I mean… the total (with seat down) cargo area is only a little bit shorter than the Volvo V60. That’s a good amount for most people.
I suppose you could wait until the VW ID Buzz comes out in a couple years. I mean, it is a take on their classic minibus rather than a car… but I always liked their old minibus.
Really? I haven’t seen anything about that. The current XC40 has a spare.
Not as much as an XC70 or V70. And V60/XC60 do not have fold-flat rear seats (they fold to an angle - not flat/level).
No current Volvo hybrid has a spare. I will take a bet the all-electric ones won’t either.
ETA IMHO Volvo never bettered the 245 for load capacity. 850/V70 came close. Then they discontinued them.
Further ETA - that was silly really, 940/960 series were legendary for cargo capacity.
Ah, that explains the people around here with multiple luxury pickup trucks in the driveway.
My 220 (Amazon Wagon) is sadly wanting in cargo capacity compared to my previous 245s. Still fun, though.
I own a Chevy Bolt. All electric for over a year now. Great car, super fast (except charging! lol) Range anxiety is a thing, but if your round trip commute is 50 to 70% of the car’s range and you install a level 2 charger at home, then it is plenty. We do not charge at home (no L1 outlet is grounded and within range and too cheap to install an L2 at the moment). Plus Enkwife works for a clean energy co, so we plug it into their solar panels or at the DC quick charge at the mall (50% of a tank in about 40 minutes). We generally only charge it to 80% so as to extend the life of the battery (Hill Top Reserve).
The $ per mile is about 1/3 to 1/4 of what my ICE car gets. Plus it is fun to hypermile it and try to eek out the most miles per charge: highway driving sucks juice!
The station wagon-like Prius v hybrid seats 5, has a large carrying capacity, has fold-down rear seats for even greater storage, and has a spare tire under the rear storage area. Ours routinely gets about 45 miles to the gallon on mixed driving. Seems to fit all of your requirements. Sadly, it was discontinued in the US market last year, but is still available in many other areas.
So have most BMWs (maybe all?), which use run-flats.
I’ve got the trifecta of problems for getting an electric vehicle: a) apartment dweller b) in mid-America that c) needs space for a full drum kit and at least 2 humans.
Big batteries and public quick-charging stations would help. Nothing helps about the drum kit.
I know I know, not really the same… but…
No that’s just silly. You need three pedals and a manual transmission. Besides EV or ICE, most people are doing the bare minimum when “driving”.
It may still not be enough, but the Kia Soul EV probably has the boxiest cargo space (49.5 cu. ft, 1400 litres with the seats folded).
Hm - that looks like about halfway between the space in a Honda Civic hatchback (holds drums if passenger seat is used) and a Subaru station wagon (Legacy or Outback type, drums fit perfectly). I didn’t know Kia made en electric Soul.
The Soul is really a pretty small car. It has slightly more space than the Civic hatchback , but higher and more open, with a bigger entrance.
Civic: (46.2 cu. ft)
The Outback is in a different category altogether, 73.3 cu. ft. with seats folded.
I’m glad you are content with the limitations of your vehicle, and that it suits your lifestyle. The mass of drivers in the U.S. are generally not willing to stop every 2.5 hours for .5 to 4 hours, depending on the kind of charger you find available, or live with the risk of not finding one at all in rural areas. When the electric car capabilities and infrastructure build out starts to match the convenience and dependability of conventional cars that people are used to depending on, then the prices of fuel burning cars will start to trend toward zero. But not until then. The reports of the death of the ICE are a bit premature, in my view.
I’d dump my current ride (Jeep Cherokee) for a very efficient, perhaps even electric car for my mostly small-city driving. But I need a general all-rounder vehicle: a “road trip” vehicle for my weekend use (to cover <1000km from Fri. noon to Mon. noon. 10 or more weekends a year, and a few long trips (a week or more with unlimited kms), and must be able to tow a 1500kg trailer.
I’ve priced out renting a suitable vehicle, but none of the retail auto rental agencies will allow towing a vehicle.
Perhaps car-sharing apps like Telsa’s taxi program are able to provide me the above I’ll bite.
And your tire repair professional will hate you.
Gas / petrol stations. I presume (not that I will miss them) there will be huge expense in preparing the land for re-use.
We gotta plan that in, or they won’t do it.
- I can get everywhere I want to in North America on just the Tesla Supercharger network
- You really should do a little research into how cars are actually used before making blanket statements
Some references:
-
Here’s a study of car trips broken down by type including rural/urban differences.
-
Here’s AAA’s 2014 study of American driving habits.
-
An older one by the FHA showing the percentage of trips of varying lengths
As you can see, even a 200 mile range without a single recharge covers all but a vanishingly small fraction of trips.
The long road trip is in decline. Yes, people are taking a fair number, but they’re getting shorter.
In short, for almost everyone the limitations are mostly imaginary.
The Electric Mini range will be 0.0008 light-seconds
