(All OT)
salyavin said:
sub 40k may drop the model Y just. I guess the Ariya for the options you want AWD and such would be too much too when it comes out? Yea the LEAF does lack AWD and is not high clearance.
The Modely Y fails on price (and in other areas), as I'd need an LR AWD. The Ariya's the wrong body type, and there are other likely fails as well. As for the LEAF, aside from the items you mention, I won't buy a BEV that doesn't have ATM. Much of my driving is at high speeds on steep climbs/descents/in hot climates, and any current battery without ATM is likely to suffer much accelerated degradation in those conditions, even if I were unfamiliar with the LEAF's past history.
salyavin said:
In Colorado (which I assume gets it's butt kicked by California though I have not driven a BEV over there yet) we have good charging to ski resorts and indeed much of the state I drive from Roxborough to Telluride again this week via Salida for charging, I have driven to breckenridge in winter.
Colorado has an excellent QC network plan for accessing rural areas in place, although they've been dilatory in getting the sites built. As of now, California has no such widespread network planned.
Ski resorts here are gradually adding charging, but as I'm a cross-country rather than downhill skier such chargers are, with rare exceptions, of no use to me. If you're going up to the Lake Tahoe area from the Bay Area, Drive the Arc provides a reasonable number of QCs enroute. As I prefer to do most of my skiing in the Yosemite area, and most of my hiking/backpacking/mountaineering there or from trailheads along U.S. 395, charging facilities along those routes are what I need, and they remain seriously lacking.
Some of us here (Paul Gipe, Dan Jones, me) who regularly visit these areas monitor the progress/lobby the companies and government agencies involved to get QCs along these routes. Here's Paul's recent experience at one of the most critical ones for southern Californians to access 395, the just opened EA site at Coso Junction:
http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index...]=5838&cHash=b7c4beea60a62d8b23711adb57406280
The most critical current site for me, the CEC/Chargepoint one in Groveland on S.R. 120 on the way to Yosemite has been sitting untouched since last October, despite the chargers being in place then. And even though more than 4 million people visit Yosemite annually, this site will have just two QCs when it eventually does open - the Tesla SC site at the other end of town has seven chargers.
Despite my and other people constantly asking for one, there are as yet no plans to put QCs in at Lee Vining, where it provides access to/from 395 south of there (and is where I want to be able to reach un-recharged from home near sea level, 207 miles and 6,600+' of net elevation gain, crossing Tioga Pass @ 9,941', 194 miles out, for the life of the vehicle). As my 17.5 y.o. ICE can do the round trip un-refueled, we're talking about being willing to accept a 50% reduction in capability in a current BEV, while paying twice as much or more (out the door including dest , tax, license and everything else, my Forester cost me $24,344.74) for the privilege.