Fear Mongering About Range Anxiety Has To Stop — CT Governor Calls Out EV Opponents::Several state governors are fighting fear mongering as they attempt to reduce transportation emissions in their states.
I’ve had an EV for 9 months now and I’ve actually experienced far less range anxiety with my EV than with my previous ICEs. This is due to the fact that because I can charge overnight in my garage I almost never leave home without a full battery. Versus before with my ICEs where I’d often be driving across town on fumes because I’d forgotten to fuel up the night before.
I drive in the city/urban areas the vast majority of the time so 200+ miles of range is plenty for my day-to-day needs. I’ve honestly never run into a situation where I’ve been worried about running out of juice; I rarely even get below 50%.
As for longer drives, I’ve done several 600+ mile road trips without issue. Sure, charging takes a bit longer than fueling up at a gas station but the opportunity to stretch my legs, rest in the car, or get a bite to eat does wonders for reducing road fatigue. As for finding charging stations, I’d recommend planning your route beforehand but the charging network is dense enough in my region to where I can usually choose to skip a station if it’s too busy and try the next one.
This has been my experience too, I’ve put 90k on my EV in the past 2 years. I’ve never experienced range anxiety, and I live in Australia which is a similar size to USA and we do regular road road trips of 5 plus hours.
Road trips in EVs are actully more chill because the car informs you where and when to charg and you never wait more than 30 mins to complete a charge, which frankly is how long you should be resting between 3 hour driving stints anyway. Evs actually discourage driver fatigue which has to be a plus no one mentions too.
Every single range anxiety issue I’ve read about has been from a person who almost certainly doesn’t own, and hasn’t driven an EV or has some weird preserve petrol agenda.
As a EV owner I don’t worry about range that much but I’m constantly infuriated by the shitty charging experience. Charging at home is great but road trips are a constant pain in the ass. Let’s face it, most people are not interested in switching to EV at all and will find an excuse until ICE cars are banned (I’m looking at you people with two family cars and private garage). You want to convince the people actually thinking about it? Make charging work.
The experience is pretty fine at the Tesla superchargers
Yes but we all know what the issues with Tesla are.
I think other brands can charge there soon.
I’ve just tried registering in their app and got and error. After finally entering (without any confirmation that my account was creates) the charger next to me does not appear in the app. It’s a big charging station for multiple cars and the app says it does not exist. Overall experience: 3/10.
There’s a Zunder charger next to it but their entire infra just collapse. The app is down, the page is down and the charger that admits card payments is unresponsive. Everyone run buy an EV…
I have to disagree, people like you described are not aware of the charging infrastructure app ridden sign up and reliability bullshit. Fixing that isn’t going to make Karen who’s never owned an EV buy one.
Your suggestion will only help people who already own an EV and understand the struggle.
I’m saying that Karen will not even consider EV because insert default excuse. People that do consider EVs will investigate the state of the infrastructure a bit and decide to wait. Play store and other pages are full of reviews. Also, anyone riding with me can see it’s state. You don’t have to own an EV to be aware of the issues.
some states like Tennessee have removed EV infrastructure the charging stations
how is range not an issue
In your example it sounds more like Tennessee is the issue, not range anxiety. If they were to remove all gasoline infrastructure suddenly ICE range anxiety would be a major issue? No, it is the people removing the infrastructure.
From what I read online, Tennessee anxiety ought to be much more widespread than it seems to be.
I was among those worrying about range until I spent 5 minutes thinking about what I actually do on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.
We’d still have my wife’s ICE van, we both work from home, and 99% of the time my work-related travel is local (within 5 miles). My wife’s van can pull the camper for our camping trips, or for our longer drives.
I have no good reason not to get an EV for my next car.
I would actually consider if you actually need 2 cars at all given your description of the situation. If we’re worried about the environment flat getting rid of a car is a bigger win than an EV.
If a car sits in the driveway 99% of the year, it’s not hurting the environment for 99% of its existence. If they continue to use it as a daily driver, I agree with you. But keeping a second vehicle for situations where it is specifically suited isn’t really that big a problem.
I’ve very seriously considered that. Right now, we could probably go down to one car without issue. We have two reasons why I’d like to maintain a second, though. We have young kids, and we are already starting to run them around to different places at the same time. We’re looking to move soon, and the idea is to move outside of town where we have more room. That would make basically every drive longer, which would increase the likelihood of needing a second vehicle.
Either way, an EV should be fine. Depending on cost, I might stick with a small, used ICE this time, because I don’t need much. But I’m not at that point quite yet, so maybe things will change by the time I’m ready.
I’m in the same boat. I make drives that require refueling even if I leave home with a full tank once every other year (Philly to Indianapolis). Even with a very high range EV, that would probably require multiple recharges each way, so that’s not a great use case for EVs, but you know what? That’s what rental cars are for. I’ll happily get an EV for the 99% of driving that I do within three hours of the Philly metro area and rent an ICE car for the at worst annual trip I take that isn’t convenient in an EV.
Of course, this is all theoretical for me because I drive a company car and so don’t have much choice in my vehicle, and I probably won’t have to buy my own car until that job perk goes away.
There’s a demographic of people with their own home, at least two cars, and qualify for rebates, where an EV should be an easy decision
Repairability is a big one for reasons not to get a new ev for me
Why would you think EVs are not repairable?
Because they are relatively new in the automotive world. I can take my '08 CRV to just about any auto parts store in America and get just about any part I need (or take it to about any third party repair shop with the same results). Good luck doing that with most EVs especially Teslas. Tesla is the most egregious example as they are anti right to repair and have seemed to take a page out of Apple’s book as far as locking down their supply chain for parts.
Hopefully this will get better with time as third party shops have time to acclimate themselves and their technicians to EV architecture, and EV-specific parts become more available. Though the latter I feel is highly dependent on manufacturers not trying to turn EVs into phones in terms of repairability/serviceability.
In the meantime, as an average Joe without a lot of money, I really like the idea of keeping my relatively low cost older ICE vehicles because if shit hits the fan, if I can’t fix it relatively cheaply, there will likely be multiple shops that can without it costing me an arm and a leg and/or taking weeks or months to wait on the manufacturer to supply the parts needed.
I can take my '08 CRV to just about any auto parts store in America and get just about any part I need
Again, why would you think EVs are different?
Hopefully this will get better with time as third party shops have time to acclimate themselves and their technicians to EV architecture
Third party shops are not manufacturing parts.
If your wanna talk about Teslas, I’ll agree. If you wanna talk about “new cars” I’ll agree again. But none of this is exclusive specifically to EVs.
Because third party repairs are often unavailable or void the warranty. Cars are becoming a subscription service to dealerships.
Because third party repairs are often unavailable or void the warranty
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No they don’t. Cars have long since had regulations allowing for third party repairs.
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Why would you take to a third party if you’re under warranty?
Cars are becoming a subscription service to dealerships.
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What kind of subscription allows you to repair the car?
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This is not exclusive to EVs.
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I think the cost to replace the battery is an issue.
You replace the battery of an EV just about as often as you replace the engine block in an ICE car. Both do happen . . . but very, very infrequently.
That doesn’t sound right. I’ve got 200,000 miles on my 2015 Passat TDI, and expect another 100,000 easily with minimal repair/maintenance cost.
What’s the service life of the battery of a ten year old EV? The electric motor should be almost indestructible, but I have serious doubts that the battery capacity will still be reasonable after the same amount of time, even if you baby it.
I’m on my 3rd EV . . and none of them have been a Tesla. I am FAR from a Tesla/Musk fanboy . . .but they do release the exact data you are asking about. Here you go . . 12% degradation after 200,000 miles.
https://electrek.co/2023/04/25/tesla-update-battery-degradation/
Roughly speaking, EV’s lose range at a similar rate that ICE engines lose horsepower.
https://carbuzz.com/news/10-reasons-why-engines-lose-horsepower-over-time
But a 10 year old Tesla is worth much more than a 10 year old BMW . . .
https://ark-invest.com/articles/analyst-research/ev-batteries-value/
Here is a Nissan Leaf used as a taxi . . .100,000 miles with no noticeable battery degradation . . .
https://www.speakev.com/threads/c-c-taxis-100-000-mile-nissan-leaf-full-battery-included.8804/
- I’m wary of any data coming from Tesla themselves.
- That’s kind of comparing apples and oranges. Also an engine rebuild is also considerably cheaper than battery replacements.
- That link sounds more theory than reality. A lot of “if” and “may” used in that article.
- 100,000 miles over ten years isn’t much. Reaching that amount of miles is considered less than the minimum for modern cars. And it’s only one example, I’ve seen examples of the exact opposite.
- How old and how many miles did the EVs you’ve owned have when you sold them?
There’s not a ton of data on older EVs so it’s kind of hard get a clear picture on their longevity. I know they’re constantly improving and I’ll eventually get one, just not today 🤷🏻.
You don’t think the cost to replace an engine or transmission are an issue?
Do you realize batteries are typically made up of several replaceable “cells”. Like by the time you need a new one there will be several affordable third party options that will also increase your range.
Last I checked an engine and transmission rebuild combined cost less than replacing just the batteries on an EV. An ICE might need a rebuild every 20+ years but, we don’t even have 20 years of EV data to look at to compare.
No, I don’t follow EVs super close. What brands allow this? What third party batteries can I buy and how much do they cost and how do they compare to OEM batteries?
It should be better but Tesla has been making it worse.
The Model Y has a structural battery pack. That is the battery is integral to the car, and filled with an almost impossible to remove foam. It is unrepairable and un replaceable. Musk has said when the battery dies, you scrap the entire car and they recycle the lithium from the scrap.
You’re conflating Tesla with “EVs”. Simply don’t buy a Tesla if that’s what you want.
Given Tesla’s market share, your claim that easily replaced batteries is “typical” isn’t accurate. A large percentage isn’t replaceable so it’s something consumers should consider when choosing a brand.
How about trains? Americans are too used to their cars for those long-range trips. Make them unnecessary. Build out the infrastructure. Have your car for local trips, switch to trains for anything else.
The Biden administration is working on improving train infrastructure but if you look at the map of what they’re adding, it’s limited to a very small section of the country. I mean, it’s like cross country but it’s such a massive country that it’s still super limited.
funny how biden said rail workers are not allowed to protest and ask for higher wages and better worker rights in general then bam comes out with expanding train infrastructure
someone is definitely looking out for his actual constituents
Corporations are people too. Please think of the bottom line and its feelings would ya
Here’s the summary for the wikipedia article you mentioned in your comment:
Corporate personhood or juridical personality is the legal notion that a juridical person such as a corporation, separately from its associated human beings (like owners, managers, or employees), has at least some of the legal rights and responsibilities enjoyed by natural persons. In most countries, a corporation has the same rights as a natural person to hold property, enter into contracts, and to sue or be sued. Granting non-human entities personhood is a Western concept applied to corporations.
Yes, we should invest in trains, but this is not a short or even medium term solution. It’s also horrifyingly expensive in many parts of the US, and broad public support simply isn’t there. So in the mean time we need to adapt using the infrastructure that already exists.
Ideally I’d like trains for local trips and high speed rail for longer distances. I’d prefer to not own or use a car at all but most cities would have to be torn down and rebuilt to achieve this.
Same, but tearing down and rebuilding cities is a feature, not a bug. Well, except for the carbon emissions involved in doing that.
but most cities would have to be torn down and rebuilt to achieve this.
We did it once, we can do it again!
Surely buses make way more sense for local trips.
Where I used to live and work near Hartford range anxiety wouldn’t be an issue. Where I now live and work in Oklahoma it still is an extremely big issue. A friend in CO with an EV wanted to come visit but couldn’t make the drive in one day due to charging options. Hell, if I want to go on a 4 hour drive to Amarillo I need to carefully plan my fuel stops because there’s hundred mile stretches where I can’t even fill up my Ford Focus, let alone charge a Tesla. Range anxiety is a legitimate concern for much of the country.
For much of the country in terms of land maybe, but not in terms of people. Most people live in or near high population areas where using an EV is fine. The person in question saying that fear mongering needs to stop was the governor of Connecticut. Connecticut is not Oklahoma. There is zero reason to fear monger range anxiety in Connecticut.
But even for people in places like Oklahoma, there’s a couple things you should consider. First is, don’t rush out and buy an EV just because you feel like you’re being told to. Only buy an EV once your existing vehicle is no longer viable. Buying a new car when your old one still works is not very green. But definitely consider an EV when the time comes, even if you have range anxiety. Why? For one, the money you will save on gas can allow you to rent a gas car for those long trips you need to make and then you don’t have to put those extra miles on your own car. Remember, tires are expensive and wear down with miles driven. Or, with the money saved from gas, you could take a bus, a train, or possibly even an airplane. Or if you really don’t want to do any of that, you could probably find a buddy who still has a gas car and trade for the week. Just because you buy an electric vehicle, doesn’t mean you are now locked out of ever using a different kind of transportation. But number 2? Over the coming years, EV infrastructure will be constantly increasing. Yeah, some states are being regressive at the moment, but they will turn around. So even in places were range anxiety is legitimate, it won’t be a problem for much longer, except in those edge cases where even a gas car currently has issues, but since even a gas car has issues, it doesn’t make a difference. And third? There are so many companies working on battery tech right now, it’s crazy. Some are working on higher energy density so we can get longer range, others are working on better materials so we can stop using unethically acquired minerals, some are working on making batteries that function better in the cold. None of this helps the car you buy today, but it will help the car you buy in 5 years.
There’s a reason I specifically opened with how in CT it isn’t an issue before explaining that in the majority of the country (notice I said country vs the population) it still is. Like the CT governor you still seem to not quite grasp the reality of what it is like to live somewhere other than a built up urban area. There are no buses here, there are no trains here. If I wanted to rent a gas car, I need to drive 120 miles to the city because there isn’t a rental option in my town (which actually qualifies as a “city”. It’s an hour drive to the nearest movie theater. While NYC alone has more people than the entire state of OK, there are still millions of people living here that simply can’t get by with an EV for day to day lives, let alone if they want to make a trip by any transportation method. Add in the fact that even with current developments and proposals battery energy density is a hard limit of physics and chemistry, unless a completely new method of energy storage is invented it will always be 1/100th of what gasoline has meaning EVs will continue to be absurdly overweight. Don’t worry, I’m not in a rush to sell any of my ICE vehicles, at this point I might literally hold onto them forever because there isn’t a single car being made new right now that I like better than anything I currently own.
Serious Question: Why can’t we just have towable generators so EVs can go from an electric car to a Plugin Hybrid for road trips?
Generators aren’t very expensive relatively speaking.
Yet I’ve never heard not seen this anywhere, and seems like a very easy solution to range anxiety.
I think it’s because someone who takes enough Road trips to use something like that would properly just get a regular plug in hybrid. That being said, this might be coming soon for ev trucks actually. The dodge ram ev is going to have a gas powered range extender, and I believe ford has patented a bed mounted version for its ev truck.
An average EV consumes .32 kilowatt hours of electricity per mile. If you are driving 60 miles per hour, that means you are spending 19.2 kilowatt hours of electricity every hour. So you need a generator that’s at least 19.2 kilowatt. Tack on some more because you are now towing the extra weight of a generator and because you are probably wanting to go 70mph and let’s just say you need 25 kilowatts. This is what a towable 25kw generator looks like. It costs $22k. I’m sure cheaper ones could be made, but even at $10k, is it worth it? Just buy some plane tickets or rent a gas car for a week or take a train.
https://herogenerators.com/products/25-kw-caterpillar-towable-diesel-generator
I read the article and clicked through their own reporting on range anxiety: https://cleantechnica.com/2023/07/16/is-range-anxiety-really-worth-all-the-angst/
According to data from the US Department of Transportation, 95.1% of trips taken in personal vehicles are less than 31 miles; almost 60% of all trips are less than 6 miles. In total, the average US driver only covers about 37 miles per day.
it seems to me that this screams out for better shared transportation - If I’m going less than 6 miles, I’d much prefer an Uber or easy subway ride or the like to owning a car at all. However, that’s something government would actually have to fund and do something rather than just passing rules on to other people to make happen.
That minor rant aside - I still maintain that the 37 miles per day is a commute and going out to lunch. If we actually wanted to have people change habits in a really useful way - it’d be to start incentivising / mandating telework where possible - stop all the unnecessary car traffic of any kind. You know what’s more environmentally friendly than ZEV vehicles? No vehicle (use).
That all said - most people I know buy vehicles to solve as close to 100% of their needs, not 95.1% - because vehicles are so expensive. The range anxiety haven’t been about the daily commute for like a decade - even the 87 mile leaf did that fine and most anyone I’ve ever talked to was perfectly OK if they had the leaf JUST to drive to work and back in the summer / nice weather. Very few people buy a car like that though, because they need to get through bad weather or carry more stuff or people or tow or …
And then there’s the all american road trip. Roughly once a month I go 180 miles one way on a quick trip to see family. They don’t have a car charger setup anywhere. I’m not at all sure if they can run an extension cord out, but then I’m on slow charging, and I also drive around while I’m there (unless I asked to use their car for all trips). I’m usually there for a couple days and come back. I have to get gas on each trip. This is not in reality if I had a leaf. If I had a more expensive car it’s do-able, but I still would be anxious till there’s more “top up” points. I go by probably 20 gas stations I notice on the trip, and there’s probably 100+ more within 2-3 miles from the route I take. I know of one charging station.
They have an answer in the article
Plan your route: PlugShare and other apps allow you to determine where chargers are located along your intended route as well as details like the hours they’re open, the cost to charge, whether it’s a public or private facility, and user reviews. It reminds me of childhood trips we took when my parents used Trip Ticks from AAA to determine best roads and attractions. Being organized makes any trip more pleasant, and being aware of possible charging stops ahead creates a sense of calm in you and your passengers.
Yes - plan you trip around your car. I mean, sure, but harkening back to needing Trip Ticks like in the early 1990s isn’t exactly a “towards the future” sort of vibe. And they’re right - a lot of it is vibe.
Limit your use of air conditioning or heat when possible: So be uncomfortable… I never think about turning on aircon or heat in my ICE car. This is a stupid “fix a perceived problem” statement.
Plan errands to intersect with available chargers Again, live your life around your car - this just is absurd. If I’m planning errands around my transportation, I ought to be able to use public transport and get better returns for the hassle - but I can’t because our public transport is shit, and also it’s probably not feasible in the vast rural areas of the US.
Stay calm, breathe deeply: According to research in the Journal of Advanced Transportation, range voltage depends on a variety of factors, including emotional type, age, and driving experience, and these factors may influence how susceptible you are to range anxiety.
Yes, get some therapy and Xanax and you too can love the EV.
Ok, but ranting about the sheer stupidity and patronizing nature of the article around range anxiety over - back to the road trip. Many people like to drive to their vacations to save money, especially if they have 3+ people going and would have to also rent a car at the other end of a flight. My next trip is a 900 mile trip over 2 days. With ICE I literally just put it in my GPS and go - no issues because I can stop and get gas ANYWHERE. We’re just NOT THERE yet with chargers, and even with superchargers, we’re talking going from a 10 minute break to get gas, grab a snack and use the restroom to more like 30 minutes waiting for the car. I don’t have issues with planning lunch or dinner around that, IF I could be sure there was a super charger where it makes sense to break.
The thing that’s stupid is it’s not “range anxiety” really, I have to worry about getting gas and finding a gas station. We just have gas stations already built out and getting gas is a 5 minute process to get another 360+ miles of range. If the charging was close to that to add 360+ miles of range, no one would blink an eye, but instead, it’s 30 minutes to add maybe 100 miles of range - which leads to making trips take much longer in many cases. The other anxiety inducing thing is if you run out of gas, AAA can bring you 2 gallons to get you to a station. I haven’t heard about the equivalent for EVs yet.
The important thing is - talking down to people isn’t going to get them to listen to you. Telling people they shouldn’t worry about their yearly or more often road trips because normally they’re driving to work and back isn’t a great sales pitch really. If I have to rent an ICE car 2 times a year for a road trip, that’s at least $1,000 each time, which itself pays for a lot of gas, or 3 new car payments (for most people). It doesn’t make people think EVs are cheaper.
Me feeling this way is a problem, because I do think EVs are a good thing, and I really want one, but not for massively more than a direct replacement of my existing ICE car, and not if I have to also maintain an ICE car for trips. One car is cheaper than two to keep going no matter how frugal the second car is.
Modern EVs charge in less than 15 minutes so… it’s really not longer than a gas stop, at least not in any situation I’ve been in and I own two gas vehicles and an ev. Like I literally get 200+ miles of range in 15 minutes. Your numbers are just way way way off.
And what in the world are you talking about. 1000 to rent a car two times a year? Where the fuck are you renting from?
I’m sorry but you’re just really really really misinformed here. There are plenty of aaa charging services if you get stuck, but you’re not gonna get stuck cuz EVs are good about letting you know if you’re gonna be in trouble.
I don’t really want to spend the time to refute every point in your post, just seriously, go try renting a modem ev (non-American, American EVs are terrible)
Modern EVs charge in less than 15 minutes so… it’s really not longer than a gas stop, at least not in any situation I’ve been in and I own two gas vehicles and an ev. Like I literally get 200+ miles of range in 15 minutes. Your numbers are just way way way off.
I’d say the same about yours.
Maybe those binders are correct for you in your EV but not for me with my ICE.
I’ve never needed 15 minutes to get gas. As long as there’s an open pump, if all I’m doing is gassing up, it’s 5 minutes, if that.
And I’m getting 400 miles of range for that time.
And I can do that literally anywhere in the entire US. If a town is big enough to have a red light, it’ll probably have a gas station within 5 miles.
I like that EVs are a thing, and that they’re becoming even more of a thing as time goes on. Someday I’m sure I’ll own one too.
But if I need a new car in the next 5 years, I’m not even considering one, and most of the reasons for that are reasons that proponents are acknowledging, even as they’re trying to be patronizing and condescending and shaming anyone who points out valid drawbacks.
It’s not like people are saying EVs are bad, just that the reality of the situation right now is that, for many, deciding to switch over to one from an ICE will mean, in some ways, changing the ways they live around the limitations and necessities that come with the EV, and that for many, these changes tip the scales away from the EV.
People don’t want to accept the changes and added concerns that come with making that switch, and that doesn’t make them wrong or stupid or bad.
When EV infrastructure gets to the point where owning, fueling, and servicing one is as cheap, quick, effective, and ubiquitous as owning, fueling, and servicing an ICE vehicle then I’m sure many, many more people will be convinced. Until then, it’s less a matter of needing to dispel rumors and more a matter of the technology needing to catch up to the level of ICE.
Maybe those binders are correct for you in your EV but not for me with my ICE.
I’ve never needed 15 minutes to get gas. As long as there’s an open pump, if all I’m doing is gassing up, it’s 5 minutes, if that.
on road trips that’s all your doing? You’re not going in for a bathroom break and to buy snacks? Somehow I highly doubt that and even if you are you are in the minority. There’s a reason they’re called rest stops out on long stretches of roads, they’re not just for gas.
But if I need a new car in the next 5 years, I’m not even considering one, and most of the reasons for that are reasons that proponents are acknowledging, even as they’re trying to be patronizing and condescending and shaming anyone who points out valid drawbacks.
you haven’t pointed out any drawbacks, you’ve just spread a bunch of incorrect FUD.
It’s not like people are saying EVs are bad, just that the reality of the situation right now is that, for many, deciding to switch over to one from an ICE will mean, in some ways, changing the ways they live around the limitations and necessities that come with the EV, and that for many, these changes tip the scales away from the EV.
This is also incorrect, unless you are towing things. Like I said before. This is just a bunch of FUD.
edit: i just reread your initial comment. you literally bring up getting a snack and using the restroom. ahaha you can’t even keep your own story straight.
we’re talking going from a 10 minute break to get gas, grab a snack and use the restroom to more like 30 minutes waiting for the car
edit: i just reread your initial comment. you literally bring up getting a snack and using the restroom. ahaha you can’t even keep your own story straight.
What the fuck are you talking about? I never said that.
Maybe learn to read a username before you cock off.
I drove half way across the country and back last summer in my EV and it was great, except for a couple of the stops being in shady locations.
EV rest stops still have a little ways to go to becoming more convenient, but there is no range issue.
This message, proudly sponsored by Tesla.
Household transport is a fraction of a fraction of the states emissions. But hey that cost of living sure is going through the roof, better double the cost of cars to shift internal combustion to remote combustion.
Depending on the EV, the total cost of ownership is cheaper than a comparable ICE vehicle (due to fuel savings, and being mechanically simpler to maintain and repair). I’m pretty sure personal vehicles are the largest source of personal CO2 emissions, since it takes an EV 34kwh to travel 100 miles, and ICE vehicles are 4x less efficient. Pretty sure that would produce more CO2 than a typical household’s heating and cooling.
It means nothing.Unless you’re offering to help pay the difference?.
I’m not sure you understood what I wrote. EVs can pay their own difference. Depending on where you live (what your gasoline and electricity costs are), an EV can save $10,000+ in fuel over their lifespans, making some EVs cheaper than comparable ICE vehicles. I.E. you can get a new Chevy Bolt for $27k, then you’d save $10k on fuel over its lifetime. $17k is cheaper than a comparable car. I believe you’d also get a $7.5k tax credit.
Jesus christ you think everyone is on 6 figure salaries
??? The cheapest new vehicle I’ve seen is $18k. If you’re talking about used vehicles, you can get used EVs even cheaper since they tend to lose value faster. I just checked autotrader, and they have a Leaf with only 40k miles for $9k. You’re going to have a hard time finding a decent vehicle of any kind under $5k. I really don’t understand what kind of point you’re trying to argue about. Yes, vehicles are expensive, but many people need one. I spent most of my life only being able to afford vehicles that barely ran, and repairing them myself (often improvising without having the correct tools).
This article doesn’t really touch on the biggest issue of getting into an EV - the price tag. I mean, $26k to get into an entry-level model? I paid $11k for my SUV, and the only reason I could afford that was due to a pay-out from the company that totaled my previous vehicle. Show me a used EV with towing and storage capacity more in the range of $6k that I can expect to drive for twenty years with basic maintenance and you might get me interested.
Beyond that, they claim that an EV is cheaper to maintain over the years? OK I’ve been driving my used SUV for 15 years now and I’ve spent less than a grand on replacing parts (not including stuff like tires that are going to be replaced on any vehicle). My previous vehicle was driven for 24 years and cost even less to maintain because it didn’t have 4WD. It looks like within these time periods I would have expected to replace EV batteries several times (most estimates put battery lifetime between 8-15 years), and how much would that have cost? I understand that most people can’t be bothered to learn how to perform even the most basic maintenance tasks and believe that you need to buy a new car every 5 years, but I would like to see realistic maintenance estimates for those of us who don’t treat our vehicles like a piece of disposable tupperware.
Are you comparing cost of used ICE Vs new EV?
You’re not going to get any ev that’s good at towing, so get that off your list right now. In regards to used EVs for 6k, they’re all over the place. Just look for Nissan leafs or Priuses.
most estimates put battery lifetime between 8-15 years
That’s until it’s at like 85-95% capacity. Ev batteries will last for decades no problem. And if you had that little maintenance on your car then you’re just not taking care of it. Oil literally would cost over a thousand dollars just by itself, so if you’re not replacing the oil you’re irreparably damaging your vehicle. (12k miles a year, replace minimum every 6k miles unless you’ve done an oil test and have a custom timeline, $30-50 each time, so $100 a year minimum on just one thing).
I’m sorry but your numbers just outright do not add up at all. You clearly either abused your car and actually didn’t maintain it, or you maintained it and have no clue the true cost.
You’re not going to get any ev that’s good at towing, so get that off your list right now. The problem is - like in my super long comment down below - It’s hard to sell people on go from 1 vehicle that does 100% of my use cases now to 1 vehicle that does 95% of my use cases. This is just inherently a hard sell.
What I do is I have an extra truck for towing, which I rarely need to use - but it’s not cheap to do this, and many people can’t or won’t. But even then, having a “good for commuting only” vehicle is an even harder sell. I know people who do this, but that can be hard to hit IMHO. While all you need and all you miss with towing is… towing, a “good commuter car” might well be something that is small, 2WD, and doesn’t really have cargo space or back seats. Many people however have young kids (need pretty large car seats), or want to take 3-4 people on trips, or want to go shopping for stuff and minimize the needed delivery fees, or have bad weather and want AWD/4WD. It’s easy to get a truck or SUV that does all of that AND towing, but it’s hard to get an economical EV that does all of that minus towing.
Ahhh but you have to remember: if you want anything that an EV doesn’t do better than ICE, you’re wrong for wanting it and should change your life until that’s no longer something you want, at which point you’ll see that an EV is perfect for you.
The estimates I saw for battery life were talking about replacement time, not just ranging to a minimal capacity. Even discussions I’ve read on reddit have basically had most people stating that if you buy a used EV the batteries would likely need replaced. I don’t have anything to go on for realistic expectations except the statements from people who have owned an EV.
I’ve been using full synthetic in my SUV, it’s good for 20k miles or more so I replace it every couple years at a cost of around $60. So around $450 so far? I changed oil in my old car a little less frequently with plain dino oil, so that was maybe $400 through a lifetime of around 300k miles.
And sure, there are minor costs like replacing the spark plugs every decade, I spent $80 on a new power steering pump for the SUV and I need to pick up a new coolant thermostat soon. I don’t remember if I replaced the belt on my truck or my wife’s car, and they get new batteries every 5+ years as needed. Oh and I had to replace the transmission on the old car, that cost all of $250 to pick up from a junk yard. So yeah, there’s a few other things I didn’t add in. Now what kind of maintenance has to be done on an EV, and what kind of prices are you looking at for replacement parts?
The estimates I saw for battery life were talking about replacement time, not just ranging to a minimal capacity. Even discussions I’ve read on reddit have basically had most people stating that if you buy a used EV the batteries would likely need replaced. I don’t have anything to go on for realistic expectations except the statements from people who have owned an EV.
That’s because people are obsessed with long ranges. You don’t need long range. EVs last plenty fine, even with reduced distance. Undecided with Matt Ferrell has covered this a lot.
I’ve been using full synthetic in my SUV, it’s good for 20k miles or more so I replace it every couple years at a cost of around $60. So around $450 so far? I changed oil in my old car a little less frequently with plain dino oil, so that was maybe $400 through a lifetime of around 300k miles.
You’re damaging your car. You should be changing your oil at minimum every 6k miles. 20k is ridiculous. 6k is the number for full synthetic, 3-4k is for non synthetic. Project farm covers this and does a ton of tests to show you why.
And sure, there are minor costs like replacing the spark plugs every decade, I spent $80 on a new power steering pump for the SUV and I need to pick up a new coolant thermostat soon. I don’t remember if I replaced the belt on my truck or my wife’s car, and they get new batteries every 5+ years as needed. Oh and I had to replace the transmission on the old car, that cost all of $250 to pick up from a junk yard. So yeah, there’s a few other things I didn’t add in. Now what kind of maintenance has to be done on an EV, and what kind of prices are you looking at for replacement parts?
$0 dollars. Windshield washer fluid is all I’ve had to touch. On our towing truck I had to replace a gas line from gas destroying the line. Gas vehicles are soooo much more expensive in every single way. There’s a ton of studies on this dude.
As someone who has been driving an EV for several years now, it really is nuts hearing people on the internet constantly repeat the same three or four stupid talking points that people with first hand experience have been rebutting for the better part of a decade at this point.
How about lithium fires burning down peoples houses then?
Range anxiety is basically a myth or at least a real anxiety masquerading as range anxiety. Who hasn’t been out on the boonies somewhere late at night running out of gas and wondering if you were going to make it to a gas station … the real anxiety is refuel anxiety. As soon as universal fast electric charging stations are ubiquitous this “range anxiety” will suddenly disappear. Most ICE cars only have around a 300-400 mile range tops (unless maybe the hybrids) and that is never talked about. It’s not range that is the problem.
Heck 95% of my driving would be more than ok with 50 mile range if I could charge at work and it only took a few minutes to charge. An ultra capacitor car would likely fit this bill.
