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Orange County Area

Honda EV+ on the job

Our Honda EV+ was delivered in Aug. 1997. When it was turned in, it had 61,000 miles, at the time the high mileage Honda EV+. Our longest trip has been 88 miles each way, longest distance on one charge 137 miles. However, the most magnificent performance by the Honda EV+ was the run from Bakersfield up over the Tejon Pass (the "grapevine") and down to the Los Angeles DWP on only 85% of one charge. We could have made it back to Seal Beach, but did not want to go into the reserve, so stopped at midnight in the deserted but beautiful LA Downtown area to charge. In normal driving, our longest miles in one day was 190. There were two related problems with the battery pack early-on. At 27,000 miles, Honda replaced the battery pack even though it was "within specs", and wound up replacing all four tires (we had a flat in one, and they do not like to patch the high-pressure tires, for some reason). Thanks to regenerative braking, the brakes show almost no wear, last we checked; but after about 25k miles, the brakes start to squeak, allegedly because they used a new experimental type of lining which proved inferior, and the generally unused linings are replaced. There have been some reported problems with the CPU, when the car does not recharge. Since Honda ceased production, it sometimes takes a long time to repair these problems. Other than manufacturing defects and software, there just isn't anything much to go wrong with it -- only one moving part, remember? Mile-by-Mile chronology: 1st 4000 miles 4000 to 8000 miles 18,000 miles After having driven the car many miles came the trips to Big Bear, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and lately, thanks to many, many EV pioneers who welcomed us into their homes and showed us something of their experiences, our trip to Eugene, Oregon (and skiing in Tahoe at Alpine meadows). We would gladly lease or buy another EV+, even given Honda's current long delay in repairing CPU problems. With proper support, it is a great car. Would also be willing to take a Toyota RAV 4, but they are not available to the general public.