Ask Lemmy

So… the work i do requires a truck. I bought a lightning last year. The electric part i loved. Charging at home was awesome. FL sucks on charging stations outside of major cities though and are expensive. In the end i went back to Ram mostly due to how horrible ford’s onboard software is. Everything else about the truck was great. I’ll give manufacturers another 3-5 years to get things figured out and hopefully by then prices will be reasonable and things will work properly.

Fisker Ocean owners that paid full sticker price I am sure.

Last time I had to buy a new car was 2022.

Based on my driving habits and needs total cost per km driven was 3 times as high for electric.

Most of it being purchase price of the car. There were no used electric cars that has the winter time range so I had to compare a used gas vs new top of the line electric.

Yeah, I bought a Tesla and now regret it because Elon is a dipshit.

That said, I've gone over 38,000 miles for less than $900 in electricity. I haven't had to deal with oil changes or any other maintenance items other than tire rotations and tire replacement (the latter was of my own accord they actually said I didn't need to yet, at the time).

I recently did a nearly 4hr trip with no need to charge on the way, and at my destination basically filled back up in something like 25 minutes while checking in to my hotel. So, no range anxiety for me.

The ride is nice, the features are helpful to me, and I have had no other issues with the vehicle.

So if it weren't for Elon I'd love it. I still like it, but I just hate being seen in it now. It's paid off so the financial cost of getting some other EV doesn't make a ton of sense right now, so I guess I'll just drive it until it dies...which at this rate might be a long-ass time.

I like the electric part.

What I don't like is that it's a steaming heap of spy-ware on wheels with no opt-out ability.

Which may lead to more expensive insurance depending on your driving style, or could be abused for even more nefarious reasons.

Make sure that the car matches your expectations.

Don't trust their range claims, most of the time they are exaggerated and only able to get that range on a perfect day doing constant 45mph without hills.

Do you have a reliable place to charge it? If you don't have a personal parking place, and cannot install a charger at said place, trusting you have the range you need gets difficult, and expensive. As you have to rely on public chargers that are not very reliable, and worse for battery longevity (level 3 chargers)

Speaking of range. What range do you actually NEED? My opinion is the minimum range should be double the normal daily commute, as most level 2 chargers can add ~18 miles/he charging (overnight charge means 144 miles charge). Double your commute gives you a buffer for the heater, or the grocery run after work. For most people this is only 80 miles.... which almost every electric only car can do without issues.

Is the cost worth the vehicle? Buying new is expensive, buying used can be risky. Do your research thoroughly and you'll be able to decide what fits what you NEED (and that answer may easily be a used ICE vehicle instead)

I've had a full electric vehicle for 5+ years now as my daily. But I have always had a personal parking place, with a level 2 charger. I consider electric only to be a commuter car at best. It's not going to be able to do a road trip. And depending on the car and the commute may even not be able to do a grocery run after work some days. If you have another car that is ICE that you can keep for those times, cool. Or if you are ok with planning, and rent a car when you want to do a road trip, great.

Personally I suggest a plug in hybrid for anyone who can only have one car, and is considering going electric. Prius prime, Chevy volt, Chrysler Pacifica are the ones that have enough range for a short commute, the rest are trying but just haven't gotten there yet.

I own 2 Teslas and an electric lawnmower since 2018 and I live in the Arctic Chicago area. No regrets besides Elon turning out to be a shitlord.

Downsides: Have to go to a gas station to find a squeegee to clean the windows.

Upsides: You have no other reason to go to a gas station.

I've gone from the Chevy Volt, to the Bolt, to a Polestar 2, to a Ford Mach E. 7 years in EVs, around 100k miles, with no regrets and no intention of going back to ICE.

I'm not even sure what the downsides are. Maybe longer trips require a tiny bit more planning? The infotainment systems do all the work though, telling me where to stop and how long to charge.

I haven't regretted it. Did a road trip across the country. Takes more planning because chargers are more sparse than gas stations, but totally doable. Having a place to charge is a must. I lived in an apartment complex without charging and REALLY had to plan my charging sessions or it could get stuck in the parking garage.

Privacy and security concerns, most of them are like big tech on wheels. See Telsa and others spying on users during intimate moments. Also most have major security vulnerabilities.

I have not regretted it. Bought a second EV for my family as well. Most of my extended family have also bought EVs and all had positive experiences. I don’t know anyone who has regretted it.

My Hyundai Ioniq 5 is my favorite car ever! We've taken it on two long road trips with very few issues. The biggest issue was one charging station in a rural area had a 2 hr wait to use it. But we typically only take 15-20 mins to charge from 10%-80% on road trips.

Not sure where the top commenter is getting their range issues from. Our level 2 charger at home adds ~250 miles of range in 4 hours. In hindsight probably would have gone a cheaper route of a simple exterior 240V outlet on the wall and a compatible cord to save a few hundred dollars.

Otherwise there's very minimal maintenance and the car is super easy/fun to drive. Love the 1-pedal driving mode after a short learning period, it's so responsive that the car feels like it reads my mind on where I want to go/how far to be behind the next car.

Edit: the 2025 Ioniq 5 models are coming with the Tesla charging port, so that will open up a lot more charging stations!

No regrets, but I do acknowledge that it's very different and has different challenges. The usual worries before buying about range, mileage, battery drainage, top speed, maintenance fees, towing capability etc, do not actually exist. I understand why people worry, but no, they are not actual issues.

In reality: Software. That's an issue. Car mechanics do not know how to service software. Doesn't matter if it's a subscription to a service or a mandatory but malfunctioning pressure valve, it's software and they don't know about it. It usually not a serious issue, but it might be, especially for cars with a lot of gimmicks and shit. This issue also exist with new fossil fueled cars as well. For most part, it can be ignored.

The charger at home may be an issue. (Maybe i. Europe mostly?) Some cars only accept voltages with a very low resistance. Both Renault and Tesla require a better grounding than the building code in most countries. It's not costly to fix, and it's a one time fix, but it may be a surprise..(that you need to expand on your electric circuit just for this), but you should have done anyway).

I will acknowledge that range is a downside. Not in everyday use, but for longer trips, you will have to plan your trip according to charging. It has never been an issue for me, because I generally never drive that long without pause anyway. Time it to to your breaks is all there is to it.

For a comuter car with home charging, you will have absolutely no issues in switching. It does have many more surprising positives than negatives. Like, never having to set foot on a gas station. Never mind the cost, but the time spent on going there or stopping on your commute to do it, or holding the nozzle in the cold, or being tempted to buy stuff in the convenience store etc. In comparison, I go home and plug in to charge my car, exactly the same way that I charge my phone, so it's ready for the next day. It's not difficult at all. It might take 30 secons and more often than than fueling but it's still much faster than stopping on the road, gas or not.

Only actual real downside for me is that I'm also a cheapskate. I prefer to time my charging to the variable electricity prices, but not everyone has that option and it's completely voluntary.. I'm not sure if it's worth it. Sure, i save a few bucks, but the hassle of it is real. I am considering changing to a subscription model instead, just to avoid worrying about it.

The best advice that I got before buying was: "Just drive it".

Don't think about it: It's a tool, use it. In a lot of ways an EV is much better suited for that, because you only need to worry about it being ready to use. You probably never thought of that for your ICE car, because you'd do refueling and other fluids on the road. If you fuel at home, you'll also have to refill your sprinklers and remember to wash it every now and then.. Maintenance is home based, not on a station.

There's a whole lot of benefits to it as well, but you didn't ask for those, and I think you should just go test drive one to see for yourself.

I love mine, Chevy bolt. The biggest downside is that you need to plan road trips more carefully with them, and road trips will just take longer. Once you accept that, it's actually kind of nice to periodically take 20-30 minute breaks while on a trip.

These problems are greatly alleviated if you also have a fossil fuel car. My partner has a gas car, so if we're just going for a weekend or there aren't good charging options, we just take the gas car so we don't have to worry about charging.

I think EV cars are mature enough. A lot of colleague have EVs, Tesla 3, Bolt, Ioniq 5, Soul EV, etc. and no-one regret it.

Me I don't need one because I WFH and do maybe 4000 miles (6000km) per year, so buying a 60k$ EV compared to a 30k$ ICE does not make sense, for money.

If your #1 priority is to save the planet and not pollute and you have the money, so of course go for it.

If you have a place to charge it and potentially another car to swap/borrow for road trips it is pretty much the best vehicle for city driving/daily commute.

1. Charging at home is much cheaper and healthier for the battery. If you can't charge at home I wouldn't get an EV.
2. Ask yourself how often you do road trips. Depending on where you live a 6-7 hour drive can easily turn into 12+ hours because of waiting around for charging if the chargers are not close enough to each other to utilise charging at the lowest battery % possible. Even the tesla supercharger network can be quite sparce outside of urban/wealthy areas.
3. Price - EVs are still quite expensive compared to ice in general, and depreciation can be killer. A used tesla model 3 is basically half the price now compared to what it was a few years ago when new. Check what kind of tax breaks or other benefits you can get in your region or consider buying used.