EV or not, I think anyone who hasn't been in the market for a car lately would be flabbergasted at the prices. Average price on a car is $50k! I just bought a three year old used truck (albeit with high level trim and low miles) for $30k!
Yeah, I think the pent up demand following the pandemic pretty much allowed the manufactures go hog wild on their pricing, but I also think they have caught up with demand for the most part now, and you are seeing a lot of those ultrahigh sticker prices being heavily discounted with lots of new 25 and even some 24 model year vehicles still on the dealers lots, and the 26's stickers getting a little more realistic, even though still high, they give a better start point for some dickering.
Ngl I think battery longevity for EVs is an overblown concern. You'll get less range but it will still run. Contrast that with having to rebuild an engine at some point north of 250k miles on a gas car.Yeah, I think the pent up demand following the pandemic pretty much allowed the manufactures go hog wild on their pricing, but I also think they have caught up with demand for the most part now, and you are seeing a lot of those ultrahigh sticker prices being heavily discounted with lots of new 25 and even some 24 model year vehicles still on the dealers lots, and the 26's stickers getting a little more realistic, even though still high, they give a better start point for some dickering.
Having said that, I finally decided to pull the trigger on an EV recently, when I was able to get a very substantial discount off its sticker.
With a 478 mile estimated range I should be able to recharge its 205 kWh battery at home for 90+ % of the driving I'll use it for.
Using off peak overnight charging at the $0.053 kWh rate our local utility offers, a 0-205 kWh charge would cost $10.87 for the next 478 miles of driving, or 2.7 cents/mile. When driving the VW Passat TDI the 300 miles to pick up the EV vehicle, we got 51 mpg for the 600+ mile freeway round trip day, which is great. But at $5+/gal diesel, that still works out to 10 cents/mile, or about 4 times the fuel cost of the EV.
Now I don't expect the EV to consistently get that get that range on a daily basis, especially when towing, just like the VW TDI doesn't get that kind of mileage when towing or even normal stop and go every day driving, but even with those things added to the mix, it should consistently be significantly less costly to fuel than any of our other vehicles (VW, Jeep, Subaru).
The battery longevity may be a question, but it's warrantied for 8yr/100,000 miles. I recently read a report that the early EV's with their less advanced battery technology are now approaching 20 yrs old, and while their batteries have started losing range, most are still achieving 70+% of their original range. If true, that would make for a 330 mile range on this EV in 20 yrs.....my guess is I probably won't need more than that in 20 yrs if I am still able to drive.
Yeah, I think the pent up demand following the pandemic pretty much allowed the manufactures go hog wild on their pricing, but I also think they have caught up with demand for the most part now, and you are seeing a lot of those ultrahigh sticker prices being heavily discounted with lots of new 25 and even some 24 model year vehicles still on the dealers lots, and the 26's stickers getting a little more realistic, even though still high, they give a better start point for some dickering.
Having said that, I finally decided to pull the trigger on an EV recently, when I was able to get a very substantial discount off its sticker.
With a 478 mile estimated range I should be able to recharge its 205 kWh battery at home for 90+ % of the driving I'll use it for.
Using off peak overnight charging at the $0.053 kWh rate our local utility offers, a 0-205 kWh charge would cost $10.87 for the next 478 miles of driving, or 2.7 cents/mile. When driving the VW Passat TDI the 300 miles to pick up the EV vehicle, we got 51 mpg for the 600+ mile freeway round trip day, which is great. But at $5+/gal diesel, that still works out to 10 cents/mile, or about 4 times the fuel cost of the EV.
Now I don't expect the EV to consistently get that get that range on a daily basis, especially when towing, just like the VW TDI doesn't get that kind of mileage when towing or even normal stop and go every day driving, but even with those things added to the mix, it should consistently be significantly less costly to fuel than any of our other vehicles (VW, Jeep, Subaru).
The battery longevity may be a question, but it's warrantied for 8yr/100,000 miles. I recently read a report that the early EV's with their less advanced battery technology are now approaching 20 yrs old, and while their batteries have started losing range, most are still achieving 70+% of their original range. If true, that would make for a 330 mile range on this EV in 20 yrs.....my guess is I probably won't need more than that in 20 yrs if I am still able to drive.
I love driving that thing!I mean if you're off roading through heavy gravel I could see this being an issue. But let's face it, 90% of people do all their driving on perfectly fine paved roads and the chance of this happening is basically 0%. The chance of any given car being totaled in a car accident is way way way way higher.
I had looked at the VW EVs ( as well as pretty much every other EV sold in the US), and while a VW fan in general, I was disappointed in the range offerings of their EVs, so not too surprised with your experience. Range was probably the main thing I looked at when researching EVs.
So this is our EV owner experience: you can get about 350 highway miles if you are willing to do one fast charge.Everyone's use case is different but I've found that aside from cases where we tow the camper, we do 350 miles in a single shot maybe once or twice a year. And need to do more than 350 basically never. One 30 minute stop is honestly an acceptable wait if you only do it once a year.The remaining time, we can charge at our own home at our leisure. Would it be better if we had BYD level batteries and charging? Of course, and they're going to eat the legacy car manufacturers lunch eventually bc the Trump admin cut them off at the knees by cutting EV incentives. But the EVs that are out there are still plenty usable for most people.
We don't have an off peak charging rate, instead we have a real time rate that just gives us the rate the utility is buying at. Generally that means cheap rates at night.
In 1968 my first car was a '63 Beetle that I rebuilt the engine in, using parts from the JC Whitney catalog. I put in oversized pistons & cylinders, and replaced the single barrel carb and manifold with a two barrel for a nice performance boost. It was painted Cat yellow with a black racing stripe, dark tinted windows, and finished off with wheel adapters to put on Chevy bolt pattern chrome reverse wheels with baby moons caps.....lots of fond memories in that car.
- Bet you regret selling it!
Yeah, it was a sweet ride, but I ended up selling it and buying a Triumph TR-6 with some bolt-on body damage, which I repaired and had repainted...another sweet ride.Sounds like a sweet ride
I just wish one company would say "You know, CA, we'll just stop selling all of our products there." Look how many companies have left the once great state of California -- the state is a disaster. I don't mean just in air quality topics. This is far away from the topic of this thread though.
Another 'big worry' I have about EV's is simply the grid. While looking at CA specifically again, in summer heat they are alerady incapable of producing enough power to keep the 'lights on' -- what happens when/if EV's are grow in popularity (or are mandated) -- just a pending disaster.
Its sad it wasn't successfull, but this is where the Chevy Volt got it right....40 miles of EV, then automaticlly switching over to Gasoline. Honestly, that is the perfection option becusae you can charge at home, fast charge making short hops the EV eutopia, yet when you need to go cross country ... the gasoline engine is right there, with zero thought. The biggest problem is stale gas for people that don't ever get that far ...
If I had a PHEV and didn’t expect to use up the gas in 6mos I’d treat it the same as my extensive lawn/yard equipment collection:
Wait a minute.....didn't you say you were done with WI winters, and taking the big rig south next winter???You could tow your EV behind to the warmer Clime!
I couldn’t afford to buy my own refinery.Wait a minute.....didn't you say you were done with WI winters, and taking the big rig south next winter???You could tow your EV behind to the warmer Clime!
There is one about 20 miles away. During high electrical demand they have to fire up diesel generators. So is that Tesla really zero emissions?lol….. where you live tour where is the closest charger?
Many dealerships in Wisconsin don’t even have chargers! Here it’s basically charging only along the main corridors through WI …. Interstates, dual lane state highways, and larger cities.
I will say my daily drive today with my Hybrid Insight I did get 56 mpg.
I've had a winter with the Model Y and central New York weather similar to Wisconsin (2 years in a row of over 10 feet of snow). Before leaving you can turn on the climate control with the app on the phone. Even the coldest days its at the temperature you set it to in 10-15 minutes. As comfortable as any car I've ever owned.