I recently purchased a 2021 Hyundai Kona EV with a sticker price of about $44K. NY has a Drive Clean POS rebate of up to $2K, which brought the sticker down to $42K. The dealer took another $1K off and gave me $1K more than what I owed on my trade bringing the total sticker down to about $40K. There is a federal EV non-refundable credit of up to $7,500, based on the model and the number of vehicles sold. GM and Tesla have both reached their vehicles sold limits. The Build Better Back bill, which will be signed once Joe Manchin gets his head out of his butt, proposes to add up to $5K to that rebate, and to make it fully refundable, if the car is build in a union facility. Fully refundable means that you would get the balance of the rebate once your Federal tax liability has been satisfied. For example, if you owe $5K, you would receive a refund of up to $7,500.
I love this vehicle. I have not had to buy gas since 5/28/21. I have 3 years of complimentary maintenance which is basically a top off of all fluids (EV cars do not use oil) and a tire rotation. During the summer I can get up to 315 miles on a single charge----I have noticed that this is much lower (250 miles +/-) during the winter. The complex where I live installed two Level 2 chargers in front of the clubhouse which are free to all EV owners. I also had a Level 2 charging station installed in my garage. I used the free one when the weather is nicer and the one in my garage when it is not. Driving an EV vehicle is much like driving a very expensive bumper car---you primarily use only the gas pedal---braking is done when you let off of the gas. I was a bit surprised at the acceleration----I have no problem keeping up with highway traffic and can "punch it" when needed. Mine has three different levels of resistance which is how the batteries use the engine to recharge. It has most of the bells and whistles but surprisingly did not come with a CD player (Apple play) or GPS/nav (Apple maps). There are a number of gauges to show you how much of a charge you have left and how efficiently you are driving.
To your point-----I had the same concerns when I first went to look for a EV car. ONG makes an excellent point----they are primarily commuter cars not intended for long road trips. As stated above, during the summer I can get just over 300 miles on a single charge which on a Level 2 charger is roughly 6-8 hours, depending on how much of a charge is needed. The same would take upward of an hour on a Level 3 charger. I recently drove from Salem MA to Albany NY (roughly 200 miles) on a single charge. The Mass Pike has several rest areas that have Level 3 charging stations which, as Wilber stated, could be used to charge your car while you and the family are having lunch. I did notice at several of the rest areas that non-EV cars were parked in the EV charging only parking spots.
I do have to respectfully disagree with some of the claims Wilber is making. I find it hard to believe that he drove 1K miles with only adding about 3 hours to the trip. Range anxiety is a huge concern for owners of EV cars. I have 3 different apps on my phone which let me charge on 3 different networks. The number of available EV fast charging stations will increase as the demand for EV cars increases but I would still be hesitant to drive more than 200-250 miles without planning for at least a 2 hour break. I have noticed that my utility bill has gone up $50-100/month depending upon how many times I use my home charging station.
I never would have though about purchasing an EV car had I not relocated to the Albany (NY) area, due to the low number of public charging stations where I used to live. They are plentiful down here and I never have to worry about going below 50 miles of charge. My next door neighbor has an EV Mini Cooper----he is elderly and his memory is not the best, which is probably why I saw his car being towed home on a flatbed as he had let the charge go down too low. When this happens you can't just simply plug the car in and let it charge----you also have to get it jumped.
As with any other technological change, there will be a tremendous amount of resistance, along with growing pains, but IMO the smart money is on EV cars.
