The Renault Scénic returns as a hydrogen PHEV concept car, Valeo announced Level 4-ready LIDAR tech, Nissan and Mitsubishi launch a pair of adorable electric kei cars. All this and more on today’s issue of The Morning Dump.
Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday.
Renault Gets Scénic Again
While the combustion-powered Renault Scénic MPV that has carried so many families around Europe may be out of production, that hasn’t stopped the French automaker from rolling out a brand new concept under the Scénic name. Not only is it great to look at, it also packs a genuinely novel plug-in hybrid powertrain that doesn’t use dino juice at all. Let’s get into things.
It’s not everyday that a people-carrier can be described as seriously handsome, but the Scénic Vision concept is certainly up-to-date on its looks. From the ultra-strong Volvo-esque beltline to the blunt nose, Gilles Vidal and his team have done a fantastic job on the Scénic Vision. The styling is taut, refined, and just restrained enough to seem almost production-ready. Good stuff. The Scénic Vision’s interior is also great, a cocoon of diffused light panels, paint-splatter trim and stripey barcode carpeting. It’s modern, refined, and yet still fun. Look at these square screens for displaying various functions, poking out of the dashboard and door cards like sixth-generation iPod Nanos. Wicked.
Perhaps more important than the styling and interior of the Scénic Vision is the powertrain. It’s a plug-in hybrid, but not like the plug-in hybrids that you and I know. While the Scenic Vision’s 40 kWh battery pack is perfectly fine for short trips and zipping about metropolitan areas, this concept also packs a hydrogen fuel cell for longer journeys. That’s right, we’re looking at a hydrogen plug-in hybrid, arguably the best of both worlds when it comes to electric vehicles. Heaps of range and fast refilling for areas where hydrogen stations are plentiful, the security blanket of a short electric range for areas where EV charging stations are the only green way. It’s marvelous. So will the Scénic Vision ever make production? Honestly, who knows? The novel powertrain seems plausible and the styling seems almost production-ready with a few minor tweaks, but Renault’s keeping its cards close to its chest. Here’s to hoping.
The Future Of AMG Still Involves Thumping Great Motors
It’s not everyday that a concept car lacking some really basic exterior features is a big deal, but the Mercedes Vision AMG is a great preview of where AMG is going. Before we get into the intricacies of this concept car, let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way. Where the hell are the side and rear windows? Is this some contrived metaphor for not looking back? Not quite. Look really closely and you’ll see that the side windows are actually a very fine body-color mesh, effectively like tinted windows.
Alright, mystery sorted, now why is the Vision AMG a big deal? It’s not just the styling, although it’s nice to see that Mercedes can make an EV that doesn’t look like someone stuck wheels on Chicago’s bean sculpture, it’s the architecture. While the SLS Electric Drive may have been the first electric AMG, it certainly won’t be the last full-fat AMG with an electric powertrain. However, as electric vehicles have grown more advanced over the past decade, it’s becoming more and more difficult to offer a signature brand DNA. Sheer weight, heaps of power, and low noise in every electric car tends to homogenize the mainstream pack. Sure, you can find significant differences in handling, but AMG has historically been about power. That’s where the AMG.EA architecture comes in.
See, AMG still cares about impressive motors, it’s just switching gears from combustion to electricity. As a result, the Vision AMG packs an axial flux motor, a significant leap forward from the radial flux motors in most electric vehicles. So what does an axial flux motor offer? How about a lot more power than a radial flux motor. While Mercedes is coy on details, it’s not unusual for axial flux motors to produce 30 to 40 percent more torque and offer better cooling than equivalent radial flux motors. Yeah, that’ll do nicely. Also part of the AMG.EA platform is better packing that allows for lower silhouettes, which often lead to the feeling of sitting in a car rather than sitting on a car.
Press releases occasionally offer some gold, and the marketing copy for the Vision AMG serves up an inadvertently hilarious nugget. “Despite the battery pack in the floor of the car between the axles, the study sits considerably lower than the EQS and, thanks to its intelligently designed interior floor, offers plenty of space for four.” Does this mean that the EQS has an unintelligently-designed interior floor? That would explain why rear headroom is so tight.
Anyway, the Vision AMG really seems to bode well for the future of AMG. While the shift to four-cylinder engines sounds concerning, the eventual AMG electric vehicles sound like they could be brilliant. More power-dense motors, low centers of gravity, attractive silhouettes. That’s a pretty good combination, no matter how you slice it.
Valeo Makes Some Bold LIDAR Claims
With everyone racing to bring Level 4 autonomy to market, automotive supplier Valeo has just announced a big step forward. According to an Automotive News report, the third-generation lineup of Valeo’s Scala LIDAR tech can enable Level 4 autonomy. Yeah, this is a pretty big deal. So where did this Scala system come from, where are we currently seeing it, and how does this third generation improve on existing LIDAR tech?
Well, Valeo’s a French automotive supplier that makes a little bit of everything. Think OEM wiper blades, radiators, 48-volt mild hybrid systems, and everything in between. While Valeo does a ton of cool stuff, we’re focusing right now on its Scala LIDAR systems. Scala 1 enabled Level 3 autonomy in the Honda Legend Hybrid EX sedan, a JDM version of what Americans know as the Acura RLX. Scala 2 is available on the Mercedes-Benz EQS, enabling internationally-approved Level 3 technology, a huge step forward in vehicle automation. Scala 3 claims a twelvefold increase in resolution, a tripling of range and a wider field of view than Valeo’s existing tech. If that feels light years ahead of what’s currently available, you’re not wrong.
Scala 3 claims a total range of 200 meters (220 yards, 656 feet and two inches), the ability to keep track of vehicles obscured in traffic or by landscape features, and a rain density calculation function. As a result, Valeo feels comfortable to increase Scala 3’s maximum speed threshold to 130 km/h (80.78 mph). Level 4, here we come. Honestly, it’s going to take a bit of time before we see Level 4 autonomy on our roads. Valeo claims Scala 3 won’t be ready until 2024, and then God only knows how long regulatory bodies will take to approve consumer-owned Level 4 autonomous vehicles. Still, this LIDAR announcement bodes well for the future of autonomous vehicles.
The Spirit Of The Mitsubishi iMIEV Lives On
The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance continues to bear cool fruit, this time in the form of two electric kei cars. In response to Toyota’s wonderfully bizarre two-seat C+pod electric vehicle, Nissan and Mitsubishi have launched a pair of tiny four-seat electric vehicles that coax surprising range out of miniscule battery packs. Let’s have a look.
Nissan calls its variant the Sakura, like the cherry blossoms. How wonderful is that? Mitsubishi on the other hand, calls its version the eK X EV, as it’s really just an electric version of the eK X kei car. Honestly, a rather literal name can also be appreciated. Remember the Volvo Canadian? It was just a 121 made in Nova Scotia. Anyway, look at how adorable these little things are. I could just pick one up and put it in my pocket. The interior on the Sakura looks pretty good too, a nice blend of horizontal shapes keeping with Nissan’s larger Ariya electric crossover.
So how do these little EVs perform? While they’re capped by kei car regulations to 63 horsepower, they both crank out a reasonably stout 144 lb.-ft. of torque. While the battery pack is tiny at 20 kWh, the low power demands correspond to range of 112 miles (180 kilometers) on the WLTC Japan test cycle. I have no idea what that would even correspond to on the EPA test cycle, but figure somewhere in the double digits. Perfect for quick intra-city trips, and sublime considering the Nissan Sakura’s 2,333,100 yen ($18,203) base price.
More importantly, it doesn’t take much time at all to charge a 20 kWh battery pack. Plug in to a standard 120-volt outlet when you get home from work in the evening and one of these tiny EVs should be fully charged come morning. Sweet! Even sweeter is the ability for power to flow out of these kei EVs, enough to power the average Japanese home for a day. Good stuff. While the Mitsubishi i-MIEV may be out of production, it’s cool to see Mitsubishi still making electric kei cars. Quirky, green, city-sized runabouts are definitely alright in my books. Tiny EVs hanging out, hell yeah.
The Flush
Whelp, time to drop the lid on this edition of The Morning Dump. Mitsubishi and Nissan’s tiny twin EVs sure sound neat, don’t they? I mean sure, range doesn’t seem great, but long-range EVs aren’t always the answer. City dwellers in areas with awful public transportation probably don’t need much in the way of range. To be honest, 60 miles of range sounds perfectly fine for popping across LA or to the exurbs of Toronto. A cheap EV for errands and a fun car for road trips sounds like a fabulous solution to me. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the EV range debate. What sort of environment do you live in, how far do you travel in a day, and do you really need a long-range EV?
Lead photo credit: Renault
I’m one of the few people who actually loves the i-MiEV, and of course I’m glad to see them making a new similar car, but I always wondered why Mitsubishi squandered their opportunity to be at the forefront of EV innovation. They had the i-MiEV out in Europe and Japan in 2009, before the Nissan LEAF, and they managed to make it quite cheap, albeit with some compromises. The Mitsubishi Group, which includes Mitsubishi Motors, contains Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Chemical, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which could all help make new, better EVs with longer range. They really missed out on a huge opportunity, and now as EVs become increasingly popular they don’t have any all-electric cars in their lineup!
Anecdotally, the Outlander PHEV seemed to do rather well for them (as basically the only affordable plug-in crossover for a long time), it’s even more surprising they didn’t try and capitalize on that success.
Grand Scenic is a longer version of Scenic. Same wheelbase, longer from backseat onwards. The seating configuration is 5+2, with fold-up jumpseats.
The thing that really bugs me is that there are people like me, that actually use cars as means of solving a transportation problem and not just cruising and posing. With the advent of SUVs I feel I have been neglected as a target. Getting a bicycle on top of a high suv is not exactly easy no matter what kind of a roof rack there is. In my GS I can chuck a full size bike into the boot. That is how much space there is. With SUVs the higher COG (center of gravity) requires much stiffer pillars, meaning they are bulkier, meaning a bike will not fit in without taking handlebar down.
I want a car that fits a pile of 2×4’s in the middle while my babies sit in their safety seats! F*ck the SUVs with their cream leather interiors! 😉
Ok so the commenting system on Autopian is not foolproof yet. This is a doublepost of a reply to another commenter.
That would not work for my family. We have a 50 and 72 mile round trip commute respectively. In opposition directions. And neither workplace has any provision for charging or any hope of getting that installed. Next vehicle will be a long range BEV to cut down on the carbon footprint.
Hey, you mentioned my home province of Nova Scotia! 😀
Almost nobody remembers we exist, haha! I’ve seen the Museum of Industry’s restored Volvo Canadian….it’s pretty stunning in person! There was a Halifax plant for Volvo until the late ’90s when it, sadly, closed down 🙁
Our 2014 BMW i3 gives us about 60-70 miles of range, and it is perfectly fine. It is like going from an old flip phone to an iPhone. Yes, the flip phone’s battery will last for a week. But after upgrading, you effortlessly get in the habit of plugging the phone every night.
More crucial than range is charge speed, and it is infuriating that in every review this tends to be a mere footnote. With our i3, in case of emergency you can just find a level 3 charger and be back on the road after twenty minutes. Our older Fiat 500e did not have that option, and even with very similar range, range anxiety was a thing. If you (or most often, the very optimistic engineers at Bosh) overestimated the battery, you would get stuck at some random charging station for an entire afternoon.
Thoughts on the Scénic:
If it’s getting that name, it’ll probably be produced. I’d imagine the exterior will be watered down minimally, but the interior will be MUCH more homogenised. I mean, Renault do realise the Scénic’s target market is and always was people with young families, right? That concept interior is… impractical when it comes to little chocolate covered paws and destructive toddlers. Probably not the best platform to showcase delicate mini screens and… white.
Love the sound of the powertrain, though. I’m still wishing for hydrogen to become a thing, but by now too many manufacturers have their eggs in the electric basket to get the requisite amount of research into making hydrogen practical. The most abundant element in the universe, and we can’t harness it in a way that makes it the answer to burning dead animals, and the refuelling infrastructure is so scarce that it can’t even claim to be “niche”.
Not when you talk about Renault… At least not as fast as you think and probably not in the same form.
Just look at the Koleos concept ( 2000 ) and the first production ones ( 2006 ) or the Modus ( 1994 ) that was a small box truck and ended up being a Clio SUVed.
There’s some that didn’t really change from concept to production ( Avantime… but this one was really *Avant Time*, I think it would do well in the SUV segment now ) but most of the time it took years and the concept had nothing to do with the commercial product bearing the same name.
It takes a long time for any concept to reach production. It remains to be seen, but the new Renault 5 will be a good indicator of how a concept will translate to production for Renault in the here-and-now, not 20+ years ago.
The lines between the aesthetics of concept and final production have become more and more blurred in recent years, across the board. Consider the BMW i3 and i8, Citroën Cactus or Hyundai ioniq5. This Scénic looks, arguably, more production-ready than the R5 concept.
More thoughts on the Scénic:
so much sh*t has been said about the Scenic as a the perfect opposite of a driver’s car. But: as an owner of the last model 7-seater Grand Scenic I have literally tested and measured(!) with a tape measure the interior space of cars like Volvo XC90 as a replacement. The interior space and the flexibility of adjusting the seats in a Scenic were superior to anything else in the market. Renaults own SUV’s sacrificed all of that functionality for being trendy – bulky on the outside, but cramped on the inside. Competitors are not any better. I’ve sat and tested everything that even remotely comes close. 7-seater SUV’s are just rubbish. In a GS you actually could fit an adult on the third row if needed – and still have space for a baby trolley behind it.
Not a very sexy point of view but Renault Grand Scenic was the best european people-carrier there ever was, and currently there is nothing to replace it. And this new Scenic certainly does not look like it will. So appellez moi disappointed.
Which kind of echoes my point on the concept interior, as attractive as some may deem it (I’m on the fence), missing the mark of the Scénic’s whole raison d’être.
Correct me if I’m wrong, though: the Grand Scénic was supplemental to the five-seat variant, not a replacement?
Grand Scenic is a longer version of Scenic. Same wheelbase, longer from backseat onwards. The seating configuration is 5+2, with fold-up jumpseats.
The thing that really bugs me is that there are people like me, that actually use cars as means of solving a transportation problem and not just cruising and posing. With the advent of SUVs I feel I have been neglected as a target. Getting a bicycle on top of a high suv is not exactly easy no matter what kind of a roof rack there is. In my GS I can chuck a full size bike into the boot. That is how much space there is. With SUVs the higher COG (center of gravity) requires much stiffer pillars, meaning they are bulkier, meaning a bike will not fit in without taking handlebar down.
I want a car that fits a pile of 2×4’s in the middle while my babies sit in their safety seats! F*ck the SUVs with their cream leather interiors! 😉
I hear ya. Since my Volvo V70 died, there isn’t really anything I feel will replace it (that I can afford).
Counterpoint: why would anyone spend 2,333,100 yen on a Nissan Sakura when you can get at least a handful of Changlis instead? I bet those Nissans don’t even come with any rad decals.
The LIDAR first.Even if we assume level 4 is unattainable, this tech will improve driver assistance and safety features like auto emergency braking. Nice one
A hydrogen fueled PHEV is interesting. Essentially it can be a fully green fueled car that makes long trips easier than with an EV.I’m curious how the cost/benefit works out because fuel cells seem to be expensive.
I LOVE those Kei EVs. Mind you i like most small cars so they had a head start 😉
I think I’d be a good fit for an EV, but certainly not as an only vehicle. I work from home, when I do go in it’s an hour drive 1 way (more in the WI winter), and they have charging stations there too. Right now I have my ’02 Tahoe, girlfriend’s ’14 Forester, and a recently acquired 2000 Beetle. Lately I’ve been taking the bug to work (when it will, it’s got a story, seems to always need something). But here’s my problems with EV. Everything is paid off, I like not having any car payments. But mainly, the 2 cars already get decent mileage, and the big truck I can’t replace with an EV. With the two of us and 4 kids (middle and high school), when we do things together, we take the truck. And for camping I have a smallish trailer for the coolers, tents, and other gear. There just isn’t a reasonable EV that can handle that, drive 3-5 hours to a non electric site pulling a trailer, and then make a return trip.
Mitsubishi needs to sell the EK X EV over here.
I prefer the EIEIO.
Yesterday I commented about a butt-ass ugly Mercedes and I’m doing it again. I didn’t even notice the weirdness with the windows because I couldn’t get past the baleen whale front end. My God is that thing hideous. Disclaimer: your opinion of said Mercedes may differ from mine.
I’m currently doing about 30km a day (~15 km round trip, twice a day) getting my son to daycare (at least until he starts school next year)., along with assorted short hops around the city, and once or twice a month doing ~150km roundtrip going to see either in-laws or my parents. I’d be pretty well suited to EV life (I mean, I’d probably want to upgrade my home’s electrical long term, the previous owners took a few shortcuts). At the same time, the cost of gas isn’t particularly ruinous, even at $2/L, so I’m in no rush to upgrade. Although, in a one-car family, and with my wife refusing to drive stick, I’m pretty open to one when the time comes just because something with instant throttle response and a bit of engine braking is the big reason we have a manual right now.
A 1 car family and your wife won’t drive stick? Buy a stick and you always have the car when you want it. I thought only Americans kowtowed to their women? LOL
She’s not my “woman,” she’s my partner – as in someone whose needs I should reasonably account for. I was insistent that the current car be a stick because when I bought it it I was driving all day for work and needed something gutless and efficient and an automatic would be far too miserable, and she wouldn’t drive it much even if it was an auto. Since I don’t drive as much, I’m happy to compromise now, whenever we end up buying a replacement car (she also recognizes that it’s cheapest to just keep driving a reliable, paid-off car).
Plus, we buy something sensible with an automatic as the next family car, I have license to buy something really stupid when we have the budget for it.
What are the crash standards for kei cars? The Sakura would be an ideal commuter for my wife.
Kei car versus full size truck/SUV is not going to be pretty. The roof of my stock ride height golf sportwagen (4mo stick obviously) is the same height as the hood of a new Silverado or f150 and that makes me nervous enough.
This. I had occasion to consider this phenomenon yesterday when I, in my jetta wagon, was parked between a Silverado and an F-150, nose to nose with a second Silverado. It did not endear me to late model trucks any.
I parked my Miata next to a co-worker’s Tundra 4×4 (stock height). The tallest part of my roof was lower than his door handle. I’m pretty sure I’ve been at stoplights next to heavy-duty pickups where their bumpers were at the level of my head. I don’t love thinking about it.
Crash standards? Huh ever crush an aluminum can?
Torch!
Open comments on the meetup post so I can tell you about the Chrysler designed bubble-assisted headlight aiming. Which is not Viper exclusive. By any stretch.
Hell, if you can convene Steve’s Viper, any random Prowler, and between 1 and please-no-more-than-that 1998+ LH platform car, I’ll even train you on how to use them. On each model. (Sorry, it didn’t make it to Neons or minivans. But I can explain the battery temperature sensor and charging system which is truly bonkers advanced.)
Oh. And don’t schedule the next one on a Thursday with a whole 24 hours notice, damnit!
The last time I was in the market was for a commuter car, I came *so close* to buying an eGolf. It was a little bit pre-pandemic and were a bunch of good deals on lease returns. Trouble was, most of what was available was the earlier version with ~80 mile range, and I was reading that was more like mid-50s in the dead of winter. Given my commute then was verging on 50 miles round trip, I was a bit hesitant, and then we found a CPO jetta wagon that was too cheap to pass up. A few years later, I have zero complaints about the wagon, but I still regret not jumping on the ev when I had the chance, particularly now that my commute is 0.
That Renault is wonderful. I dig the multiple small screens instead of a giant slab, but still wish there were some buttons. Of course, the alliance being what it is, they’ll have to put it through the Nissan Uglifier before anything like it can sell in the US
I also looked into eGolf when my commute changed just as our gen 2 Prius died in early 2021 but the winter range loss put it a little too close for comfort – my round trip commute is about 55 miles with occasional need for short trips to jobsites during the day. Instead I went with a Honda Clarity plug-in hybrid with 50 mile electric range and I have to say it’s pretty nice filling up the 7 gallon gas tank every 600-800 miles. By the time it’s ready to be replaced in 175,000 miles or so I would expect full electric will be the only logical choice for a commuting car.
So many questions about that AMG.
1. Everyone is buying large above the crowd SUVs. Who wants a vehicle that is a ramp?
2.Has any study been done asking if rear seat passengers want to sit in the equivalent of a closet on road trips? Yeah I know the wealthy have always blocked off their seats from the outside world but they always controlled seeing out. I myself would prefer seeing the death car coming rather than riding in a sensory deprivation tank.
3. Finally poll question does look like an enlarged Vette or a shrunken Camero?
Yeah that one was for DT
I’d go Camero(sic) for the rear, but the front is more like the love-child of a Cayman and Tesla3 to me.
My daily commute is about 45 miles one way at interstate speeds.
Mini-EV would be good for my wife, though. Work from home with random errands throughout the day.
I have a 30 mile daily commute, so something like the Nissan and Mitsubishi cars would certainly work for me. However, I don’t think the benefits to society would justify having a dedicated commuting appliance and weekend fun car vs one ICE car that does it all in most use cases until we have more renewable energy to power them & EV battery manufacturing is more environmentally friendly (and the charging infrastructure is improved for those without home charging).
I like the small screens in the Renault. Seems like an easy way to allow for options/expansion and one defective one could easily be swapped out rather than replace the whole thing. Maybe one larger screen for nav but even that doesn’t seem necessary.
For some reason the Mercedes reminds me of Lightning McQueen. Not sure if it is when Lightning is in primer or in Cars 3 when he’s getting his smart wrap? Something connects the two.
I could absolutely drive something like this daily. My commute is 10-13 miles each way, depending on which way I go, and if I stay off the freeway (which I would in something this small) the speed limit never gets above 35. A hundred miles of range? That’d take me clear across town and back.
The nearest charging station to me represents a 1.5 hour round trip in the opposite direction I normally go. That would significantly impact my usable range.
Even leaving home on a full charge, 60 miles of range would be inadequate to visit my parents in the neighboring county, and make the return trip, on one charge. Again, they’re in the opposite direction of the nearest Electrify America or Tesla Supercharger.
Any way to charge at your parents’ place?
Yes, I’d love to bum their electricity. It’d be just like old times.
No problem install a charging Station at home and one at your parents place, ask your place of employment to install one there, and maybe one where you grocery shop plus your favorite restaurant. Yeah it is an extra $50,000 but won’t you please think of the children. Note your actual children whose lives will be diminished by the loss of household capital don’t count because like your rich.s/
40 kWh battery in a PHEV?! That is absolutely wild. My Volt pushes the electric-only range of PHEVs at 53 miles and that’s with a 17 or so kWh battery (of which it limits itself to just using around 14kWh). 40 will result in absolutely BONKERS electric-only range.
This would make an interesting study. The average person complaining about range is rural. What is the average distance from the average rural person to a major metro center.
I often find I have to go to the nearest major city about 6-12 times a year. For me that’s about 90 miles round trip.
I bet a PHEV like this would take you from 90% of all trips to 99% of all trips.
Heads up if I bought a New Tesla unless I had a charger installed at my house I could only drive to the charger and back. From my house 150 miles to the charger and 150 miles back. So I now need to drive back to the charger, hopefully I can get there. Then drive home. But then I only have enough charge to drive back to the nearest charger. Yes not everyone lives in a city.
Sounds like an argument for building out the charging network. Or developing hydrogen PHEVs that may ultimately be able to make use of existing gasoline infrastructure. Or I dunno, congratulations on being the in the 10% that won’t benefit from MegaVan’s comment?
Yeah I’d bet it is over 50% who would not benefit. Within 50 miles of me is a population of over half a million people. None would have a commercial charging station within an hour and a half. So over 20% of western PA. Also anyone more than an hour outside of Philly would be in the same position and I think everyone in Central PA. SO about 50% or more of the entire state. I say big cities would definitely benefit from this but rural areas wouldn’t. So if the cities that are mostly deep in debt want to pass taxes or fees on their own citizens fine. Quit asking those of us who don’t benefit to pay your share. My parents who recently passed owned a house only 2 miles from a modest sized college town, basically the rural suburbs. Internet is still unavailable. So yeah they pay the phone tax to finance national internet for 27 years yet they and their neighbors still don’t have internet. So hey let’s ramp up another tax and fee so people in the city get free charging and whoever buys the place still can’t get cable or internet. Or even better a federal tax so people in NYC get it free on the back of everyone.
Sorry. You can go to https://www.plugshare.com/ and find chargers in western PA. If there are 1/2 million people within 50 miles, there is likely going to be chargers. Nor would I consider that very rural.
It’s closer to 6%
Where do you live that you don’t have electricity at home? I know there are rural places in the US, but that’s too rural!
[Yes, I know what you meant, but friendly reminder that you can charge an EV or PHEV from a standard 120v or 240v dryer outlet just fine without calling an electrician.]
Well I wrote UNLESS I INSTALLED A CHARGER AT MY HOME. So range anxiety is no charger except the one at home. Sorry if what I wrote confused you.
Some people have bought into the bullshit that it costs thousands of dollars to be able to charge at home. They’re included with the fucking car and with a Tesla, it’s a matter of changing a cable to be able to take advantage of a 240V outlet. He’s stated that he’s in Western PA, so he’ll have electricity available. It is not BFE Montana or Alberta FFS.
This is a fair point.
I never considered people who buy equipment designed to be refueled at their home and choose to only refuel publicly.
In a PHEV.
If you bought a new Tesla, you would be able to charge it at home with the included charger. The standard one is 120V, but you can then buy a 240V adapter cable for it and charge faster. If you don’t have 240V circuit to the garage, then it’s a good excuse to have one put in. Then you’ll be able to also get the 240V welder that you’ve wanted but THAT wasn’t a good excuse for a new circuit according to the home-CFO.
Sadly, in a separate issue, it seems 80% of homeowners with a garage have it filled with junk so the car has to sit outside.
We have a carport in a condo, so no charging here for us yet. But my Fit gets 35mpg average and it’s only 8 years old…