Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 42 mile EV range

Our SIL recently bought a '21 Toyota Rav4 plug-in hybrid. It varies from a normal hybrid in that you can plug it in to have fully charged batteries. He says he can go 42 miles on full electric before the gas engine kicks in. He can charge it in the driveway from a special 240v outlet he had installed. It takes 3.5 hrs from empty to full charge. When he used 120v, it took 12 hrs. For them, the 42 mile range works very well as he can easily get to and from work and do some running around. When they travel, they just plan on using gas. The problem there is that it only has a 13 gal gas tank so he has to keep an eye on the gas gauge.
It's working for them and it's a LOT better than a full EV.

They certainly work for some folks.
Buddy got a Nissan Leaf for his wife to commute about 30 miles each way to work.
At the time Nissan was offering a lease with zero down and $99 a month. Was a hell of a deal.

They can have it.... Great for them, worthless for most of us...

Agreed.

Osky

Like the concept, but they still have a LONG way to go getting range and reliability out of them in my book...

The local Community College, where I volunteer at the Automotive Program, have one of those little Chevy EVs donated via Funds...

its to teach students studying to be automotive mechanics about them.... this little critter has had all sorts of electrical issues with it already
and its just a year old....

The price of this thing was like $30K, yet GM was selling them for like $12.5K to just get them out on the road, and in the public view...

With Biden trying to force these things on the public, I'm not really interested...especially how much they want for them... just because you don't have to use Gas or diesel.

Darn thing is the fanciest golf cart I've seen, is pretty much my opinion of it...

Friends of ours have a Subaru 6 cylinder Outback and they were looking at the new Subaru Crosstrek as a possible upgrade with it’s plug in hybrid engine option. I just got the new April Consumer Reports auto issue and they write that the hybrid Crosstrek only has a 17 mile mostly electric range and isn’t worth the cost up charge. 17 miles! Yawn.

Hybrids get gooood gas mileage. 13 gal tank should last a long time.


Sometime around 2008-2009, my personal car broke down and I rented the cheapest thing Enterprise had. I needed to drive about 70 miles RT to get a truck and trailer to haul the car home. I got a Prius Hybrid, drove it 70 miles, and it never came off the full mark on the gas gauge. The only time the motor kicked in was going uphill or when I accelerated. The rest of the time it ran on batteries and when going down hill (basically coasting) or braking, it was charging the batteries.

Yeah, 17 is pathetic. The OP’s 42 miles is even pretty pathetic.

Tesla’s go something like 300 to 400 miles depending on model and conditions.

So what does it cost in electricity to fully charge it and how will subzero temps affect the range? Also battery life and replacement cost?

I need to see more about what the long term consequences/benefits of the "power" system management looks like.

All batteries have a life cycle, charge/discharge cycles, cost of battery replacement, recycling cost.

There will be the need for commercial development of the end of life battery disposal, recycling, methods and the end user costs of this battery management.

And the government regulatory cost of the battery processing. Me thinks there are fairly expensive $$$ consequences down the road for EV owners.

The government has probably looked at the potential to build another bureaucracy that will generate income managing end of life batteries.

I've seen little discussed about the $$$ impact of the battery management, but a lot of promotion to get the EV into the American fleet. I'm sure there is information available about projected costs, disposal fees, and so forth.

Wife bought a 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. It has a full electric mode, but it is just for low speed no emissions times. Getting into and out of enclosed parking garages, for example. Hybrid mode is fantastic. Plenty of power to merge onto the interstate, effortless cruising, up to 36 mpg. Every bell and whistle like radar cruise control. It's our road trip car.

I think the "most people" comment above is wrong. There are a helluva lot more people who commute to work and shopping than those who pull horse trailers and haul rocks. There will always be a need for hauling and towing that electrics/hybrids probably won't handle. Gas/diesel wins at those jobs.

But for highway cruising, hybrids are great. For local-only driving, full electrics can and do fit the bill. I am ignoring for the moment the electrical supply issue if there are millions more electric cars. The discussion here is just about which vehicles are suitable for which jobs.

Got to wonder how companies that compensate employees using their personal vehicles for work assignments via mileage allowance will determine fair mileage reimburse formula for employees with electric vehicles...

Must be battery size in a hybrid compared to a fully electric vehicle.

Ya think?

I bought a BMW X5 plug-in and it has a 33 all electronic range. One reason for purchasing is the tax credit you get which is very good but the main reason is how it drives. The first boost is electric and very smooth and quick, it’s like 4 seconds 0-60, then the gas takes over. My highway mileage is in the 50s and that is with 400 plus horsepower. I think this technology is the future and once they get the electric range of 100 miles plus then most people will transition. All electric cars make me nervous and are not practical for me.

Has he calculated how much that 3.5 hour charge works out to be for that 42 miles? I own a regular hybrid and love it but that’s a number I’ve never seen.

Why would that matter? I’d fight for it to be the same. RIght now I figure my fuel cost is about 15% of my mileage allowance. If I decide to go with a hybrid it’s no one’s business but mine.

I wonder how his electric bill is.

Agree, I manage the program for my company’s sales team and some have trucks and others have Teslas. They all get the same mileage reimbursement and I use it as an intelligence test. It’s an individual choice.

Plug it in, watch your meter spin, then trace your wires back to the plant where the power is being made.

Electric vehicles really lose their shine when reality is considered.