There are now about 60 models of EVs on the market, and an additional number of used models that can be purchased very inexpensively; is there one that is right for you? Before plunging into model choices, let’s consider the key factors:
- Commuting distance and PHEVs versus BEVs
- Special needs (e.g., AWD, towing)
- Price point
- Road trip driving style
- Range anxiety
- Availability of local dealerships
- Societal concerns (social equity, rare metals)
- Faith in imminent innovation
- Patience for fast charging
- Access to another car
Commuting distance
The average American commutes about 30 miles per day. Sure, you care only about your own habits. The car manufacturers, however, have designed an entire category of EVs around this average distance:
What is a PHEV and how does that relate to commuting distance? A PHEV is a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle, which is designed to provide electric transportation for commuting. Some consider it a “half way house” for electric drivers, in that the battery needed for commuting is small, lightweight and inexpensive, and covers most commutes without ever eliciting range anxiety or the fear of running out of juice, as PHEVs also contain a regular gas engine that will take over running the vehicle until you can reach either a charging station or a gas station. At the present time, PHEV sales are about equal in number to pure electric or battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales, and for most legacy auto manufacturers (Ford, GM, Toyota, Jeep) PHEVs dominate their electric vehicle sales.
Note that regular gasoline or diesel cars are generically known as internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Note also that though the original Prius’s have batteries, they cannot go anywhere on those batteries alone, but at all times rely on gas for the bulk of their motive force. In contrast the Prius Plus can go about 44 miles on its battery alone (and another 550 or so miles on a full tank of gas.
PHEVs are especially appropriate for drivers who travel to places poorly supplied with recharging stations or prefer not to tackle the challenge of finding charging opportunities when away from home. From a climate perspective, the downside of PHEVs is that they reduce greenhouse gas emissions only about half as much as do full electrics (=BEVs: link: Should my next car be electric?). This is mostly because the average driver takes infrequent road trips, but when they do, road trips account for about half of their annual total of miles. You, however, may be different. Or, you might have another car that you use for road trips.
Special needs
For most vehicle needs we strongly encourage prospective buyers of new EVs to consult the non-profit plugstar.com to obtain general information about EV models. Their information is consistently up to date and includes not only attributes like range, charging rate, and number of seats, but plugstar also tells you when costs savings may be obtainable from tax breaks in your zip code, which models are for sale in your state, and give you excellent location-specific estimators of costs over time. They provide a phone number for free consultations about models (877 384-3571, donations encouraged). Plugstar is good at distinguishing different “builds” of a given model, which may differ in battery size, tire size, charging times, options, etc., but be aware that they can address only a finite number of option packages; others may exist.
However, the plugstar web site is understandably targeted at general consumers and does not address special needs such as AWD (all-wheel drive) or towing, two common requirements for drivers in our mountainous areas. Plugstar does provide a link to each manufacturer’s general website for specifications, but manufacturers specifications are often fiendishly difficult to find on those web sites, values are sometimes expressed in odd units (link: EV performance by the numbers) and advertising claims are often vague or aspirational and sometime erroneous. For example, the Toyota manufacturing company website still (as of 1Apr2024) states that the bZ4X is available only in 2-wheel drive, when most of the bZ4X’s sold in the Four Corners are AWD. For questions about special needs, I have found ordinary Google searches to be more accurate, especially if the search takes you to recent posts. I have not found most local dealerships to be a good source of EV information. Be skeptical of user forums, which have many inaccurate statements. The major automotive online magazines (Road and Track, Motor Trend, etc.) are usually reliable for models in production (they are vulnerable to pre-production hype). Some commercial sites are simply fronts for the industry and should be viewed cautiously. For specific models, EV4Corners.org posts product reviews.
For information on cars suitable for towing, I have found much good information on electrictowcars.com. Again, EV4Corners.org has some posts on towing (link).
Price point
Few items induce more culture-war prevarication than prices. EV prices are complicated by the many locality-specific tax breaks and requirements. Plugstar.com is an excellent source of locality-specific pricing. Note that in 2024 EVs have become eligible for point-of-sale tax deductions, meaning that the dealer can offer to reduce the sale price by the tax-break amount, if you choose to convey the tax break directly to the dealer. However, the dealer does not have to agree to this exchange, nor do you. Some dealers are eager to do so. Should you find a model that is so eligible but is found at a dealership that does not wish to carry out the exchange, you should consider buying the car through another dealer. I recently bought a used EV online from a California dealer and was pleased with the prompt and competent delivery. Except for the $400 delivery charge, I had full ability to reject the car once I had seen it. And the broker took care of the somewhat convoluted procedures for licensing a California car in Colorado.
If you wish to purchase a second-hand EV you will be offered some wonderful prices, despite the relatively few used EVs on the market. Many EV buyers to date have been keen to acquire the latest technology, which causes older EVs to depreciate very quickly. If you goal is a commuter-only car, you will probably find the used BEV offerings especially rich, as earlier BEVs often had limited range or poor battery conditioning (e.g., Nissan Leafs). Leafs can be excellent commuter cars for those with shorter commutes, especially if you happen to have an attached garage with which to protect them from the coldest weather.
There are many networks such as www.autotrader.com and www.edmunds.com that will list used EV for your area or across the country. Use due diligence to judge the reliability of such internet sources, as “used car sales” are not historically a bastion of transparency. Edmunds has provided me advice that clearly demonstrated their hostility to EVs.
Road-trip driving style
I used to belong to an east-coast club which did cave exploration in the Tetons of Wyoming/Idaho on long weekends. To get there and return over the slightly extended weekend we drove at excessive speeds and stopped only for fueling 24/7 (it took about 26 hours each way). Those are days long past, and I’m glad we survived them. We usually drove trucks, vans, and VW microbuses, and I’m sure that were we still doing that, we would not be good candidates for buying an EV. If driving around the clock at excessive speed is your style, you are not either.
Does your butt get uncomfortable after a few hours in the saddle? Can you stand to take a 20 min break every few hours to clear your head and unlimber your legs? You are a good candidate for an EV.
Range anxiety
Range anxiety is deeply felt by all new EV owners. The question is how stressful this is for you. If you are a risk taker and your spouse is not, you might wish to be cautious. If you can afford a 400-mile battery, you can probably manage with little strain. I recently purchased a 410-mile battery Rivian in Denver in the middle of winter and needed only a 15-minute recharge in Salida to make it comfortably back to the Four Corners (I had 80 miles of range to spare). Given the extensive network of fast chargers in Colorado, there is no need for EV drivers in Colorado to be anxious. Venturing into rural parts of the Great Basin requires more attention to details.
The following map from https://afdc.energy.gov/stations#/find/nearest?fuel=ELEC&ev_levels=dc_fast&ev_levels=3 shows the late 2023 fast charging network of the continental US exclusive of the northeastern states, which are densely packed with fast chargers except for northern Maine.
Colorado is about 270 miles north to south, which is also the range of many BEVs (e.g., Tesla Model 3). As you can see, there are some holes in the network, primarily in the short grass prairie region, the northern Rockies, and the deserts of the Great Basin. These holes are being filled with new federally funded chargers, but if you plan to visit the sparsely serviced areas in 2024, you may need to drive a PHEV or rely on alternate charging opportunities, such as campgrounds with NEMA 14-50 outlets (supported by many BEVs though you may need an adapter).
Speaking of adapters, there have historically been two or three kinds of fast-charging plugs: Tesla, CCS, and CHAdeMO. These are going away, beginning in 2024, to be replaced by a single standard: NACS (North American Charging Standard). It is high time! During the transition, some cars may need adapters. Some manufacturers will give you the needed adapters; in other cases you might wish to buy one that fits your car (CCS to NACS, or CHAdeMO to NACS). Teslas should not ordinarily need adapters.
Most contributors to the new NACS network have inter-company billing agreements, such that you can have all the different brands of charger billed to the same credit card or account. That is not the same as saying that there will not be price disparities depending on which brand is your “home” account. Fortunately, the navigational program you use to locate chargers (on your dash or on your phone; plugshare.com and abrp.com, for examples) will often tell you what you will pay and steer you to the less expensive choices. The dust has not settled from this Wild West state of affairs. At the moment, you may obtain considerable savings by being a “member” of a particular brand that you often use. If you use a brand rarely, it is probably not worth paying the membership fees. At the moment there are also wild disparities in the cost of fast-charging juice, especially where there is little competition. California has historically banned charge rates that vary by time of day, even though fast-chargers can be major loads on an electrical grid, and the loads tend to occur at peak load times. This has kept costs of fast-charging high. Anticipate that costs will subside and converge as billing becomes more flexible and competition and charger infrastructure buildout advances.
Local dealerships
Our area suffers from the absence of dealerships for most EV brands (only Ford, Kia, and Toyota are currently selling appreciable numbers of new EVs in our area). Local Nissan, Chevrolet, and Subaru dealers have apparently chosen not to stock EVs. Many additional types (BMWs, Chevrolets, Hyundais, and Nissans) are found in Albuquerque; and virtually all models are obtainable in the Colorado Front Range. This situation does not appear to be likely to change anytime soon. Fortunately, EVs rarely need servicing, but if you are uncomfortable not having a local dealership you are advised to stick to Ford, Kia, and Toyota for the time being. Of the top ten models on the road in Colorado (early 2024), only the Ford Mach-E is sold locally.
Societal concerns
There has been much media coverage of the inhumane conditions under which cobalt and other artisanal miners are working to obtain metals used in EVs, computers, cell phones and other electronics. To the extent compatible with commercial requirements, most EV manufacturers are trying very hard to reformulate their batteries in ways that do not require these “socially problematic” metals. In particular, Lithium-Iron-Phosphate batteries have replaced cobalt-containing Lithium-ion batteries in about half the Tesla’s cars. However, Tesla and other manufacturer websites has been less than fully forthcoming about which individual models are free of problematic metals, and it seems that one cannot predict the metallic makeup of individual cars on the basis of their model.
This problem needs to be kept in the context of the many cruelties that have occurred throughout human history over coal, oil, and other scarce resources. The platinum for catalytic converters in conventional cars may come from unsavory working conditions in South Africa. This is a morally fraught issue with no clear resolution.
Faith in imminent innovation
Many prospective EV buyers have assured me that they are just waiting for the next big pulse of innovation in EV technology, which will greatly lower the price and improve the performance of EVs. The future is hard to predict. The history of EV technology and the many “false dawns” claimed by battery developers does not suggest that step changes in pricing are likely in the near future. We have experienced steady declines (reversed only during the covid supply chain disruptions) in EV pricing and we have experienced consistent incremental improvements in EV technology, but step changes have not occurred since Tesla put together the Roadster. Check with your own crystal ball.
Patience for fast charging
In my limited experience, most fast-charging during road trips takes roughly as long as it does for me to eat lunch. But that is me. You need to consult your own habits to determine whether the benefits of EVs (links: FAQs, Should my next car be electric?) exceed the cost of eating lunch a little more slowly or otherwise performing chores that fill a few minutes.
Access to another car
If you have access to a second car, consider how those two might complement each other in supplying your transportation needs. We didn’t get a second EV until our old, rarely used ICE car called it quits. By that time, we were eager to embrace the benefits of not having to visit gas stations and enjoy the pleasures of driving a superlative guilt-free vehicle.
How you choose to combine the various considerations into a choice of a single EV is a personal decision. Sites like plugstar.com have helpful algorithms for weeding down the choices. Talking to EV owners at ride-n-drives is a wonderful reality check, but in the end the choice is yours alone. In the course of reading about EVs you will encounter various unfamiliar measures of car performance (e.g., efficiency measured in mi/kwh; battery size in kwh or range; and charging rates in miles added per hour or minute of charging, or in amperes or kw). If you wish to understand these metrics more fully, follow this link: Want to know how to do the math?
