It has been some nine and a half years since I took the advice of a tech at the local Toyota dealership and started driving my son’s Plug-in Prius regularly to keep the battery healthy while he was off on a three year overseas deployment. I wrote about it in my April 2, 2016 NPR Note.
Quite a bit has changed over the intervening years.
My plugin experience is as follows:
- 2016 – 2018: A Plug-in Prius.
- 2018 – 2020: A Nissan Leaf
- 2020 – current: A Tesla Model 3
- 2023 – current: A Chevy Bolt EUV
- 2025 – current: A Hyundai IONIQ 9.
My take on these five cars:
The Prius was fun to drive. It became a bit of a game to see how many miles I could go on a fill-up. I hit 800+ miles a few times. I was regularly up over 600 miles. Both were amazing results given the small size of the gas tank and the fact that the Prius only had about 12 miles of pure electric range.
Emboldened by my experience with the Prius, I bought a used Nissan Leaf as my first pure EV. 
As an early first generation Leaf, it only had about a 65 mile range when I bought it. Depending on where I went, stopping to charge up was always a consideration. It met about 90% of my needs, but wasn’t adequate for road trips. DC fast charging was done through the CHAdeMO port in the front of the car. The Leaf depended on passive cooling for the battery pack, resulting in a warning in the owners manual not to repeatedly fast charge the car on a single trip. Driving all over the Tampa Bay area was not a problem, but longer road trips simply weren’t practical. After a couple of “interesting” trips to Jacksonville in my wife’s aging Prius, I decided I needed something with more range, just in case I needed to rescue her. I traded in the Leaf for a new EV.
The new EV was a Tesla Model 3 with the long range battery and dual motors. Rated for 310 miles, with a real world range of about 280 miles, it has proven to be a great road trip car. It is now almost five years old and I love driving it.
I grew up during the muscle car horsepower wars of the 1960’s. The Tesla spreads out its 448 horsepower to all four corners and goes off the line like a scalded cat. Zero to 60 is about 4.4 seconds, making it the quickest car I’ve ever owned.
With Tesla’s Supercharger network, road trips are easy. We’ve made a number of trips out of state, the most recent of which was taking three of my grandkids to the Woodruff Scout Camp outside of Blairsville, Georgia. Even Blairsville has a pair of DC Fast Charging stations. I topped off for the return trip while taking my brother and his wife to lunch.
Build quality has been an ongoing issue with Tesla vehicles. My Tesla shows some wear and tear (eg. the steering wheel) that simply should not occur on a five year old car. The little actual repair work I’ve had to have done has been affordable. A camera failed just after the first of August and the first available appointment to get it fixed is August 28th. Given that so much of the car’s smarts are tied to having all of the cameras working, the delay in getting it repaired is problematic.
Carolyn finally traded in her ancient Prius a couple of years ago. Carolyn looked at a new Prius Prime (plug-in) in 2023, but couldn’t get the local Toyota dealer to come off their five figure “market price adjustment”. She walked when they tried to get her to sign a contract without talking to me.
She went down to Castriota Chevrolet and checked out a beautiful Bolt EUV. I got a call about 90 minutes later to bring my GM Mastercard so she could use the reward points. The Bolt was well equipped and competitively priced.
The Bolt had all the features Carolyn was looking for in a new car. It drives nice and has required next to no maintenance. It is perfect as an around town runabout with the ability to make the occasional road trip. It has a CCS (fast charging) port and we got the adapter so she can use the Tesla Superchargers. Fast charging is slower than on my Tesla, but still more than adequate for making round trips up to Palatka.
Though the Bolt and Bolt EUV are history, the new Bolt EUV will join Chevy’s growing selection of EVs for the 2026 model year. The new Bolt EUV will have faster fast charging.
The IONIQ 9 is the newest vehicle in the Marlowe fleet. The IONIQ 9 seats seven full size people, so we can transport everyone we are likely to need to carry. I’ve had limited time behind the wheel, but my first impressions are very positive. We’ve noticed a few design quirks, such as the fact that the vehicle will unlock when you approach it, but does not automatically lock when you walk away. The car has a NACS (Tesla) charging port and so can use the Tesla Supercharger network without an adapter. I’ll likely ask Carolyn to let me borrow it for the week the grands and I go to scout camp in North Carolina next summer.
The Purchasing Experience
The Tesla was purchased online. No surprises. The entire process was painless. I took delivery at the Tampa Service Center. The Tesla online purchasing experience should be a wake up call for all the car dealers who play pricing games or make purchasing a new car an ordeal. Tesla was able to get us a better finance deal than we could get from our bank. In my opinion, Elon Musk has lost his focus on building great electric cars. His focus on driverless robotaxis does nothing for me. That and his chainsaw antics, will make me think long and hard before buying another Tesla, even if they have a vehicle that fits my needs.
The Chevrolet Bolt EUV was purchased from Castriota Chevrolet. I can’t say enough good things about the sales person who demonstrated the vehicle for Carolyn. The trip to the finance office to do the paperwork was likewise painless. We would absolutely buy another vehicle from Castriota. It would have been at the top of the list the last time if they had a seven passenger electric vehicle.
The Ionic 9 was purchased from Hyundai of New Port Richey. The salesman was knowledgeable on most of the features of the vehicle. I’m less impressed with the time we spent with the finance person. We’ll likely buy our next car elsewhere.
My next EV
I have no immediate plans to trade in the Tesla, even though it is five years old. If I were going to purchase another vehicle, I’d start by looking for an electric pickup truck. The current selection of such vehicles are expensive (Rivian and Hummer), beyond ugly (Tesla Cybertruck), on simply larger than I’d like (Chevy Silverado EV or Ford F150 Lightning). An electric pickup truck the size of a Ford Maverick or Chevy Colorado would do nicely, but there are no such vehicles available today. Ford has announced that it is going to build a mid-size electric pickup truck with a starting price of around $30,000. The truck is still a couple of years out. Depending on the actual price and specs, it might meet my needs when it arrives.
What about Plug-in Hybrids?
Plug-in hybrids are great for folks who aren’t sure they are ready to buy an EV. They typically give you more than enough range for daily driving with a gasoline engine to cover you for road trips. They also make sense if you plan to do a lot of long distance trailer pulling. The only downside is that you are always hauling around a conventional drive train that you only need on occasion. My brother Russell and his wife recently picked up a late model Jeep Wagoneer plug-in hybrid and seem to like it.
In conclusion
My experience over the last nine and a half years is that driving a vehicle with a plug fits my lifestyle quite well. They are very inexpensive to drive and maintain. Any premium we paid for an EV compared to a conventional vehicle is made up over time by the cost savings of owning it. There was no federal tax credit available when I bought the Tesla. Even so, it has saved me considerably more than the slight premium I paid over a comparable gas powered car.
If you qualify for the tax credit, that break even point comes even faster. Keep in mind that the tax credit goes away at the end of September. It is also a non-refundable tax credit, so you will only benefit to the extent you pay taxes and there are income limits as well.
Late model used EVs can be a bargain. Somebody else has already taken the first year depreciation hit and some late model EVs qualify for a used EV tax credit. The Chevy Bolt/Bolt EUV twins are great around town cars. Used Teslas can also be had at very attractive prices.
Modern EVs are great road trip cars. They can charge up at a fast charging station faster than you can get in and out of the rest rooms and pick up more munchies. The cars can travel for longer than my bladder, so stopping every few hours for a 20-25 minute charge has not proven to be a problem. Our first stop when going to summer camp this year was in Georgia. If you are traveling with kids, good luck stopping anywhere for less than 30 minutes.
Long haul trailer pulling is the exception. Electric range, like gas range, drops when pulling a trailer. Most of the charging stations I’ve stopped at do not have pull through spots that would make charging an electric tow vehicle easy to do. Having to unhitch a trailer at every fueling stop would be a non-starter for me. Fortunately, some newer stations include pull through spots.
If you are considering an EV or plug-in hybrid, think about how you plan to charge it. If you’ve got a garage or driveway, you can install a charging station. We have two charging stations in the garage that can deliver just under 30 miles of range for every hour of charging. Any of the three cars can be charged up overnight on one of the charging stations. The 120 volt charging cord that comes with most EVs is good for about 4 miles of range for every hour of charging. Most folks average under 30 miles a day, so even the 120 volt charging cord is an option if you don’t drive much.
If you live in a condo or apartment, you need to find out if the condo association or apartment manager has made provisions for charging. Both the Central on Orange Lake and Stonehaven have charging options for their residents.
Some employers have installed charging stations or charging outlets in their parking lots. If you work for a company like that, you may be all set.
If you can’t charge at home or at work, then an EV is probably not for you. If you can, then you owe it to yourself and your pocketbook to give an EV or Plug-in Hybrid a good look the next time you go car shopping.
Rob