Opportunity Cost!!??? That ASSUMES you have that 10k in pocket to invest. Which you don’t. So the point is moot. Supercharger cost. Yes, it varies on time of day after 9pm or early morning are cheaper. But I prefer lvl 2 charging. It’s cheaper and better for me (arguably better for the car too). I’m a renter too. So I don’t have home charging.

My maintenance for the last 3 years .1 tire and a checkup @$350. (Someone broke a window but I’m not including that).

I’m not driving a ton usually. There were a few months I drove enough that my fuel savings were my car payment.

It’s seems to me you’re Looking for reasons Not to get one. Or just been reading too much FUD that the right wing keeps putting out. If it’s cost, get a used one. I did. Love It. My last ice was loud, fast and small. I occasionally miss the noise and popping gears.

40k vs 30k? Isn’t it at least 50 vs 30?

Many people say insurance is about the same as their last ICE, that how ours is not much difference than anything else. You have to get a quote on your own policy to know the actually cost anything else is just random guessing.

Registration can be more depending on the state but it’s often in place of gas taxes to make it fair for other drivers. If not EVs would be driving on the roads without paying their fair share of gas tax.

Charging at home is always cheapest, when your paying to fast charge on a public charger that company has to make money on charging and equipment.

If you feel EVs deprecate so much faster then of course buy a used one, let someone else take the loss.

We have driven about 23k miles this year, we would have spent over $4500 in gas in 11 months. According to the power bill our EV charging usually accounts for $70-80 of energy use for 2 months.

Do they save money? Probably depends on how much you drive and where you charge.

If the cost is your only criteria for a car, buying a new car of any type is probably not the way to go.

There are benefits beyond just cost when it comes to EVs, they’re nice to drive with instant acceleration, they don’t vibrate or make noise like ICE cars, if you have home charging it’s very convenient to charge at home and you don’t have to remember to leave home early to fill the car.

Supercharging is the exception but the norm. You should be using your home charging at the lowest TOU rates. Even in CA it’s about mid 20 cents per kWh not 50. In some other states it’s sometimes under 5 cents.

Supercharging should only be there just to accommodate road trips. Yes this doesn’t work if you live in apartment buildings or other places where access to home charging is limited. This is why EVs aren’t recommended unless you can set up charging in your garage.

And not everyone has a home to charge.

Concerning whether an EV is practical for you or not in your purchase decision, it doesn’t matter whether everyone has a home to charge or not, it only matters if you can setup a charger at home or not.

In some situations, you do not even have to purchase a charger, a few automakers will provide one for you if you purchase their EV or depending on who your electric utility is or where you live, you can get rebates from your electric utility or state for setting up a home charger.

OP you are the only one not seeing the long term savings. Sadly you are missing out. Something else you’re missing out on is there is free charging. And that if you have an EV you get a lower rate on your electric bill. I”m saving over $700 per year. Being a California resident you could have gotten a $15,000 in cash rebates and tax credits for buying a new EV like I did. Sadly your waiting means you just missed out on a $!,500 from the government. If you keep waiting you will lose out on thousands more.

Look around and buy what you want and can afford. I’m in ohio and an ev saved me a significant amount of money. I had a city car and loved it, bmw i3. I now have a bigger less efficient ev, etron,and it will save me less money over my last ev, but still much less than an equivalent ice.

My insurance costs are similar to ice, but I do pay the extra registration fee. It’s probably a larger fee than the equivalent gas taxes.

In California it sounds like EVs are not as obvious of a choice as electricity can be expensive. If you don’t have a place to charge and you drive a lot, the a hybrid or phev can save almost as much as an ev.

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?

Based on your “personal feelings” and your ability to make 10% on your investments I have to agree that you should never ever buy an electric car.

Depends.

A Bolt is probably one of the cheapest vehicles to own.

I personally have a Rivian truck because I have to have a truck. I need 4x4 and to be able to tow well. After tax rebate, I paid about 67k. Looking up a similarly equipped Tundra, it’s a hair over $60k and based on MPG, by 100000 miles i’ll have paid $15000 in fuel. So that’s $75k total and I didn’t even pick a premium trim.

So yes, it is possible EVs can save you some money - but at worst they are within the same cost. I care about clean air tho so at that point its a choice. I don’t feel very guilty driving an 800 hp 4x4 super truck when I’m charging it off my solar. I would feel a little guilty driving a 20 mpg 4x4 truck everywhere and the fuel costs would kill the fun anyway.

It’s way cheaper for me. My EV is a commuter.

EV $65 a month to charge at home. Ice $300-400 a month just for gas.

Insurance went down $100 a month for EV over ice commuter

Registration is more because it’s 7 years newer.

Time wasted at gas stations a week for ice was over 2 hours of I went to Costco.

Soon charging will be free once my solar gets turned on.

I don’t think purchasing any new car is a financially god decision which seems to be what you’re struggling with. It’s not an investment it’s a want. For me it works because I got my new EV cheap, I am able to get the tax credit, I needed a truck for side work, I home electrical could support a charger without a full panel upgrade and I can charge at home. All those needed to line up in order for me to get into the EV world. For me personally I’m saving about 200 a month on gas over my ICE with the same car payment so it’s a win for me.

Charging at your home is the key metric imo. If you can’t, then things don’t work out quite as well.

I can charge at home and after 100k+ miles, my Model 3 has pretty consistently been 1/3 the cost to run compared to my last gas car and my maintenance so far (other than tires) has been $300.

So for me, it absolutely has been far less to have an EV.

If you’re still not convinced. I leased Niro when they were giving cars away. All the incentives from the state and such added up to $15k off. I plan to buy out the lease. If used prices tank I’ll see if I can negotiate that price. I see leasing as a win - win for the consumer. Cars are terrible assets as they only lose value. Arguing the extent of that loss is mute. Buy the car you want to meets your need and budget. My operating cost are 4x less per mile. My utility offer TOU pricing so the rate is about half at night. My electricity barely increased. My insurance was about the same coming from a Golf. Live in a big city so it is already expensive to insure. Yes, it is possible to save money on an EV.