“Most US drivers”? Show me one US driver who needs to breath fossil emissions to survive.
There are some types of vehicles that don’t work currently for pure EVs. Long distance hauling vehicles, for example. Mostly because most EV charging stations are not pull through, so hauling a trailer while charging is a PITA. A plug-in hybrid would be perfect for this application, though.
There are also many people who live in places where charging at home isn’t practical. That’s thankfully changing, though.
Most people, though, should be able to drive an EV in America. I drive a 2023 Bolt and it’s fucking awesome.
My salvage title 2006 Honda Accord cost me $3200 in cash over 3 years ago.
Since then, I’ve spent maybe another $2000 total on ALL service and maintenance. Including a full set of tires, an alignment, oil changes, brake pads and rotors. A pair of wheel bearings, a new radiator, and a pair of tie rod ends.
All of which I did myself.
Oh, and my monthly insurance premium for this car?
$32 a month. No car note. “But electric cars don’t buy gas either” No. They use electricity. And my average monthly power bill is already over $400 a month. You think I want that to be even higher? No way.
Yea, I get that EVs are better.
But I don’t do car notes. I can’t AFFORD to do car notes.
So until I can buy a 17 year old EV for $3200 cash and only need another couple thousand to keep it running for an additional 3 years, I will stick to the used ICE market.
They use electricity. And my average monthly power bill is already over $400 a month. You think I want that to be even higher?
Some of your concerns may be valid, but I pay relatively high prices for electricity, 35¢/kWH, and even at that price, the hit to my electric bill is half what I used to spend on gasoline. Current gas price make that even better
It’s less about the gas and electricity than it is about adding a car note and higher insurance.
Most people can’t repair a car themselves, especially true if it’s something more complicated than brake pads and rotors. If you adjust your numbers to reflect what it would have cost if you had to pay someone for repairs I’m guessing it might seem a little crazy to invest that much in such an old car. If one were in a wreck and the car was totalled, insurance pay out wouldn’t get close to the amount invested.
Me… I’m still driving a 20 yr old car. Low mileage since I’ve worked from home most the time I’ve owned it, but it’s definitely showing its age. I can afford a new one but why would I want to right now? It still runs well and I have no desire to drop $50k on something to replace it. Happy now to keep my money saved.
If you’re poor, you learn how to do these things.
Oh I get it. But not everyone has the aptitude, the tools and/or someone to teach them. Brakes and rotors aren’t too tough, and I taught my son and helped both my SILs but not everyone has that. I did ball joints a long time ago, starters, an alternator… but my dad helped and that gave me the confidence to attempt other stuff. But one expensive mistake can really cost you too and can discourage people from trying again.
Yeah, your electric bill would be higher but the increase in electricity you’d pay will be less than what you currently pay for gas, saving money overall. Only issue is the up front cost to buy one in the first place. And all the spying shit recent cars come with.
No. They use electricity. And my average monthly power bill is already over $400 a month. You think I want that to be even higher? No way.
Fueling costs per mile (using the term “fuel” rather loosely for EVs) are significantly lower for electric vehicles than combustion, even taking into account plugging the thing in at home with an extension cord. It’s going to be a rather long break even period when comparing to a salvage title clunker, but for someone shopping for a new car to begin with it makes sense.
It’s not costing anyone “less” to be paying at the pump. It’s just an easily forgotten regular expense that everyone is used to. Meanwhile, people have been conditioned to have a cow over seeing any increased number on their electricity bill even if it’s only a couple of bucks. Right now with local gasoline prices it costs something like $60 to fill up my Subaru from empty and nearly $150 for my truck (it has a 35 gallon tank!) and the former I could easily do twice a month if I weren’t riding so many motorcycles this time of year instead. In the Scoob, that’s around 784 miles of driving for $120 in fuel. That’s only be $47.04 if I had a reasonably recent EV and charged it at home.
I went through the same rigmarole replacing my house’s oil heat with mini splits. Yes, my electricity bill went up… On average something like $40 a month. Meanwhile I stopped paying $300 to $400 a month to my former oil company for five or six months out of the year. $2000 - $480 = a $1520 or so net yearly savings I proceeded to blow on camera lenses and more motorcycle parts.
A hundred or two a month won’t help me afford a $300 car note and a much higher insurance premium.
That would be why I included the caveat about someone already shopping for a new car.
You have to understand that the majority of buyers will not countenance buying a salvage titled vehicle and restoring it, let alone doing the work on it themselves. You’re in a rather unique situation there which is not going to be applicable to most people.
The OP’s position is reasonable given their circumstances, and several people, including you, have clearly said as much. Even industry and financial experts acknowledge that if someone already owns a functioning vehicle, the most economical and environmentally responsible choice is often to continue driving it until replacement becomes necessary, regardless of whether it is ICE or EV.
OP seems less interested in discussing practicality than repeated reaffirmation of “I do not want an EV.”
Yes. The problem with that is of course that this is tacit FUD which reads, whether intentionally or not, “I don’t want an EV therefore it won’t make sense for anyone else to drive one, either.”
There’s more than enough misinformation floating around about electric cars already. I specifically want to address the “your electric [sic] will go up real high!!!” argument I hear on a seemingly weekly basis these days, which is something that seems to make people particularly antsy.
Obligatory Technology Connections video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NG4hycq8n0
Man, I would absolutely love an EV. As long as it’s paid off, and I can keep minimum liability insurance on it.
You completely missed my entire point.
They haven’t existed long enough for those of us struggling, and anyone who can afford one isn’t really struggling, they just think they are.
I get you. Thanks for the call out and clarifying. Decades of being on the internet has turned me into a grumpy pessimist🫥
EDIT: one of my best friends has a ~15 year old Toyota Yaris. He just replaced the clutch in it last year, and that was the first major work that it’s needed. That thing is going to outlive his kids. I think it’s great he (and you) are driving old cars that still work; it really is the most economical and ecologically sound thing to do.
I’d consider getting one because 90% of my trips are just around a 15 mile radius. I’m going to get a hybrid for my longer road trips to more remote places.
While that is what plugin hybrids are good for, remember that you don’t see the advantage unless you actually plug in for those local trips
You may also take a look into trip charger options for where you take road trips. So far I’ve found there are always multiple choices wherever I want to go, so there’s no reason for range anxiety. For me. And even without trip chargers, is there a chance to charge at your destination? Even the most rural places have electricity
That’s exactly what plug-Ins hybrids (PHEVs) are built for. You only need one of them. Mine starts in EV mode and switches on the fly from EV to hybrid and back with the touch of a button.
I just want a 70 mph enclosed golf cart that can go 150M, charge at home in a few hours, has a tablet size screen that does CarPlay and some speakers, and won’t kill me in a fender bender. I don’t need giant screens, self driving, door latches that won’t work without power, butt warming seats, integrated entertainment system, etc. Oh and maybe have it cost less than my first house (I had a cheap house)
Oh wow, who would have thought? It’s almost like demon oil companies were trying to hide this or something.
After 1 year ownership.
Zero maintenance costs this year, plus averaging around 3 to 5 cents per mile.My motorcycle costs more to drive and maintain.
It’s nice knowing that no matter how expensive gas gets, I’m unaffected by it. Power comes from solar.
My 1st EV paid its own note with the amount of gas I wasn’t buying to run it.
I cannot wait until somebody comes out with a hub drive elec motorcycle with a range of 100 miles or greater. No oil changes, no valve lash adjustments, no chain cleaning and slack adjustments, no Teflon containing chain wax or degreasers, just tires brakes and ride. I personally cannot afford an EV car, but motorcycles have been a great way for me to reduce my carbon footprint, cut my commute cost and have fun while doing it. But if it could be electrified I’d go into debt for it! Over winter I have to drive my Subaru and I spend roughly 40-50 a week on fuel, I’m pressed to spend half that on the bike. Always a relief when summer comes and I can shut down the oil furnace and park the car unless I need the payload area to move a bunch of shit. More and more electric bikes are coming out by the minute we are almost there 🤞
No ear splitting noise either. I’d support that.
Hell yea 🤙 I will say 90+% of the ear splitting noise comes from 2 distinct riders that are NOT the norm, Harley bros and squids. Both those fuckers will take their mufflers clean off because “loud pipes save lives” despite the fact that when they blow by u, u won’t hear so much as a mouse fart u till they have already passed you because their blast pipes are pointing BEHIND the bike blowing noise out the back and away, and in turn offer no warning to drivers in front of them and only serve to annoy those behind. And no cutting the muffler off will not get u more power. These are the same nubs that refuse to use the horn and instead will rev bomb, then grab a fist full of front brake at the last second and cry about how the car is the reason they “haddalayerdown” when there’s never an excuse to lay a bike down because you will always be better off on it. I’m a biker of over a decade and hate seeing / hearing these twats, they give the rest of us a bad name lol. Some of us just wanna save gas and reduce our environmental impact while enjoying the weather!
Did you include the loan payment, assuming you have one?
What about the lease payment for the solar panels?
Did you include the loan payment, assuming you have one?
What about the lease payment for the solar panels?
I’m not the person you’re responding to, but I’m in the same situation of driving an EV and have solar panels.
I bought the solar panel system outright with no lease/loan. It is very much paying for itself and the full payback of the solar system continues to get shorter as electricity prices rise. When installed I had an 11 year payback. That has dropped to a 9 year payback now. I’m in a mostly red state that is is 20 years behind California in solar deployments. This means most of the rules that benefited early California solar buyers are still in place in my state. Full 1:1 net metering, option for discounted Time-of-use rates available only on EV charging.
As I’m posting this I’m pushing a KWh back to the grid and getting the full value of that KWh. I can draw back that KWh later tonight after the sun goes down. Even better, with the EV TOU I charge my EV not on sunlight, but instead after midnight and pay 75% only the cost of the KWh. All this banked money/energy I end up using later in the year when the home heating costs go up.
I know this won’t last forever. As my state catches up to the rest of the advanced blue states and we have a solar surplus during the sunlight hours I’ll be in the same situation as California solar users. However that still looks to be potentially 10 years out.
You can even buy solar panels at Harbor Freight these days. At the moment, nominal 100 watt panels for $95 each. If you can drive the screws and find somewhere to stick them, there’s no need to sign up for a predatory lease. To level one charge (i.e. 120v at 15 amps, 1800 watts) you’d only need 18 of the things, maybe call it 20 to have some fudge factor built in, that’s $1880 plus probably some bits and bobs for a frame and wiring, inverters, and so on.
That’d only be 151 square feet of panels. Your local code authority will probably have less to say about it if you have a solar carport plugged directly into your car and nothing else versus nailing them to your house’s roof, as well.
No you misunderstood. My power comes from the electric company. Their power comes from solar.
Loan is based on cost not type of vehicle.
