I've been itching to take the Mini to Houston again but recognizing that a minimum of two charge stops each way is hard to justify I have held off. But now that gas prices are up so much, even in Texas, at least one factor swung back in favor of the Mini. For the relatively …
Tag: Texas
Houston Road Trip Redo
A few weekends ago the right opportunity finally presented itself to take the Mini to Houston again. Our itinerary took us straight to the west side of the city and back: no extra trips around town or to the suburbs that would add charging stops. Several new charging sites have opened since my last epic …
EV Experience in the Heat
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 …
The Opening of the Tesla Supercharger Network
February 29, 2024 represented a significant leap forward for CCS EV owners in the US. It was the day that the Tesla Supercharger network opened at-large to non-Tesla EVs. It is the beginning of what sounds like a very long roll-out, so in reality it does not change much for most EV drivers (myself included). …
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Road Trip! Taking the Mini Outside Its Comfort Zone
The Set Up We take a weekend trip to Houston averaging about once a month. I had that drive squarely in mind when purchasing the Bolt, but knew when I got the Mini it was mostly out of the question. At first I wasn't too bothered by that. On paper our Outback is great for …
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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: Hyundai Ioniq 5
I liked the styling of the Ioniq 5 from the moment I first saw reports about it, and was really pleased that it didn't lose any of its edge between the first looks and actual production. They were just getting deliveries to select Texas dealerships toward the end of my shopping, but I managed to …
Shopping Round 2: Nissan Leaf
I was still concerned about the lack of active cooling of the Leaf's battery, but with it being the most affordable mainstream option, I had to reconsider it. So this time I actually went to drive one. On paper it really did seem compelling. Part of my issue with the Bolt was the lack of …
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 …
Miniwatt Auto 