[DoubleNicks]

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.

 

[DoubleNicks]

It’s probably going to come down to how often you would need to charge and if the location is convenient for doing other things, like errands or grabbing a cup of coffee or something. Since it’s a lease, I wouldn’t worry much about battery degradation due to exclusive DCFC, especially if you don’t charge it to 100% and leave it that high.

Also I’m assuming you’re aware that you can charge the car (slowly) with a 120V outlet, but just wanted to mention it because if you’re not driving a ton each day that can probably recoup the miles you drive.

Thank you for your advice. The charging stations are in a Walmart parking lot (9 total stations with 1 at 350kw and the others a mix of 150 and 50kw) which is also close to other stores and restaurants. Our problem with home charging is that our parking is not close to our home but rather the parking lot in our development. I’d have to run an extension cord from our home out to the parking lot. Could do that but the cord would cross the three other condos next to ours (we are the farthest from our parking space). The ID4 is due at the dealership sometime in August so I wanted to get as much advice as I can before I have to make a decision.

 

[DoubleNicks]

Believe me, I’ve been lobbying our property management to do this for over a year. The State of NJ will even pay for the installation under there Green Energy initiative. While they were interested, our property manager said that they decided against it since they would have to classified as “public” charging stations meaning anyone could use them and they didn’t want that. Again, your feedback is very much appreciated.

 

[DoubleNicks]

I feel you would be fine with "just" DCFC or the many L2 stations you'll find around your area, some of which are also free (as my Stop & Shop grocery).

An excellent example of extensively and very successfully using EA DCFC:

I started my long trip

I started my trip from central Alabama yesterday and am currently in Breaux Bridge, LA. 460 miles the first day and will head into Texas today. Traveling on Memorial Day wasn't an issue as traffic was light and only moderate just north of New Orleans. All EA charges worked perfectly both...

www.vwidtalk.com

Thank you. I think so as well. My wife’s biggest concern is if one of us wound up in the hospital for an extended period, driving back and forth each day would require charging. I have no problem with that but she does. Any points to help convince her are welcome.

 

[DoubleNicks]

Yeah, the big question is how many miles/week you honestly think you would be driving. That will determine how often you need to charge. Then you can start to think about whether any of the normal trips you already make can be combined with charging.



Sounds like Somerdale

Yes, it is Somerdale. We live in Voorhees. If Tesla does eventually open up their network to other EVs, there are many of them close by. Our current car only has 13,000 miles in almost two years on our lease. My guess is we drive less than 50 miles per week. Some days we don't use the car at all.

 

[DoubleNicks]

Charging is very easy. Pick the station and charger on the app, swipe to start charge, plug in. Easy peasy!

I totally agree. Thanks.

 

[DoubleNicks]

Going by my model, you will be charging once every 3 weeks!

That’s less than my current gas fill ups. Thanks.

Those kinds of hypotheticals are complicated only because there are multiple hospitals out there, and "extended period" is kind of open-ended. But it still comes down to a question of how many miles/day one might drive in this scenario, and you still have a nearby EA that would let you top up in 15-20 minutes any time you need it.

Very true. We are no more that 25 miles from at least 4 hospitals and some are even closer. I was just giving everyone my wife's argument against getting an EV as our only car. I agree that it's really not an issue and may not even happen.

 

[DoubleNicks]

I think you've gotten a lot of great advice so far, just want to make sure you don't get your hopes up based on your statement of a August arrival, and you have to make a decision soon. Are you basing plans off an agreement with a dealer and not just what you're seeing on their website? It would be unusual for one to be arriving in August that isn't spoken for, it's also unusual that you have time to make a decision. These cars are largely spoken for many, many, months ago, they only come up on the lot when someone backs out of a reservation, when that occurs they are usually sold quickly, like the first person to answer the phone gets it.

I completely understand. This is a salesperson that I've been working with for a while. He called me on Friday and said he has an ID4 Pro coming in sometime in August and said he would reserve it for me. I've worked with him before and he has always been straight forward with me. He emailed me a PDF of the car's sticker so I assume it is coming it. I do, however, know someone who's been waiting 10 months for an order he placed on an ID4 so this certainly could happen. I'll let everyone know how it goes assuming I can get the wife on-board.

I sincerely want to thank everyone for all of your knowledge and advice. It has helped me with making my decision.

 

[DoubleNicks]

Sounds like you got a good sales person. He must of had someone cancel on a confirmed reservation and he's going to sell you that car. Having a good, long, relationship with a dealer is a good thing.

Thanks.

 

[DoubleNicks]

One more thought to consider. If you get the ID.4 and decide that it isn't for you, the resale value these days is quite high. The only issue to consider if you might decide to sell the car is what you could get to replace it. Even if you lease, I suspect the leasing company/Volkswagen would make you a reasonable offer to buy out the lease.

This said, I suspect that you both will fall in love with the car, just as my wife and I have. We are 69 and 70 respectively. I will reiterate what others have mentioned in this thread. I suspect you can find many level 2 charges around you that you might find convenient charging locations. Owning an EV does get you thinking differently about how to "fill your tank".

Glad to know that you are at the same stage of life as my wife and I which helps immensely in the decision process. Thank you very much.

 

[DoubleNicks]

What are you driving now? Trying to guess an ICE car with less than 275 mile range.

Driving a 2021 Subaru Crosstrek Sport. It can get up to 33 mpg on highway driving but for the kind of driving my wife and I do, I'm averaging about 23mpg. It's not that I dislike the car at all, but $160 monthly gas bills are becoming common but besides that, I've been looking at moving to an EV for over a year now.

 

[DoubleNicks]

In that case so you can have the right expectation based on the rated rang of that vehicle, if you drive the ID.4 in similar fashion, you should expect to need to charge about twice as much as you gas up currently. Since you live near an EA fast charger you'll save the $160, but you'll lose some time.

Understood. Thank you.

 

[DoubleNicks]

Welcome to the group.

Y, EV makes a lot of sense in these high soaring gas prices. In your case, it is a win-win situation. Have an EVSE L2 charger installed in your garage or the Siemens ConnectDER by a qualified and licensed Electrician. Once either one is installed, and EA is only 5 mins away, you will be laughing many times over at others who drive ICEV.

Thanks for the response. I'm seeing some issues with the 350w Electrify America chargers that I would be using (these are from user feedback). Finally convinced my wife to go with the ID4 but since it's our only car, I'm still trying to resolve some doubt in my mind over how much time and how often I need to charge. Any thoughts to make me feel better?

 

[DoubleNicks]

The charging time for the ID.4 shouldn't be any different on a fully functional 150kW charger than it would be on a 350kW. It does not have the capability to benefit from the extra Watts available to it. Maybe the 150kW chargers near you seem to be working better?
Assuming 200 miles a week, you'd probably need to charge once a week for 45 minutes or so, depending on the charger. In the winter your range will drop a bit, so you may be charging closer to every 150 miles.

Yes, the 150kW appear to be fully functional and reliable at that location (it's in a Walmart parking lot in Somerdale, NJ which is only 5 minutes from my condo. I cannot charge at home unfortunately). The charging time is just the one thing I keep pouring over in my mind. I'm retired so I certainly have the time to do it, it's just having to get used to going from gas to electric. Thanks.

 

[DoubleNicks]

I agree with the general sentiment already stated in this thread that after a period of adjustment, it would probably work out fine for both of you, and you’ll end up loving it. I believe that one of the best things to do to convince someone about going EV is to actually have them drive one. Once you own one, it may take some time to change your thinking and get out of the ICE mindset, but eventually you learn what the car can do, how often you need to charge it, and you adjust your behaviors around charging, maintenance, etc.

One other thing to keep in mind is that the current number of both Level 2 and DC fast chargers in your area is not likely to remain static in the coming years, but should only continue to grow. More DCFC stations are being built all the time, esp in the Northeast where EV ownership is being incentivized by state grants on top of federal tax credits. So making a decision based solely on the “charger anxiety” she has based on what’s there today might be skewing the decision toward the negative.

Thank you. I did finally convince her to move forward with the ID4 now I just have to wrap my head around going from filling up with gas to charging. I keep going over over that in my mind and it's starting to affect my decision. Any additional insight you can provide to help me get past this mindset would be very much appreciated.

 

[DoubleNicks]

Yeah, it definitely will be an adjustment. Could turn it into part of your weekly routine - use the time you're charging to plan groceries, catch up on news or your favorite sports team, watch a show, do some crosswords, go have a cup of coffee somewhere close by, or take a stroll around Walmart.
Worth keeping in mind that in a pinch you could probably get an Uber to go somewhere if you needed to.

Thanks for the great advice. My wife and I also discussed if we had to we would use Uber in a pinch.

 

[DoubleNicks]

I think you're right to have doubts and indicates you're being honest with yourself. You have to evaluate how much of a inconvenience, how much of a chore it will be to have to be to set aside time and drive to charge on some sort of recurring schedule. It's not hard, it's just lost time, and a low battery necessitates a somewhat inflexible time commitment, not "I'll get to it when I get to it." The ability to charge at home is an often misunderstood, or at least undervalued, benefit to EV ownership that the majority of us take for granted. Most of us don't have to think about charging schedules because we plug the car in when we feel like it and walk away -- it's 15 seconds of our lives and we go on about our business.

Not saying not to do it! But know what you're in store for.

Thank you.

 

[DoubleNicks]

Thank you for the quick response. My wife and I do the same so great advice for a trip to NYC.

 

[DoubleNicks]

Thank you for your feedback. I live in NJ and with millions allocated to charging station buildout, it amazes me how few there are. You would think that grocery stores, gyms, restaurants, etc. would take advantage of no cost plus an added incentive to visit those establishments. I’m still waiting on the ID4 to arrive at the dealer so still considering the decision.

 

[DoubleNicks]

All great points and thank you.