The PacHy is the best of all worlds, compared to a pure EV. Chrysler was smart in designing a van that was a hybrid first, plug in second, with the computer making ALL the power decisions.
Here's why a Tesla makes little practical sense, and is simply a toy like a Lambo.
The hybrid aspect of the van is its best feature - simply because in the real world, there are few plug-in spots available. Until you can plug in at every light post, pure electric cars will never catch on. Also, gas will have to double in the US before people will even begin to question it.
Finally, the fact the a van is the most versatile vehicle on the road, for passengers and cargo, makes me confident in my decision to purchase a PacHy. Hopefully get mine this week!
There's so much wrong with this it's hard to know where to start. First congrats on your purchase, you won't be disappointed!
That seeking alpha article you linked to though is nonsense put out by a short selling tool trying to get the stock to drop so he can make money. I won't go through every point that is wrong with that article because it would be a lot to cover and I doubt anyone would want to read it on here, also Ben Sullins covers it very well in this video if you're interested:
The hybrid aspect of the van is the feature I like the least and here's why; I wish it were pure electric. If you don't already own a pure EV I can understand how that would be a hard thing to understand but the gas motor kicking in ruins the driving experience. With a proper long-range (400+km) EV you think about cars and refuelling very differently than you do with an oil car. Charging infrastructure - while it could always improve - isn't what's holding EV's back, I'll explain that in a minute. What's holding EV's back is cost and availability - two things that are aggressively being solved as we speak.
You don't need a plug "at every light post". That's old and silly oil-car thinking where you have a gas station on every corner because you need to buy gas a lot. With an EV, you start each and every day with a "full" tank. What would you do if your current oil car started each day/everyday with a full tank of gas? How would that change your need for gas stations? How often would you stop at a gas station if you started each day with a full tank?
My current EV (other than the PacHy) is an old Leaf, whose range is similar to about a quarter tank of gas in a conventional car - maybe a third of a tank. It's not ideal but it gets the job done. I treat it like I would any car that starts the day with a quarter tank of gas. In an old oil car, that would usually mean you decide if you can do your errands today and buy gas tomorrow or if you need to do a bunch of driving and have to pick up gas later today. Most of the time with a quarter tank I bet you wait to tomorrow to buy gas. In the Leaf it's almost the same thing but I ALWAYS start the day with a 'quarter tank' so the 'buying gas tomorrow' thing almost never comes. Mostly I don't need to charge while I'm out because the stats don't lie - most people drive less than 100km in a given day. I'm betting you, and most people on here, are very comfortable riding a quarter tank gas for a few days before you decide to fill it. Now imagine if that tank magically filled back up to a quarter every day. That's an old Leaf.
Now imagine the new batch of EV's coming out. They are game changers. They basically have the equivalent of FULL tank of gas (400+km) but they also can charge (ie refill) over night. Every night. At your house. That means road trips aren't just possible but they're almost like any other car so long as there's a couple of fast chargers around - at least one, ideally another as a backup. And you know what? Fast chargers ARE around and there are more of them every week.
This is where Teslas really do prove they aren't "toys like a lambo". In their segments (luxury sedan & luxury SUV) they are outselling all of their competitors, even a bunch of them combined. The Model S and X are eating the lunch of the incumbents. The main problem with Tesla up to now is that they're luxury cars that most people can't afford. Now with the Model 3; and the new Leaf; and the Hyundai Kona EV; and the Chevy Bolt; there are a crop of EV's that compete on price with their oil equivalents without subsidies (although subsidies do sweeten the deal of course!). Only a fool would discount the importance of what is about to happen to the auto industry.
Oil car days are numbered and while the Pacifica Hybrid is a great van it is merely a stop-gap until a pure EV van eats its market. Maybe someday soon they'll make a long-range EV Pacifica but more than likely someone else will beat FCA to it (I'm thinking it'll be VW with the new ID Buzz). EV's are cleaner, quieter, more fun to drive, perform better, have lower (almost no!) maintenance and are cheaper to own and run. Everything being equal, gas could go to free and EV's would still win because they are better in every measurable way. Don't kid yourself, the EV takeover will happen soon - it's ramping up right now, and when I say soon I mean in the next few years - probably by 2023-2025 when the used market has a bunch of low-cost long-range EV's available.
