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I decided to write this here because pretty much all of the posts like this are in automotive and I thought it wouldn't hurt to talk about it here.
We finally replaced our 2003 Maxima in May. We bought a Honda Clarity Plug-in Electric Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV). And by chance it was my birthday! These are different than cars like Tesla, Bolt, some Prius, etc. The difference is a PHEV still has a tank for gasoline. That means that if the battery that drives the car runs out of energy the gas engine takes over. No range anxiety.
Gasoline can be a major purchase. Our 2008 Sorento costs between $40 and $50 to fill. For a while, when gas prices were up it was over $50 every time.
Cars like the Clarity (Volt, some versions of Prius, etc) use very little gasoline. That's because you plug them in at night and the drive battery (the great big one that drives the car through electric motors) charges. In the morning you have a number of miles you can drive without burning fuel. In our case it's 47 miles. When needed the gasoline engine takes over. It will do so if you have the "drive mode" - sorta like overdrive in the cars we drove back when - set to charge the battery or actually propel the car. It is a very flexible system.
Depending on your electric rates and what type of plan you might have available it can be very inexpensive to charge these cars. Certainly less than using gas. We are on a plan with Nevada Energy called Time Of Use (TOU) that changes our rates. Normally the charge per kWh here is 11+ cents all day, every day. With our plan it's 6+ cents a kWh from 7:00pm to 1:00pm and 41 cents from 1:00pm to 7:00pm - the peak cooling hours. This is only during the hot months (June, July, August, and September for us) and only on weekdays. The rest of the year it's 6+ cents all day every day.
We plug in when we get home and the car starts charging at 10:00pm. Every morning it's fully charged and we can drive 47 miles (give or take) without using gasoline. If the car drains the battery then the gas engine will typically give over 40 miles to the gallon. Very efficient. And very rare in our case. There is a "mode" that can be set with the press of a button that will use the engine to keep the battery charged. This is used mainly on long trips.
This particular car is an amazing vehicle for the price. It's large for an electric, seats five easily, and has a beautifully smooth ride. The interior design is beautiful and made from quality materials. The trunk is huge considering they need a place for the battery. If you've looked at electric vehicles you know what happens to the trunk. That's where the put the battery. Honda solved that by raising the rear of the car higher leaving room for the battery so it just barely intrudes, but allows for a large trunk. The body style is unique, and a lot of people don't like it. We do.
There are two versions: Base and Touring. The differences are heated leather power seats, leather wrapped steering wheel, and navigation. And it is pricey for those additions. Over $3,000.00. We got the Touring because of height difference. Thirteen inches. Power seats please. One of the things I see consistently mentioned in forums is Honda is losing money on every one they sell. There simply is no way they can build the car and make money with the original pricing and the rebates they keep offering. MSRP is $33,400 for the base and $36,600 for the Touring. If you qualify the Federal "rebate" is $7,500. You do have to have a tax bill large enough to take advantage of all of it. If not, you can get however much you are going to owe reduced to zero with the max of that $7,500. Some states give rebates as well, and some electric companies will, too. I've read that people have gotten back $10,000 when buying one. We got our Touring for $32,500 and will get $7,500 off our tax bill. So, in essence, we will have paid $25,000 for this car.
At this time almost all Clarity's are being sold in California. Honda says you can order one at any dealer.
I hope you gained some insight (pun not intended) into PHEVs and the advantages of owning one.
This is ours. Notice there are two "fuel" doors. The gas one is in back. The electric in front.
Just got an email from a friend who we worked with for amost 20 years. She had planned on retiring at the end of this year and going on COBRA for about a year, until she turned 65. She was going to wait on taking social security until then and live on $ from her retirement savings.
The company announced last week that they were going to have a round of layoffs and she got the news today that she is gone. Because of her years there she gets a great severance package that will pay her COBRA costs and pretty much support her for almost a year. Talk about great timing for something like that to take place!
Nice car, Tek_Freek. I hope you enjoy it. I like cars that aren't too big--like buses --and economical, low emissions too. Yours fills the bill. In CT we have the highest electric rates in the entire country! Good thing we love our old Subaru.
Just got an email from a friend who we worked with for amost 20 years. She had planned on retiring at the end of this year and going on COBRA for about a year, until she turned 65. She was going to wait on taking social security until then and live on $ from her retirement savings.
The company announced last week that they were going to have a round of layoffs and she got the news today that she is gone. Because of her years there she gets a great severance package that will pay her COBRA costs and pretty much support her for almost a year. Talk about great timing for something like that to take place!
EVERYONE should be as lucky as your friend!!
Last edited by katharsis; 09-19-2019 at 10:41 AM..
Nice car, Tek_Freek. I hope you enjoy it. I like cars that aren't too big--like buses --and economical, low emissions too. Yours fills the bill. In CT we have the highest electric rates in the entire country! Good thing we love our old Subaru.
Electric rates are all over the place depending on location. They get mentioned on forums I visit. Saw .22 cents a kWh in New Jersey this morning.
I've started subbing for a bridge group. I do enjoy the game!
And we've started playing Bocci Ball now that it's cooling off. We stop over the summer. Fun game, but I need more practice!
Stopped at a farmer's market yesterday and picked up clover honey, sage honey, and citrus honey. All local. All to combat the allergies I've acquired here. Three tablespoons a day. Poor me. lol! I forgot how messy it is though.
I've started subbing for a bridge group. I do enjoy the game!
And we've started playing Bocci Ball now that it's cooling off. We stop over the summer. Fun game, but I need more practice!
Stopped at a farmer's market yesterday and picked up clover honey, sage honey, and citrus honey. All local. All to combat the allergies I've acquired here. Three tablespoons a day. Poor me. lol! I forgot how messy it is though.
I recently started picking up a produce box from a local co-op once a week. They forgot a bundle of mint I ordered to go with my box and gave me a free pint of mangrove honey last week to make up for it. The produce has been great. We had dragon fruit one week, which I like and this week 8 rambutan were in the box. What a weird fruit, the grandkids called them hairy balls, but liked them. We’ve been hitting our target of eating all the veggies and fruits in the box, making meal planning different and fun for a change.
I just found out that someone else wasn't so lucky. Another friend who, with my wife, was part of an original group that started the Orlando operation in 1993 was also laid off. Unfortunately, she is not ready to retire and now in her late 50s will be out there job hunting. We are so happy that we will not have to be concerned about that anymore.
Last edited by JRR; 09-19-2019 at 05:24 PM..
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