I really wanted an Outlander PHEV. It has decent cargo space, awd and we could drive to our cleaning customers each day in our big city with its gazillion stop lights and not burn a single litre of fossil fuel. The problem is, it makes zero financial sense because like probably half the 500,000 people who live here in downtown Vancouver, BC, we don’t have access to a garage (sure, we could pay $250 a month, but we can’t afford that and we might not have access to a charger anyway).
The city of Vancouver used to have free public charging stations, but selfish people would park their EVs at the chargers and leave them for hours, basically using the stations as free parking spaces. So, the city started charging, not for the charging stations, but for parking at the charging station. Now, to charge a PHEV for one hour costs $3.50. Even with a fast charger this makes no economic sense. Do the math. Even if you can get a full charge in one hour, that means 35-40km costs you $3.50. With gas prices at $1.20l this works out to the equivalent of 7.3-8.3l/100km. Many gas only awd vehicles, including a few gas only small crossovers either exceed or come close to this, at a far lower sticker price.
I’ve read that, at least in Canada, the days of free public charging stations are coming to an end and unfortunately there seems to be no serious plan in most cities to offer an economical way for apartment dwellers to charge up. There is one free curbside charger a few blocks from our place that was part of an abandoned pilot program and whoever installed it didn’t think to make the parking spot EV/PHEV only, so basically anyone and everyone parks there, meaning the charger sits mostly unused.
It’s really frustrating. We would love to buy a PHEV but right now it only makes sense for suburban home owners or the few lucky city dwellers with access to free charging,
The city of Vancouver used to have free public charging stations, but selfish people would park their EVs at the chargers and leave them for hours, basically using the stations as free parking spaces. So, the city started charging, not for the charging stations, but for parking at the charging station. Now, to charge a PHEV for one hour costs $3.50. Even with a fast charger this makes no economic sense. Do the math. Even if you can get a full charge in one hour, that means 35-40km costs you $3.50. With gas prices at $1.20l this works out to the equivalent of 7.3-8.3l/100km. Many gas only awd vehicles, including a few gas only small crossovers either exceed or come close to this, at a far lower sticker price.
I’ve read that, at least in Canada, the days of free public charging stations are coming to an end and unfortunately there seems to be no serious plan in most cities to offer an economical way for apartment dwellers to charge up. There is one free curbside charger a few blocks from our place that was part of an abandoned pilot program and whoever installed it didn’t think to make the parking spot EV/PHEV only, so basically anyone and everyone parks there, meaning the charger sits mostly unused.
It’s really frustrating. We would love to buy a PHEV but right now it only makes sense for suburban home owners or the few lucky city dwellers with access to free charging,