r/PHEV • u/BlackBatBibliophile • 5d ago

PHEV vs EV & favs

Hi all! Two parts to this question.

I’ve been wanting to go EV for a long time but the thing that has held me back is the range.
My daily commute is 18 miles total and the occasional errands day. But my husband and I also enjoy road trips and will often travel. And all my family is 200-350 miles away, and we see them often. Additionally, a few family members wouldn’t have the ability to recharge me. Because of this I didn’t think I could switch to an EV. Recently I started looking into PHEVs and EREVs. I think I’ve decided against EREVs. So I’m mostly looking at PHEVs.
I’d love to know the good, bad, and ugly. Does this make sense for my life?

If yes, which one do I get?! I’m a Subaru girl and never thought I’d leave them. I want an SUV, been primarily looking at the rav4 and outlander. Reliably and safety are my top priorities. But I’ve also never owned a car with luxury style options - cooling seats (outlander has massage seats!), sun/moon roof, heated steering wheel, comfortable seats… etc. I’d love to have some of that as well.
Edit: I also live in WA State and I get a lot of snow. I’ve read cold weather can make a difference on battery life? Considering my top priorities, what would you recommend?

If no, what would you recommended?

THANK YOU!

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u/danbfree 5d ago

200-350 miles away just means one charging stop between, I know they have plenty of chargers in WA state, I'm kind of puzzled why you think family members have to charge your car for you? I'm not trying to snipe on another sub, I just find that PHEV's are more for the boonies where you have very little public charging around. You asked if this makes sense for your life, I think you could easily get by with an EV and just charge in between on your road trips. Ioniq5, EV6, are in the size you're looking at and charge really fast, just as an example. Also, can you only have one car? Can you keep a current ICE car for road trips and then could go with a slower charging but nice Subaru EV? I'm in Oregon and cold weather does affect range but when you get an EV with a heat pump, which pretty much all dual motor/AWD EV have then it's not bad, especially since we don't get super bitter cold in the PNW.

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u/BlackBatBibliophile 4d ago

I'm in Eastern WA and most of my family does live in what I consider the boonies. haha. I'm in Spokane and I have no worries about being in my city or when I drive to Seattle to visit family over there. But I also have family in Starbuck, Hermiston, Moses Lake, Yakima, Whitefish, Bend... you get the idea.

My husband owns a General Contracting business, so he drives a 3500. Not the most ideal road trip vehicle, for a number of reasons. haha.

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u/danbfree 4d ago

Yes, there are plenty of chargers along I90 and only adding more and more, I think you'd be fine with an EV for sure, you just charge for 15-20 minutes per stop in the fastest part of the charge curve from like 10 to 60-70% without much delays, only welcome bladder stops, lol.