EV owners of today and tomorrow

[Fixastuff]

So besides work you (or your wife) sits at home most of the time? You don't take small drives for vacation or sight seeing?
You would be the odd duck.

I really don’t think it maths out for me to buy another car be it EV or not to save fuel vs just driving the truck I already own and need. I’m not a superior being so I admit I could be wrong.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I really don’t think it maths out for me to buy another car be it EV or not to save fuel vs just driving the truck I already own and need. I’m not a superior being so I admit I could be wrong.

The cost savings would only pencil out if you needed another car of the same value as an EV. Then you’d be ahead.

 

[tradosaurus]

I really don’t think it maths out for me to buy another car be it EV or not to save fuel vs just driving the truck I already own and need. I’m not a superior being so I admit I could be wrong.

That's Ok! We can't all be perfect.

 

[ning]

So besides work you (or your wife) sits at home most of the time? You don't take small drives for vacation or sight seeing?
You would be the odd duck.

I'm apparently an odd duck.

I work from home, and even on days off (from work) I'm usually at home, working, or enjoying my own paradise.

My truck gets maybe 1,000 miles a year on it at this point; I use it during the winter to go skiing and camping in the mountains, drive up to the mountains in the summer... but none of these are very far so it doesn't add up much.

It would be terribly uneconomical for me to replace the truck, and unenvironmental as well - the environmental cost of building my truck has long been paid, and its continued operation... while not green, it's not terrible because of its low use; that's significantly lower than the environmental cost of building anything else new.

My wife commutes r/t 65 miles, and her car unfortunately averages 21 mpg (depressingly low IMO for a 2018). She's considered a change, but even with high gasoline prices, the price of a new vehicle (EV or PHEV - probably PHEV since we drive 500 miles each way once or twice a year and don't have any interest in making that trip more stressful than it already is) compared to the value of her current car makes the "is it worth it to change" a really tough question to answer, with most spreadsheets saying "maybe if gas hits $6 and electricity doesn't rise along with it".

That said, if I mysefl suddenly had need for a commuter car, I suspect a new EV or PHEV would be high on the list, because a '97 F350 isn't a good commuter car except in terrible weather when I'd stay home regardless.

 

[Grumpycat]

So an expensive EV, plus an expensive diesel charging station, can net you the same mpg using diesel, as simply buying the much cheaper diesel car.

This is fantastic progress!

Yes it is. Take it in context of Australian Outback where diesel electricity is common. They convert diesel to electricity because the utility of electricity is so great.

I have an idea! Let’s eliminate light bulbs in favor of this new invention of mine: The Oil Lamp! Cave man simple glass reservoir for an oil such as diesel. A brass fixture holding a cotton wick. And a glass chimney on top. Convert oil to light eliminating the middleman! No expensive generators! No power grid! No power cords! No batteries! No nutt’n!

One great advantage of EV is that electricity can come from diesel, coal, hydro, wind, solar, nuclear, natural gas, oil, even unicorn farts. Compare that to the difficulty of refining diesel, or gasoline, or biodiesel, or ethanol.

 

[tradosaurus]

I'm apparently an odd duck.

I work from home, and even on days off (from work) I'm usually at home, working, or enjoying my own paradise.

My truck gets maybe 1,000 miles a year on it at this point; I use it during the winter to go skiing and camping in the mountains, drive up to the mountains in the summer... but none of these are very far so it doesn't add up much.

It would be terribly uneconomical for me to replace the truck, and unenvironmental as well - the environmental cost of building my truck has long been paid, and its continued operation... while not green, it's not terrible because of its low use; that's significantly lower than the environmental cost of building anything else new.

My wife commutes r/t 65 miles, and her car unfortunately averages 21 mpg (depressingly low IMO for a 2018). She's considered a change, but even with high gasoline prices, the price of a new vehicle (EV or PHEV - probably PHEV since we drive 500 miles each way once or twice a year and don't have any interest in making that trip more stressful than it already is) compared to the value of her current car makes the "is it worth it to change" a really tough question to answer, with most spreadsheets saying "maybe if gas hits $6 and electricity doesn't rise along with it".

That said, if I myself suddenly had need for a commuter car, I suspect a new EV or PHEV would be high on the list, because a '97 F350 isn't a good commuter car except in terrible weather when I'd stay home regardless.

Yeah. If you had to replace your wife's car and you qualify for Fed tax incentive (and state tax incentive), this year would be the time to buy your EV or PHEV. EV will get you the most tax incentives. Don't know if there will be tax incentives next year.
You live in California so your Electric rates might be higher than most.
Personally I bought the EV for convenience (charging at home, no oil changes, minimal maintenance).
IMO, women in general like EV's for the sheer simplicity of operation.

 

[Dftodd]

To answer your question EV is not in the room of possibility for me (even if I wanted too which is not the case) due to chargers availability in my region (which is none) and the amount of miles I need to do to get to work (further then their ranges) plus with our winters and frequent road closure it be suicidal (literally) for me to go that route... I would consider hybrid but I am again worried about the reduce batteries life expectancy due to our winter climates. More people are getting them so future will tell.

The one plus with a hybrid is if battery range drops m, the engine kicks in.

I would consider a hybrid. But the fuel economy would have to be there to justify the purchase. Ice vehicles have come a long way with mileage.

We just went from a Buick Encore to a Hyundai SanteFe.

Twice the vehicle size and lost 1mpg of mileage.

Teslas only come in sedans, so they would be out for us. We prefer crossovers. More trunk space, and easier to get out of.

I had a difficult time getting out of the Tesla Y.

 

[Dftodd]

Agreed, Greener” was the word used.

Doesn’t change the facts straight from the EV enthusiast’s article :

“the BMW i3 came in as the most efficient, recording a fuel consumption rate of 4.392 litres/100km – about the same fuel efficiency as a diesel BMW 3 series.”

So, the cherry-picked best performing EV….used as much diesel as the diesel version of the vehicle

The Teslas tested, used even more diesel than a diesel powered BWM 3 series.

So an expensive EV, plus an expensive diesel charging station, can net you the same mpg using diesel, as simply buying the much cheaper diesel car.

This is fantastic progress!

It makes perfect sense

 

[Rockbadchild]

The one plus with a hybrid is if battery range drops m, the engine kicks in.

I would consider a hybrid. But the fuel economy would have to be there to justify the purchase. Ice vehicles have come a long way with mileage.

We just went from a Buick Encore to a Hyundai SanteFe.

Twice the vehicle size and lost 1mpg of mileage.

Teslas only come in sedans, so they would be out for us. We prefer crossovers. More trunk space, and easier to get out of.

I had a difficult time getting out of the Tesla Y.

Yes for sure... I went on a fishing trip with my buddy and we took his toyota rav4 hybrid we did 781 miles, it cost him $60 in gas and we where cruising (not careful at all about miles a gallon) and fully loaded I was very impress with the MPG.

 

[Dftodd]

I really don’t think it maths out for me to buy another car be it EV or not to save fuel vs just driving the truck I already own and need. I’m not a superior being so I admit I could be wrong.

So.... here's some genius math that follows this same logic that they keep spouting off about.

I had a coworker complaining about how much it cost him to get back and forth to work.

He drove an older dodge diesel. His wife drove a midsized gas suv. Both vehicle got the same mileage.

So said coworker took out a loan for $5,000 on a small Kia.

He had to put another $3,000 onto the Kia to get it road worthy.

Mind you, this guy was also complaining about being broke.

I suggested that he drive his wife's SUV and let her run the kids back and forth to school with the diesel. It would save him about $100 or so a week.

The diesel would only need to be filled once every three weeks which would be a pretty decent savings.

Nope, he had to spend $8,000 to get 30mpg instead of 22mpg.