Can the math work out to justify a 4xe?

[sentience]

I have no idea. Dealer did the paperwork. Saw -$800 on the final numbers, asked about it, was told it was an instant MD tax rebate. Whatever that means.

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[JLBoucher]

Indeed, a 4xe makes sense if you do less than 40KM a day or if you have access to a charging station at work.

In my case, I thought about it for a moment. But then, I didn't want to take a gamble on reliability for the first few years. So I went with that good'ol Pentastar.

I always wait for the second generation.

 

[Goin2drt]

The destruction of the earth for these batteries to be produced, not to mention the mess it will bring when the time comes for "proper" recycling is an issue.

Electric vehicles are a novelty item to me, and nothing more. Let the flaming begin.....

Oh how dare you. Don't you worry about all those things it takes to make these, recycle these and destroy these when they are not useful. Just read, they are 100% recyclable and do not harm the environment at all. Just read, I tell you it's all out there. EV's are the greatest thing ever and this is the solution for global warming.

 

[Jehovasfitness]

I have no idea. Dealer did the paperwork. Saw -$800 on the final numbers, asked about it, was told it was an instant MD tax rebate. Whatever that means.

that's odd, we just bought a rav phev with no such thing. I know MD had up to a $3k excise tax rebate or maybe that's where the $800 plays in. But that has run out recently

 

[Roy15]

I ordered my Sahara 21 4xe exactly as my 20 only adding the new front camera. The cost was only $2500 more at $56500. Excluding the camera $2000 seemed pretty reasonable for the huge performance bump and if I get a few extra mpg's Great!

 

[MountainsAreCalling]

I hadn't taken into account the tax credit. Without it, your Rubicon would be about $14,000 more than my Sport S. On the other hand, I also didn't account for the cost of electricity, which, at some point, would match the tax credit, so I think my conclusion holds: the 4xe may make economic sense for those making, on average, short trips but not for those making long trips.

Regardless of the length of your trips, if you want a well-optioned Rubicon or Sahara it makes economic sense to get the 4xe because the tax credit will make it slightly cheaper than an equivalent gas-only Wrangler. And regardless of the length of your trips, if you just want a Sport without a lot of options the 4xe is so much more expensive that it does not make sense even with the tax credit.

That said, the base model 4xe should come out in the next year or so and then you can have a true apples-to-apples comparison with your Sport S.

 

[Rasselas]

Regardless of the length of your trips, if you want a well-optioned Rubicon or Sahara it makes economic sense to get the 4xe because the tax credit will make it slightly cheaper than an equivalent gas-only Wrangler. And regardless of the length of your trips, if you just want a Sport without a lot of options the 4xe is so much more expensive that it does not make sense even with the tax credit.

That said, the base model 4xe should come out in the next year or so and then you can have a true apples-to-apples comparison with your Sport S.

Good points. I chose the Sport S over the Rubicon (my previous Jeep was a Rubicon) because the latter has certain features I don't need (I no longer do rock crawling and thus don't need lockers, for example), and the price differential will pay for the upgrades I'll have done (bumpers, winch, lift, etc.). Inasmuch as I just purchased the Sport S, I won't even think of getting a successor for at least three years. Perhaps by that time Jeep will offer a fully electric version. That might be an interesting prospect.

 

[Zandcwhite]

With incentives, the 4xe makes sense for anyone in the market for a similarly equipped wrangler right now. If you drive 100+ miles per day, any wrangler is a poor choice in vehicles. Conversely, regardless of ever plugging it in, it gets similar fuel economy to its ICE counterparts. Subtract $7500 fed tax credit, $1,500 CA tax credit, and HOV lane access and you are literally money ahead on any new wrangler aside from a stripped sport. Factor in the regenerative braking free energy and the fact that many companies and schools offer free charging and I’d have a hard time not going 4xe if I were in the market for a new wrangler. Our 2019 JLUR is the wifes daily driver, and she drives about 35 miles total daily. If she were to plug in at work we’d literally only need to charge about 15 miles per day at home and she’d use 0 fuel. Not enough incentive to trade in our already built to our liking Jeep, but wouldn’t even be a second thought if we needed a replacement.

 

[JeepJeepster]

When I drive my 4xe on the interstate (75 mph), my gas mileage is 15-17 mpg, I hope it increases.
Where I live an electric fill-up is $2.45 after you add taxes and other fees to the electric. That makes the cost of electric very close to the cost of a gallon of gas ($2.85).

I think if you are looking to save $$ to justify the electric, it would need to be short commutes to work and you get free electric at work.

As an interesting side note, one of my neighbors has a Tesla and says an electric mile does not equal a road mile. He said getting from the bottom of our neighborhood to where he lives (which is a climb), takes 15 Tesla miles. The actual road miles is ~1 mi.

 

[VNT]

Very difficult to say. Would depend on your rate, mileage for your duty cycle, and unknown of what these get in hybrid mode, no one reports what they actually get without charging, so dont know the delta in gas mileage in pure hybrid mode ( no charging via plug in) vs std non-hbrid.

Some are saying they get worse mileage in hybrid mode. My rate is 16 cents/KW-hr so would cost about 2.72 per full charge of the battery. Assuming that translates to 22 miles range, and regular here in my area is 2.75 a gallon, it is a wash if one used the battery or just drove with the gas engine. Assuming in pure hybrid mode max regen you can get 22 mpg which is about what I have avg in my Rubicon and wifes Sahara, then that is a wash.

Now you get the 7500 kick back and here in my state another 1000. I would guess you would save about 4K net after for similar sahara or rubicon.

Now one would have to figure out the maintenance costs. I would price out all the extra hoses and connectors in the cooling system since those will need to be changed at some point, also what does the battery cost? You also have to throw in potential failures of all the extra sensors and electronics. So going green has a lot of risk. Once the 200K kickbacks go away I predict these will not sell, because they make no sense.

 

[Zandcwhite]

Very difficult to say. Would depend on your rate, mileage for your duty cycle, and unknown of what these get in hybrid mode, no one reports what they actually get without charging, so dont know the delta in gas mileage in pure hybrid mode ( no charging via plug in) vs std non-hbrid.

Some are saying they get worse mileage in hybrid mode. My rate is 16 cents/KW-hr so would cost about 2.72 per full charge of the battery. Assuming that translates to 22 miles range, and regular here in my area is 2.75 a gallon, it is a wash if one used the battery or just drove with the gas engine. Assuming in pure hybrid mode max regen you can get 22 mpg which is about what I have avg in my Rubicon and wifes Sahara, then that is a wash.

Now you get the 7500 kick back and here in my state another 1000. I would guess you would save about 4K net after for similar sahara or rubicon.

Now one would have to figure out the maintenance costs. I would price out all the extra hoses and connectors in the cooling system since those will need to be changed at some point, also what does the battery cost? You also have to throw in potential failures of all the extra sensors and electronics. So going green has a lot of risk. Once the 200K kickbacks go away I predict these will not sell, because they make no sense.

In CA the EV portion is required to be under warranty to 100k miles, so you are also getting nearly 3 times the standard warranty and would include the battery and sensors, likely not the hoses.

 

[Thill444]

I hadn't taken into account the tax credit. Without it, your Rubicon would be about $14,000 more than my Sport S. On the other hand, I also didn't account for the cost of electricity, which, at some point, would match the tax credit, so I think my conclusion holds: the 4xe may make economic sense for those making, on average, short trips but not for those making long trips.

(Of course, this prescinds from other considerations, such as engine power, the pleasure of going "green" part of the time, and so on.)

Well your comparing two very different Wranglers. It's kinda a silly comparison, it's like saying a base 4 cylinder Camaro is $14K more than a V8 Camaro?

Okay. Most people buying a 4xe were likely not shopping a base Wrangler. Even a decently configured Wrangler Unlimited Sport is going to cost $44K ish or so MSRP.

In terms of electricity costs I can share my experience with our Pacifica Hybrid vs our Honda Odyssey. Based on our driving habits we are saving $70-100 per month by charging frequently vs gas costs. If gas continues to cost more it will be closer to $100-120 per month more.

 

[nohandz]

Our 4xe was ~$2500 more than a similarly loaded 3.6L JLUR, but has $7500 fed and $2500 Colorado tax credit. So cheaper, faster, more economical. What's not to like?

 

[MaskedRacerX]

We pay $0.10 / kWh, and possibly looking to go with a TOU account (with FPL), since our consumption will increase (a little) with this PHEV (and notable amount with our planned M3P purchase - waiting for Tesla get to get their Tax Credits back ...). Then we'd have $0.19 peak, but only $0.03 during off-peak (when we'd typically be charging, and most of the day when we're home).

We were in the market for a pretty loaded JLU, so probably starting with a Sahara, and then with the Alpine/8.4 UC, LED lighting, we were pretty close to the 4xe, and I wanted something with a little extra umph, and knew our Use Case was a lot of 35-45MPH, stop-n-go around town, in our 10-12 mile operating area, plus some beach use and the idea of quietly crawling across the sand was super appealing to us.

 

[michail]

It almost never makes sense if all you look at are the numbers on paper and try to come out ahead. It's like comparing a Tesla to a Mitsubishi Mirage.

Reasons for me

• I want to reduce use of fossil fuels
• I already wanted the options
• I enjoy the electric torque driving feel
• I love how quiet it is
• I wanted to have driving range when/where charging isn't possible
• I can daily drive as a full EV

Long range performance is still disappointing. I think it's still unknow if the 392 or 4xe does better on that front. They are both moving similar weight and aerodynamics on 4 cylinders.

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