Every college campus I’ve been to in the past two years (maybe a dozen campuses? Two dozen?) has had some sort of level 2 EV charging available. Generally they have been free or low-cost (as seen on the PlugShare app; I can’t always get to them).
For consistent use, I would guess the student is at the mercy of their fellow students’ charging etiquette (do they move their car when they are done charging?) and the school’s parking permit processes. Additionally, many of the campuses I’ve been to have only one or two chargers, so the state of repair of the charger would be a big deal if you were planning to rely on the school for charging.
On the flip side, most dorm-dwelling students probably wouldn’t need much charge at all over the normal course of a semester.
My recollection when researching colleges (15 years ago) was that at many schools it was difficult/expensive to even have a car on campus, especially for freshmen.
Yes, more likely for upperclassmen, but if charging is available at on-campus parking that would be something to think about. The suggestion of a hybrid probably makes most sense.
Initially, we planned to test-drive an RZ with the idea to replace the X, but swung by a Ford dealership on the way to some grocery shopping and found out they had some BEV trucks in stock. At about $60k and a change before tax and license one such truck was calling Mr.’s name. That was quite some grocery shopping! The X gets to live another day.
No state sales tax rebates for us because the truck was over the $$ limit ($45k is the max price I believe). I think we might be phased out of the federal this year, too depending on some circumstances, so we paid and will figure out later.
Thank you. Interesting. You’d think that there would be a higher limit for trucks. Since they have the worst fuel efficiency and emissions, there should be better incentives for truck buyers than car buyers, even. The days of a sub $45k priced truck are loonnnnggg past, so, imo that price limit on trucks is ill thought out.
I mentioned upthread that I am in the beginning stages (still) of thinking about replacing my 2015 prius with a hybrid or EV mid size SUV. If its hybrid, I want it to get north of 40 mpg. Plus, it has to have a backseat that is longer than the 51.5" prius backseat, so that it can, in a pinch, accommodate two car seats AND a 3rd person. We can do that in the prius but it is tight. Someone suggested the RAV4. I dismissed that idea because its rear seat is 4 inches shorter than our prius’ rear seat and it’s mpg is rated just under 40mpg.
HOWEVER:
I rented a 2025 hybrid Rav4 on my recent 5 day trip to phoenix. And, oh my! I LOVED it. I drove about 500 miles on that trip–including a drive to Sedona (uphill) and got 45 mpg overall. So now, naturally, I have started telling myself all the reasons I could let my bigger rear seat requirement slide.
My question here though is: and Have you found that your hybrid gets better mpg than the fuel efficiency ratings suggest? If so, please tell me more.
(I am also considering a Toyota Highlander but we would so rarely actually need that 3rd row seating, that I am not sure I can justify the added cost and even lower mpg. )
Do you get better or worse fuel economy than the 2015 Prius ratings? That may be a decent predictor of whether you will get better or worse fuel economy in some other vehicle.
We have a 2017 hybrid Highlander and love it, but it’s a much bigger car than the Prius and only gets 30 mpg, so way under your limit, even the newer ones. When we left the Highlander in Maine, we looked to buy a hybrid RAV4 for Arizona, but ended up with a less expensive, better mpg in the Camry. We are waiting for that 700 mile battery Toyota is developing and then we’ll go all EV.
Over the life of the prius, we have gotten 51 mpg…about what was advertised. (We do get 54 in the summer though…so since I was in phoenix, maybe the warm weather accounts for the better-than-rated mpg)
Dang. If we had paid just a measly $5k more, my husband would have gotten his rain sensing wipers and some other features like a sunroof and power folding “ears” in his truck Please don’t tell him.
We are in Norway. The two Ubers we took were in NIO cars. My first thought was ‘hmmm..wonder if this is an odd model Tesla made for the Euro market’.
Nope, Chinese EV - and no, I’d never heard of it. Lots to say about this car, it is nice, it rides well and the drivers like them.
Here’s the thing… there is an ever expanding network of ‘swap stations’. You pull in and get a fully charged battery swapped out for your discharged battery. Takes under 5 minutes. I mentioned upthread somewhere that this is what needs to happen for EV’s to become much more viable. And…here we are. Except it is not US.
There was a bit of a language barrier with the driver but from what I gathered the biggest hitch in getting these NIO’s into Norway was the issue of who controlled the data. Apparently some sort of agreement was reached where Norway is ‘in control’ (first OTA software outside of China was done in Norway). At least that is what China has contracted.
Slate is taking orders for its new electric pick up truck.
The truck, which can be converted into a 5 seat SUV, is being partly financed by Jeff Bezos and is apparently following an “Amazon basics” business model.
The truck is stripped down to basics–no color choice, hand cranked windows, no entertainment system or central console-- though buyers can order upgrade modules that you can install yourself or have installed for you at service centers.
Price for the no frills basic truck $27,500 or under $20,000 with state and federal rebates.
Comes with 47 kWh battery (range ~157 miles) but buyers can have a 75 kWh battery (range ~ 240 miles) installed at the factory as an upgrade.
The bed is already coated.
We have to rearrange some crap but even with the crap it fits.
Please don’t tell him. 
