Miles is not reliable in Teslas. Always use %
was not aware, thanks for the tip
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The miles display at the top of the screen on a Tesla is actually a remaining charge estimate expressed in EPA rated miles and is not adjusted for recent driving habits and consumption. Versus showing it in percentage, it is merely a higher resolution version, though it can also show the estimate of battery capacity when charged full (or if you do a little math with the miles and percentage numbers).
Most other EVs have something more similar to an ICEV’s distance-to-empty display that adjusts based on recent driving habits and consumption. The Tesla equivalent is in the energy display screen (consumption tab).
This story makes no (math) sense to me. The 2024 Hyundai Ioniq 5 with the larger battery pack has a 77.4 kW capacity. Trickle charging at 1.7 kW/h for 12 hours should result in 20.4 kW, or at least 26% state of charge. Trickle charging at 1.7 kW/h for 60(!) hours is 102 kW - more than the battery can physically hold! Impossible. Even the new 2025 Ioniq 5’s battery only goes to 84 kW capacity. The math just doesn’t add up.
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Car was a Ioniq 6, but it still doesn’t add up for the same reasons you mention. Perhaps she was trying to charge when the car was already at 80%+, which would slow down the the process significantly with the L1 charger, although not sure it would only be 3% added. (The article says “But when she checked, it was only 3 percent charged.” But if taken literally that doesn’t really make sense either, unless she ran it down to zero as she pulled into the driveway. It must mean only 3% had been added.)
Regardless, the purchaser didn’t seem to understand what to expect with charging, even thought the purchaser already owned a plug-in hybrid (which generally have comparatively tiny batteries.) We may be at a point in time where EVs are common enough that salespeople assume that customers know more than they really do about how EVs charge. I don’t doubt that some salesman can be sleazy, but I also don’t believe that many people are being intentionally mislead into thinking the portable charger supplied with the car will charge the car up in 8 hours.
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AC charging is slow enough that it does not get slower at 80%. What can make 120V 15A level 1 charging slower than its already slow rate (1.4 kW at most) is very cold temperature where the car expends much of the incoming energy heating the battery enough to receive the energy.
DC fast charging is what can slow down significantly as the state of charge gets higher.
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I thought most cars default to travel chargers at 8A at 120V unless you specifically enable the 12A support in the car. I am pretty sure that was the default on the Chevy Volt when I got it years ago and also on the Equinox EV.
Follow up to this story in today’s Boston Globe:
No doubt due to negative press (my opinion not the reporter), the dealership has given her a rebate of $2200 to pay for the installation of 240V service in her garage and to purchase a level 2 charging cable.
Who knows, maybe the salesman assumed she already had those things for her plug in hybrid Honda, maybe not, but I’m sure the dealership felt the effect of the article on the business.
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We opted to not get a plug in hybrid (or EV)… the top contender now for us is Lexus NX 350h, a non-plugin hybrid. But when we were looking at plug-in, they were models with small batteries and around 30 mile electric range. We were led to believe that overnight charging in the garage would be sufficient even without installing a new electric panel.
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I wouldn’t worry about the battery determining whether an EV someday becomes collectible—DH’s old corvette doesn’t have its original battery and neither do the Dodge Chargers. It’s the software that makes me wonder if my new car will be obsolete in a few years like my iPhone or like DH’s old corvette.
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I think that’s accurate. I had an early model Leaf years ago and level 1 charging (120v) was sufficient to add 30-40 miles overnight.
Btw, should level 2 charging be needed it doesn’t typically require a panel upgrade if the house already has 200 amp service. It just requires a 240v circuit.
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Yes - we get about 4 miles for every hour we plug our Bolt into a regular wall outlet. So overnight that would charge your plug-in if the range is 30 miles.
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My Prius Prime fully charges 25-30 miles in 4 hours or so on regular household current. That’s the full charge and after the electric battery is exhausted the car switches to gas. I still only buy 20-30 gallons/year.
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DH is now considering new cars. He has a Volvos V60 and loves the size. His number one criteria is that he can fit his bicycle in the back without taking the front tire off. Doesn’t mind putting a seat down.
We saw the new Prius last night, and he is considering that now. He thinks it might work.
I’d be happy with that choice. And he could order now…we aren’t in a hurry to get a new car immediately.
I would have done the same thing. We have both EV and ICE (or ICE hybrid) and tried the EV on several road trips and everyone hates it for those now. So much so that my spouse has insisted that we always have a mix of EV and ICE in the future and never do our road trips with the EV. And that was despite no unexpected problems with the EV on the trip and using PlugShare and ABRP. It played out exactly as it was supposed to, and was still too much more trouble than using the ICE. To be clear, we love our EV – just not for long trips.
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My husband also needs enough space for his ebike. In Toyota Crown and Lexus RX it easily fit with front tire on, back seat folded down. In Lexus NX (our top contender) the front wheel had to come off when testing at the dealer. It’s an acceptable compromise for him, though he has a hope that once a home (and not worrying about messing up interior of dealer car) he’ll figure out away to keep the tire on.
My husband does not want an SUV…and that is not negotiable. No SUV.
He wants a small wagon like he has but the newer Volvo version is off the table. Not many wagons are made anymore. He will look at the Outback , but it’s not his first choice.
But the Prius we saw seemed to have a large enough area behind the seats for the bike.
I love my Prius and the 54mpg it gets but I am over wrestling grandkids and their carsests into and out of what feels like the incredible shrinking backseat of that car! Consequently, I am on the hunt for a hybrid SUV. I drive about 15K miles a year and 10K of those are under 50 miles round trip.
Anyone know of a reliable SUV (not crossover) from which I can reasonably expect to get 40mpg? Pipe dream?
I prefer newer used if that makes a difference.
I am open to a plug-in EUV if we can reliably get a 250ish mile range out of it in summer-per my DHs criteria. Not sure why he cares so much about that because his bladder only has a 150 mile range. 
We were on a family ski trip recently and had a Toyota sienna hybrid minivan. Would that be acceptable? It was huge and had a ton of room.
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No minivans. Like them for the occasional long trip but not my daily driver.
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