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!!!

  • tdm121@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    for you: can’t charge at home: probably not saving money. supercharging is just too expensive at $0.50/kwh. I don’t think it is cheaper than gas when the comparison is against a hybrid. let’s compare accord hybrid vs. model 3. accord hybrid gets 48 mpg combined: so lets say it is 12K miles per year: at $6/gallon (I know I am using high end of $6–currently, average is $4.908/gallon in California): accord hybrid will cost $1500. model 3 at 4 miles/kwh and $0.50/kwh will also cost $1500. so there is no gas savings here. insurance cost on average is higher. extra registration cost. tires will cost more (they wear out faster on average). and yes “opportunity cost”: when I use this opportunity cost: I just use low risk investment such as money market or CD. rates currently at about 5%. You are better off buying a hybrid. ie. corolla cross hybrid instead of a kia niro EV, a rav-4 hybrid instead of model y, an accord hybrid instead of model 3, highlander/grand highlander hybrid instead of model x/r1s/ex90, etc. Again, insurance can be costly for EV; but sometimes could be same price or cheaper. check insurance rate for the hybrids and compare them. Personally, if I can’t charge at home, I wouldn’t buy an EV: it just seems too much work.

    Source:

    https://www.valuepenguin.com/how-having-electric-car-affects-your-auto-insurance-rates

    https://www.newsweek.com/more-range-more-tires-electric-vehicle-tire-myths-truths-1796810

    https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/