The 3.6L Pentastar engine only weighs like 80lbs more than a Prius engine. Hardly a rounding error in a full size truck.

I’m just saying the EV paradigm in general is more upfront cost, with long term fuel and maintenance savings. But high interest rates make upfront costs a bigger part of the equation than if interest rates were lower.

This post compared a ton of EVs with non-EV equivalents. There’s still a lot of red in there, and an extra $10k is one thing, but when that $10k costs an extra $1k a year in interest, that wipes out a big more of the cost savings. If interest rates were really low again, people would be more likely to get EVs with 8 year loans and experience immediate cost savings.

I did just realize how bad the high interest rates are for many kinds of environmental progress. When interest rates were half what they are now, a higher SEER heat pump made a ton of sense financially, you’d come out ahead immediately. Now, the math just doesn’t work to justify it financially. To spend an extra $2000 on it, I’d need to save $20 every month to break even on the interest alone, and that’s not happening from a few SEER points and a 15 year life span.

EVs are the same deal. They cost more up front but less ongoing - but the interest rates really reduce the ROI. Yeah Lightnings and Bolts still have the lowest TCO of vehicles in their class, but a lot of EVs just don’t quite beat ICE equivalents at 8% interest as they would at 4% interest.