This Central Texas summer has been much cooler than expected overall. But that does not mean that we haven't had some stretches of 100+ days. Most of the conversation about how ambient temperature affects EVs centers around the extreme cold. However, any temperature outside the 50-85 Fahrenheit that most batteries prefer is going to have …
Tag: Budget
Home Charging Using Only Level 1 (120v)
I've touched on this subject in a couple of other posts, but many people may be curious about this specific subject so I wanted to devote a quick post to it. I charge my EV at home using only the mobile charge cord (EVSE) that it came with and a regular 120v wall outlet. I …
Review of the 2023 Mini Cooper SE Signature
Pros Driving Get behind the wheel of the SE and even mundane trips can be fun. More than the zippiness, which I expected, I am impressed by how planted it feels. The low center of gravity, relatively long wheelbase, and well-tuned suspension make it feel really solid on the road. I actually got the opportunity …
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Shopping Round 2: Mini Cooper SE – We Have a New Winner!
Pretty early on in my second round of shopping the Mini Cooper SE caught my eye. From the moment it entered my radar part of me wanted it to be the one. It seemed unique and fun, yet a surprisingly good value. The base model had an MSRP of $30k, which came out to $34k …
Continue reading Shopping Round 2: Mini Cooper SE – We Have a New Winner!
Shopping Round 2: Kia Niro EV
Despite writing off the Niro pretty quickly the last time around, I had to give it another chance just by default. I actually liked it quite a bit better the second time around; whether I was convincing myself to, due to lack of alternatives, or I was more appreciative of what it offered, it's hard …
Shopping Round 2: Volkswagen ID.4
Photo by Chris Black on Pexels.com This was the car that really gave me doubts about the Bolt. It started getting a lot of coverage right when I got the Bolt and just about everyone seemed to agree it was one of the best value EVs available. I had not considered it my first time …
Shopping Round 2: Back to the Drawing Board
So after just 4 short months of ownership I sold my 2020 Bolt EV Premier back to GM. I don't believe that specific Bolt was the best purchase I could have made, so I was glad to have a do-over, but I was not excited to be in the market again. Things had certainly not …
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Review of the 2020 Bolt EV
If you haven't read my posts leading up to this, in July of 2021 I bought a new 2020 Bolt EV Premier. I talk more about the electric-specific aspects of it in the previous post, but this will be a more general review of the Bolt as a car. (Note: I will try to indicate …
Shopping: Chevy Bolt EV – We Have a Winner!
Eventually I got around to trying the Bolt, which, despite my baseless prejudice toward Chevrolet, already seemed very compelling. It's true that compared to all of the new EVs, and even some of it's older peers like the Niro and Kona, its charging speed of 50kW was unimpressive. And it was a miss that the …
Continue reading Shopping: Chevy Bolt EV – We Have a Winner!
Shopping: Kia Niro EV
The Niro was never a strong contender for me mainly due to price. I just couldn't understand why it cost so much more than something like the Bolt. Faster charging seemed like the main advantage, but that wasn't an important factor to me at the time. I did end up test driving one. What I …
Miniwatt Auto 