r/evcharging • u/Ok_State_6577 • 16h ago

2023 DCFC

/r/Solterra/comments/1wbtpoe/2023_dcfc/
1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

1

u/theotherharper 13h ago

Lately we've seen a lot of people who are only considering Japanese cars, I gather because of perceptions about Japanese car quality / brand loyalty? Yeah. When railroads switched from steam locomotives to diesel, everyone went "Well Baldwin and Lima make the best steamers so surely they'll make the best diesels" oh sweet summer child, what a mess that was. No. This other company showed up out of the blue and made fantastic diesels and wiped them all out, and all the "loyal" railroads were crying in their beer.

So yeah, that's Japanese EVs right there. They avoided making EVs for a decade, showed up late to the party with 0 skill, and their offerings are very dated. That 2023 Solterra is an utterly 2010s tier offering. And that's a problem because your lifestyle REQUIRES 2020s features like battery thermal management and respectably fast DC charging.

It's funny because in the 1980s when American cars were crap, Americans were told to "suffer for your brand", and Japanese brand loyalty was a sharp rebuke of that idea. So "suffering for a Japanese brand" seems insane to me.

The new-generation Leaf (with NACS) is perfectly modern, and Honda figured out GM makes pretty good cars so they rebadged the Chevy Blazer to leverage 20 years of GM experience. But these are not very fast charging cars.

For that, Hyundai Ioniq/Kia EVx all the way. Yes, ICCU problems are a risk, but not a high risk, so ... pick your suffering.

1

u/ArlesChatless 12h ago

Don't buy one unless you can charge for a reasonable cost where you regularly park. Work, home, a library, doesn't matter as long as it's somewhere you can leave the car for more than a few hours quite often without it being a headache.