Poll: Do you have, or plan to get, an electric car?

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Do you have an electric car or plan to get one?

  • Yes

  • No

  • I plan to

  • Over my dead body

Results are only viewable after voting.
With new cars starting around $20k and averaging around $45k, the targeted market is much different than those who would pay $10k for an efficient low-powered pooch.

In my area, there are more of those 20 year old TDIs for sale than EVs. And a 2013 TDI with 150k miles is still going for 2 times the price of a 2013 Nissan Leaf with 50k miles.
 
Frankly, I'm just somewhere in the seven stages of grief. My 2000 Jetta TDI put a shock through the engine bay last year, and my 2003 Golf TDI has only a year or two left before something major rusts apart.

I've been eyeing used EVs because the price points are attractive, and I'm not afraid to tinker with that sort of stuff. But by 10 years, most are in a battery death spiral and the aftermarket battery business (beyond salvage) is practically non-existent.

I always figured the hybrids like the Chevy Volt would be the best of both worlds. EV capacity for most daily driving with an engine as an unlimited range extender. But the platform still hinges on the longevity and serviceability of its battery.
 
If American consumers were willing at this point to give up range/power for EV, the Nissan Leaf wouldn't be selling 10-15K units annually. At least according to Wikipedia (I know, I know), that's been their run rate from ~2018-2022.

The damn Porsche Taycan sold ~7.5K in 2023... Apparently that's MORE than the Leaf did in 2023! Nissan moved upmarket with the Ariya that sold >13K at a starting price of something north of $41K as far as I can tell...
 
"...even Formula 1 race cars with professionally licensed drivers behind the wheel can’t hit that kind of acceleration. The aerodynamic downforce needed to firmly plant the Roadster’s wheels on the road and maintain grip at that pace would have to be truly staggering."

Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?
 
would that brick be bigger or smaller than the one they nostril-passed after the pickup announcement?

no way you can have acceleration that heavy in a road car, it would cause too many accidents.
 
so, no electric car for me yet for a while, we switched our car from a 2003 citroen xsara picasso to a 2020 renault kadjar.
Electric still just costs too much for a similar car that it isn't worth it for us.
 
Kharnynb said:
so, no electric car for me yet for a while, we switched our car from a 2003 citroen xsara picasso to a 2020 renault kadjar.
Electric still just costs too much for a similar car that it isn't worth it for us.
Click to expand...
Even if you take into account the cost savings on fuel and maintenance?
 
whoaru99 said:
I'd think one buys that type of performance not for comfort, rather, effectually for the brutality of it.
Click to expand...
homer simpson episode 10 GIF


1, 2, better not sue!
 
Kharnynb said:
Sadly yes, the price difference would cover 10 years of gasoline even for the cheapest reasonably similar electric car
Click to expand...
I guess I was interested in the full calculation including savings in the differences in fuel vs electric cost per mile and maintenance savings. Over time these generally save more then the vehicle cost difference.
 
Last edited:
Bilsch said:
I guess I was interested in the full calculation including savings in the differences in fuel vs electric cost per mile and maintenance savings. Over time these generally save more then the vehicle cost difference.
Click to expand...

I think it really depends on the context and to me it's not clear what you're really saying.

Is the context you're framing of someone that's decided to buy a different vehicle so it's the consideration of buying ICE or buying EV?

Or, in the context of someone that has a perfectly serviceable and perhaps even paid for ICE car, but buying an EV as replacement for sake of cost of electricity vs gas, etc.?
 
whoaru99 said:
Or, in the context of someone that has a perfectly serviceable and perhaps even paid for ICE car, but buying an EV as replacement for sake of cost of electricity vs gas, etc.?
Click to expand...
Buying a new car is never going to make economic sense if you already have a perfectly serviceable car. So I think it's safe to assume arguendo that the context is "if you're buying a new car anyway..."
 
whoaru99 said:
I think it really depends on the context and to me it's not clear what you're really saying.

Is the context you're framing of someone that's decided to buy a different vehicle so it's the consideration of buying ICE or buying EV?

Or, in the context of someone that has a perfectly serviceable and perhaps even paid for ICE car, but buying an EV as replacement for sake of cost of electricity vs gas, etc.?
Click to expand...

You mentioned your reason was the difference in price was 10 years of gas. I'm wondering what the calculation would be taking into account the savings in fuel cost and maintenance. That's it.
Usually when all is considered the EV comes out less especially over 10 years time. Unless of course your electricity is crazy high.

I also agree selling a perfectly good gas car to replace with EV does not make sense unless said gas car is very inefficient and you live where gas is very high.
 
Bilsch said:
You mentioned your reason was the difference in price was 10 years of gas.
Click to expand...

I didn't mention that.

But, far as maintenance, at least in my case with my paid-for ICE vehicle, even with maintenance which I consider has been pretty minimal really, it wouldn't pay to go to EV just for gas and maintenance cost as the car is perfectly serviceable.


mac_1103 said:
Buying a new car is never going to make economic sense if you already have a perfectly serviceable car. So I think it's safe to assume arguendo that the context is "if you're buying a new car anyway..."
Click to expand...
I sought clarification on the context from Bilsch because it occured to me that's the point of Kharnyb, he's not buying a different car anyway.
 
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whoaru99 said:
I sought clarification on the context from Bilsch because it occured to me that's the point of Kharnyb, he's not buying a different car anyway.
Click to expand...
And in the process confused him into thinking that you were Kharnyb!

Like I said, if we're doing a cost of ownership comparison between an upfront expenditure of tens of thousands of dollars and an upfront expenditure of zero dollars, well, it's going to be really hard to beat spending zero dollars.
 
mac_1103 said:
And in the process confused him into thinking that you were Kharnyb!

Like I said, if we're doing a cost of ownership comparison between an upfront expenditure of tens of thousands of dollars and an upfront expenditure of zero dollars, well, it's going to be really hard to beat spending zero dollars.
Click to expand...

LOL.

And, yeah, the second part is where I was going depending the response. Sounds like we're mostly on the same page there.
 
mac_1103 said:
And in the process confused him into thinking that you were Kharnyb!

Like I said, if we're doing a cost of ownership comparison between an upfront expenditure of tens of thousands of dollars and an upfront expenditure of zero dollars, well, it's going to be really hard to beat spending zero dollars.
Click to expand...

Yep.. that happened.
Oh well. I guess I really didn't need to know.
 
For the next few weeks I’m working at a site 63 miles each way from home. I’m definitely happy to be driving a Tesla. I used 53% rountrip today. That cost me $4.50. Gas in my Outback would have been $18.
 
hout17 said:
I saw Toyota has a great hydrogen engine design and you don't need a battery. To little to late possibly? Electric has started to take hold.

Tech News World link
Click to expand...
The price of hydrogen would have to be $3/kg to reach price parity with electric vehicles. It's currently over $30 in California where all the H2 filling stations are. In comparison it's about 15 euro/kg in Europe.
 
Bilsch said:
The price of hydrogen would have to be $3/kg to reach price parity with electric vehicles. It's currently over $30 in California where all the H2 filling stations are. In comparison it's about 15 euro/kg in Europe.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but I'm guessing that's because there is no infrastructure and California is always expensive as hell anyways.
 
hout17 said:
Yeah, but I'm guessing that's because there is no infrastructure and California is always expensive as hell anyways.
Click to expand...
The problem for hydrogen is that you will always be able to drive at least twice as far on a kilowatt of electricity directly in an EV then you could on the hydrogen made from that same kilowatt of power. Sadly there is no way around that.
 
Bilsch said:
The problem for hydrogen is that you will always be able to drive at least twice as far on a kilowatt of electricity directly in an EV then you could on the hydrogen made from that same kilowatt of power. Sadly there is no way around that.
Click to expand...
Except it's not that there is any shortage of energy in a broad sense. It's mostly a quantity, density, and timing issue. A single AA battery holds 0.07 cents worth of utility electricity, but obviously you expect to pay way, way more than it's electrical value for various reasons.

Hydrogen had the potential for harvesting grid energy at its most plentiful and storing it for convenient use at a reasonable cost, in addition for being a "easy" retrofit for the millions of vehicles out there.

Of course, that didn't come to fruition for various reasons - the least of which was final drive efficiency.
 
I kind of get into Rivian's styling - though more towards the uber-clean and apparently quite functional SUV interior than the stark exterior. Reading various reviews my impression had been peeps were eager to land one! I wasn't aware they're struggling to stay afloat, and it seems if the upcoming R2 doesn't launch exceptionally well, Rivian might be toast...

https://www.wired.com/story/rivian-...9652-18546d3282db_popular4-1-reranked-by-vidi
 
Bilsch said:
The problem for hydrogen is that you will always be able to drive at least twice as far on a kilowatt of electricity directly in an EV then you could on the hydrogen made from that same kilowatt of power. Sadly there is no way around that.
Click to expand...

One major use case I see here is farm equipment. If you can build near-point-of-use hydrogen generation, then things that have to run continuously can quickly refuel without having to haul batteries across the world.
 
Costs differ for everyone, and mine would be very different than a US person.
The cost of a similar electric car to our current "new to us" car, would be at least 10.000 euro's more.
modifying the electrics and upgrading service would add another 1000+ 40 per month extra.
Since we mostly drive very short trips in town, with the odd trip to helsinki once or twice a year(500 km) it would take ages to see that money back.
 

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