MalcolmReynolds
Active member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2017
- Messages
- 28
I am toying with the idea of buying an electric car and the path keeps leading me back to look at the i-miev. However I have some concerns. I see some attractive prices on some 2012 models, but I am starting to get concerned about battery degradation at this point unless I guess i can find one with really low miles. There really aren't any cars in my local area so I would be forced to shop online and ship a car to me.
Is the 2012 model starting to become more risky as far as battery health? I see a few 2016 and 2014's have started to show up, but prices are still kind of steep. Or would a low miles 2012 still be a safe purchase? I realize at this point that once the battery will no longer provide enough charge to do daily use things that are required of it that the i-Miev or any EV just about becomes disposable at this point. I saw recently someone was quoted like 19k to replace a battery in one of these cars. I hope someone starts to do the service for these batteries and can drive the cost down. I know in my first gen Insight that it usually was a bad cell and not the entire pack that needed replaced so we really need people with that skill set to start to offer battery reconditioning services. The beauty of an EV is we should be able to put many many trouble free miles on these electric motors before any kind of real serious work would be needed on them. It is just these crazy batteries that are the question mark.
Is there anything specific that is different between the car years that I should look for over another?
My other concern is that I live in an area where there is some public charging, but not much and the price of using a charger is crazy. I guess I shouldn't complain because it should mean that if I really needed to do a trip in the nearby metro areas that I could probably find a way to limp from charging point to charging point to get where I needed to go as long as the car had a quick charger. So I don't really have a super big concern today as most of my driving is fairly close with the longest trip being about 16 miles one way across the city so it appears that should be very doable if what I am reading here on this forum is true and I can find a good healthy car.
But to add a wrinkle to this I am planning on moving to a rural area in the Ozarks and it is an EV desert there. So that leaves me worrying about the most common trips I would do to get into town for shopping, errands and returning without any ability to recharge. The most common trip would be 24 miles one way, and it is the Ozarks so hit is steep hills, curves, and lots of two lane highway to get there. So I am worried that the i-miev might not be able to make that trip in the winter months. I suspect that if I hypermile it that I should be able to do the trip during the summer months as long as I can find a car with a good solid battery. When I say there isn't any charging that is literally the case. I am hoping that by asking around to local businesses I might be able to get some interest in sharing some external outlets and posting them on plugshare and anyplace else that might help fellow EV owners. Until that happens I will have to find a way to do the round trip without recharging. Even if I get a car with a strong battery today how long before the battery degrades and could not make that trip? I guess I can only hope that some sort of charging becomes available before that happens.
I am considering the idea I may need to buy a generator an carry it with me so that I could connect the car up to the genny for a short time while I am in town to make sure I can get some charge to get me back. I just don't want to be sitting in a parking lot somewhere running a genny for 4 hours just so I can get home otherwise I will use the gas sucking truck if it appears these trips will become questionable. The rural lifestyle mandates having a truck so I will have that as a backup regardless. I would prefer however to keep the truck relegated to the dirty hard work that it is meant for on the farm and not doing errands into town if I can avoid it.
One thing that stands out to me here is that with zero public charging it becomes critical that owners of EV's be willing to share their chargers for fellow EV travelers. So since I see nothing in the area(in the Ozarks where I will be) on plugshare for EV charging I am strongly considering installing an external 240v charging station and posting it on plugshare so there will be something for people to use. I will have to see what it will cost for me to do something like that and weight it heavily. I hope the cost is reasonable as I think this would be a valuable public service.
Ok, I hope I have not bored you to tears. Any feedback and input on buying an i-Miev would be great. If you happen to have any experience with remote/rural situations like I am facing I would love to get your feedback. I am hoping that the EV can do the job that I am describing. With cars like the Bolt here now and Tesla coming these kinds of worries will hopefully be a thing of the past in a couple of years. But until the price of these vehicles falls to a price point that mear mortals can afford I am stuck looking for bargains in the EV space and hoping they will be able to do what I am asking of it. Thanks.
Is the 2012 model starting to become more risky as far as battery health? I see a few 2016 and 2014's have started to show up, but prices are still kind of steep. Or would a low miles 2012 still be a safe purchase? I realize at this point that once the battery will no longer provide enough charge to do daily use things that are required of it that the i-Miev or any EV just about becomes disposable at this point. I saw recently someone was quoted like 19k to replace a battery in one of these cars. I hope someone starts to do the service for these batteries and can drive the cost down. I know in my first gen Insight that it usually was a bad cell and not the entire pack that needed replaced so we really need people with that skill set to start to offer battery reconditioning services. The beauty of an EV is we should be able to put many many trouble free miles on these electric motors before any kind of real serious work would be needed on them. It is just these crazy batteries that are the question mark.
Is there anything specific that is different between the car years that I should look for over another?
My other concern is that I live in an area where there is some public charging, but not much and the price of using a charger is crazy. I guess I shouldn't complain because it should mean that if I really needed to do a trip in the nearby metro areas that I could probably find a way to limp from charging point to charging point to get where I needed to go as long as the car had a quick charger. So I don't really have a super big concern today as most of my driving is fairly close with the longest trip being about 16 miles one way across the city so it appears that should be very doable if what I am reading here on this forum is true and I can find a good healthy car.
But to add a wrinkle to this I am planning on moving to a rural area in the Ozarks and it is an EV desert there. So that leaves me worrying about the most common trips I would do to get into town for shopping, errands and returning without any ability to recharge. The most common trip would be 24 miles one way, and it is the Ozarks so hit is steep hills, curves, and lots of two lane highway to get there. So I am worried that the i-miev might not be able to make that trip in the winter months. I suspect that if I hypermile it that I should be able to do the trip during the summer months as long as I can find a car with a good solid battery. When I say there isn't any charging that is literally the case. I am hoping that by asking around to local businesses I might be able to get some interest in sharing some external outlets and posting them on plugshare and anyplace else that might help fellow EV owners. Until that happens I will have to find a way to do the round trip without recharging. Even if I get a car with a strong battery today how long before the battery degrades and could not make that trip? I guess I can only hope that some sort of charging becomes available before that happens.
I am considering the idea I may need to buy a generator an carry it with me so that I could connect the car up to the genny for a short time while I am in town to make sure I can get some charge to get me back. I just don't want to be sitting in a parking lot somewhere running a genny for 4 hours just so I can get home otherwise I will use the gas sucking truck if it appears these trips will become questionable. The rural lifestyle mandates having a truck so I will have that as a backup regardless. I would prefer however to keep the truck relegated to the dirty hard work that it is meant for on the farm and not doing errands into town if I can avoid it.
One thing that stands out to me here is that with zero public charging it becomes critical that owners of EV's be willing to share their chargers for fellow EV travelers. So since I see nothing in the area(in the Ozarks where I will be) on plugshare for EV charging I am strongly considering installing an external 240v charging station and posting it on plugshare so there will be something for people to use. I will have to see what it will cost for me to do something like that and weight it heavily. I hope the cost is reasonable as I think this would be a valuable public service.
Ok, I hope I have not bored you to tears. Any feedback and input on buying an i-Miev would be great. If you happen to have any experience with remote/rural situations like I am facing I would love to get your feedback. I am hoping that the EV can do the job that I am describing. With cars like the Bolt here now and Tesla coming these kinds of worries will hopefully be a thing of the past in a couple of years. But until the price of these vehicles falls to a price point that mear mortals can afford I am stuck looking for bargains in the EV space and hoping they will be able to do what I am asking of it. Thanks.