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!!!

  • sprunkymdunk@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I mean you need to provide more details on where you live, your annual mileage, the price of fuel v electricity there, the vehicles you are comparing, home charging situation etc.

    I ran the numbers on Corolla hybrid vs a Bolt in Ontario,where the difference between gas and electricity prices are steeper than most of the USA.

    Through fuel/oil change savings, the Bolt paid for itself in 8 years x 15k km. I estimated that less break changes on the EV where roughly equivalent to less tire wear and cheaper insurance on the Corolla.

    However to protect against depreciation I want to lease the Bolt, which makes the payoff closer to 10 years.

    Then I’d also have to pay for a charger install at my rental. And my 550km road trips 3-5x annually would be difficult with my family in the Canadian winter. And any major repairs would be more expensive in the Bolt. And Corolla is better equipped. And then factor in the opportunity cost of paying more upfront for the Bolt. And boy is 500 mi of all-weather range nice (570 in the summer). That’s one 5 min pit stop every three weeks or so.

    So in short, buying an EV for my use case would not be cheaper, and would be pretty inconvenient in comparison to a Corolla. If I drove 25k+ km a year I might reconsider. What’s your situation?

    • GeneralCommand4459@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I found the same when I did the numbers. A hybrid is just a better option when you add everything up for some people. One of the biggest factors for me was the 4-5k quote for a home charger. That would take years to recoup vs fuel for a hybrid for my driving needs.