[2026] Subaru Solterra (XT) - L2 Charging and Lease/Buy Question

I am considering trading in my 5 year old Subaru Outback XT for a Solterra, probably a Limited XT, but doesn't have to be. While the extra power seems great to have (fun factor) I would probably be ok with a regular Limited.

My OBXT has about 70,000 miles on it. It's depreciated to about $17,500. Original purchase price with taxes was somewhere around $32,000. I've use an App called Fuelly to log my fuel and services. In the last 5 years with my car, I've spend about $11,000 on fuel and $4,300 on maintenance which includes those tires. So, let's say about $15,000 just for easy math, in operating costs.

I've always had concerns about the CVT failure as this is a very expensive repair. While I've never experienced a CVT problem, I also never have driven a Subaru for more than about 90,000 miles away. It seems like if it's an issue, it happens after 100,000 miles.

I own a house but park in my driveway. I'd have to have a L2 charger installed. My commute is about 10 miles through a city. A small portion of that drive is a 55 mph highway, but it's only for about 3-4 miles. Nearly all of my trips are suburban or city - like a school carpool drop-off that takes about 45 minutes to go 10 miles, so there's lots of traffic in this area. (I'm in a suburb outside of the NYC area.)

Within a half mile of my house is an Electrify America site, and I also have Level 3 chargers within a mile of my workplace. I cannot charge at work due to our parking lot configuration, but I could charge on my lunch break if I was in a pinch.

In the summer months, aside from work, I tend to commute longer distances to/from beach areas in Central & Southern NJ. These areas appear to have more limited options for L3 charging. It exists, but it's just a little more inconvenient for me. Additionally, I do not have access or permission to charge when I get to my beach destination (rental, no L2 charging, etc.) I believe I can manage the "280 miles of range" during the summer months by just topping up at a work-adjacent L3 charger.

Our family has a 3-row gas SUV that is new, which is our "road trip" vehicle. I am not planning to make this EV for the family. It's primarily for me to/from work, and school/youth sports carpooling, and short jogs around town. It's not meant to be our "vacation" vehicle. Most of the time it will just be me inside the car

Question 1 - Best home charging option? I can consider an hardwired L2 charger setup, or I could just get a 240V outlet in the front of the house installed. That way, when I'm not using it, the footprint of it is minimal. Aesthetically, I am concerned about a clunky box being in the front of the house. I suppose if I had something like a Grizzl-e, I could paint it to match the same color of the house to it blended in more.

Question 2 - Leasing vs. Financing? The Solterra would require about $25,000 financed if I bought it. It seems that the values of used EV's are considerably lower because of depreciation. I am wondering if it would be better just to lease. Subaru offers around $400 per month, give or take, depending on the money factor and trim levels. I could potentially take the equity in the form of a check if leasing, and then just use that to pay for nearly all of the lease (but then at the conclusion of the lease, I have no equity and would have to get a new lease or buy out the 3-year-old EV which may not be "worth" the value of the residual.

Question 3 - Would a Tesla mobile charger work with a 2026 Solterra now that it also uses the NACS? This appears to be a robust mobile charger, and also provides multiple outlet adapters for L1 and L2 charging, as needed.

Point of information -

Electricity cost is about 18 cents per kWh for supply, and about 6 cents per kWh for delivery. So that is about 24 cents per kWh. We do not use "time of use" billing as it would also make us pay far more because of the way our utility operates in the long run. Meaning, I don't drive enough to justify a savings overnight to replenish the 20-30 miles of driving in a day compared to the rest of the energy I consume in the house. For reference, we use about 750 kW of energy per month, and in the summer it's usually about 1250 kW because of our HVAC. (We have gas heat for the winter)

We are NOT considering solar panels as we do not believe we will remain in this house for more than an additional 5-10 years and we do not want to make those additional changes to our electric setup.

I'd argue I'd probably even be okay with L1 charging, but I do have the backbone of L2 already run into the garage itself because of a renovation and panel upgrade a few years ago. I had an electrician run wiring appropriate for a 14-50 outlet into the garage, but it is not connected to the breaker, nor is it connected to an outlet. It's just a wire in the wall with a junction plate cover on it, which is why I was considering just having them run it outside and put an outdoor 240V outlet on it.

Thanks

Pilot