Well, a bit of an exaggeration, right? My 2011 MKZ hybrid lost a bit of trunk room, about 1/4 of it.
The Prius has always had lots of storage room.
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@texases LOL Yes, a bit of exaggeration. However, a neighbor’s first generation of hybrid Hyundai Sonata literally has a good half of the trunk taken up by the hybrid battery. When the hybrid battery finally needed replacing he found the cost too high to justify for the by then greatly reduced driving he does now he is quite elderly, so he simply lets the car run only on gas now… and still has to load most of the grocery store bags in the back seat due to lack of trunk space.
In the past I test drove a Prius and several other hybrids and decided against one at that time. But if I had to replace my 2014 Camry, I’d give hybrids another good look at this point.
@GorehamJ Well written article.
Personally, I suspect that as the technology of EVs, EV and hybrid batteries, etc. continues to advance so, too, will the charging technology. Right now there are “growing pains” to increasing EV ownership.
Early years of ICE vehicles went through a period of gradually lessening scarcity of fueling availability.
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Around here there’s more options for charging a EV than there used to be. Public chargers in the mall parking lot with a 2hr limit and pay chargers on the other side of the mall on the end of the parking lot. Previously you could only charge a Tesla at a couple hotels but now at both Target store locations there’s chargers available. A co-worker has a model 3 but she charges it at home.
Mom has owned her Prius since the summer of 2009 and went from a car that could get 40mpg on the highway to 60mpg while also having a more comfortable and safer car in the process. Dad thought about getting a plug in hybrid but doesn’t feel he drives enough to worry about how much gas he’s using.
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Just a complaint, staying at hotel using way .com for extended parking, park in the back of the lot please. Hang the tag, 4 cars with extended parking stays parked right in front of the access door for the rear of the hotel right near the elevators… JERKS!
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Last year a Wa Wa convience store opened in Vienna VA. It has no gas pumps but does have about a dozen charging stations.
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Julie, I think you cleaned up that phrase! They are known as “Iceholes!”
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In my town, the Planning Board & the Zoning Board recently approved the construction of one of those big personal storage facilities, but the approval is contingent on the storage company providing an EV charging station in front of their building. Those boards have also signaled that henceforth, all new commercial construction permits will require the inclusion of EV charging stations.
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As someone who’s probably done more business trips then most…it would be a non issue for 95% of my business trips. Even after a week long business trip the first time I fill up is on the way back to the airport to drop off the car. Vacations is different. Drive a lot more on vacations.
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So you have to go find a Hertz rental store to charge if you are getting low ? How convenient .
Love to see how they are going to handle big cities where everyone lives in row houses and apartments .
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no…
Hertz is setting up infrastructure to handle charging their own increased inventory of electric vehicles. Why would you have to go back to Hertz to charge??
+1
This past summer I drove from LA to Lompoc, CA several times for business. I could easily have used an electric car like a Tesla or Bolt for this trip. I mentioned a hotel with chargers, and it was in Lompoc. In case folks don’t know, Lompoc is a very small rural town in Central California. Its 150 miles from LAX. I would have no problem if the rental car company had one of the long range EVs for me.
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That makes sense, Not sure if that’s the case here yet but it’s a good idea.
If they could just put the charging spots at the back of the lot the problem would be solved. Also, I wonder how much those fancy and unreliable charger outlets cost? A row of standard American outlets and a breaker box could be installed for under $1000 plus the cost of the wiring run to the building. There are usually parking lot lights out there, so there may be some buried conduit that can be used.
How do you know they aren’t reliable?
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He knows they are unreliable because apparently Mr. 90s is an expert on everything.
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And would be incapable of meaningfully charging any cars. The current requires EXPENSIVE equipment.
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Harder to monitor them when they’re placed at the back of the lot, where i work has what you’re suggesting at the base of the light pole next to 2 parking spots. Put in at the request of the local EV community, particularly the guy who had one of these at the time. Could put in more but we haven’t seen the demand yet. 