Worst vehicle on earth. Was thinking about buying one, so decided to rent one and do a long road trip- San Diego to Dallas. Had to stop about every 2-2.5 hours to recharge. Each charging station would vary in the time needed to get back to 100%. One took 35 minutes- one took almost 2 hours. That was after I had waited for the person already there charging in front of me. Completely ridiculous. And what is it doing? Electricity still needs fossil fuels, and I read later that disposing of the battery later is an environmental hazard in and of itself. I’ll give it another 10 years and try again. Back to gas for me.
That seems like the worst possible scenario to use an EV. Also how fast are you driving to only get 2 hours on a charge? Even the lower end vehicles get well over 200 miles per charge.
EVs make a ton of sense for daily commutes. Long distance vacations maybe not, but that’s not how ppl are driving their cars most of the time.
I was thinking the same thing in terms of range. I could see an issue where you stop because another charging station might not be close enough.
Electricity can come from nuclear plants (please let's get more of those).
Amount of time it takes to charge. I do very little local driving - I take public transit to work. My only local driving is to the grocery store once a week. The vast majority of my driving mileage is long trips out of the area, and on such trips, if I owned an EV, I’d leave it home and rent a normal car, because the amount of time it would goals to charge would be unacceptable.
I don't care about range. How often does someone drive more than 100 miles at a time.
I want a full - 7 passenger eSUV. And it must be assembled in the US. It doesn't exist. I may by the Kia EV9 when it comes out but I really wish they'd approve the rotating/swivel seats.
You must live back east. Because if you lived in Colorado, you wouldn't make such a silly statement. Anyone who attends sporting events, skis, or runs races drives more than 100 miles at a time on a regular basis.
I live in CO. Even at 100 miles each way pretty much any EV will get you there and back.
I’m not reading back through all of the responses but for me it is the range. The best use , IMHO, would be if you lived in the suburbs and commuted to a city for work. We don’t do that but we do travel a lot.
The best car I had with a really long range was probably a VW Sportwagen TDI. That car could get 600 miles between fill ups. It was a great car but unfortunately Volkswagen cheated the emissions tests and we ended up selling it back to VW and actually made a bit of money on it.
My BIL had one. He took the rebate and kept the car. Even with the BS on the tests, it still ok.
1) Our current electrical grid would have no shot at keeping up with all the charging needed if we woke up tomorrow and all cars were electric.
2) How many rare earth metals are even available to make these EV batteries? We have no clue, my bet is there aren't enough easily found to get even remotely close to 100% electric. I mean how many children in Africa can Chinese companies get to mine this stuff after all?
3) Electric cars has been a thing that's been attempted to be developed for what, 4 full decades now? We are easily 2 decades into the big push on EVs and yet there has been very little improvement in that technology.
4) I truly believe EVs only sound good on paper but will NEVER be the next step in the evolution of transportation. An easily manufactured, grown, replicated (however you want to say it) type of fuel source that works similarly to the current ICE is the only solution. Of course our govt overlords don't like our independence in travel and want us to be dependent on an energy grid that they control, hence the reason the whole EV concept is continually pushed at us despite the fact that it is in no way an improvement over our current state.
EVs don't meet my criteria for an electric car yet. My criteria are...
1. I only buy used with a price point of less than $10,000 (I've done this for 50 years. My most recent three vehicles cost $7,300, $6,700, and $6,400.)
Aren’t you the same guy that said he paid $5.49 for a small bag of Doritos the other day? 🤷♂️
I mentioned range earlier and probably am more inclined to get a hybrid. With all of my cars paid for, I probably won’t buy anything unless I can pay cash for it or if it was when I bought my TDI and money was “free” with 0% interest. The era of free money is part of the reason we’re paying the piper now, though.
EV should be treated like off road vehicles and not allowed on city streets. It’s a monster inconvenience to others when they break down in traffic
And how often have you seen an EV broken down in traffic. My guess is that you’ve seen a lot more gas powered vehicles broken down in traffic. Also, how is it better if a gas powered vehicle breaks down in traffic vs an EV?
For those looking at cars and not considering an EV. What is stopping you?
Price? Range? Lack of charging stations?
All three of the above. We just replaced our regular gas-powered Honda CR-V with a gas hybrid Toyota RAV4. It gets an honest 39 mpg driving during the summer with the A/C on much of the time, can be filled up at any gas station and has a range of about 450 miles on a tank of gas. It's a wonderful car to drive whether in the city, on the highway, or on rugged mountain roads driving to backpacking trails with our two large dogs.
We seriously considered getting an all-electric RAV4. But we figured we'd have to drive it for about 10 years to make up the difference in price even if electricity is free (which is basically is for us, with good solar panels). And the range isn't reliably large enough for us to do trips without stopping to recharge, and the availability of charging stations is questionable, and...We decided EVs just aren't there yet.
All new cars are expensive, but EVs carry a $5k+++ premium. At $5/gal, 30mpg, that is the first 30k miles of the combustion car. If you are deciding between a Prius an a Tesla 3, make that $15k at 45mpg = 135k miles. Don't forget that electricity is not free, so even at an equivalent cost of 100mpg for EV, the break even is still never. Also, battery packs will need to be replaced at close to the same frequency as combustion engines.
Hydrogen vehicles or synthetic fuels seem like a much more palatable option for cost and range. That is just an opinion.
EV emissions are lower than combustion and I would love to contribute to that cause. But not for tens of thousands of dollars that cannot be recovered.
All new cars are expensive, but EVs carry a $5k+++ premium. At $5/gal, 30mpg, that is the first 30k miles of the combustion car. If you are deciding between a Prius an a Tesla 3, make that $15k at 45mpg = 135k miles. Don't forget that electricity is not free, so even at an equivalent cost of 100mpg for EV, the break even is still never. Also, battery packs will need to be replaced at close to the same frequency as combustion engines.
Hydrogen vehicles or synthetic fuels seem like a much more palatable option for cost and range. That is just an opinion.
EV emissions are lower than combustion and I would love to contribute to that cause. But not for tens of thousands of dollars that cannot be recovered.
Same thing with solar power in homes. An install that will actually cover 100% of your power needs will still run $20-40k after tax credits and state incentives etc. You finance to replace your power bill with equalish priced panel payments. After about 10yrs the panels are finally paid off and you now own your power, but it’s not a guarantee they cover all your usage every single month, and by that time their efficiency starts decreasing as well. Power companies will raise cost over that time, sure, but your panels will depreciate, your usage needs will change, and it’s very likely you’ll be paying a power bill and a panel payment many times over the course of owning them (unless you live in a very sunny area).
Renewable energy tech has still got a ways to go before it’s cost effective.
1) Our current electrical grid would have no shot at keeping up with all the charging needed if we woke up tomorrow and all cars were electric.
2) How many rare earth metals are even available to make these EV batteries? We have no clue, my bet is there aren't enough easily found to get even remotely close to 100% electric. I mean how many children in Africa can Chinese companies get to mine this stuff after all?
3) Electric cars has been a thing that's been attempted to be developed for what, 4 full decades now? We are easily 2 decades into the big push on EVs and yet there has been very little improvement in that technology.
4) I truly believe EVs only sound good on paper but will NEVER be the next step in the evolution of transportation. An easily manufactured, grown, replicated (however you want to say it) type of fuel source that works similarly to the current ICE is the only solution. Of course our govt overlords don't like our independence in travel and want us to be dependent on an energy grid that they control, hence the reason the whole EV concept is continually pushed at us despite the fact that it is in no way an improvement over our current state.
1. Expanding the grid to meet EV demand is very easy. Solar energy is very scalable, affordable and quick to market. Texas has already been saved from blackouts this summer due to solar and battery expansion on the grid. Transmission lines and a better grid are need, but these are very doable compared to relocating Miami, Tampa, NYC and Boston due to sea level rise. Of course, the transition is going to be gradual and not overnight. So, this is a BS argument.
2. Next generation batteries will move away from using lithium and cobalt and solid state batteries will need less rare earth minerals. And there is plenty of lithium out there. The McDermitt Caldera in Nevada has enough lithium to meet global demand for decades. And you can stop the exploitation of child workers and still get the rare earth minerals.
3. There has not been a huge push for EVs. Auto manufacturers have been slow walking the transition for decades because there are more profits in the internal combustion engine. In the long run, EVs hurt the auto industry because they last longer and require far less in maintenance and repairs. It took the EU and California banning ICE vehicle sales to get the auto makers to finally get on board with EVs.
4. EVs are vastly superior on reliability, maintenance and lifespan. An electric engine can last for 500k to 1 mil miles. Batteries are lasting up to 12 years or 300k+ miles and can easily be changed out for new ones. The best maintained and most dependable internal combustion engine is not going to make it past 150k miles without needing a lot of repairs. And by 300k, most internal combustion engines will need to be replaced.
But getting ride of tailpipe emissions (and emissions from oil and gas production) is something that people do not realize how massive the benefits will be. Tailpipe emissions from internal combustion engines, while way better than they were in the days before cat converters, still cause ground level ozone and emit toxics and particulates that we all breathe. The reduction in cardiovascular diseases and cancers from eliminated tailpipe emissions will easily save enough money on health care expenses to pay for the transition. And people will live longer and healthier lives without all the pollution from tailpipe emissions.
Wife and I can afford one and looked into it completely as we are ready to replace our vehicle. But it’s charging…we live in a single housing family zoned area of our city and don’t have a way to fast charge it on the street where we are parked.
EVs don't meet my criteria for an electric car yet. My criteria are...
1. I only buy used with a price point of less than $10,000 (I've done this for 50 years. My most recent three vehicles cost $7,300, $6,700, and $6,400.)
Eeeh, $10,000 in 1973 are about $69000 in today's dollars. You are not keeping up with the Jones's or the inflation.
Honestly I don't understand the idea of an EV. The battery replaces the gas tank but not the gas. There is nothing clean about the EV. The energy still has to be produced somewhere. And it's not the battery producing it. The battery is just a container for that energy. The production of the battery also needs a lot of resources and oil as well.
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