As a new EV owner of just a couple months, I can see why without even watching the video. They're a major pain in the ass for a negative return.
By the time you factor in the increased price of the car, increased price of insurance, and increased price of tires, you'll end up in the red even if you do charge at home (and if you don't, the cost is just as much as gas if not higher), and that's not even factoring in the overall inconvenience of ownership.
I'll be going back to ice/hybrid as soon as my lease is up, and never returning to all electric. The only thing they have is faster, smoother acceleration, but I've learned that I like the dirty feel of a shifting transmission better - kind of like why beer and all it's impurities is better than the purest alcohol. There is just nothing, zero, zilch, that is better in an EV.
> By the time you factor in the increased price of the car,
increased price of insurance, and increased price of tires,
What car did you buy and what would you pick now?
I've had the opposite, EV had a cheaper price, more horespower, nicer interior, better acceleration, cheap insurance, tires are mostly the same prices (bought winter tires recently)
On top of that...
- no more getting ripped off at garages with ice maintenance
- gas would be 3-4x what i would pay in electricity if i didnt have solar panels.
- no worries having catalitic converter stolen...
- no more polluting the neighborhood (main reason initially)
I would find it impossible to justify going back to ice.
> There is just nothing, zero, zilch, that is better in an EV.
A counterpoint, aside from the acceleration, I love how I can just plug in my car at home. No more trips to a gas station, brake pad changes, oil changes, etc.
I have home solar, so my "gas" is free, although I have 300kw of Electrify America charging that came with my lease.
I've driven an ID4 since 2021 and won't be going back to ICE.
I think it really depends on your use case, your commute, and lifestyle.
For me an EV has been great, but it’s not my only car. I can charge at work for free, or at home with solar. Even if I’m paying 30-60 cents/kWh, it’s way cheaper per mile than my gas cars.
Maintenance… there’s none. Just consumables like washer fluid, tires, wipers.
But that said you need to be able to charge at home, and your range needs to be right sized to your commute/lifestyle. When correct it’s better than a gas cars- it’s always full and ready to go. If the range is wrong or you can’t conveniently charge it, it is a chore.
Personally an automatic transmission does nothing for me, I’ll take the unrelenting acceleration of the EV over that any day. But a 6spd is more fun!
counterpoint: i had a 2014 bmw i3 (electric, no range extender) for just shy of 8 years, 80,000 miles, charged at home or at work, and some hard data: fuel cost per mile is about 1/5 of efficient ICE (which i also have had, i charge at home at least expensive time window), total expenditure on maintenance was about $ 150 over 80,000 miles, not counting new tires which lasted about the same as my ICE cars' tires.
I think EVs can be excellent fits for many commmuting patterns, and certainly for people who learned driving manual transmissions and who have had high performing cars.
To the parent comment's point, it's sort of personal preference.
Interesting. Have you not owned it long enough to notice a difference in the level of maintenance and repairs required? There is certainly no need for oil changes and less need for brake work, etc.
But you do have good points. The main thing is the cost has to come down. And china has a lead in that respect.
There is no point in debating this, since Europe has already made the decision. Porsche has had no alternative to trying to make a high end EV market happened (which is probably delusional).
By the time you factor in the increased price of the car, increased price of insurance, and increased price of tires, you'll end up in the red even if you do charge at home (and if you don't, the cost is just as much as gas if not higher), and that's not even factoring in the overall inconvenience of ownership.
I'll be going back to ice/hybrid as soon as my lease is up, and never returning to all electric. The only thing they have is faster, smoother acceleration, but I've learned that I like the dirty feel of a shifting transmission better - kind of like why beer and all it's impurities is better than the purest alcohol. There is just nothing, zero, zilch, that is better in an EV.