If you can charge at home, they’re an amazing deal. I think the vast majority of households with n >= 2 cars would be best served by [1..n-1] of them being an EV.
Even a ten year old Leaf for $4k is still useful to soak up the around-town driving that an average family does most of their miles in.
I have a used (& paid off) Hyundai EV. It’s essentially the same form factor as a Prius. I cannot bring myself to part with it because it is such a smoking good deal. It’s low maintenance, it’s cheap to charge (on off peak), it’s efficient to drive, it can carry anything (9’6 surfboards? kayaks? A Bookcase? No problem).
I calculated it out and if I got a reasonable gas car it would be roughly 3 times more expensive per month to drive. It’s cheaper even than biking and taking the train to work (to be fair the train is expensive where I live).
I think this car will easily last another 150k miles with nothing more than tires and basic maintenance.
That said, I do miss an old stick shift gas car. EVs don’t give a feeling of life.
My EV6 is right at 60k miles, and I don't see any issues with it that would keep it from going another 60000+. Used, it's probably $22k-25k, which to me would be an amazing deal.
I'm not really worried about the traction battery. I'm worried about all the other components unnecessarily packed into the modern car (not exclusive to EVs) that may get damaged or fail and incur significant repair costs. Unfortunately I live in California where the gas savings from an EV aren't that significant.
Given that you can expect to get well over 200,000 miles and/or 20 years out of a large liquid cooled EV battery, there are some screaming good deals out there.
Yes! I just bought a dealer-certified three year old Kia Niro with 24k miles for $22k. The current new version of this car has an MSRP more than double that price. There is no world where the difference between these cars is worth $25k. In my head it's more like $10k-$15k max.
I bought my Kia EV6 at probably the worst time (fall 2022). EVs were in high demand, dealers were adding markups, and my credit was still reeling from just buying a house. As a result, I owe way more than I could buy it used lol. Not that I would (and ignoring the ramifications), but it would cost me less money to just let it get repossessed and go hunt it down and buy it from the used dealer that buys it at auction.
Lots of stories like this. I bought mine 2023 while subsidy was still there and Tesla just dropped prices. Yes it depreciated solid 25% but that equates to gas savings. Buying new would cost more now.
> With a gas car, between age and mileage you know a lot about that car. In the EV, people have no clue,” said Helveston. Battery health, he explained, is more linked to how the car was used than its age or mileage
Does the same not apply to gas cars? In a different way obviously but the way any car has been driven in its lifetime affects its long term viability and you don’t have a great insight into it at purchase time.
Agreed. Any complex mechanical device like a car can be "ridden rough", regardless of whether it is gas or electric. I feel like with gas cars there are a lot more moving parts to get stessed, while electric it's mostly about how the battery was treated. Having bought multiple used cars, including a used EV, it seems like a wash to me.
They are. I’ve had my F150 lightning for about two years. On my old gas F-150 I used to pay about $150 a month in gas. On this one I pay about $18 on my monthly electric bill. I do live in a place with off peak electric prices of $0.07/KWh.
That’s not even talking about how silent they are, the amazing acceleration that makes driving a joy, you can leave them idling when you’re waiting with no toxic emissions/guilt, no oil changes and because of the regen braking the brake pads have to be changed very infrequently.
Did you buy it used? The F150 only came out in 2021. The article is about used EVs are a much better deal the gas cars, not whether EVs in general are better.
I know some people who bought one of those little electric "golf cart" like vehicles to drive around the neighborhood.
It seems these cost between $15K and $30K!
I paid $15K for a used Nissan Leaf, with 150 miles of range, and a bit of the factory warranty still in effect.
Personally, I don't see why the Leaf gets such a bad rap. I would like more range than 150 miles, but this much serves all of my typical driving (including freeway, which the golf carts can't do at all).
The EV acceleration (and one-pedal driving) are awesome. No internal combustion vehicle can ever match the performance of an EV.
My expectation is that the overwhelming majority of people drive less than 150 miles the overwhelming majority of the times they leave the house, i.e. they almost never need the gas provided range.
I do still have a gasoline van that I use during long distance travel, but this is once or twice a year.
I think the overwhelming majority of objections only exist between the objector's ears.
I always charge in the driveway, and haven't bought gas in over 6 months.
If you can charge at home, they’re an amazing deal. I think the vast majority of households with n >= 2 cars would be best served by [1..n-1] of them being an EV.
Even a ten year old Leaf for $4k is still useful to soak up the around-town driving that an average family does most of their miles in.
I have a used (& paid off) Hyundai EV. It’s essentially the same form factor as a Prius. I cannot bring myself to part with it because it is such a smoking good deal. It’s low maintenance, it’s cheap to charge (on off peak), it’s efficient to drive, it can carry anything (9’6 surfboards? kayaks? A Bookcase? No problem).
I calculated it out and if I got a reasonable gas car it would be roughly 3 times more expensive per month to drive. It’s cheaper even than biking and taking the train to work (to be fair the train is expensive where I live).
I think this car will easily last another 150k miles with nothing more than tires and basic maintenance.
That said, I do miss an old stick shift gas car. EVs don’t give a feeling of life.
My EV6 is right at 60k miles, and I don't see any issues with it that would keep it from going another 60000+. Used, it's probably $22k-25k, which to me would be an amazing deal.
Hyundai/KIA has been plagued with ICCU failures and reduction gear issues. Hard pass.
I'm not really worried about the traction battery. I'm worried about all the other components unnecessarily packed into the modern car (not exclusive to EVs) that may get damaged or fail and incur significant repair costs. Unfortunately I live in California where the gas savings from an EV aren't that significant.
> I live in California where the gas savings from an EV aren't that significant.
Which is a statement about electricity prices more than gas prices.
So is there anything that keeps people from getting home solar in a state with high utility prices and high gas prices?
Given the price of gas in CA, it's a huge statement about electricity prices.
Gear oil changes get forgotten, esp on high end Tesla’s. Not so important on lower end ones hut still needed.
Gas savings is oxymoron. You are getting a vehicle that drives at least 10x better. Can’t price that.
There are much better articles addressing this topic. The good ones generally reference this study: https://www.geotab.com/blog/ev-battery-health/
Given that you can expect to get well over 200,000 miles and/or 20 years out of a large liquid cooled EV battery, there are some screaming good deals out there.
Yes! I just bought a dealer-certified three year old Kia Niro with 24k miles for $22k. The current new version of this car has an MSRP more than double that price. There is no world where the difference between these cars is worth $25k. In my head it's more like $10k-$15k max.
I bought my Kia EV6 at probably the worst time (fall 2022). EVs were in high demand, dealers were adding markups, and my credit was still reeling from just buying a house. As a result, I owe way more than I could buy it used lol. Not that I would (and ignoring the ramifications), but it would cost me less money to just let it get repossessed and go hunt it down and buy it from the used dealer that buys it at auction.
Lots of stories like this. I bought mine 2023 while subsidy was still there and Tesla just dropped prices. Yes it depreciated solid 25% but that equates to gas savings. Buying new would cost more now.
Change your gear oil asap. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dyAGPAM1rQM
> With a gas car, between age and mileage you know a lot about that car. In the EV, people have no clue,” said Helveston. Battery health, he explained, is more linked to how the car was used than its age or mileage
Does the same not apply to gas cars? In a different way obviously but the way any car has been driven in its lifetime affects its long term viability and you don’t have a great insight into it at purchase time.
Agreed. Any complex mechanical device like a car can be "ridden rough", regardless of whether it is gas or electric. I feel like with gas cars there are a lot more moving parts to get stessed, while electric it's mostly about how the battery was treated. Having bought multiple used cars, including a used EV, it seems like a wash to me.
They are. I’ve had my F150 lightning for about two years. On my old gas F-150 I used to pay about $150 a month in gas. On this one I pay about $18 on my monthly electric bill. I do live in a place with off peak electric prices of $0.07/KWh.
That’s not even talking about how silent they are, the amazing acceleration that makes driving a joy, you can leave them idling when you’re waiting with no toxic emissions/guilt, no oil changes and because of the regen braking the brake pads have to be changed very infrequently.
Did you buy it used? The F150 only came out in 2021. The article is about used EVs are a much better deal the gas cars, not whether EVs in general are better.
2021 was four years ago, which is more than two.
tl;dr Yes! They're a good deal!
I know some people who bought one of those little electric "golf cart" like vehicles to drive around the neighborhood.
It seems these cost between $15K and $30K!
I paid $15K for a used Nissan Leaf, with 150 miles of range, and a bit of the factory warranty still in effect.
Personally, I don't see why the Leaf gets such a bad rap. I would like more range than 150 miles, but this much serves all of my typical driving (including freeway, which the golf carts can't do at all).
The EV acceleration (and one-pedal driving) are awesome. No internal combustion vehicle can ever match the performance of an EV.
My expectation is that the overwhelming majority of people drive less than 150 miles the overwhelming majority of the times they leave the house, i.e. they almost never need the gas provided range.
I do still have a gasoline van that I use during long distance travel, but this is once or twice a year.
I think the overwhelming majority of objections only exist between the objector's ears.
I always charge in the driveway, and haven't bought gas in over 6 months.
Try it, you'll like it...