverage as that quote. Just for fun I got a quote for an 2022 Acura NSX a while ago and it was $1500 a year, and the NSX is quite a bit more expensive then a Model 3.

Yeah, you’re lying.

Sure about that?

https://ibb.co/8cjXRHc

...although yes I am lying about being on death row. Canada doesn't practical capital punishment. Certainly not for parking violations.

Yes. I am certain that you are being deceptive.

So I looked around.

For a 33 year old driver, single, male, unmarried, with no tickets/accidents/etc., living in Sudbury, ON:

Intact Insurance:

2022 Tesla Model S LR 4DR: $178.17/mo [1]

2022 Acura NSX Hybrid 2DR AWD: $535.08/mo [2]

TD Insurance:

2022 Tesla Model S LR 4DR: $232.42 [3]

2022 Acura NSX Hybrid 2DR AWD: "CALL" [4]

Rather than calling I went to BrokerLink, which lets you get quotes from different sources. The average quotes given by BrokerLink for each vehicle were:

2022 Tesla Model S LR 4DR: $360/mo [5]

2022 Acura NSX Hybrid 2DR AWD: $520/mo [6]

So no, I do not believe you are being honest. There is no reason to believe that.

[1] https://imgur.com/kCNmYDb

[2] https://imgur.com/BfkXpMp

[3] https://imgur.com/S3KH9df

[4] https://imgur.com/qBbLScb

[5] https://imgur.com/bMW5kol

[6] https://imgur.com/va47isk

I'm a little curious then, try your numbers with the 'L6R 2S5' postal code.

You need fast charging at home, end of story. If you can only get 120V at home, forget it. That being said once you do get it, it's so nice never having to stop at a gas station again.

As for insurance, you should shop around. Not sure what's on your driving record, but it was $90/mo for me to insure my brand new model 3 when I had that vehicle. But I don't have any tickets/accidents or large claims.

I don’t have either, but it seems to me a PHEV is a great EV alternative for people who do a lot of local (city) driving and also occasionally need a vehicle to do weekend trips for camping, etc, where charging is not available or an inconvenience.

My household has an EV, a home level 2 charger, and I still wouldn't mind getting an PHEV. Not even for the weekend trips, but just because it's cheaper than another full EV, and I don't really drive enough to need the range beyond the battery on a PHEV.

The part of my brain that doesn’t understand how photovoltaics work really wants solar panels on EVs but aside from keeping the cabin at ambient, which does in fact have some mileage value, all they would really achieve is keeping self discharge at bay.

If you parked it with a 50 mile range and came back a week later, it might still have 50 miles of range.

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