busybee fluffy rambles

So, I stopped at Southcenter and found a fast charger at the Target, which had the usual problems of there being a single CHAdeMO charger which was being blocked by some folks who had a CCS car, and they were not even remotely receptive to the idea of moving to one of the open CCS chargers so that I could get 10 minutes of fast charging to get home.

I desperately looked around for an alternate charger, found several nearby L2 chargers which were out of service due to vandalism (why do so many L2 chargers get their cables cut?!) but then finally found a working one at the mall, which was free, and I got enough charge to (barely) get me home.

I’ve been pretty annoyed at some issues with the Leaf lately but this was just like. One too many. So now I’m ramping up my efforts to find a car to replace it with.

I found a dealer with a pretty good deal on a 2019 Kia Niro Electric which is, at least on paper, an upgrade from the Leaf in every way. More cargo, way more range, CCS charging, more versatility, and a bunch of nice creature comforts like a power sunroof and air-conditioned leather seating and so on. And the price is nice; it’d be around $15,000 after trade-in on my Leaf. I’m pretty tempted to go with this offer.

I’m a bit frustrated at how quickly the resale value on the Leaf plummeted after I bought it just two years ago, but also everything I know now about the Leaf totally justifies the price drop. Meanwhile, the estimated value on the Mazda3 I traded in for it has only gone down a little bit in the same time. I feel like I was too quick to jump on the EV bandwagon, here. If I knew then what I know now about the problems with the Leaf I’d have definitely waited a bit longer to make the switch.

If I had my druthers I’d still prefer to get an Ioniq 5 or a newer Kona EV/Niro EV, but that just doesn’t make any financial sense for me right now. Honestly, what makes the most financial sense would be to go back to a gas car, but… I really don’t want to, just out of some sort of probably-misplaced pride in trying to embrace the future. Plus, I really like the feel of driving electric.

The Niro is far from a perfect car for me, too. The range, while better than the Leaf, is still kind of limited, and while it charges a lot faster than the Leaf (and has vastly more charger availability for public chargers — which I rarely need, but really needed tonight) it still doesn’t have quite the range to do all the things I’d want to do with a longer-range driving car.

But at least it can get all the way to Portland on a single charge, and it’d have way more cargo capacity than the Leaf, and one of the ideas I always have in mind with a better car is the ability to use it as a sleeper/camper vehicle, which isn’t ideal in the Niro but it’s sure a lot closer to that than the Leaf.

And I could also see myself using the Niro as a car to, say, drive for Lyft for some supplemental income on, but then again it’d make more sense to go with the superior Ioniq 5 if I’m really going to do that, and realistically I can’t see myself actually doing it anyway.

For 99% of the driving that I do, the Leaf is totally fine, but that last 1% is a doozy.

The fact I can’t even safely make it to Tacoma and back is just… what. Seriously?

It’s not like I want to do constant long-ass road trips, but it’d be nice to be able to get out of town without having to worry about being totally stranded by the pathetic lack of CHAdeMO charging infrastructure.

Here’s the cars I’d currently consider:

• Hyundai Ioniq 5/Kia EV6: $35K used, $45K new. 300-mile range.
• Hyundai Kona/Kia Niro: $23K used, $33K new. 260-mile range.
• Volvo EX30: $35K new. 275-mile range. Crappy UX.
• Nissan Ariya: $37K used, $43K new. 304-mile range.
• Chevy Bolt: $25K used, $35K new. 247-mile range. Relatively slow charging.

I think with things listed out that way, the Kona/Niro is my best option. And the one Niro that caught my eye is an even better deal than the average prices listed above (due to it being a somewhat older model than most).

So, I dunno. What do people think I should do? Get the Niro? Spend a bit more for an Ioniq 5? Go back to gas? Stick with the Leaf? Something else?

Gosh, I wish I had a source of income so it wouldn’t seem to precarious to have to make these choices to begin with.