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!!!

  • psaux_grep@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    YMMV.

    The math is different if you have a car already and decide to replace that prematurely because an EV is cheaper to run than if you are comparing two new/used cars.

    There’s a big difference between relying on public charging infrastructure and on charging (mostly) at home. Office charging can be priced varyingly, but if cheap or free then that’s a good deal as well.

    As for road tripping, I find that long trips in Europe is about 50% cheaper than they would have been in my previous car (an Audi A6, 3.2FSI Quattro, not the most frugal car, YMMV). Short trips, like where you only need to charge once or twice are much cheaper because I leave home with a full battery and arrive with a not so full battery and recharge at the destination. However, if you pay for charging at the destination it’s a different story. But most of my road-trips easily cost me between 1/6 to 1/4 of what they would in the past.

    Again, YMMV. But if you compare my model 3 to an ICEV of similar characteristics the mileage of the ICE vehicle is often high.

    Personally the financial calculation for me was a no-brainer. In Norway I calculated to save about $2000 on fuel, and another $1000+ on toll roads.

    $3000 saved on yearly maintenance and upkeep vs my 15 year old A6.

    So basically the math added up to TCO parity after 3 years.

    Considering fuel prices since I’ve saved even more. But we pay $8.5/gallon right about now, so def. easier to land the maths.

    Doesn’t hurt that it’s the best car I’ve owned in terms of performance and comfort/convenience.

    Always warm in the winter, always fresh in the summer. App access that works, built-in YouTube, Netflix, Disney+. Great when waiting for a ferry or sitting in the car waiting for someone or something.

    • textonic@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      The problem is CA. Gas is expensive in CA (about 1.5x the national average) but electric is VERY expensive in CA (about 3x the national average). This makes charging at home very unpleasant.