2 Days In, Green Vehicle Thoughts
So, we bought our first Plug-In Hybrid and picked it up on Monday. Which means we've had it for just over 2 days now. Thus, these are early thoughts only. But, mostly, I just wanted to get them out there so I can reflect on them again later.
The first thought I had is; why didn't I do this sooner? I think that there are practical answers. The biggest reason has to be selection and availability. And the third has to be the difficulty in doing a proper cost analysis. So, while I ask myself this, as I reflect it isn't really a surprise.
When we bought our last car, Teslas were the only EV's in our area and the Prius and Sonata were about the only Hybrids. Teslas were too expensive and the others were too small. Not to mention, we weren't interested in gambling on the notion that we might do better overall with a hybrid.
The last year or so has seen a drastic uptick in the range of vehicles with some sort of greener drive train available. And that led us to the Niro PHEV, with a smallish down payment of $5k, $2500 in federal incentives and bit of money left over on trade-in after buying out the remainder and we ended up with a payment $50 higher than our prior car.
Since we made roughly the same down payment on the prior car and similar trade-in value... I call that decent.
Is it cheaper to drive? Well, hard to say just yet, but the early estimate is; F*** YEAH! Firstly, our insurance is cheaper on the new car. Not by much, but then, it isn't much more per month, so the $20-ish I save a month on insurance automatically drops the monthly payment difference to $30. Outside of that, the gas engine has only kicked in twice. Once on the way home from the dealership because the bonkers people didn't charge it first. And secondly for a longer trip my wife takes once a week.
When the gas engine does kick in, the fuel economy is estimated at about twice as good our old car. Since she made it to her weekly meeting pretty much on electric alone, even that one trip should only have used about 1/4 the amount of gas we would normally use. Perhaps a better metric... right now, our average fuel economy on the car is 1.6l/100km.
For reference, the Santa Fe, in city, would push 11l/100km.
As for how it drives. The Niro PHEV drives more like a battery powered hybrid than an EV when in Electric mode. It uses the same transmission, and doesn't deliver blistering performance. I'm in it to save money though, and the performance isn't bad. It just isn't EV good. I'm sure there are some out there which are more thrilling to drive though.
Basically, on a typical week, the gas engine will only be needed for driving the vehicle for probably 1-3 trips which should barely dig into the gas. My wife's trip the other night ate up about 20kms of our estimated 745km gas range. Even if we round that up to 25kms, that would get us there and back for 30 weeks if the rest of our trips were short enough for the battery alone.
The Sante Fe would likely have been able to make the trip just 4-6 times, if that were the only thing it did. But, in the real world, it got filled up every 2 weeks or so because the other smaller trips would drain the gas.
The real test will be winter, which is long and cold. It isn't the reduced battery range I'm worried about. But rather, this car has no all electric heater. It uses the gas engine for that functionality. I'm not sure if that means winter will be all hybrid driving, or if it somehow uses the gas engine purely for heating and doesn't use it to drive the engine until the battery drops and thus gets better than typical hybrid performance still.
Basically, I know I won't be able to boast that 1.6l/100km average for long. But, as long as it stays below, say 3l/100km, I'll call it wildly successful.
The first thought I had is; why didn't I do this sooner? I think that there are practical answers. The biggest reason has to be selection and availability. And the third has to be the difficulty in doing a proper cost analysis. So, while I ask myself this, as I reflect it isn't really a surprise.
When we bought our last car, Teslas were the only EV's in our area and the Prius and Sonata were about the only Hybrids. Teslas were too expensive and the others were too small. Not to mention, we weren't interested in gambling on the notion that we might do better overall with a hybrid.
The last year or so has seen a drastic uptick in the range of vehicles with some sort of greener drive train available. And that led us to the Niro PHEV, with a smallish down payment of $5k, $2500 in federal incentives and bit of money left over on trade-in after buying out the remainder and we ended up with a payment $50 higher than our prior car.
Since we made roughly the same down payment on the prior car and similar trade-in value... I call that decent.
Is it cheaper to drive? Well, hard to say just yet, but the early estimate is; F*** YEAH! Firstly, our insurance is cheaper on the new car. Not by much, but then, it isn't much more per month, so the $20-ish I save a month on insurance automatically drops the monthly payment difference to $30. Outside of that, the gas engine has only kicked in twice. Once on the way home from the dealership because the bonkers people didn't charge it first. And secondly for a longer trip my wife takes once a week.
When the gas engine does kick in, the fuel economy is estimated at about twice as good our old car. Since she made it to her weekly meeting pretty much on electric alone, even that one trip should only have used about 1/4 the amount of gas we would normally use. Perhaps a better metric... right now, our average fuel economy on the car is 1.6l/100km.
For reference, the Santa Fe, in city, would push 11l/100km.
As for how it drives. The Niro PHEV drives more like a battery powered hybrid than an EV when in Electric mode. It uses the same transmission, and doesn't deliver blistering performance. I'm in it to save money though, and the performance isn't bad. It just isn't EV good. I'm sure there are some out there which are more thrilling to drive though.
Basically, on a typical week, the gas engine will only be needed for driving the vehicle for probably 1-3 trips which should barely dig into the gas. My wife's trip the other night ate up about 20kms of our estimated 745km gas range. Even if we round that up to 25kms, that would get us there and back for 30 weeks if the rest of our trips were short enough for the battery alone.
The Sante Fe would likely have been able to make the trip just 4-6 times, if that were the only thing it did. But, in the real world, it got filled up every 2 weeks or so because the other smaller trips would drain the gas.
The real test will be winter, which is long and cold. It isn't the reduced battery range I'm worried about. But rather, this car has no all electric heater. It uses the gas engine for that functionality. I'm not sure if that means winter will be all hybrid driving, or if it somehow uses the gas engine purely for heating and doesn't use it to drive the engine until the battery drops and thus gets better than typical hybrid performance still.
Basically, I know I won't be able to boast that 1.6l/100km average for long. But, as long as it stays below, say 3l/100km, I'll call it wildly successful.
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