[evtinker]

The extra costs can be significant for some of these EVs. If you're spending tens of thousands of dollars more to get an EV over the typical ICE vehicle you'd normally buy, you're probably not going to save any money on gas over the life of the vehicle. Or it may take a decade to recuperate the extra costs in gas savings. Because, face it, those tens of thousands of dollars could buy a lot of gas for your cheap Civic or whatever ICE vehicle.

An obvious example: If you normally drive something like a Civic and you go out and buy a new Model 3, you're not saving any money over something like a Civic. Hopefully you bought the Model 3 because you like it, not because you thought you'd make a killing on gas savings (you will, but you have that $60k Model 3 cost!).

When more EVs are on parity with some of the more affordable ICE vehicles, nobody will be able to argue this anymore.

It all just keeps going around again and again. In the 70s during the gas crisis more than a few folks traded in their land-barges for something that got better gas mileage to “save money”. Sure, get hosed on the value of your trade-in, buy a new car over MSRP, and “save money”? Most would have been better off to just keep driving the barge. Once you include the cost of replacing a vehicle that doesn’t actually need replacement it is almost impossible to come out ahead, gas or electric.

 

[evtinker]

The reality is few folks buy or don’t buy a car based on real budget numbers, they buy it because they want it. If it was really about dollars and practicality, there would be no such thing as a Corvette or Ferrari. I would be so much further ahead financially if I had just babied my ’88 Civic ICE into hanging on this long, and never purchased an EV at all, but what fun is that. I don’t regret my choices too much, I learned something from each one. Just part of the “tuition of life”.

 

[evtinker]

This makes me think of one of our local grocery stores offering fuel discounts based on purchases. If you buy enough groceries, you get a discount on your next gasoline purchase at a participating fuel station chain. As an EV driver, I get no benefit from this program, and no, these grocery stores do not host any charging stations, free or otherwise. So, I guess I should complain to the state that they are treating me unfairly and demand they either stop or give me a discount on my next EV charge.