So I’m super stoked. Been waiting to get my first all electric car for a couple of years. First thing I’ll say is I could not believe how few Niro EVs were actually available for sale across the entire Houston metroplex over the last week - exactly two! One EX and one EX Premium. I bought the Premium. Texas is one of the roll out states, right? Houston is the 4th largest region in the entire United States. So what is going on? Got the wire run for my Level 2 Charger and Amazon delivers my MUSTSTART Upgraded Version by 8PM today! We are able to chose our electricity suppliers and even the power generation source in most parts of Texas. I pay 9.8 cents/kW-hr for 100% wind (the supplier must buy the equivalent of what I use per month from a wind energy wholesaler and get it pumped into the grid). Texas does not do much right when it comes to responsible energy and environmental policies but they sure do have a good system for making the electricity market a buyers market!
Congratulations on your purchase, I only had to wait about 8 weeks. A lucky bit of RE investing has turned into a windfall and loans will be repaid, so I was ready to buy one all year long. And oddly enough, things kept getting better. The Nissan Leaf Plus was the first I'd seen that were "affordable" and went more than 200 miles. I'd thought that was my choice since Nissan had a half dozen years experience, and although troubled at CEO or whatever, it seemed like they'd be around to back up their warranty. All ready to buy something when I heard that WA state had revived a bill to promote plug-in and hydrogen cars starting 8/1 so it was an easy decision to back off and wait awhile. I used to think Kia's were crap cars. My brother bought one and it lasted 200,000 or so, but the later years have not been trouble free, in the style of a Toyota. However, times have changed and although I had not driven one, the newer Kia's & Hyundai's were starting to look a lot like Toyotas. As I read up on the Niro/Kona cars it was obvious for folks up north of Seattle, and I guess all of Canada, that it would be best if the car had the cold weather active battery management and that was the thing that sold me on these cars. When I picked up mine, it had 278 miles of range at full charge, but only rated at 239? It's so weird because you're used to gas MPG being inflated, then being disappointed, not the other way around. I drove it to work and back every day for a week, letting it drift down to the 40 - 50% mark. I too bought a Level 2 charger, but the portable ClipperCreek looked like the best fit for an outlet that had been pre-wired thanks to my son's desire to have a welder at my place. I charged it once to 80% then I started using the regular Level 1 charger at work, figuring I'm there anyway and no one's using it, so why not? Id read some advice about charging to 100% once a month or so and since we were heading to Bellingham on Saturday it went back on the Level 2 for a couple of hours to reach 100%, it then said it will get a cool 300 miles! I'm thinking this car is like the goose that laid the golden egg, maybe too good to be true? I finally settled on driving most of the time right where the dealership left it - normal mode which is programmed to be one arrow regenerative and it's in Auto mode. The road trip was fun because it was the first time I got to try out the Adaptive Cruise Control and the Lane Keeping Assistance. I swear I am not sure how it all gets turned on and off, but I will vouch that it works pretty good. Granted it's a very mild summer here and I've not used a lot of A/C or defrost yet, but commuting with about 50/50 highway/freeway, I am now getting right around 5mi/kWh although the road trip with A/C set us back to about 3.8mi/kWh. I was surprised that you could work a deal for those rates - here in WA, just a few miles from the Great Coulee Dam, we enjoy rates of 10.2 cents per kWH. 24x7. Washington has a pretty decent amount of wind power and I think everyone probably sees that the advantages of wind and solar are there, but some very large utilities have a vested stake in current cash flows. You'll be happy with the Premium EX. That would have been my preference too, but then it wouldn't pass the requirements for "low cost" EVs that get exempted from state sales tax. That would have been a $7,500 price swing that I couldn't afford. As it is, this car sneaks in at about $32K after rebates are deducted. It's a cool car, I really like it, but I do lament that it does not have electronically adjusted & heated seats of leather nor a sun roof.
