What Are Your Other Vehicles Used For?

[JoeS]

This post prompted me to start this thread:

...We unfortunately still need the van for longer trips, trips with friends, and for hauling stuff. Otherwise, we would dump the damn thing....

For myself -

My Gen1 Honda Insight is our long-distance vehicle, used about once every six weeks for my wife's 800-mile round trip drive to Oregon. Now that I have an i-MiEV with CHAdeMO, I just realized that we haven't driven this car locally at all.

My 1988 Isuzu Trooper was purchased new for hauling the trimaran, and that is still its primary mission in life. Also hauls a trailer with one of my Sparrows to distant EVents... hmm, now that I put a hitch on the CHAdeMO i-MiEV, maybe... :roll: Otherwise, it just sits there and is used for the rare dirty Home Depot hauling job or is sometimes borrowed by friends.

My wife's 1983 Toyota station wagon used to be our 'loaner' car when friends visited, but now one of the i-MiEVs performs that function. She still uses it occasionally to haul her bicycle or things from the nursery because she doesn't want to dirty the i-MiEV, or if she's attending a distant bike ride.

My classic 1967Saab (which I bought brand-new) still runs but, as a gross polluter, has been mothballed. There are three more old Saabs scattered around the property (one of which is a crude EV conversion I picked up), all being saved as parts cars for a possible future good EV conversion...

The Ram/Mitsu EV conversion pickup has a range of 11 miles and was regularly used for short trips into town, but has now been relegated to simply hauling large stuff around the property. Time to part with it.

The three single-seat Corbin Sparrows all run wonderfully and were a nice hobby, but I really should sell at least two of them (as well as the EV pickup). Great hit at EVents and Green Earth days and I'm surprised I haven't been approached by solar sellers for publicity stunts.

My ultra-rare 1976 MBZ L206D front-wheel drive British (RHD) RV Conversion ('Ultra-Autobahn') is presently up on blocks at my son's for a brakejob (he wants it as it reminds him of his childhood camping trips). Hasn't been used in 15 years, but amazingly starts instantly and runs just fine (I have special super filtration and water-separators on both fuel and oil lines).

'Nuff about my toys - like I keep telling people, our i-MiEVs satisfy over 99% of our trip needs.

 

[misterbleepy]

Our other vehicle is used for longer trips "up country" (we like in the extreme south west corner of the UK), towing, carrying bikes, & camping.
It's a Citroen Berlingo with a pop-up roof & a small kitchen in the back.
Here it is with our (now sold) trailer tent:


Camper Van and Folding Camper, on Flickr

 

[jsantala]

Nice Berlingo! I've had two.

Right now my only ICE is a Kawasaki ZZR250 -92 (Ninja in the U.S.). I just got it to do my once a week 150 mi commute. The C-Zero can do it, but right now the charging stations are not where they need to be, making it a six hour journey. Not something I like doing weekly. The Kawasaki does over 50 mpg, so I use just three gallons of gasoline a week.

Occasionally we lend the neighbours' U.S.-model Honda Accord -99. I just changed some ignition parts to it's 2.3l VTEC. Strange how I still end up fixing ICE cars when I've sold all my own. At least I don't _have_to_ fix it if don't want to. It's always nicer to work on this voluntarily than when you just have to. The Accord has stick shift so it can do 40 mpg if driven nicely. It's got 159k miles on it.

 

[PV1]

My white i-MiEV (Bear) is my main driver.

My silver i-MiEV (Koorz) was purchased with the intent of using it as a rental vehicle in a future business venture. Right now, it is mainly used by family members as a commuter. I get to drive it every now and again. This week, though, it will be my primary as Bear goes to the dealer for battery warranty work (possible bad cell, page 6 of thread "battery only charging halfway").

My iZip Compact electric bicycle is used for trips to my sister's house, grandparents' house, and around the farm.

For the ultra-rare long trip (mostly for work), I borrow my parent's C-Max Hybrid. I was able to achieve 46.2 MPG on a trip to State College. That was all highway at speeds of 55-65 MPH.

I think the Sparrow is a neat vehicle. I wouldn't mind having one, but commuting is my main use for the i-MiEV. I'd feel like I was abandoning it. :lol: Plus, who knows when work decides to send me to Best Buy and pick up three 50" TVs? I don't think they'll fit in a Sparrow, but they do in the i-MiEV (barely :lol: ). Either way, I don't have any room to park another vehicle.

 

[Phximiev]

I am beginning to this that we should join a car sharing program for the occasional car needs, see, for instance: http://www.zipcar.com

I did this years ago in Boston and thought that it was great.

Just found Zipcar in Phoenix also.

Anyone have experience with other car sharing programs?

 

[iwatson]

2011 Chevrolet Volt - Serves as my daily driver to work and back. Also use for longer trips, 2-3 day vacation trips to destinations within 200-500 miles. Or for overnight camping trips, we use it as a Volt-ebago. Put shades in the windows, fold the back seats flat, plug-in at a campground and run heat or A/C all night. Perfect for two as a mini-RV. For longer trips......Don't know! Don't ever have time for longer trips, maybe use my Mom's Buick....She never drives it! My wife also uses my Volt for trips to Nashville to visit her Aunt.

2012 Mitsubishi I-miev - This is My wife's car. Had to talk her into an EV 'cause she had range anxiety. Now she loves it and rarely parts with it. Perfect for her, she's a housewife and all her trips are short. Her longest destination is 17 miles to her parent's apartment. I still like to think up excuses to steal it from her. Like "my car is charging right know", or "I've got a lot of running around to do and I don't want to burn gas" or "Let me take it and get it washed for you". Legitimately, I get it when she takes my car to Nashville!

1997 Chrysler Town and Country Mini-van. My son uses it! It's his daily driver. Could also use it when we need to seat more than 4 or to haul something. I guess we could use it on a longer vacation, but it's got a lot of miles.

 

[jray3]

Lets see... In the past week my truck has hauled 160 cubic feet of lumber and 3360 lbs of concrete mix for a fence rebuild, and the minivan picked up a 600 lb roll of salvaged conveyor belting to make a digging dog and weed barrier under the fence. The van was also used to haul a couple loads of solar panels that wouldn't quite fit in the i-MiEV (though MR BEAN towed the disassembled dual-axis tracker on his little trailer just fine). The van does one or two 1000+ mile road trips per year, and probably 8 trips of 200 miles each. Beyond that, the van just does local errands when the BEAN is already occupied, plus a few work trips per month that would be possible in the BEAN, but for lack of EVSE near the destination.

 

[Don]

The 2003 Mazda Protégé 5 wagon with 72K on it is our 'out of town' vehicle - We just returned from a 1300 mile round trip to Illinois in it - We had to jump it to get it started the day before we left . . . . gotta remember to put the Battery Tender Jr back on it. I keep it 'stored' with non-ethanol gas in it, so if the battery is up, it never fails to run. We've put 12,000 miles on it over the past 3 1/2 years, 95% of it when we left town

After 16 years of ownership, the '94 Miata R package with 60,000 miles on it is going up for sale very shortly - We bought the second iMiEV and there's no room in the garage for it

Don

 

[tigger19687]

2006 Ford F-350 Crew-cab pick-up Diesel. This was my daily driver till I got the Jelly-Bean. It is paid for and I have hauled all sorts of stuff I get Free on CL And someday will help me go Solar. I will not get rid of it until I have to put More Money into it.... but I do love her

2002 GMC Yukon XL (suburban). Kept it for my son when I bought the p-u. Was a nice car all over until he started to use it full time a couple years ago. Outside looks nice, inside is trashed, but the rest is holding up only because I make sure there is Oil in it. If there is ANYONE that needs a LOW maintenance EV, it would be him ! Hoping something comes along soon for him, but then again he probly would forget to plug it in.
He moved out (with the SUV) last Oct

 

[kiev]

Mercury Villager Mini-Van, used to haul kids, hockey gear, and large batches of plastic gallon jugs filled with a clear liquid...