BernieTx said:
Why would buyers needing 6.X L2 charging buy a Volt instead of an EV? EV's have more battery range, weight less (no engine), they're less expensive, and they don't have "fuel maintenance" mode required to keep the gasoline age under 12 months,... You already own a Leaf; do you have a need for a gasoline engine?
I'm not sure what you're asking here. You're mixing two things together. Whether or not it has an engine has nothing to do w/max on-board charger wattage. Sounds like you're just making excuses for GM's lame decision in v2.
Many Volt drivers essentially use their cars as EVs almost the entire time. It's annoying that they end up tying up shared resources for a lot more time than necessary due to slow OBC. If I had a Gen 1 or 2 Volt and wanted to pick up the same # of kWh as I do in my Leaf, I'd have to start charging much earlier and tie up a limited # of L2 spaces longer.
When I use our EV valets, it also means one of their J1772 handles is tied up for longer.
When I do my opportunity charging at free public L2s, I'd pick up only about 1/2 the juice in a given amount of time vs. my Leaf. I park, walk over to Chipotle and eat, come back. Sometimes, I do other things in my car while waiting (e.g. email, reading forums, cleaning up paper junk mail, reading, etc.)
If you had a vehicle w/6+ kW OBC w/my scenarios and use cases AND observed charging speed via Chargepoint of current Volts, in comparison, you'd probably understand my point of view better.
BernieTx said:
I'm also curious as to whether the 6.x L2 requirement crowd has any interest in the BMW i3 rex, with its 70mile EV range, DC fast charging, and 7.2kw L2. But it has a crippled ICE, with a 1.9 gallon gas tank....
No, because it's too expensive and the i3 REx's reliability seems terrible. And, I find the vehicle ugly.
If I had one, I'd probably need to switch jobs to one that keeps me a lot less busy due to having to waste of a lot of time of having a new "hobby" of taking it to the shop frequently. Even if it were cheaper to lease/buy than a Leaf, I'd still probably pass. Don't have time for such headaches and again, the styling.