What will it take to make you seriously consider an EV?

I'm impressed how much people are willing to spend on cars. My wife and I have good paying jobs and we could afford an EV with all the bells and whistles, but I just can't convince myself to pay that much for a car. I'm sure prices will come down in the future and put these in a range where I'm more comfortable. I am impressed how much people are willing to pay though. I rather put my money away to make money though.

 

From article:

"Ford Model e is an EV startup within Ford," Ford CFO John Lawler previously told reporters in March. "As everyone knows, EV startups lose money while they invest in capabilities, develop knowledge, build volume and gain share."

Sounds right to me, you have to spend money to make money. I'm not at all surprised that they are not turning a profit early. I'm sure eventually it will be profitable and at this point they will be ahead of others that didn't invest in the technology.

 

Honestly, rim, having been somewhat involved in this: don't know about OPEC specifically but the big oil companies have been planning for this and have tripled down on manufacturing plastics (cancer rates, etc, be damned, of course).

 

It took Tesla 17yrs to become profitable. They finally made a profit of $5.5 Billion in 2021 and $12.3 Billion in 2022. So far this year they are up year-over-year so we'll see how much more they increased this year (barring a sudden drop in income)

 

Our EV was the first new car we had bought since the very early 1990s. I hate buying new cars and having them depreciate as soon as you leave the lot and so typically buy slightly used and drive them for 10 or more years. Bought the EV because I had a really good year consulting and the tax break was needed. We also felt it was time to reward ourselves and the operating costs would save us gobs of money going forward--and that has turned out to be true.

 

I met a guy the other day that owns a construction company. I pulled up to his house and he had a 2015 Tesla being charged right beside his giant dually pickup. He said he just bought the Tesla because he was tired of all the money he was spending on gas each month. He loves it.

 

Some good news on those batteries.

Researchers make surprising discovery about lifespan of EV batteries

https://www.yahoo.com/news/researchers-surprising-discovery-lifespan-ev-110000330.html

Some article highlights:


The Globe and Mail reports that a study done in March by Recurrent Motors Inc. — a Seattle-based battery analysis company — showed that overall, EV batteries are actually very reliable and long-lasting. In fact, they may last longer than the vehicles themselves.

The study took real-world data from 15,000 EVs of various makes and models in the U.S. By linking to the vehicles’ connectivity systems, the company took several battery readings daily, including charging activity, EV battery level, and estimated range.

The data showed that most EVs driven close to 100,000 miles still have at least 90 percent of their original range left.

Data from the study positively showed that, outside of official recalls, only 1.5 percent of cars had batteries replaced.

 

I think I remember reading the average income of a Tesla household is around $150k (don't know how accurate, that is), which I thought was kind of in line with at $50k car purchase. There are going to be people making a lot less than that that could afford something like a Tesla and people making a lot more who wouldn't buy a Tesla, too, obviously. If you're buying a $50k car, personally, I think that's easily do-able. Even for a lot of people buying something like a Plaid, that should be do-able - it would depend on how you're living your life. For example, I know a guy who's never made 6-figures who bought a Model S Plaid and I think he paid cash. And he's not struggling for money. It all depends.

 

This is good news, but I think this has been proven in the real world on forums where a lot of vehicles pushing that mileage still have 80-90% of their battery life in-tact. The big issue nowadays isn't necessarily degradation (as long as you charge properly) as much as it is you getting a bad draw in the battery lottery and ending up with a battery that just goes bad. But I don't know how common that is, tbh.

 

I hear you - luckily, according to the article only about 1.5% have needed replacement batteries. I would think many of those were under warranty. Of course there's not a ton of 15yr old EV's out there yet either so we still don't know for sure. But to be honest, a coworker has already replaced the engine in his 2yr old ICE car and the company said the warranty didn't apply so he was out 15K for a new engine on top of the car payment. So it's a gamble with ICE car's as well.

 

Wth. $15k for an engine replacement?? And after 2 years? And not covered by the warranty? Wth does he drive?

I've been lucky so far with my car. Even though they transmission shifted wonky when I first got it that they took probably a couple of years of software updates to fix, I haven't had any major issues and have only done regular maintenance. It's 9 years old and only has around 125k on it. Normally, I've put about 20-30k, with a max around 35k miles, on my car, but don't drive nearly that much anymore. I hardly drive any, to be honest, which is one reason I'm even considering an electric as my next car. In either case, if a car is giving me major problems before 100-125,000 miles, I chose the wrong car or just got unlucky. As far as I'm concerned, that's probably slightly over middle-aged in car terms. lol.

 

My BiL drove a Tesla Model S performance from 2013-2023, the battery died recently. He has decided to go the Porsche Taycan route b/c he wants something different. I recently went from a Tesla Modey Y to a Rivian R1S. I had gotten tired of the spartan interior on the Model Y and the cheap feeling materials, especially the black pleather seats in the summer heat ( talk about disgusting). The R1S has so far been exactly what I wanted. The interior is far superior to Tesla interiors, the materials look and feel much higher quality, and the stated battery life is much closer to reality than with the Tesla. If the Rivian says 280 miles of range, it means 250-280 depending on how I am driving. The R1S third row is similar to the BMW X7 third row with respect to size, and it fits what I need perfectly. The one thing I don't understand is why these new EV automakers are trying to reinvent Apple car play instead of just including in their software package. Otherwise, So far so good.

 

I drive Rivian on occasion. One thing I don’t like about the Rivian is its inefficiency.

It’s actually the worst among all EVs when it comes to energy consumption.

Which equates to higher energy cost and longer time charging.

 

For most, that’s not the true price of Model Y. Most qualify for $7500 federal tax rebate. Also, depending on which state you live in you can take even more off. Here in Massachusetts, you get $3500 stare cash rebate on top of the federal tax rebate.

A model Y for around 37k is a steal.

 

Was looking at the Tesla 3 website. I can't tell if it's the new model for sale or old one. Anyways it's a good price compared to how much used ice cars are.

 

You probably need to do more research. lol. If you want an easy way, just look at the headlights and taillights - you can tell it's the current model on sale. The new Model 3's aren't expected for US sale until end of the year at the earliest, with some people saying sometime early next year. I don't think it's officially even been announced for the US yet. But knowing Elon, he'll sell them for half-off next week.

 

Future raves. Get ****ed up and let your car drive you home.

 

#soon

 

Yeah...I kinda hafta call a bit of bullshit on this.

Maybe right, I may be crazy. But that stikes me as being way over the line