Electric cars do not make sense to own if you are not also owning a garage where you can charge them overnight. Also, if you are unwilling to add 1+ hour(s) to your travel time on longer distances.
Are electric cars too expensive to tempt motorists away from petrol vehicles?
81–90 of 243 posts
Re: Are electric cars too expensive to tempt motorists away from petrol vehicles?
#82Most of the buyers I'm aware of are in the used market - fortunately, they mention this briefly
I'm curious how that market develops. I'm pessimistic about "Car 2.0" for a couple reasons
First, a chance to redefine the idea of what owning a car is. For example, subscriptions to use induction heaters that you already pay to power.
Second, the battery. They're consumable and a considerable size of the value.
I'm not sure their market would remain
I've driven too many four cylinders that I legitimately have a complex over how my car sounds. I'm driving my V8 until I can't anymore
Re: Are electric cars too expensive to tempt motorists away from petrol vehicles?
#83Two years ago I spend nearly a month hunting for a decent electric vehicle. I had plenty of funds, and could theoretically afford a lower-end tesla. I was, at the time, driving a 2002 Honda Civic Hybrid, because to me, going electric makes sense. I was aware of the range limitations, and even had an agreement with my landlord to get a 220v outlet installed in the garage.
I ultimately abandoned my endeavor because none of the vehicles provided 2 key things older cars continue to provide: Ownership, and Privacy. And key to this is that this isn't just electric cars, it's pretty much all modern cars. My Civic had a replaceable stereo headunit. How many modern cars have the infotainment system so embedded that functions of the cars depend on it? And we know car manufactures take advantage of that. Hell, even judges seem ok with them doing that [1]. Then you have the fact that repairing anything in the car is made not only intentinally obtuse, but illegal is some states. As it stands right now in oklahoma, you can do any work you want on your gas vehicle, but move to electric and you better have a $5,000 yearly certificate to touch that. Simply opening the hood can land you in jail. And we know the car manufacturers can tattle on you [2]. Then there's the fact that these cars are more than capable of moving themselves. And that system is tied to a remote service. Absolutly nothing stops a manufacturer from deciding that your car's "drive train control system" is no longer licensed, and simply shut it down. Permanently. If companies are willing and able to steal your media [3], the next step is easily to just brick your appliances. Hell, microwaves are already doing that [4]. Trains do that if you decide a third party repair station is reasonable [5]. Where does this end?
Point being, till I can truly own my vehicle again, I'm sticking with older cars. I would much rather own an electric vehicle, but so far none of them are even remotely close to being something I can actually own. Price has nothing to do with it. [1] https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2023/11/judge-rules-i... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/apr/07/tesla-int... [3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/12/02/playstatio... [4] https://hackaday.com/2022/03/18/welcome-to-the-future-where-... [5] https://hackaday.com/2023/12/06/the-deere-disease-spreads-to...
Re: Are electric cars too expensive to tempt motorists away from petrol vehicles?
#84Electric cars do not make sense to own if you are not also owning a garage where you can charge them overnight. Also, if you are unwilling to add 1+ hour(s) to your travel time on longer distances.
and if your average distance is below 20km (and if it is they should consider moving)
Re: Are electric cars too expensive to tempt motorists away from petrol vehicles?
#85Beside all of that, if you convert let's say 1/10 of cars with internal combustion engines to electric motor cars, there is no electricity to charge them. Which also leads to envirnonmental problems - creating so much electricity (+ CO2 emmision from thermal-electric plants). Just count average low electric car consumption 15kWh/100km.
Big power plants are more efficient than small ones, otherwise everyone would have a generator at home. The question is what difference batteries make.
Everybody doesn't have a generator at home?
/s,
Floridian
Re: Are electric cars too expensive to tempt motorists away from petrol vehicles?
#86It is not only this. For me it is public greenwashing, that 'modern is always better' fallacy, subsidies (follow the money!), environmental impact of battery components, daily and seasonal inconveniences, even more SW instead of easily repairable mechanical parts, being forced by a vocal minority tru tax, social, and other penalties, etc. etc. Offer me an Hyuandai N74 and we'll talk.
As an aside since we're apparently bringing out the woodworks here, why is it that nearly all electric vehicles look like crap? Seriously, their designs are nearly all terrible compared to gas/diesel cars.
I suspect it was started by the Toyota Pius which was designed to look different so everyone would know how good you were.
But Teslas look like cars to me, so I think the era of “it’s electric so it has to look weird” is at its end.
Re: Are electric cars too expensive to tempt motorists away from petrol vehicles?
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does that mean mankind has to grow its energy usage 24 times to match the energy absorbed by the Earth?
Thinking about energy usage always puzzles me. I'm not even sure if driving a car from one city to another really uses energy. For example, let's look at it this way: The energy from the sun is heating earth. When we use some of it to drive a solar-powered electric car from one city to another, does that lower the temperature of planet earth? I would think it does not. So why did we get the energy to drive the car fo…
You're missing many many factors that are part of the total footprint of a vehicle: making & maintenance of the vehicle, of roads, infrastructure, maintenance buildings, energy, resources, parkings, ... all indirect environmental costs basically
Fuel being petrol or electric is only a small part of it
Re: Are electric cars too expensive to tempt motorists away from petrol vehicles?
#88This reminds me of the discussions some years ago whether one should invest in an SSD when buying a new laptop or stay with a spinning disk. Nowadays, barely any new laptops are released without an SSD. When it comes to electric versus petrol, I often think about the fact that the sun sends more energy to earth in an hour than all of mankind uses in a year. I guess that in theory, all that energy could be captured wi…
> what it takes to dig for oil and all the steps needed to turn that into a moving car
Indeed. Petrochemicals form a fundamental physical part of all cars. And everything else. I look forward to the innovations that need to replace them.
Re: Are electric cars too expensive to tempt motorists away from petrol vehicles?
#89No, people switching in droves in Ireland. Also, you don't need a garage, just a small driveway.
Throw in a few solar panels and you have a low tax, low tco car or second car.
Re: Are electric cars too expensive to tempt motorists away from petrol vehicles?
#90Electric cars do not make sense to own if you are not also owning a garage where you can charge them overnight. Also, if you are unwilling to add 1+ hour(s) to your travel time on longer distances.
I did a 3000km trip 4 times (twice each way) during the pandemic. Charging added 15 minutes to the trip. Everybody has to eat/sleep/bathroom, and that can happen at the same time as charging.