I’m their prime demographic, currently car shopping to replace my wrecked Benz, and was leaning towards a Model 3 up until reading this headline lol. I guess I could still charge at home or if the network fails it could be purchased by another company?
Or I just avoid stressing about it altogether and get a normal car
While I agree, steering someone looking at a Tesla to replace a Benz towards one feels off. Subaru currently doesn’t have anything that I’d put in the performance luxury category that most Benz’s fall into (and that Tesla is trying to go for). Closest you can get in that is the current WRX, and it’s not even close to that. I say all of this as someone that loves his WRB STi hatch and plans on trying to keep it going until I die.
I love my Outback Wilderness, but I’d agree. It’s Utilitarian-Plus, but no one will confuse it with a luxury brand. Honestly, as the designated kid- and lumber- and dog-hauler, I wouldn’t want anything fancier anyway. The (largely unneeded for me) Wilderness package is already pushing it, but I do like it. :-)
All the brands make good and bad vehicles. Doesn’t really matter what company owns which other company. Loyalty to one word instead of a different word is a terrible way to make a decision at this price point.
EVs are awesome. I loved the two I had. The only reasons I don’t have one now is I hardly drive anymore and am doing construction on my house that makes a truck become useful. If there were an EV truck that wasn’t the size of the house I’m building or the cost of the house I’m building, I’d have gotten that. Instead I got the Maverick hybrid.
If you enjoy the luxury of the Benz, then the Model 3 would have been a step down. There are a lot of good EV options in the luxury range, but very few in the low end range. The Volvo XC40 was really fun to drive and pretty comfortable. My friend loved her Porsche Taycan (that might be too high end, not sure). My coworker just got an i4 and really likes it.
I bought a plug-in hybrid last week. I’d have gotten a pure EV, but I take road trips sometimes, and I don’t want to rely on the patchy changing network in the US.
Another factor is that I rent a house, and there’s already one EV to charge at 120V. The wiring can’t really handle a second charger, and I didn’t want to always be fighting over it.
I do think someone would immediately buy the charging network if it were an option. I mean gas stations have all kinds of stuff spring up around them when anyone stopping there won’t even be very long and only passengers will be bored with nothing to do for that short amount of time. At a charging station, you are taking a longer break and even the driver is participating in that break.
Owning the charge network is going to be a much bigger deal when it’s common to use your EV for long trips. And whether people want to or not at this point, it’s steadily becoming more and more normalized. It’s certainly more enjoyable overall to take a long trip in an EV. The downtime is nice. And healthier than sitting down for hours straight. Even before electric cars, people were encouraged to stop every 2 hours on a road trip anyway.
The old advice was to plan recreational stops along the trip, to prevent embolisms or cramps. What if charge stations had electric scooters or bikes and maps to fun 15 minute activities in range. Not to mention meals of course.
I know many people don’t take road trips in a healthy way currently, so gas cars seem like the better choice for them. You’ll “make better time” if that is the only important thing. But for people that already followed best practices, a road trip in an electric car is already the same.
Investors should build charging stations with infrastructure (ie restaurants, game rooms, etc) halfway between big cities that are 5 hours away from each other. 2.5 hours (~150 miles) is about the distance you can drive an EV before needing to charge. This would create tremendous bidirectional business for people traveling from big cities.
I’m their prime demographic, currently car shopping to replace my wrecked Benz, and was leaning towards a Model 3 up until reading this headline lol. I guess I could still charge at home or if the network fails it could be purchased by another company?
Or I just avoid stressing about it altogether and get a normal car
Subarus are pretty awesome. Just sayin’
While I agree, steering someone looking at a Tesla to replace a Benz towards one feels off. Subaru currently doesn’t have anything that I’d put in the performance luxury category that most Benz’s fall into (and that Tesla is trying to go for). Closest you can get in that is the current WRX, and it’s not even close to that. I say all of this as someone that loves his WRB STi hatch and plans on trying to keep it going until I die.
I love my Outback Wilderness, but I’d agree. It’s Utilitarian-Plus, but no one will confuse it with a luxury brand. Honestly, as the designated kid- and lumber- and dog-hauler, I wouldn’t want anything fancier anyway. The (largely unneeded for me) Wilderness package is already pushing it, but I do like it. :-)
I used to drive a Benz, I hated it. Now I’m on my second Cadillac and I’m never going back. Cadillac makes a damn fine automobile tell ya what.
GM makes Cadillac. GM does not make damn fine automobiles.
Clearly said by someone who does not drive a Cadillac.
Nope I sure don’t. And wouldn’t, as I know first hand how bad GM vehicles have gotten.
All the brands make good and bad vehicles. Doesn’t really matter what company owns which other company. Loyalty to one word instead of a different word is a terrible way to make a decision at this price point.
Just get a better EV.
EVs are awesome. I loved the two I had. The only reasons I don’t have one now is I hardly drive anymore and am doing construction on my house that makes a truck become useful. If there were an EV truck that wasn’t the size of the house I’m building or the cost of the house I’m building, I’d have gotten that. Instead I got the Maverick hybrid.
If you enjoy the luxury of the Benz, then the Model 3 would have been a step down. There are a lot of good EV options in the luxury range, but very few in the low end range. The Volvo XC40 was really fun to drive and pretty comfortable. My friend loved her Porsche Taycan (that might be too high end, not sure). My coworker just got an i4 and really likes it.
I bought a plug-in hybrid last week. I’d have gotten a pure EV, but I take road trips sometimes, and I don’t want to rely on the patchy changing network in the US.
Another factor is that I rent a house, and there’s already one EV to charge at 120V. The wiring can’t really handle a second charger, and I didn’t want to always be fighting over it.
I do think someone would immediately buy the charging network if it were an option. I mean gas stations have all kinds of stuff spring up around them when anyone stopping there won’t even be very long and only passengers will be bored with nothing to do for that short amount of time. At a charging station, you are taking a longer break and even the driver is participating in that break.
Owning the charge network is going to be a much bigger deal when it’s common to use your EV for long trips. And whether people want to or not at this point, it’s steadily becoming more and more normalized. It’s certainly more enjoyable overall to take a long trip in an EV. The downtime is nice. And healthier than sitting down for hours straight. Even before electric cars, people were encouraged to stop every 2 hours on a road trip anyway.
The old advice was to plan recreational stops along the trip, to prevent embolisms or cramps. What if charge stations had electric scooters or bikes and maps to fun 15 minute activities in range. Not to mention meals of course.
I know many people don’t take road trips in a healthy way currently, so gas cars seem like the better choice for them. You’ll “make better time” if that is the only important thing. But for people that already followed best practices, a road trip in an electric car is already the same.
Investors should build charging stations with infrastructure (ie restaurants, game rooms, etc) halfway between big cities that are 5 hours away from each other. 2.5 hours (~150 miles) is about the distance you can drive an EV before needing to charge. This would create tremendous bidirectional business for people traveling from big cities.