To EV or not to EV
- Thread starter LDB
- Start date
Thinking about it, most ICE vehicles are off the power train warranties and if the engine or transmission is bad enough to need replacement there is a good chance it might be scrapped. In the case of very expensive vehicles or pickups owned by gear heads, there is probably a better chance the owner will spring for the repairs.
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You've all got this figured out, don't you?
The thing is if you maintain the ICE well the chances of having to replace in many years or hundreds of thousands of miles are slim.
The battery is dying the minute it was put in use and there is nothing you can do about it. Think of it as a 3 year old cell phone.
The battery is dying the minute it was put in use and there is nothing you can do about it. Think of it as a 3 year old cell phone.
I hear it does. Imagine a scenario where the battery is dead. If that happens the engine would run all the time using more gas and putting out more emissions than what it was designed for and EPA tested for. I don't think the manufacturer would want something like dieselgate over it's head.
That’s not how it works with a battery this size. It’s gradual and the tests show roughly 20% capacity loss after 300k miles. The quoted number(Tesla) now is 12% after 200k miles. It’s not likely to just strand you the next day.
I would add I would never buy another used car with more than around 30k miles on it these days. No one does preventative maintenance enough to properly protect the mechanicals of any cars. They sure don’t do brake fluid. Scares me how closely people follow OEM service since the goal is showing how inexpensive they are to operate. I’m sure no one replaces the gear oil in their EVs either. Tesla called this a 50k mile service years back, but that info is missing these days.
In an EV, battery degredation is an important consideration. How long will a battery last is a tough question and is a moving target. It depends on how you charge, number of charge cycles and of course battery chemistry.
Without data, it's just opinion. EVs as mass produced, mainstream vehicles, are in their infancy. Data is limited, but growing. And chemistry is improving.
Here is a recent Motor Trend article. Expect 200K, depending. If you are serious about an EV, I would take a hard look at the company with the most experience. Any new vehicle is a big purchase.
Without data, it's just opinion. EVs as mass produced, mainstream vehicles, are in their infancy. Data is limited, but growing. And chemistry is improving.
Here is a recent Motor Trend article. Expect 200K, depending. If you are serious about an EV, I would take a hard look at the company with the most experience. Any new vehicle is a big purchase.
I would not purchase an EV to avoid taxes. It is nicety of purchasing a vehicle with some incredible pluses and strong negatives .
Spending money to save money rarely saves much money in the long term. Is it incentive to buy something you wanted in the first place? Sure, but that's a different story.
He'll save 25k in gas alone by then. And have a more powerful and fun vehicle. For me the numbers msde great sense, and the fun factor is crazy high.
So is the engine. The rings and cylinder walls, the clutch packs in the transmission, the cam and crank bearings. Valve seals. Main seal.
Yes
Old model S are worth about $16k private party and battery failures have occurred, it is virtually impossible to replace the failed battery without an EE degree assuming you can even get good matched cells and the insurance on your $16,000 Tesla stays around $3600+ a year.
All around a very expensive beater to drive, with a rare but extremely painful repair process of anything breaks, even stupid simple parts are problematic due to the low volume of production on older Teslas, and Teslas new parts base is unbeatably terrible
No, I disagree with that. The fundamental reason for a PHEV is you get to buy a car with smaller battery (usually 40 miles or so) and still have a gas engine to drive with as needed. The battery is almost always used to the max and get your money worth, and you can choose to use either gas or electric depends on where and when you refuel or charge.
People used to say hybrid is the worst in reliability but Prius proves it wrong. You have to buy the good one and avoid the bad one like Nissan Leaf or Nissan CVT (surprisingly Nissan Altima hybrid is good).
It really depends on the car, some ICE car like the Nissan CVT is super unreliable and some EV like Nissan Leaf is as well. I would look at the track record of the company designing and making them, and see how they handle bad design.
EV's battery replacement cost / depreciation cost is the biggest cost IMO, not the electricity to charge it. If you don't drive much an EV can actually be wasted sitting there aging, unlike a gas car sitting there not using fuel. To me if I commute comfortably in the EV's range then it would be the best choice, if further out or frequent long distance driving I'd pick a hybrid or plug in hybrid, then if I rarely drive I'd just get a cheap used high mileage recent year gas car.
I think a PHEV would work well for my usage. I drive about 275 miles a month except for the occasional drive to see family which is about 30 miles each way. So I could pretty much drive entirely on half or less of the 30 miles EV range on a daily basis and buy gasoline once a year. And I could recharge it from the 110v at home since it would be in the driveway 22-23 hours a day almost every day.
Me either, I purchase what I want and like. If I liked EV's and I could save a few tax $$ sure, but that's not the case for me. My wife feels the same way, so that's not an issue either.
That's fair.
