More efficient manufacturing, falling battery costs and intense competition are lowering sticker prices for battery-powered models to within striking distance of gasoline cars.

  • blarth@thelemmy.club
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    5 months ago

    I paid too much for my EV, but am glad to see the prices come down for future buyers. When the price is competitive with ICE vehicles, I think we’ll see rapid adoption.

    • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      I got my EV used, and in three years I’ve already saved more on gas than I paid for it.

      EVs are so much cheaper to maintain and operate; no gas, no oil changes, no transmission, no sparkplugs or timing belts. If the sale prices are close, the total cost of ownership will be massively in favor of the EV.

      • Crikeste@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        Wait WHAT? EVs don’t require regular maintenance like a normal car does? That’s SICK (if true)

        • Jojo, Lady of the West
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          5 months ago

          Rotate/change the tires about as often as you normally would. That’s just about it. They have far less moving parts that get far less hot and don’t have tiny explosions in them almost ever.

        • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Most of the complexity in a combustion vehicle is in the engine and transmission, both things that an EV hasn’t got. A lot of mechanical compromises are made to allow converting gasoline explosions into forward momentum.

          An EV will still require brakes and tires, and eventually it’ll need replacement suspension components and probably wheel bearings just the same as any other car. And at some point it will surely need a coolant flush if the battery pack is liquid cooled, which it probably is.

          But it will not require engine oil changes, air filter replacements, spark plugs, transmission flushes, a replacement clutch, or transmission rebuild; nor will it ever need a belt replacement, pulleys, tensioners, or idlers; nor a timing belt replacement, emissions system repairs, and thieves will never steal its catalytic converter.

          An EV will, however, eventually require a battery pack replacement. Which is guaranteed not to be cheap.

      • skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de
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        5 months ago

        Modern cars in general are cheaper to operate. Have had a hybrid for 7 or 8 years. Other than annual oil changes and one change of tires, it has been zero maintenance. Still on the original brake pads thanks to regen braking (which EVs also benefit from, but the extra weight forces more frequent use of friction brakes.)

        • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          A Nissan Leaf weighs about the same as a Prius Prime. Many EVs are way heavier though.

      • Simulation6@sopuli.xyz
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        5 months ago

        Are you not including the cost of electricity into your estimate? It is cheaper then gas manly because it is not taxed out the wazoo yet.

          • Simulation6@sopuli.xyz
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            5 months ago

            It is not dumb and I don’t feel bad for asking a question. I am looking to get an EV and asked some people that have had one for a while about the recharge costs and 2 of 3 had no idea.

            • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              You can do the math yourself by taking your price per kwh and multiplying that by the battery capacity. The Tesla models range from 60 to 100 kwh, and my electricity is about 12 cents per kwh. So it costs between $7-12 to fully charge your car.

              If you can afford an EV, that’s not an amount of money that changes your spending habits.

              • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                And at current gasoline prices, it costs about $130 to fully fill up my truck. People are so set in their ways they don’t even flinch at this.

                And this is why I do so as seldom as possible these days, and only use it to move large objects. The rest of my life happens on two wheels whenever it is physically possible. (My RXB250L achieves about 60 MPG. My Honda Metropolitan gets 117…)

        • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          I happen to live next to a free charger provided by the state, and not far from a free fast charger provided by the dealership, so it’s essentially free for me.

          Electricity here usually costs about $0.12 per kwh, which can charge the car for 4-5 miles of range. That’s $0.84 to go 28 miles.

          Most people charge at home just by plugging the car into an outlet, so I have no idea how that would be taxed. With EVs we pay the road tax during vehicle registration, which is an extra $100 each year.

          • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            no idea how that would be taxed

            My utility company alleges that they charge a different – and higher, no surprise – rate for EV charging. I concur that I have absolutely no idea how they would know, unless you were dumb enough to volunteer to them that’s what you were doing and allowed them to install the charger themselves with its own attached meter. Especially if you’re using an L1 charger, plugging in your car would be indistinguishable from any other constant load like a heater.

      • eldavi@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        and they’re winning. the bonkers high tariffs on brand new $10k EV’S have guaranteed that americans and western europeans will never get affordable EV’s and only the rich will have them.

    • eldavi@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      When the price is competitive with ICE vehicles, I think we’ll see rapid adoption.

      they already cost $10k outside the united states so the price is already beyond competitive; the real barrier to adoption will be once/if the united states removes the 100% tariff they’ve placed on chinese ev’s.

        • eldavi@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          you should watch the video reviews on those cars; they blow american cars out of the water and it makes sense why our automakers would do everything in their power to prevent us from getting access to them.