You might want to look at the Chevy equinox EV. There have been pretty good deals on those the last few months.
There are a lot of EV SUV-style vehicles out there though, so it just depends what you’re looking for. Honda prologue, ID4, etc.
Whether an EV will work for you depends on your driving profile and region. EV charging mostly happens at home for most folks. I’ve had no issues charging on the road in the northeast, west coast, southwest, populated parts of the mountain west. Areas in the south or west Texas might be problematic.
Your electricity prices are relevant too in deciding whether an EV is a good financial move (for most people it is).
I am a couple hours north of seattle. Super cheap electricity ( comparatively speaking-9 cents/Kwh), charging stations everywhere and no extreme weather.
In that case an EV would make a lot of sense. The PNW is great for charging on most road trips, and your home electricity prices really do tip the scales in favor of EV if it’d work for your lifestyle.
If your concerned with having enough internal space and are considering EVs, you may want to keep in mind that built-for-purpose EVs (as opposed to models that work for EV, hybrids, and/or ICE) often have a lot more interior space than one might think from the outside of the vehicle. (This was a surprise to me, which is why I mention it.)
So a car that looks like a crossover may have as much rear seat space as some ICE SUVs. Two options might be the VW ID4 and the Hyundai Ioniq5, both of which will meet your mileage rule, although the Ioniq with more miles to spare. If you want/need an actual SUV size with 3 rows, there is the KIA EV9.
We have a Subaru plug in and my husband schedules his charging to start at 9 PM. I don’t know how long it takes to fully charge but it’s always done by the morning. We made no changes to our electrical outlet.
The rear seat on the Ioniq 5 is no bigger or higher than in my prius, so that one is out. My opposition to the crossover if I do make a change, is that one of the perks-for me- of the SUV over my current vehicle is being up higher.
I am pretty interested in the Kia EV9. Looks like a 250 mile range is realistic. That would mean even on one of our marathon driving days, we’d only have to recharge once and it appears they charge relatively fast. Any SUV (or crossover)-even a 2 row one-would meet our packing/hauling needs, but the fact that we could have a 3rd row is a minor bonus with this model-definitely not a requirement though.
I have been waiting for the Hyundai EV 9 to finally debut, but I have decided I don’t dislike the grandkids-in-the-prius situation $75K worth.
My main concern with the Kia is reliability. Anyone here have one?
The car seat gymnastics is real. We have now bought a 2nd car seat so we have one in each of our primary cars. Getting them in is still a pain but at least now we aren’t moving the seat. All of the grandkids are still rear facing and we have discovered size of car doesn’t determine how well a car seat fits. My small SUV doesn’t have as much clearance between the front seat back and the back of the car seat. My husband fits the seat in with more clearance in the Crosstrek. In hindsight I wish we had looked at the seats that revolve. My son in law drives a Chevy Volt and they had a hard time getting the infant seat to fix tight.
Exactly. We don’t have to swap carseats between vehicles. If my DH has the kiddos for the day, he drives my car. But, if we aren’t hauling kids, I want the car seats out of my the Prius, since it’s possible that I am the type of person to haul some random piece of furniture home from the antique store, or that on a whim i might fill my car with enough groceries for the zombie apocalypse or get a deal on 75 plants for the garden. I can carry my 35 lb grandson several blocks but manuevering a carseat i can barely lift in and out of the low, dark and tight space in my car means I have to transform into a contortionist.
Every time I look at the online info for a possible SUV, the first thing I check is the rear (or 2nd row) hip room to find out how long the seat is and the leg room, which gives me an idea of how well the rear facing carseat will fit behind the first row. Thankfully, my GS is getting close to being able to sit in a front facing carseat. That will help.
That is very surprising to me on both counts, especially given how you describe getting things/kids in and out of your Prius. Regardless, it sounds like you might be happier with a larger SUV. Don’t have first hand info about the current reliability of KIA. I’ve heard good things about the EV9 though and it is nice looking rig.
The rear seat on the Ioniq 5 is 2 inches longer than my prius. It does have 3 more inches of legroom, but that combined with the same sedan height seats is not enough to get me to make a major change.
I am only interested in giving up my carefree and long since paid for Prius if the end result is a decent upgrade in both space and comfort.
No. Most of the extra room in the prius V was in the cargo space. Plus, the driver sits at the same height as my current prius. As I mentioned above, a major appeal of an SUV is that I REALLY like the benefit of sitting higher off the road than I currently do. I just feel like I see wverytjing much better. Plus I am a tall woman with really long legs so whether I am sitting in front or back, an SUV is also just physically more comfortable.
Thank you for this. I had seen a similar 2024 list, but many of these vehicles that might work were not mentioned. I learned some things just quickly skimming through the list. Investigating reviews, fuel economy/range and dimensions will keep me busy!
This sadly won’t incentivize me to buy an EV. I don’t want to make this political. But lack of functional chargers is a primary reason we haven’t bought an EV, and it looks like the projected fed investment isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
After owning a Tesla X since 2017 and only occasionally using charging outside of our garage, I wouldn’t hesitate to own another EV, but I have the luxury of a garage charging and also have experienced all of the convenience of EV ownership, like minimal maintenance and no trips to the pump. That said, the next EV will not be a Tesla.
Sure for driving near home. But EVs aren’t priced right for that…meaning I would still need a second car for longer trips. I’m just not comfortable that i would be able to find reliable fast charging out there.