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Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

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Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#11

Post by Yizahi »

jchonphoenix wrote: post #4
Faaak wrote: post #2

This doesn't take into account maintenance, which makes a huge difference ! My EV car (hyundai ioniq 2016) has now 100'000 km (62'000 mi) and I never once went to the garage for a service (except for tyres of course). Brake pads are still new, no oil change needed, etc.. Can't imagine how much it would've cost on a gas car

How does this work? Brake pads don't seem like they should be different on an EV. It's really just the engine components that should have less wear and tear and those only come into play at the 30k and 60k mark

Oil, filters and work on them is pricy at the official dealers (if you care about warranty). Also more failure points - turbines, injectors, gas pump, exhaust, gearbox, oiling system in general. Just a single gearbox or turbine failure can cost thousands. EVs are really cheaper in general, however you compare.

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#13

Post by xlii »

One thing that is keeping me from getting EV is infrastructure cost.

Sure, maintenance is going to be cheaper and cost per km/mile lower, but there is simply not enough infrastructure where I live to charge the car. Friend of mine got EV. He lives in modern apartment where there are 2 charging stations for like 200 cars/garage. He was ecstatic year ago where he would charge whenever he want and it was free (due to subsidies) but now has to queue in own garage in order to charge it at all.

Based on anecdotes from colleagues it takes them ~10-20h every month to charge their cars. It also creates a mental load of "oh, where and when I'll charge my car next". To a ludicrous degree that some even can't plan life activities because they plan for their car to charge. If I put even like half of my hourly rate on the time spent maintaining car's charge calculations aren't attractive as they might seem.

On top of it sales of EVs grow much faster than infrastructure. With energy crisis looming I have my doubts.

That being said, had I had a house, I wouldn't care and take one.

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#14

Post by sigio »

Yizahi wrote: post #3

Should you buy an EV? 1. You live in a private house where you can charge the car? - Yes 2. You don't have a charger at home? - No Simple, really :) . I always wanted to buy an EV but that's a deal breaker criteria. Also the secondary problem - author makes assumption about electricity price, but it almost doesn't matter at all if you are changing at the commercial stations only. They will charge you for as much as t…

Here it's actually cheaper to charge my EV on the public-chargers then doing it at home, europe has highly inflated electricity prices, but in my city all the chargers have fixed (low) prices, while my home electricity has risen from 21ct to 40+ct/kwh now.

It will probably get even better as soon as I can get solar on my house, but getting enough juice from public-chargers is sufficient.

Last weekend I even got a full (60+kwh) charge for free, as I was visiting Froscon, and the chargers in Sankt Augustin were all completely free, and there was a charger on the parking next to the venue.

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#16

Post by acallaghan »

Yizahi wrote: post #3

Should you buy an EV? 1. You live in a private house where you can charge the car? - Yes 2. You don't have a charger at home? - No Simple, really :) . I always wanted to buy an EV but that's a deal breaker criteria. Also the secondary problem - author makes assumption about electricity price, but it almost doesn't matter at all if you are changing at the commercial stations only. They will charge you for as much as t…

I hear this view a lot - my main rebuttal is 'but can't top up your car with petrol/gas/diesel at home either'.

The infra around EV charging needs to be much much better, I totally agree with this, but the idea that everyone will be able to charge their cars at home just isn't going to happen

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#17

Post by Yizahi »

wffurr wrote: post #10
Yizahi wrote: post #3

Should you buy an EV? 1. You live in a private house where you can charge the car? - Yes 2. You don't have a charger at home? - No Simple, really :) . I always wanted to buy an EV but that's a deal breaker criteria. Also the secondary problem - author makes assumption about electricity price, but it almost doesn't matter at all if you are changing at the commercial stations only. They will charge you for as much as t…

I see a good variety of EVs parked on the street here in Cambridge, MA, USA. There’s a decent local network of level 2 and 3 chargers that are regularly used to charge the cars, in the neighborhood and at various area workplaces. Some are owned by the city and only charge enough to break even on installation and electricity cost. Workplace ones are often subsidized by the employers as a side benefit. Clearly it doesn…

I'm currently in the eastern EU, and while there a lot of EVs on the roads, the infrastructure is not usable for my personal use there too. No chargers at homes or near homes, not even in the new apartment blocks. No chargers at work parkings.

Honestly, I wonder how can EU ban selling ICE cars even in 10 years, if the infrastructure in so much lagging behind.

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#18

Post by serpix »

neilalexander wrote: post #7
jchonphoenix wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this work? Brake pads don't seem like they should be different on an EV. It's really just the engine components that should have less wear and tear and those only come into play at the 30k and 60k mark

I imagine the wear on the pads is reduced by the regenerative braking from the motors.

Eliminated almost entirely, they should revert to drums on EVs as discs get rust on them.

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#19

Post by Pelentio »

jchonphoenix wrote: post #4
Faaak wrote: post #2

This doesn't take into account maintenance, which makes a huge difference ! My EV car (hyundai ioniq 2016) has now 100'000 km (62'000 mi) and I never once went to the garage for a service (except for tyres of course). Brake pads are still new, no oil change needed, etc.. Can't imagine how much it would've cost on a gas car

How does this work? Brake pads don't seem like they should be different on an EV. It's really just the engine components that should have less wear and tear and those only come into play at the 30k and 60k mark

I drove down a hill 15 minutes and didn't use the breaks once.

The display then said 'recovered 9x%'.

It also feels less wasteful on the Autobahn as well because quick deceleration is also possible.

The adaptive Speedcontrol can handle like 99% of the cases were cars slow down or switch into your lane.

With the general speed limit in USA I think that should also be possible.makes driving much nicer

Re: Should You Buy an EV? A calculator to figure it out

#20

Post by lotsofpulp »

acallaghan wrote: post #16
Yizahi wrote: post #3

Should you buy an EV? 1. You live in a private house where you can charge the car? - Yes 2. You don't have a charger at home? - No Simple, really :) . I always wanted to buy an EV but that's a deal breaker criteria. Also the secondary problem - author makes assumption about electricity price, but it almost doesn't matter at all if you are changing at the commercial stations only. They will charge you for as much as t…

I hear this view a lot - my main rebuttal is 'but can't top up your car with petrol/gas/diesel at home either'. The infra around EV charging needs to be much much better, I totally agree with this, but the idea that everyone will be able to charge their cars at home just isn't going to happen

Why would that be a valid rebuttal? From turning into a gas station to exiting, completely filling a gas tank takes, at most, 5 minutes and gas stations are everywhere. How long does charging to be able to travel the same distance take?
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