Electric Cars Anyone?

[Jeff Roltgen]

Here's an interesting diversion from the Musk topic:

How many of you are aware that the state of Wyoming is in the process of generating a law to outlaw all EV sales by 2035?
Check out Wyoming legislature's bill # SJ0004

They are quite staunch in their position: Oil and coal are the mainstays of the state, and they refuse to embrace anything that threatens their livelihood.
Quite stunned when I hear this a few weeks ago. Not sure current status on this, but certainly an interesting development on the road to electric vehicles.

[Jeff Roltgen]

Okay- some searching has indicated the bill is now dead. Still, curious witnessing how the world is reacting to this whole concept...

[Bert McMahan]

Wyoming's population is less than 600,000 people for the whole state. It would be the third largest city in my state of TN, so while of course that's a bunch of people it's hardly a blow to the EV industry overall. It strikes me as the classic "buggy whip makers being angered by the invention of the car"- of course they depend on oil and gas, but that's not where the industry is headed these days. They need to start switching to other industries instead of trying to legislate their relevance.

As to the OP's question- I bought a used Leaf several years ago and couldn't be happier switching. I've saved somewhere around $7000-$8000 in gas in just 3 years of ownership, and that includes the increase to my electric bill. My charger tracks how much power it uses, and so far my most expensive month was $39 worth of electricity. Plus, since a lot of electricity around here is coal-based, my utility offered a voluntary thing where you can add a few bucks a month to use more renewables instead of coal (we have lots of hydro and nuclear around here but certain times it's cheaper to run the coal plants, so paying a tiny amount more means they run more of the hydro/nuclear/solar instead). Well worth it to keep fresh air for my kids and me.

For those worried about batteries, well I can also say that my battery started showing signs of age beyond its years, so I took it to the dealer. They're replacing the entire battery for free under warranty on my 7 year old car, so I'm a happy customer. My wife has a regular car that's handy for road trips, but that's a once or twice a year kind of thing. They're definitely not for everyone yet but it's pretty close.

It's a pretty common reaction in my experience- I've almost never heard anyone say they regret going electric. If I were far into the country away from chargers, a hybrid would be a better option, but around here there's always a charger just a few minutes away, and they're very cheap.

[Lee DeRaud]

As to the OP's question- I bought a used Leaf several years ago and couldn't be happier switching. I've saved somewhere around $7000-$8000 in gas in just 3 years of ownership, and that includes the increase to my electric bill. My charger tracks how much power it uses, and so far my most expensive month was $39 worth of electricity.

I'm almost afraid to ask what you were driving before and how long your commute is, to save that kind of money. I only spent $2500 total on gas the last three years, and that's here in the Land of Pricey Fuel. Unless gas prices go up by 10X, I simply can't make an economic case for an EV. I have absolutely no objection to owning one if I could find one I liked that didn't cost a stupidly high number. Any payoff based on fuel savings is just too long compared to my remaining lifespan.

Someone noted earlier in this thread that EVs were a great match for retirees' driving habits. But how much of that simply reflects that we just don't drive as much day to day?

[Kevin Jenness]

At least the launch pad is still intact.

I don't think so. A good part of the pad ended up as grit pasted all over the nearest town and everything in between, and a sizeable chunk of concrete hit at least one motor vehicle some distance away. I think they will be reworking that part of the setup. https://dnyuz.com/2023/04/21/spacexs...s-with-a-mess/

I wouldn't call the test a complete failure by any means but I had to laugh at the "rapid unscheduled disasssembly" - I guess that is a term of art in the aerospace field.

[Patty Hann]

... I only spent $2500 total on gas the last three years, and that's here in the Land of Pricey Fuel. Unless gas prices go up by 10X, I simply can't make an economic case for an EV. I have absolutely no objection to owning one if I could find one I liked that didn't cost a stupidly high number. Any payoff based on fuel savings is just too long compared to my remaining lifespan.....

↑ This ↑

(And I spent less than $1000 on gas last year)

[Bill Howatt]

Given that I keep my cars 12+ years, it seems I'd be needing a new battery along the way, so I'd better save a lot to cover that expense?
There were 2 cases on the Cdn news about battery costs - a Buick and a Kia which both needed a new battery just out of warranty. They were looking at about US$12K for battery and labor. Since it was not too far out of warranty they were given a discount on the battery (possibly after the media stepped in).
We're retired and our car fuel costs is less than $1000 per year. Also, we are rural, in a cold climate for about 4 months of the year so the range is still an issue. I think the posted ranges are on a nice, warm, battery-friendly day.
I am not naive enough to think the era of the electric car isn't launched but I do wonder about what is coming to take the shine off the bloom - electrical infrastructure improvement costs, lost government revenue from fuel taxes, possible overall increase to everybody's electrical bill to support the electric car users, somebody will state in no uncertain terms they are not totally pollution free if you factor in electricity production methods. It all boils down to, "you can't make an omelette without breaking an egg".

[Bill Dufour]

In my climate having the car ac run full blast at a stop lights or in a traffic jam is a big deal. Preheating the car not so much.
Bill D

[Patty Hann]

In my climate having the car ac run full blast at a stop lights or in a traffic jam is a big deal. Preheating the car not so much.
Bill D

Same situation where I am, but squared and cubed.
We can go two weeks straight with [max] daytime temps exceeding 110F and nighttime temps not dropping below 95.

[roger wiegand]

My last two gas cars cost $4000-8000 per year in maintenance once the warranties ran out, so thinking I might to buy a $12K battery in 8-10 years really isn't that intimidating. Granted one was a BMW, so twice what any sensible person would pay. There are getting to be quite a few 10 year old Model S Teslas on the road, at least here where there were a lot of early adopters, some with several hundred thousand miles on them and they seem to generally be behaving consistent with having many fewer moving parts, ie not much repair work required. I'm hoping they've gotten even better over the last decade.

As to "stupid expensive" a Tesla Model 3 ($39,990 today) now sells for $10K less than the average new car sold in the US ($49,388 in January), not counting the Federal tax break which makes it $17,500 cheaper than an average new car purchase. That's not saying those ICE cars aren't stupidly expensive as well.

[Bill Dufour]

I would say most expensive ice car repairs are engine, transmission, cooling, system, exhaust. electric cars have none of that to go bad.
Bill d

[Larry Frank]

Wow....I have never had a car with maintenance costs of $4000-8000 A year. My last vehicle was 15 years old and nothing close to that. A set of tires or major brake job was most expensive.

[Patty Hann]

I would say most expensive ice car repairs are engine, transmission, cooling, system, exhaust. electric cars have none of that to go bad.
Bill d

The cooling system maintenance would not go away with an EV would it?
You'd still have a compressor to deal with, and possibly leaks, would you not?
(Wouldn't it now be similar to your "plug-in" refrigerator? )

[Roger Feeley]

when ford announced their lightening pickup, they mentioned that they would be offering a gas generator that mounted in the bed. I thought that is a great idea. Leave the generator at home when you are just driving local. For long trips, load up the generator and off you go. Or…rent the generator when you need it.

[Bert McMahan]

I switched from an older truck to an EV, so I went from about 12 mpg to closer to 125

A normal annual drive of 10k miles (pretty standard) that gets 30 mpg would need 333 gallons of gas a year. Around here, it's $3.50 on a good day, so that's $1167 in gas per year. I pay roughly $420 a year in extra electricity (plus no oil changes) so the savings isn't that huge if your car gets good mileage these days. If you're looking at the savings versus something that gets really good mileage then it's not going to work out, but if your daily driver is a 2004 full size truck then yeah you get to save a crapload of money

Plus, I bought my car before the prices absolutely went through the roof.