Daughter’s 2021 Corolla hybrid did not come with a spare (the ICE model does). She has a space for a spare at the bottom of her voluminous trunk, it holds a huge styrofoam shape that holds the can of tire sealer.
For her birthday I bought a wheel and had a tire mounted on it, and it fit perfectly in the space in her trunk. She has no jack, but frankly, she would never change a flat, but would call AAA. I took the huge styrofoam shape off her hands.
What precipitated all this was a flat tire that, instead of being a quick change, became a tow, and a half day of work missed to get the tire repaired and put back onto the car. She loved the gift!
I have waited rather long times for AAA tows, so that changing a flat tire oneself may be significantly faster than waiting for AAA. Changing a flat tire is not difficult if one has the spare tire and tools, but it may be worth practicing once at home rather than trying to read the instructions in the owner’s manual the first time in non-ideal conditions.
I’m sure you know this already, but you can certainly get a car jack kit with lug wrench from the Toyota dealer or possibly get one from eBay, Craigslist or a local auto dismantler for probably “next to nothing.”
For some reason, in our area AAA gets to you pretty quickly. Changing a tire yourself today is a rather perilous task. Jacks today are flimsy compared to those of years ago—unless you are on 100% flat ground, the chance of the jack tipping over is a possibility. I’d rather wait and let the AAA pro use their hydraulic jack.
After many decades, I finally cancelled my AAA and added my road service to my USAA insurance. Only this year did I (recently) have to use it due to a flat tire. The flatbed took almost 2 hrs to get to me. Two years ago when someone was inattentive and ran my DH off the road, DH tried both AAA and USAA and both said it would take 2 hrs (he was on the side of the highway!). Police came and called a tow truck. It was there in 20 minutes.
On the flip side, we had an alternator fail while on vacation in Bar Harbor Maine. Called AAA. Truck came in 15 MINUTES (!) and apologized for taking too long. Towed us to a Ford dealer in town. It was more than the mileage that our membership level allowed and that there would be a surcharge. We held our breath—it was like $5!
Wife walked the kids into town for ice cream while I waited for the car. After only an hour, I met up with them and the vacation proceeded as planned.
Could not have imagined a better outcome to having a breakdown on vacation.
Not from what I have seen. The only time I saw a jack fail was a bumper jack that came with a 1970s car. I have not seen a scissor jack (the usual kind included with car spare tires) fail when installing a spare tire.
All the times we have called AAA, they’re usually wherever we need them in under an hour. When it’s a perilous location (like side of busy highway), 15 minutes. Having AAA gives us peace of mind.
I fully recognize that your feelings are your feelings about range in an EV. But I do kind of wonder where that comes from. You live on an island that you could drive fully around 2-3 times without running out of range in most EVs on the market today. It seems to me that island living would be the perfect setting for an EV!
I’ve been in early generation Leaf vehicles with shorter range and had anxiety as to whether an outlet would be reached before being out of power. This anxiety was as a passenger and as a driver. I know my friend who has an earlier LEAF is thinking of if she has to find a place to charge.
Hawaii is the perfect place for solar and EVs! Plenty of sunshine, no extreme cold or heat meaning solar energy generation will be optimal. And for EVs, as said above, can drive all over and back without running out of battery charge.
The last time I used AAA to change a flat, their jack failed, causing my 3600lb car to come crashing down on jack. AAA and/or local roadside service company handled the body repair and fully covered costs.
More recently, I had a severely damaged wheel last month – the rim had a good sized dent in it and tire was mostly torn off. I called AAA, but estimated wait time was well over 2 hours. In fairness, I was in the middle of nowhere – roughly 100 miles from the 2 nearest major towns — Barstow and Needles. I expect that AAA outsources their roadside service to local companies, so your wait time is determined by how far away that local company and how many people are ahead of you. This may vary dramatically depending on location and time.
I ended up changing the tire+wheel myself, using the jack that came with car’s spare. Normally I’d better trust roadside service to not make a mistake, but with a 2+ hour delay, , I would not have made it to a place to get a replacement wheel before close of business. I also had a 2nd tire that was deflating and didn’t want to wait until it was too low to drive, with 100 mile tow at $10 per mile. The spare was successful, and got me to Discount Tire in Bullhead City, where I replaced the dented wheel + 2 tires. I was the last car they serviced before closing. I’m glad my car had a spare tire, rather than patch up spray or similar. I’ve used that spare an average of more than once per year.
Changing a flat on the highway is stressful if on the passenger side (hubby did it twice with our popup tent camper, wimpy tires). On the driver’s side we would not even try it.
We still have the kids on our AAA policy. I like it for having “somebody to call” (though cellphones make that less of an issue these days). Last summer son had an issue (not a flat) in a Maine. They were unable to find any tow trucks to dispatch. Once home, son complained… and they sent $670 check to reimburse.
Part of the reason I cancelled my AAA was that I had also had my kids on my account, but when I was on the phone with them (I had a question- I forget now what it was) they then said that unless they lived in my home (they now live in a different state) they couldn’t be on my account anymore, and they cancelled my ss’ and DILs’ accounts when I was on the phone with them!! Needless to say that didn’t sit well so goodbye AAA!
Sorry for the difficulties. Honestly didn’t expect a story about two non-functioning ICE vehicles to turn into an indictment of the hassle of EV charging but I guess we all view things differently. Still, so glad that didn’t happen while at your cabin, or if you needed to evacuate your home.
We’ve had only EVs for several years now. Would never go back. We have a trip similar to yours and have no problems. But that’s us.
I’m curious why you don’t install level 2 charging at the cabin? A 240v circuit could be shared and would get you full every night. Even level 1 would get you 30-40+ miles overnight.
I do charge to 90-100% before longer trips but it’s not a hassle at all. I just tell my phone to do it before I plug it in overnight.
Given some of your frustrations with the idea of charging you might consider charging to 90-100% as the default at home. Yes, 80% is advised by most manufacturers. But you need to ask how much degradation topping up will cause. Probably not much. I used to charge my old leaf to 100% every day for years and after 10 years there was minimal degradation. Ymmv.
Real life battery degradation experience: our X is 7 and a half years old. The max range went down by 7%. Not bad IMO, especially considering that someone in this household likes to drive like lead foot.
I believe that with the newer batteries (at least in my model) they recommend charging to 100%. My older one is an 80% charge but when we go on a road trip I charge to 100% before we go.
