I just bought an EV after looking into them for the past 5 years or so. There are a lot of terms to learn before you can even shop, like…
- Hybrid: (like a Prius) uses gas & differential braking to recharge the battery
- PHEV: (plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) – the “EV” seems redundant to me, but this is the acronym they went with. Just like the first one, but instead of just differential braking, you can plug it in. Anecdotally, it seemed like the batteries on these didn’t have as much capacity, still more of a backup/supplemental.
- EV: the fully electric car. No gas. Bigger battery (ranges vary).
It’s been an interesting project, lots to learn. You have to figure out charging…L1 plugs into a regular outlet, charges very slow. L2 is much faster, can charge you up ~ overnight, this is most of the EV chargers you see around town. Then L3 is (I think) the “fast chargers”, I haven’t dealt with them yet. You can get an L2 installed at your house (I am) but you have to contract an electrician to do it and it ain’t cheap.
Insurance was a curveball – since EV’s are generally more expensive to repair they run higher in insurance. It seemed counter-intuitive to me at first, since they are much safer cars (and not exactly hotrods).
Everything runs off the battery, and whatever energy you use drains it faster. Heat? You have no hot engine to pull off of, so if you run your heater it drains power. On the flipside, you have far less maintenance since without a combustion engine you aren’t doing oil changes.
Anyway – it’s been a fun project. I think it’s possible (even likely) that EV’s will eventually replace gas-powered cars in the long run, at least in the case of commuter vehicles (like mine).