u/Dan6erbond2

We recently bought an Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica and one of the driving reasons for it was because it was a lot more fun to drive than we expected. Initially it was meant to be a shared car for my girlfriend and I but she likes it so much that I'm looking again into getting myself an EV and trying to find something else that's fun similar to our Alfa. Of course the Veloce exists with an additional 130HP but there are things about the Junior I don't like as much, the Stellantis cost-savings are apparent which was fine for a 27kCHF car but the Veloce goes for around 42kCHF at which point I can get a BMW iX1M or even a used i4, stretch the budget slightly further and I can even get a used E-tron GT.

I've driven a few really comfortable EVs that have all the benefits of being quiet, smooth, etc. like the E-tron but I'm not as experienced with the fun side of them, and I'd love to hear some recommendations for preferably European EVs that fit that requirement. The Q4 E-tron also looks pretty solid in terms of specs, especially the 55 quattro but I'm not sure if it can be categorized as fun. Of course I'll test drive a few before buying but wondering if I'm missing any overlooked options, I heard good things about the Mach-E and would be willing to consider it if it weren't for the giant touchscreen, as well as the I-Pace but it has its own issues/risks.

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I want to get this off my chest since I often see this and other EV communities recommend against buying one if you don't have home/work charging like it's some kind of global rule.

First of all I'm well aware that this may apply to certain regions, scenarios or use-cases. But I expect more from the EV community as a whole to try and encourage ownership while obviously mentioning the downsides but also providing solutions to them.

So I'll be stating my opinion as a European (Swiss) living in an area with good public infrastructure, which I believe is often the case especially in Europe, but possibly also in NA/Asia. We specifically bought an EV with relatively short range (410km WLTP) because most of our driving is in the city, maybe 10-20km per day - which I believe is the case for more people than they're willing to admit.

We don't have home charging as we rent an apartment, and work charging is depending on the work site, sometimes my girlfriend parks on public parking with charging stations, sometimes not. But since, as I stated, we only do 10-20km per day this already means the battery lasts us about 10 days and because we go shopping, swimming, dance classes, etc. as part of our routine, many of them have public charging, some even free. Those that aren't free are between 0.20CHF-0.50CHF/kWh and an hour of charging even with our relatively slow OBC (max 100kW DC) an hour will give us 20-40% which is plenty until the next time we charge.

For us, and probably a lot of other people especially in Europe too, we also have street charging 5-8 minutes walking distance. And since we have a dog that walk isn't an issue we just walk him on the way to/back if we're in a bit of a pinch.

For Americans I'm guessing it's harder to justify an EV if you're genuinely travelling 50-100km per day regularly, and don't have reliable access. But there's no point in US Defaultism on this subreddit and when someone asks for advice on buying an EV people should first ask what kind of driving habits they're usually dealing with as well as how the public charging infrastructure looks. Our Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica is 50% cheaper to run than my Audi S5 Sportback without even factoring in maintenance and taxes because gas is 1.90CHF here.

As for roadtrips I would say the Junior isn't the ideal choice. Find something with a bit more range and faster charging so you can do 600-800km with two stops and honestly I struggle to believe that 10-15 minutes stop is such an inconvenience when you have to pee, drink, eat anyway, or in our case walk the dog, or take the kids out to stretch their legs.

So once you factor in all that, I think a lot of people will be very happy with an EV even if they can't charge at home overnight. There's a lot of benefits to EVs that I won't get into this post but other than very specific circumstances they won't be an inconvenience.

​

I want to get this off my chest since I often see this and other EV communities recommend against buying one if you don't have home/work charging like it's some kind of global rule.

First of all I'm well aware that this may apply to certain regions, scenarios or use-cases. But I expect more from the EV community as a whole to try and encourage ownership while obviously mentioning the downsides but also providing solutions to them.

So I'll be stating my opinion as a European (Swiss) living in an area with good public infrastructure, which I believe is often the case especially in Europe, but possibly also in NA/Asia. We specifically bought an EV with relatively short range (410km WLTP) because most of our driving is in the city, maybe 10-20km per day - which I believe is the case for more people than they're willing to admit.

We don't have home charging as we rent an apartment, and work charging is depending on the work site, sometimes my girlfriend parks on public parking with charging stations, sometimes not. But since, as I stated, we only do 10-20km per day this already means the battery lasts us about 10 days and because we go shopping, swimming, dance classes, etc. as part of our routine, many of them have public charging, some even free. Those that aren't free are between 0.20CHF-0.50CHF/kWh and an hour of charging even with our relatively slow OBC (max 100kW DC) an hour will give us 20-40% which is plenty until the next time we charge.

For us, and probably a lot of other people especially in Europe too, we also have street charging 5-8 minutes walking distance. And since we have a dog that walk isn't an issue we just walk him on the way to/back if we're in a bit of a pinch.

For Americans I'm guessing it's harder to justify an EV if you're genuinely travelling 50-100km per day regularly, and don't have reliable access. But there's no point in US Defaultism on this subreddit and when someone asks for advice on buying an EV people should first ask what kind of driving habits they're usually dealing with as well as how the public charging infrastructure looks. Our Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica is 50% cheaper to run than my Audi S5 Sportback without even factoring in maintenance and taxes because gas is 1.90CHF here.

As for roadtrips I would say the Junior isn't the ideal choice. Find something with a bit more range and faster charging so you can do 600-800km with two stops and honestly I struggle to believe that 10-15 minutes stop is such an inconvenience when you have to pee, drink, eat anyway, or in our case walk the dog, or take the kids out to stretch their legs.

So once you factor in all that, I think a lot of people will be very happy with an EV even if they can't charge at home overnight. There's a lot of benefits to EVs that I won't get into this post but other than very specific circumstances they won't be an inconvenience.

I want to get this off my chest since I often see this and other EV communities recommend against buying one if you don't have home/work charging like it's some kind of global rule.

First of all I'm well aware that this may apply to certain regions, scenarios or use-cases. But I expect more from the EV community as a whole to try and encourage ownership while obviously mentioning the downsides but also providing solutions to them.

So I'll be stating my opinion as a European (Swiss) living in an area with good public infrastructure, which I believe is often the case especially in Europe, but possibly also in NA/Asia. We specifically bought an EV with relatively short range (410km WLTP) because most of our driving is in the city, maybe 10-20km per day - which I believe is the case for more people than they're willing to admit.

We don't have home charging as we rent an apartment, and work charging is depending on the work site, sometimes my girlfriend parks on public parking with charging stations, sometimes not. But since, as I stated, we only do 10-20km per day this already means the battery lasts us about 10 days and because we go shopping, swimming, dance classes, etc. as part of our routine, many of them have public charging, some even free. Those that aren't free are between 0.20CHF-0.50CHF/kWh and an hour of charging even with our relatively slow OBC (max 100kW DC) an hour will give us 20-40% which is plenty until the next time we charge.

For us, and probably a lot of other people especially in Europe too, we also have street charging 5-8 minutes walking distance. And since we have a dog that walk isn't an issue we just walk him on the way to/back if we're in a bit of a pinch.

For Americans I'm guessing it's harder to justify an EV if you're genuinely travelling 50-100km per day regularly, and don't have reliable access. But there's no point in US Defaultism on this subreddit and when someone asks for advice on buying an EV people should first ask what kind of driving habits they're usually dealing with as well as how the public charging infrastructure looks. Our Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica is 50% cheaper to run than my Audi S5 Sportback without even factoring in maintenance and taxes because gas is 1.90CHF here.

As for roadtrips I would say the Junior isn't the ideal choice. Find something with a bit more range and faster charging so you can do 600-800km with two stops and honestly I struggle to believe that 10-15 minutes stop is such an inconvenience when you have to pee, drink, eat anyway, or in our case walk the dog, or take the kids out to stretch their legs.

So once you factor in all that, I think a lot of people will be very happy with an EV even if they can't charge at home overnight. There's a lot of benefits to EVs that I won't get into this post but other than very specific circumstances they won't be an inconvenience.