Is an E Golf the right choice

[Iflipturtles]

Hello,

Prospective E golf owner here and I wanted to get the boards opinion. I currently commute three days a week from walnut Creek to Sunnyvale which is about 50miles each way. I wanted to get a vehicle to save me gas $ and get me HOV access. We have charging stations at work. Would an E golf be a good option? I tried by friends the other day and it was smooth. Had 39 miles left when I arrived and fully charged at work. When I got home I had 37 mile's left. The leases are so cheap now and only a 24 month commitment it seems to be an option. I also have another gas car for longer trips. The other car I was considering was the Ford Fusion Energi.

Thanks!

 

[GlennD]

As long as you can charge at work then go for it. Without charging you would have to hypermile it for that distance. When I was working my city let me L2 16A charge for free but in a pinch I was good since the one way distance was 19.6 miles.

Now that I am retired my wrecked Mercedes B EV had 8600 miles with 14 months left on a 36 month lease.

 

[johnnylingo]

I think the first thing to consider in this is white HOV stickers. If these are useful for you (and I imagine they would be assuming you take 880/237/101) then all-electric BEVs like the e-Golf are the way to go for sure. The state stopped issuing green stickers for hybrids back in December, but white stickers are still plentiful and will be valid until January 1st 2018.

Regarding charging: Even though you have charging at work, I'd still recommend considering getting an SE with fast charger or SEL just so you have an option if the stations at work are busy or out of order. I have the base SE and have been in a few situations where I had to stop at a public station to get enough juice to get home. Spending 90 minutes just to get that 15 miles range can be a real bummer.

Regarding leasing: the duration must be at least 30 months to qualify for state $2500 rebate, so you'll likely want to do that. Also, if you have over $150k gross income, make sure to get the papers in by October 31st. You can do the obvious math and will need a 15k miles per year plan.

The e-Golf is an ideal commuter car and I've been very happy with mine. Daily commute is Santa Cruz to Campbell and if I drive smoothy and max the regen braking, I'll do the 55 mile round trip using only half the battery.

 

[Iflipturtles]

Thanks for the responses. I just learned that the state just extended the stickers so they are good through Jan 2019 and they are issuing green stickers again. As far as the lease extension to get the 2,500 I understand your point but am worried about sitting on the car for another 6 months.

With those kind of miles on the car(45k) do I need to worry about out of warranty issues or battery degradation?

 

[johnnylingo]

the state just extended the stickers so they are good through Jan 2019 and they are issuing green stickers again.

Thanks for pointing this out. I was just on their website yesterday to get white stickers and didn't even notice this, but green stickers are back as of September 13th.

With the state rebate being $2500, you could do a lease transfer or simply stash the car in a garage for the last 6 months and still come out ahead. This is what I should have done in hindsight. But, some people would just prefer a shorter term and not deal with keeping the car any longer than required.

Regarding the battery warranty, it promises 70% or greater capacity for 8 years. There have been no reports of battery troubles (yet) but seeing as the car has only been out 2 years it's impossible to say what lies down the road.

 

[JoulesThief]

8 years or 100,000 miles whichever comes first

 

[cctop]

I love my eGolf but I'm going to be frank -- it's a poor choice for a 100-mile daily highway commute.

You'd be relying on being able to charge at work just to get home, which is a factor that's out of your control.

Go for a hybrid.

If you really want an electric car for a commute of that distance you can get a Tesla now, a Chevy Bolt this fall, or an eGolf likely next year.

 

[miimura]

I love my eGolf but I'm going to be frank -- it's a poor choice for a 100-mile daily highway commute.

You'd be relying on being able to charge at work just to get home, which is a factor that's out of your control.

Go for a hybrid.

If you really want an electric car for a commute of that distance you can get a Tesla now, a Chevy Bolt this fall, or an eGolf likely next year.

The OP knows how reliably he will be able to charge at work. I think the e-Golf is a great choice for his commute as long as he can reliably get a charge at work and he plans for the miles appropriately in the lease.

I would not be worried about the battery at all. If you are worried about being out of warranty during the lease, I'm sure the dealer can set you up with an extended warranty plan to cover the gap. Just be sure to negotiate hard to get that number down. I have never leased before the e-Golf and decided to go for the Excess Wear and Tear coverage. I did not know I could negotiate on the price and really got ripped off. Extended warranties are the same. Whatever number they give you to start with is likely marked up 50%-100% over their cost.

 

[johnnylingo]

You'd be relying on being able to charge at work just to get home, which is a factor that's out of your control.

This is why I'd recommend the fast charger. Worst case scenario: the chargers at work are occupied or out of service, so he just stops on the way home either for a 20 minute fast charge or about 45 minutes at an L2. It would be a $30/month insurance policy but worth it.

However, the green stickers coming back really does make hybrids more appealing. There's 2014 BMW RExs coming off lease now for well under $30k and great deals on the new Volts too as they're overstocked.

I don't think you can go wrong. It's really a question of which car you like the best.

 

[Iflipturtles]

Thanks for all the feedback. Based on the lease numbers I can get now the E golf is a pretty good deal for 30 months. We have 4 solid chargers at work and Google is next store and they have about 100 chargers. A buddy of mine has one of their charging cards so I am not too worried about getting a charge to get home. The hybrid would give me more flexibility but not sure if it's worth the extra cost. Also this sets me up nicely for the next gen of cars in 30 months. Still not sure. I will let you guys know what i do.

 

[johnnylingo]

In that case sounds like you'd be fine with the 3.6 kW charger on the base SE.

Must say I'm very jealous of your work situation. I work in Campbell Pruneyard and the lazy-ass property management here won't even consider installing them. With shopping, a movie theater, and several restaurants, I couldn't think of a more perfect place to do so and they'd actually make money on it. Morons.

 

[JoulesThief]

In that case sounds like you'd be fine with the 3.6 kW charger on the base SE.

Must say I'm very jealous of your work situation. I work in Campbell Pruneyard and the lazy-ass property management here won't even consider installing them. With shopping, a movie theater, and several restaurants, I couldn't think of a more perfect place to do so and they'd actually make money on it. Morons.

The unpredictability of public chargers has forever changed my thought process on suitability of a short range electrical car as fulfilling all my transportation needs. They are too unpredictable, users don't take care of the cord or wrap it up, they are broken, or don't work, users unplug them hot, and burn up the contacts for the pins inside the J1772 handle, causing potential problems with poor connections on my car. In short, unless you want to pay about in excess of about $0.30 a kwh for recharging, I find the abuse level of public chargers unacceptable.

I charge at home for $0.17 a kwh, at 240V at 7.2 kwh, so nothing else even comes close to making economic sense, for me. So around 50 to 55 miles max, radius around my home is the limit for me in the e-Golf. I'll burn diesel in my TDI before I spend $ 0.30 a kwh or more to recharge. YMMV, I have other options.

 

[Skryll]

So what was the outcome?

I drove our 2015 VW eGolf from Walnut Creek to Sunnyvales google HQ and charged there and drove back home after the meeting, nice to have the carpool lane access and the smooth ride, I'll never go back to gas cars.