I am a California resident.

I am going into analysis paralysis and it’s making me crazy when I sit down to decide if I should go with an ICE car or an EV. HELPPPPPP!!!

Sure ICE vehicles cost more in fuel and maintenance, but EVs have some other costs as well:

  • Costs relatively more to insure

  • Registration cost every year is higher

  • Opportunity cost: a $40k EV is generally compared to a $30k ICE car in terms of break even in 5-6 years. But people rarely mention the opportunity cost of spending the extra $10000. That $10k can make you around $1k each year if invested (subject to market risk ofcourse).

  • Supercharging is still not cheap: while still being 50% cheaper than gas, its not cheap. I see 50c/kwh near my area. And not everyone has a home to charge.

  • Rate of depreciation: All cars depreciate. But some loose value faster than others. My personal feeling is EVs depreciate faster than ICE. Simply because the tech is growing so fast. The argument for ICE is that there will be less demand for ICE in future due to increasing EV market share. So, little conflicted on the right answer here

I don’t know if am the only one who is unable to see the savings in EV (long term). Am I missing something?? Can eV owners share their perspective?? HELP ME come out of this shit and just book a carrr!!!

  • sokos@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    First thing to consider is what you are getting the car for. That way you can see if you need a tesla 3, a bolt, a cybertruck/f150 etc. So you have a better comparison metric.

    Then I would do the math based on what you had said. Maybe do the 10k at 5% appreciation versus the 10% you had to be more conservative.

    I wouldn’t focus too much on the depreciation as that is misleading. Who would have been able to predict that used cars are worth so much more now. Also. Who knows in 10 years since gas prices could be anything by then and same with EVs nobody can tell what it’ll be in 10 years. (I do wish we had smaller cars in NA like the tiny trucks and vans they have in europe).

    That should give you a better metric between the 2.

    I was looking before to swap my jeep and I came to the 10 year break even point at current gas prices. The big issue I had was wondering if the EV would last 10 years without major issues. I really wanted a plug-in hybrid but wait lists were ridiculous for it) ended up putting a deposit for the cybertruck. It was a hundred bux but this way, at least I am on a list and if the truck becomes actually good at a decent price range. I’ll be able to get it. Expect to get one in a few years and hopefully by then the infrastructure becomes a lot more friendly up here in the north. (We want to do some RVing for retirement when that happens eventually and I don’t live in downtown of a city)