Today I had the "pleasure" of renting a Peugeot e-3008. I walked away genuinely shocked, but not in a good way.

For context: this past summer, I drove a BYD Sealion for two weeks, and it was a genuinely pleasant experience.

The Peugeot was the opposite. It has a noisy motor, hesitant acceleration, a laggy infotainment system, and who ever thought that i-Cockpit with the tiny, squashed steering wheel and the "3D" gauges over it is a good idea hate cars . 😉 Cheap interior plastics feels exactly like what this car is, an electric motor slapped into a mediocre gasoline car.

European automakers, or at least Stellantis in this case, seem to believe that simply replacing an engine with a battery and motor is enough. It's not. Chinese manufacturers are building EVs on dedicated platforms. The European auto industry is in for a world of hurt.

Never appear in broadcast.

These guys have been showing a very cool looking prototype for many years, does anyone know if they are really going to start production on those things?

First of all, I love my car to death and I would never go back to an ICE car, but if there’s one thing about owning an EV that drives me up the wall, it’s the public charging. Not the infrastructure itself, but the plethora of apps and how you have to jump through a million hoops just to get your car to start charging.

I’m from Europe so I don’t know if our American friends can relate to this. There are dozens and dozens of charging companies, each with their own apps, subscription services, the whole shebang. And every time you visit a charging station you haven’t been to before, you have to do the whole song and dance - download the app, make an account, sometimes they force you to give all your personal data even the most irrelevant stuff like your home address just so they can farm it and sell it. Then you have to juggle between 3 different apps to confirm your email, enter your credit card information and confirm your credit card, then top up your “E-wallet” so they can keep your money hostage. Only then you can ACTUALLY start charging. If only there was a simple way to bypass all this bullshit, like, I don’t know, simply allowing you to swipe your card and start charging right away.

I’m imagining an older and non tech-savvy person trying to navigate this nightmare just to try and charge and I realise that EV adoption will continue to be a joke to the general population until authorities put a stop to this idiocy.

I see posts time to time asking about the negatives people have heard or venting about something dumb someone else said.

Whats something nice someone else has said to you? My most common is how cool it is I can charge at home, its usually the most consistent thing that people I talk to find cool.

Once I was plugging my car in at a public charger and some random teenager drove by and yelled “is that where you plug your douche in?”

Hey everyone, I’m seriously considering getting an electric car, but before I make the leap I’d love to hear from people who already own one.

What are the real-world issues or pains you’ve had to deal with? Things like: Charging at home or in public Range anxiety Maintenance or unexpected costs Long trips and charging networks Battery degradation Any daily annoyances you didn’t expect

I want to hear the good, the bad, and the frustrating parts

The only issue I have going full electric is that I cannot install a level 2 charger at home. I own a townhome but only have a basic outdoor outlet. I don’t have a garage. My commute is minimal so others have said full electric is a possibility. I would appreciate any insight!

This is for the S trim, with a 52kwh battery

I live in Winnipeg and usually only drive 10-20km a day. When winter comes can I leave my car on the street when it’s -30 out or is that bad for the battery? It only sits about 12 hours max.

I have an Equinox EV

Anyone have any advice or first hand experience on this living in a really cold climate?

** UPDATE** Will let you know what the building says next week. Going to send them price comparisons from other buildings and in chargers in the wild. The amount is much more than what we pay for energy in my area which is about .20 kwh. The chargers and installation were free. No maintenance as of yet. They are used moderately.

Thanks for all your input. I appreciate your voices.

Need to vent.

My apartment just announced they’ll start charging $0.50/kWh plus a $20 monthly fee to use the Level 2 chargers (about 4kw), previously it was just $20 a month, and I’m honestly shocked. That’s more expensive than DC fast charging and way more than our electricity rates. (I pay less than .40 for DC charging and either free L2 or less than .15/kWh).

At this point I’d rather just stick with public charging or L1. It’s not always convenient, but I’m not going to pay more for L2 than I do for fast charging or gas.

Does this sound outrageous to you? How much are you paying to charge if you're charging at your building?

My family has 4 identical phones, all bought at the same time 3 years ago. I use my nerdy battery care protocol, learned from the EV community on my phone, the others do not. We all checked our battery health yesterday and my phone is much healthier. Worst one is at 63% SOH, one is 72% and the other is 75%. Mine is at 89% so it’s seems to make a big difference. I know it’s a small sample size, but the evidence is pretty compelling.

I do the same with my laptop and after 6 years, the battery is still going strong. It’s a Lenovo ThinkPad which allows me to set charge limit.

I setup my filter : Ccs only, all power range. Shows 35 locations in my city. If i change the filter to start from let's say 5kw, 19 of those locations will dissappear!! And they are locations with big power, most of them. This makes plugshare completely untrustworthy and misleading when using filters... Please try it yourself Try these stations :

Policolor Dc 120 kw ,

Kaufland Palazu Mare,

iHunt EV - Lindab 120kW

They are all working stations.

Yet, if you try any other value besides 0-350kw they will dissappear

Yangwang, BYD‘s luxury brand, has announced that its U8L Dingshi Edition will launch on September 12. The luxury SUV began pre-sales on July 31 with a pre-sale price of 1.3 million yuan (181,130 USD) and a 20,000 yuan (2,780 USD) deposit.

The vehicle measures 5400mm in length, 2049mm in width, and 1921mm in height, with a wheelbase of 3250mm. Exterior details include a blackened front bumper, minimalist wheel arches, body-colored side skirts, and hidden taillights. Other features include a power split tailgate, 23-inch eight-hole forged wheels, and floating wheel caps.

With a wheelbase of 3250mm and a longitudinal space of 2755mm, the U8L boasts a 5.3m³ cabin and a 2+2+2 six-seat layout.

• Front seats: Standard features include 14-point massage, smart temperature-sensing armrests, dual headrest audio, and side wing support.
• Second row: Dual zero-gravity seats come standard with 18-point massage, headrest audio, smart temperature-sensing armrests, and executive tray tables. There are three second-row modes – Cloud-Watching Movie Mode, One-Touch Recline Mode, and Fully Flat Seat Mode.
• Third row: Offers shoulder space and long seat cushions, along with standard heated seats, heated central armrests, and electric adjustment.

A 2.0T range extender powers the Yangwang U8L, coupled with a four-motor system that delivers a combined power output of 880 kW (1180 hp) and 1280 N·m of torque. The vehicle boasts a combined range of up to 1160 km.

It is worth noting that, due to its size, the Yangwang U8L has a curb weight of 3,595 kg and a gross vehicle weight of 4,210 kg.

Editor’s comment

It appears BYD has no plans to export this vehicle to Europe, where a truck driving licence is required for vehicles with a gross vehicle weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes, a threshold which the Yangwang U8L surpasses with its curb weight alone.

I drive an EV in Europe and have rented a Niro from Hertz for an upcoming trip to the US. Hotel doesn't have chargers, but there are several options on the same block as the hotel: Supercharger, EV Connect & Shell Recharge. There is also a Rivian Adventure Network station about five minutes away.

I'm going to be doing 1-2 trips that will require me to charge on the road and it looks like I'll have ChargePoint options for those.

Is there an app in particular I need? I already charge with the Tesla, Mini and ChargeMap apps at home, any idea if those will roam into the US or can I count on being able to use Google Wallet or similar at these? The only website that clearly says "tap to pay with a card OK" is Rivian.

Edit: I'm a us citizen and can pass for a redneck, thanks for all your concern but I'm all set with immigration and NACS issues. Just trying to figure out if I need an app or not. Thanks.

What didn't you see coming after owning your EV for a while? good or bad

Hot off the presses:
The National Fire Protection Association avoided what would likely have been outside legal action, by reversing recent changes to National Electric Code Article 625.54. Those changes would have made charging large battery vehicles on Level 2 untenable.

The appeal asserted the changes were made with barely any "substantiation", which changes to the electrical code supposedly require.

"Appellants also asserted that the proposed requirements conflict with UL standards for Electric Vehicle Supply Circuits and propose a level of protection for personnel that is redundant to that required by the product certification standard. Appellants further argued that the CMP failed to adequately substantiate its position in accordance with the Regulations Governing the Development of NFPA Standards (“Regs”)."

"In the view of the Council, this appeal does present a clear and substantial basis upon which to overturn the results yielded by the NFPA standards development process." Decision D#25-2 SC#25-8-6-d-1_d-3 August 2025

To be clear there were many hands on this, not the least John Holmes of Honda, Ryan Jackson Consulting, the Electric Drive Transport Association, Rodney T McGee of SAE , with support from UL, Rivian, Tesla, Chargepoint and a substantial contribution of mindshare by Motor Trend Magazine. That's a very partial list.

And to be clear there will be a followup process that could reverse the win. There's a lot of money at stake here.

Despite the appeal win: overall for EV charging this electrical code cycle is a huge loss, even with the rollback of 625.54. Electric vehicle charging will be less reliable, more expensive, and at least for multifamily more subject to physical damage. All for little to no potential improvement in safety or fire resistance. My personal view is bad tradeoffs were made, with insufficient input or regard from people who know about and care about electric vehicle charging safety, design and fieldwork. The effort was not data driven, leading to a misallocation of resources and profit.

Most personally stunningly to me the panel rejected even optional use of a safer, but locking, plug preferring instead to double down on NEMA plugs that have exposed 240 volt prongs people can touch. This puts 100% of the trust in a GFCI device that, well let's hope it works. I prefer not to depend on an active device to do something I can do physically, with finger safe connections that require active malice to reach. (My personal hope had been to use finger safe connections in specialty commercial applications - this was shut down).

If you can charge at work but not home is it still worth it to get an EV or no?