[Cascade Steve]

I have been interested in an EV for some time. Have an opportunity to lease a 2022 ID4 Pro at a great price with both federal and state incentives (We live in Southern NJ) but need some advise. My wife and I are retired, she’s 71 and I’m 67 and we are unable to home charge. The closest Electrify America public station is only 5 minutes from our home. My wife is really against getting an EV due to charging times, etc. we only have one vehicle so this would be our primary car. Does it make sense to move forward with getting the ID4 or is my wife right that it’s not practical for us? Thanks for any advice as I’m really struggling with this decision.

I reluctantly agree with your wife. We love our ID.4. My wife drives it daily and loves it. We drove it 2000 miles on a trip to Yosemite and back. It drove marvelously. But we had some trouble charging both at faulty Electrify American stations and simply finding stations off the main highways.

Since you drive very little your carbon footprint is already small and the mount of gas you use is not much. The main value, for us, is the ability to avoid going to gas stations and that the value of energy is less than 20% for electric versus gas. Both of those issues, for you are minimal, since you don't drive much. But the worry about being charged up when you really need it is a real issue. And the fact that you will have to sit around for 30 to 45 minutes at a station to get charged is a hassle.