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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The financial case for an EV can be very compelling.  I just bought one. I have no idea how it could be thousands to install a charger on top of thousands to heavy up the panel.

The charger cost 600 and I could have paid half for one that is very well reviewed.  I paid 400 dollars in parts and labor for the install.  I could have saved 100 bucks if I hadn’t splurged on the install location.

The car this one is replacing was bigger, a 3 row mid sized SUV.  This is a compact SUV that is AWD.  The old car cost about $0.18 per mile to drive in gasoline.  My power company charges me $0.16 for every extra kWh I consume over my current consumption (it starts out less, but the marginal rate above a certain amount is fixed).

I can go about 3 miles on a kWh of energy.  There is waste in the charging system, so let’s take 10% for that.  Even factoring in that waste, cost per mile is just under $0.06/mile.  To use a high speed charger on the road, the price goes up to about $0.12/mile, but there’s more waste so let’s call it 0.15… but here’s the thing, you shouldn’t charge on high speed chargers that often because they’re bad for the battery.

But, that’s not all, I don’t have to spend the money on maintaining an internal combustion engine or transmission.  EVs are remarkably simple.  No spark plugs, 12v battery, oil, transmission, radiator, water pump, etc etc.

I also save time.  I don’t have to go to a gas station ever or spend as much time getting routine service and repairs.

Including this one, I’ve purchased 4 cars in the last 19 years, 3 of which are still in service in my family.  At $43,000 for a low mileage 1 model year old car, it’s the second cheapest I’ve purchased.  Which means, I would have been likely to spend this much or more on a ICE powered car.

I looked at 3 other EVs, a Prius, hybrid SUVs, and looked at plug in hybrids from multiple manufacturers. I also looked at a range of ICE SUVs.

Ultimately, being able to spend around the same capex to lower opex significantly and increase time savings made all the difference.

The only car that came close from an opex standpoint was the Prius.  You can get almost the same cost per mile at $3.50 a gallon (0.075-0.09 per mile depending on driving style).  And you’d start saving money cost per mile below around 3.25.  But then you still have more routine maintenance on a Prius, though really small risk of repairs.  I just didn’t like the Prius as much. To get one with comparable features to the EV of the same model year, I would have saved a few thousand. That said, new Priuses are still going for thousands above MSRP - so competition is fierce both used and new.  And I didn’t want to try that hard to still be left with a Prius.  And I wanted to sit higher, have AWD, and more interior space.

If I had to pay thousands for a heavy up, I wouldn’t have done it.  But those numbers seemed heavily skewed.  I’ve had residential heavy ups done and they cost less than 6000.

They are not good long road trip cars right now, considering the lack of high speed chargers at restaurants/rest stops and the lack of level 2 chargers at hotels. You will add about 40 minutes of charging time to get the miles most cars can get with a tank of gas - but you get to start your first leg with a full tank with no extra time.  Basically for trips of less than 400 miles, it will be a minimal annoyance, but for trips over 400 miles it will become an inconvenience.  I could have gotten a longer range, but opted for an AWD I liked rather than other models.  We go on maybe 1 road trip over 400 miles every 2-3 years, so it was a trade off I could make.

I didn’t pay a premium for the EV, I sacrificed size, versatility/road trip ability, and features instead.

On the opex side, I will be cutting about 200 bucks in gas (I drive a LOT) out per month.  In addition to the costs of avoided maintenance and service.  Insurance went up about 400 bucks per year, but I priced other similarly priced cars and it was less than 100 bucks difference (it was like 8 or 9 dollars a month, I don’t really remember).  I think the cost to insure EVs is a bit of a myth.  They’re just relatively expensive cars and expensive cars cost more to insure than less expensive cars.

Will I be printing money from the savings on net?  No, but I am still saving money over the lifetime of the car.  I like being an early adopter, but I don’t want to pay a big premium.  I had expected to buy an EV in the next 2 years but didn’t want to purchase this soon, but extenuating circumstances made buying a new car a necessity.

Some risks to my savings on net are: premature failure of battery or motor, rapid depreciation at the 8 year mark, other unanticipated problems of new tech that hasn’t yet shown the test of time.  But, you can’t eliminate that sort of risk.  New model years of ICE cars turn out to be disasters all the time.  You can’t live your life in fear of all risks.

The risks seemed manageable, the most likely financial scenario was compelling, and I wanted one.

BTW- they’re extremely fun to drive.

You have too much time on your hands.

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