1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
I only regretted that I bought a BMW because it eventually broke down and I had to pay an exorbitant BMw tax to fix it. So high it wasn’t worth it. To be clear the fix itself wouldn’t have been too much if BMW didn’t block third parties from doing it.
Loved having electric though. Next car will definitely be electric. Full tank of ‘gas’ leaving the house everyday. Never having to go to petrol stations…
Not yet, but are there any electric cars that aren't spyware with touchscreens on wheels?
lol. As opposed to the 6 inch rectangle in your pocket
I would argue all connected cars have become that. If you're buying anything newer than 2015, in all likelihood it's a spyware filled go-kart.
Yes, I ended up selling and buying a hybrid. Super happy with the hybrid.
Basically instant "recharge" speed.
Longer range.
More vehicle options.
Don't have to worry about heat or cold draining my fuel.
Can leave the car stationary for long periods of time without the fuel draining.
More fueling stations.
More reliable fueling stations (chargers may be broken.)
Less software bullshit. (Tesla)
Less possibly breaking updates. (Tesla) No joke. My car's software literally crashed on the freeway once and I was essentially driving blind because all the screens went blank.
I drive a lot and for long distances. Switching to hybrid made trips shorter by an hour.
And I still got to keep fancy drive assist features. It's like 80% of autopilot, if not more.
Oh! And big one! Even though an electric car may say something like 500km range! That's NOT the usable range! You're not going to be driving the car to 0km. You're not even supposed to charge to 100% most of the time! So most of the time you'll charge to 80%, that's 400km in the battery. But, you probably wanna play it safe, so you'll want to recharge with 50km to 100km left in the battery. Leaving you with about 300km of usable range.
Then the heat, cold, and time will slowly drain your 300km....
Meanwhile, my hybrid has about 700km of usable range, regardless of time and weather.
I've been wanting a plug-in hybrid, where you're fully electric under ~40mi of daily travel, and if you exceed it switches to gas for backup. RAV4 prime has been my dream car lately....
I have a 10 year old Chevy Volt. 95% of our households driving is on the 38 miles of battery range. Oil changes every 2 years.
I have driven an old Nissan leaf for 5 years as a commuter, and I love it I don't pay for gas or maintenance the electrons are free, and the insurance is cheap. I'm waiting on some more robust options so I can have an EV as my main car.
EV driver working in automotive industry here. Based in N Europe, so take my words with a pinch of salt for other geos.
If you can charge at home, don't regularly drive very long distances and are OK with a smaller boot space EVs are a complete no-brainer.
If not all of these are true, the convenience depends a lot on where you live. In Northern Europe, UK and northern parts of Central Europe public charging networks are pretty good although Norway is starting to see queuing to be a thing.
In the US the only good charging network is Tesla's, which means only NACS cars can charge there - EU regulator has done a good job here standardising to CCS2.
Living with an EV does require some changes in behavior. You need to think about tomorrow's needs today to have the right SOC for the next long trip or choose your shopping and dining options to facilitate charging. For me, this is perfectly OK and the pleasure of driving an EV more than compensates for the mild inconvenience. That said, the amount of inconvenience is dependent on the first three factors and the country you live in.
When choosing your car, remember that you can't normally use the top and bottom 20% of your battery (depending a bit on the chemistry), which is reflected in day-to-day range.
Feel free to ask anything related to EVs, batteries, chargers or charging networks.
We have a Nissan Leaf (30kWh) which has been great. No regrets.
The things you worry about before buying (range, battery life) are absolute non-issues. For optimal battery longevity you don't want to use a fast charger very often, so just charge it at home which is generally more convenient anyway. You can make exceptions occasionally when you need to.
We use it for city driving, for which the range is more than adequate and we mostly only charge it every few days. We haven't yet attempted to take it on a proper road trip; so far we just borrow a friend's hybrid if we need to do that, basically to avoid having to think about charging.
I’m also considering getting a full electric car, but have a little range anxiety mixed with a general feeling that the improvements over the next couple years will make current electric cars obsolete, so I am following along with this thread!
improvements over the next couple years will make current electric cars obsolete
This is my problem with any new car. Practically every new car (even ICEVs) is just a smart phone on wheels now. It’s not like in the ‘90s - ‘00s when you could still legit buy a car from the ‘70s and daily drive it and repair it in your own drive way for cheap (most people in the 50s - 80s were capable of basic tune ups, etc).
My concern is that at some point the parts won’t be made anymore. Or if the LCD command console gets cracked or something your car’s totaled. I mean, people used to own cars for at least ten years, twenty years wasn’t uncommon. Do you think a 2025 XYZ is going to be on the road in ten years- twenty years? What’s the resale value on that / who’s going to buy a twenty year old phone on wheels?
As much as people believe EVs are better for the environment, aren’t they increasing the rate at which a vehicle ends up in landfill? I hope recycling is part of the car’s lifecycle.
At the same time though, I have to acknowledge that, without an ICE, EVs have far fewer points of failure. There’s a potential for them to be on the road much longer. I just don’t see that happening due to consumer demand. Even if you’re able to update the software and swap out worn out parts, is that enough to keep the car on the road as long as or longer than an ICEV? What happens when technology changes and they find better batteries or charging methods? How much do you have to invest in the phone on wheels to keep it on the road?
This is my problem with any new car. Practically every new car (even ICEVs) is just a smart phone on wheels now. It’s not like in the ‘90s - ‘00s when you could still legit buy a car from the ‘70s and daily drive it and repair it in your own drive way for cheap (most people in the 50s - 80s were capable of basic tune ups, etc).
Remember cars from the 70s and 80s were considered "clunkers" at 100k miles. Today that number is 200k miles generally.
My concern is that at some point the parts won’t be made anymore. Or if the LCD command console gets cracked or something your car’s totaled.
Thats true of all modern cars, not just EVs. That ICE car is full of computers named things like "Engine Control Module" etc. Its already happening where they are dying and a car is essentially totaled.
I mean, people used to own cars for at least ten years, twenty years wasn’t uncommon.
Twenty years wasn't uncommon? For collectors cars or sunday drivers maybe. There were extraordinarily few 20 year old Plymonth Reliants on the roads in 2001.
Do you think a 2025 XYZ is going to be on the road in ten years- twenty years? What’s the resale value on that / who’s going to buy a twenty year old phone on wheels?
Even though there were other EVs before it, the Tesla Model S was the first mainstream EV that most would consider. You don't have to wonder if they're on the road. You can do used car searches for 2013 (11 years old!) and find them for sale.
As much as people believe EVs are better for the environment, aren’t they increasing the rate at which a vehicle ends up in landfill?
No. Interestingly one of the challenges of setting up recycling facilities for EV batteries that there simply aren't enough EVs being taken off the road with their batteries junked to create enough feedstock to justify the facilities.
If anything, the cut corners and non-reparibilty of the many common ICE vehicles is generating far larger waste. Try to buy a rebuilt Hyundai Sonata ICE engine for a car built in the last 10 years. You will have a hard time because they aren't very servicable and they break often. Lack of replacement engines means many cars that look amazing are headed to the scrapper because there's no way to put them back on the road again.
At the same time though, I have to acknowledge that, without an ICE, EVs have far fewer points of failure. There’s a potential for them to be on the road much longer. I just don’t see that happening due to consumer demand.
"Electric cars accounted for around 18% of all cars sold in 2023, up from 14% in 2022 and only 2% 5 years earlier, in 2018." source
Nearly 1 in every 5 new cars sold last year were EVs.
Gasoline consumption for vehicles is down 4.4% due to those drivers now driving EVs and not buying gasoline anymore source
Demand of EVs seems to be pretty decent.
I haven’t regretted it. Though if you were to do consistent long drives, and only have one car, I might suggest checking out PHEVs.
I went from an 08' VW Rabbit to a '21 VW id.4 a few months ago. Got the $4k tax rebate passed onto the dealer to bring my price down to $19k [~$21k after taxes/fees], it's the AWD Pro S, and doesn't have the Gradient Package [some silvery exterior bits and slightly larger wheels]. I love the car, my family loves the car. The only nitpick I reaaaaaally have and that most people have for the VW evs is the damn driver side window switches lol. You get 2 and have to tap a touch sensitive bit to switch it to the back. Makes no sense. The steering wheel touch inputs for cruise control and media are another controversial choice, but I've gotten used to it.
As far as an EV in general goes. Like most have said, check out the charging network you have where you are and where you plan to be. I've only done one road trip in my id.4 [from buying it in Chicagoland and bringing it home] and while the range was "OK" [about 150 highway miles per charge], since I was along a string of L3s along the turnpike, I wasn't worried about making it to a charger. My immediate area had a couple of L3s, but now there's probably about double/triple around me now that's opened in the few months I've had my car.
That being said, my circumstance have the car as mostly a commuter, so I tend to last on a charge all week, and then L1 charge it Sun-Tues morning to start all over. Any around town stuff during charging time doesn't really make a dent since it's all within a few miles of my home. I also am able to charge at work for free, though sometimes spots get filled. Initially I was thinking about getting a L2 EVSE, but between home and work, I don't really feel the need for one. I'd also need one with a good 50' cord since I park in front of my house, otherwise wife and I would have to re-arrange the cars whenever I wanted to charge.
That being said, if stuff happens and we do go up to my sisters about 40 miles away or something happens to where I do need to charge at a L3, the price per "tank" has been about $15 and taken 20-ish minutes. Most of the time I'm watching a few youtube videos, or going in for a restroom break and by the time i get back the car's about ready.
My car, and I think most EVs nowadays will have a setting limiting the charge to 80% to help with keeping the battery healthy. If I'm not using air conditioning at 80% my estimated range is about 190-200 miles, if it's hot and I'm using AC, it'll go down to 185ish. First upcoming winter, so I'll get to see how much my car is impacted. I don't usually worry about range. I did at first because I had a couple of close calls about charging stations not being available while doing some longish trips back and forth, but I think in general my immediate and surrounding areas that I might frequent have gotten more stations recently.
OH. Insurance for me wasn't much more than what I was already paying, but registration in my state tacks on another $200 dollars a year, presumably since having an EV you're not paying into the gas tax. Some states don't have EV fees, some do. So might want to check that. My co-worker just found out about that and wasn't happy lol.
Model 3 owner (before the crazy) and I love it still. auto pilot is amazing, I hate elon but honestly the super chargers are so much better than the other plug. I may consider something besides a tesla if they get an auto pilot thing and adopt the plug, but unfortunately for the time being i’m stuck giving money to the jumping dip$h1t.
We bought a used one and just use a little Android Auto server we built for online services. It's a little extra work but works great, giving me more control and options. No money to Musk that way. He does get our driving data, but we can pull the SIM card out of the car if we want to stop that.
It all depends on your use case. For me with a 20 mile round trip daily commute and a 200 mile drive every other week where the car is then parked for 36-48 hours at a hotel with a level 2 charger before returning home an ev is great. If you can charge at home I think it's a no brainer if you're looking to buy new or slightly used. If you're constantly driving hundreds of miles in a day then no probably not. Downside are longer road trips, as some other people said in places where charging is sparce you're looking at 50-100% more time for distance traveled. But if you don't mind being more leisurely and chilling out at a restaurant or what have you then it's not a big deal. And initial price. They are still expensive.
The big question is if you can charge at home. Depending on the car, it's feasible to do so on a normal outlet if you drive ~30 miles or less per day. A 240 volt outlet can be a game changer on top of that though. My setup charges my car 0-100 in about 6 hours (you know, overnight, when I'm not doing anything and electricity is cheapest). But if I were in an apartment and had no access to overnight charging I'd consider other options.
(Chevy Bolt EUV)
I love mine. Hyundai Ioniq 5.
2 years so far and it's been great. Wouldn't ever go back to gas. I don't even have a charger at home, but there is charging at work. I only need to charge it like 2 shifts per week, maybe 3 if I did a lot of driving, so it's not hard to keep it topped off just from work. Every once in a while the work parking lot is so damn full every single day that I can't charge there all week... So I have to suffer the inconvenience of... Going to a gas station and using their fast charger. Ugh.
Road trips take a bit more planning but I don't go on many road trips anyway. One per year, at most.
Weekend mountain trips and camping/skiing is great, though.
I almost bought a Chinese EV but decided to hold back and not support China because of their support for Russia. Got a 2nd hand ICE Mazda for now which I hope will last me until there's some non Chinese EV competion in my region or China finally grows some balls and starts doing the right thing.
I got within an extremely close distance to getting a Model Y this year during the price cuts; I secured the loan and was looking into the insurance costs which is what ultimately killed my decision.
My car is paid off and I only pay for gas (I have the Prius Aqua 2016, ~53mpg, 4.44L/100km)
When I looked into the Y, first of all they don't allow you to get an insurance quote without first putting a down payment. If I had gone through with the purchase, I'd be looking at almost 570$/month on the car loan alone with the trade-in, plus another 140/month (I currently pay 80$/month, roughly) for insurance through my current company (this is only a ballpark figure based on me pulling a VIN number online and feeding it into a quote; that number could possibly be significantly higher). That puts my excess car expenses conservatively at 650$/month just for a new car. The literal only problems I have with my current car is that it can't tow my horse trailer and that it's a "dumb" petrol car with no infotainment and a physical key. I'm probably going to put a 12" iPad in the center console for infotainment and call it a day and keep that around for another 4 years until Apple CarPlay 2 trickles down to affordable EVs.
In summation, I really don't think EVs are worth it unless you absolutely must buy a new car. There are new infotainment options on the horizon like Apple CarPlay 2 and Android Automotive with Android Auto as standard... right now is the literal worst time to buy a car. Not to mention that NACS is going to replace CCS in the USA in the 2026 model cars. Your resale value in the mid 2030s will be absolute dogshit if you don't wait for the NACS port in next year's cars.
Other than the fact that I overspent a bit, I don't regret it. Especially since I live in Florida and didn't have to deal with the gas shortages due to the hurricanes. As long as you have a reliable means of charging at home (or at work), you are good 95% of the time.
If you do any regular long-range driving, be sure you get one that can support that distance. Public EV chargers can still be hit-or-miss, and that's the biggest downside in my opinion. They aren't too frequent, and a lot of times they just don't work. You also generally need to get an account for each charging network, or else it can be hard to pay or you just pay more. But I can live with that, because it is very much an exceptional part of my driving habits.
Short answer no. I now have two in my house. VW ID4 & ID3. So nice to drive, cheap to run and the maintenance costs are basically 0.
Downsides are you can’t drive as far, usually, before needing to fill up, and quick charge takes about 25 minutes, instead of the usual 5 for gas.
Upside is that only matters on road trips. If you have an outlet at home, like we do, your car is just always charged.
