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Comment by exhilaration | Hacker News Reader

Many of us are waiting for affordable electric minivans that can sit 7 or 8. There's a lot of big families in America.

Same for me but with an actual real usable truck. I know that they tend to get vilified around here but as someone who uses the functions of it every single day, I have a feeling we're going to be waiting a while.

I bet in the next few years we'll see GM toss out an electric Colorado for all their municipal fleet customers that need something cheap to run from 9-5 and can be plugged in every evening and Ford will probably offer an EV F150 of some sort.

If you're waiting for either of the brands that start with T and end with A (which, let's be honest here are the only brands most people here will buy a truck from, because reasons) to make a traditional style pickup that happens to be electric you'll be waiting a long time because one has gone all in on being unconventional with their trucks and the other is allergic to new technology.

We bought a Chrysler Pacifica PHEV (plugin hybrid) minivan back in March 2018 and its been running fairly well. It has about 30-35 mile electric-only range and with my wife mostly doing just local in-city driving, we usually can get about 80-90% of the miles as electric-only.

It seats 7 comfortably and while not fully electric, it scratches our electric-car itch fairly well. Even in hybrid-only mode, we can get 28-30 mpg .. and in "electric" mode, it registers as about 65-75 mpg.

The Tesla Model Y and Model X both have 7 seater options. It wouldn't be as big as a minivan, but it does seat 7.

Affordable probably being the key word there.

Still early in the technology's development and permeation of society. Was just a few years ago that EVs were simply not feasible. Now they're downright common in some areas (Atlanta), have reached "affordable" (Tesla 3 in $30k range, good used Leaf for $6k), and options extend to 7-seat vehicles. The 6-seat Cybertruck will start in the $30k range. "Affordable 7-seat" is just a matter of time.

I mean the X is effectively a six digit purchase after sales tax (or a few options, like self-driving). It's not coming down that much. And $70K more than a new Voyager is... a lot.

Cybertruck promises 6 seats at $39,900.

Minivan is the next obvious incarnation of EV.

I’m personally waiting for one that costs less than $30k before incentives that is comparable to an ICE sedan/crossover in everything besides the power train. Because that doesn’t exist.

The Hyundai Kona and Kia Niro fit the bill pretty well after incentives (About $30k and $32k after federal incentive and plus destination charge and both will qualify for federal incentives in the US for quite a while... not counting California incentives). Limited availability, unfortunately, but they do exist.

I wish these cars were sold in all states. They are only sold on the coasts. It doesn't bode will for the companies when they drag there feet on electric vehicles. It's hard to purchase something with confidence.

Not sure if Tesla will sell something for less than 35k (yes, you can get the basic Model 3 for this price, I have it) but you have options from other manufacturers which can be very appealing if you get a good lease deal.

This is it for us. I’d happily drop my ICE minivan for a similar electric. Doesn’t need to go fast. Just needs to hold the family, the luggage, the dogs. I need function, not luxury.

Model Y could be interesting. The new Pacifica is stepping in the right direction.

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