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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

#41

Post by alkonaut »

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

There is a service interval that will (depending on where you are) mean you should do probably at least 5 services before 100'000km. True, most of those services will be mere inspections because there is simply nothing to service, but there will be a service schedule that has lots of items in it before 100k km. There are cabin air filter, maybe gear fluid (depending on model) and so on. For a new car, I'd do them just to ensure there is no fuss with warranties.

So in short: service intervals for EV's don't seem longer than for ICE cars at all. They are pretty typical car service intervals of 10k-15k km BUT the key is they should be cheaper.

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

#42

Post by Yizahi »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #26
Yizahi wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Where does getting an oil filter changed by a non dealer void the warranty? Oil/air filters and brakes are $50 and $500 at most. Everything else is pretty reliable for a couple hundred thousand miles assuming a decent brand car like Toyota or Honda. At US gas prices, I have yet to see an EV be shown to be a better value than a car/minivan/SUV/pickup truck, especially if driving 10k miles or less per year. The upfront…

I need to do yearly maintenance at the dealer (or if I exceed some fixed mileage before that), they do the oil change in the course of that. If I would skip yearly maintenance the warranty is voided.

PS: that's for Mazda car.

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

#43

Post by ZeroGravitas »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #26
Yizahi wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Where does getting an oil filter changed by a non dealer void the warranty? Oil/air filters and brakes are $50 and $500 at most. Everything else is pretty reliable for a couple hundred thousand miles assuming a decent brand car like Toyota or Honda. At US gas prices, I have yet to see an EV be shown to be a better value than a car/minivan/SUV/pickup truck, especially if driving 10k miles or less per year. The upfront…

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm

10K miles or less is a bit of an outlier.

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

#44

Post by ZeroGravitas »

serpix wrote: post #18
neilalexander wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This has started, ID.3 and 4 has them on rear wheels I think.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/36683/why-the-new-volkswagen-i...

They're also looking at making light weight aluminum brake pads that don't rust from less use.

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

#45

Post by News-Dog »

kbos87 wrote: post #32
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…

Not to pile on but I’ll second some of the other commenters who have said that not being able to charge at home isn’t that big of a deal. I live in a condo in a major US city and don’t have the option to charge at home. From a convenience perspective, it’s truly turned out to be a non-issue. We’re at the point where I live that there are enough chargers around that I simply plug in once or twice a week while I’m runn…

With the number of Shopping Centers/Malls installing solar PV's on their building roofs and car parks,

it is probably only a matter of time till they install EV charges to entice customers to their Centers.

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

#46

Post by ianai »

sokoloff wrote: post #37
ianai wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn’t take that long to wire up new electrical stuff. Just the will to do it. We’re talking 3.3kw to 6.6kw a drop unless it’s a fast charger. (Edit-the wider spread the slower chargers probably the lesser need for fast chargers, too.) 3.3kw is about 120v/27.5A. Not negligible but no one worries about hooking up hair driers to the grid and they draw tons of power. Reference the places putting chargers on light po…

When's the last time someone and 10 of their neighbors dried their hair for 12 straight hours, though? It's not the instantaneous power draw from a single plug that people are worried about but rather the aggregate draw.

Fair, it’s maybe more like adding another appliance per household (fridge/freezer).

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

#47

Post by News-Dog »

sokoloff wrote: post #37
ianai wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn’t take that long to wire up new electrical stuff. Just the will to do it. We’re talking 3.3kw to 6.6kw a drop unless it’s a fast charger. (Edit-the wider spread the slower chargers probably the lesser need for fast chargers, too.) 3.3kw is about 120v/27.5A. Not negligible but no one worries about hooking up hair driers to the grid and they draw tons of power. Reference the places putting chargers on light po…

When's the last time someone and 10 of their neighbors dried their hair for 12 straight hours, though? It's not the instantaneous power draw from a single plug that people are worried about but rather the aggregate draw.

search: >'electric stove hot-plate kilowatts' @DDG : https://html.duckduckgo.com/html/?q='electric stove hot-plat...>

"Most electric ovens draw between 2,000 and 5,000 watts"

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

#48

Post by nicoburns »

sokoloff wrote: post #37
ianai wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn’t take that long to wire up new electrical stuff. Just the will to do it. We’re talking 3.3kw to 6.6kw a drop unless it’s a fast charger. (Edit-the wider spread the slower chargers probably the lesser need for fast chargers, too.) 3.3kw is about 120v/27.5A. Not negligible but no one worries about hooking up hair driers to the grid and they draw tons of power. Reference the places putting chargers on light po…

When's the last time someone and 10 of their neighbors dried their hair for 12 straight hours, though? It's not the instantaneous power draw from a single plug that people are worried about but rather the aggregate draw.

I think it’s perhaps mostly still within the margins that grids are built to tolerate. We’ll need to generate more electricity, but we might not need to rewrite all our streets. Also, it won’t be a step change, it will be gradual. NEW cars will be EVs by 2030 (or whenever), but most cars will still be old cars.

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

#49

Post by nicoburns »

sdflhasjd wrote: post #36
acallaghan wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I agree, but right now in the UK, aside from the odd token charging point in a supermarket car park, realiably accessible charging stations are few and far between, particulary outside major city centres.

Where I live (north west london), there’s a pilot scheme where they’ve installed roadside chargers on my residential street (these are pretty small - they look more like “cats eyes” than petrol pumps). I’m guessing that’s the future.

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

#50

Post by nicoburns »

Yizahi wrote: post #23
acallaghan wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Let's imagine I need a car for a daily commute. Or work. After a day ends, I need to get it to the charging station, which is away from the home. I leave the car there and take a bus to the home. There I do something not engaging too much, because in 1-3 hours I need to get out again, at night, get a bus to the charging station (longer waits late in the evening too), then get the car to home and then finally I can re…

You shouldn’t need to charge every day in a city. Also, a lot of people will be able to charge at home. You don’t need special infrastructure for this, you can just plug into it into the mains.
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