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Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
ICE cars have expensive transmissions, exhaust systems, and fuel systems, and cooling systems, not required by electric cars. They have thousands of moving parts vs about 2 dozen. They require regular maintenance every 3-5K miles, and you have to go to a gas station to fill the tank.
Electric cars can use renewable energy. In my area of the country, an EV gets the equivalent of 103MPG, all told. We are saving about $2K per year, at least. And we have cut our utility bills by a lot, at the same time.
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Those are reasons I got my Leaf when I did. Man! I miss that car!
I don't get along with mechanics. And I don't have many choices to chose from where I live. (Ever drive away from a mechanic and have no brakes AT THE NEXT STOP LIGHT or the steering wheel linkage fall off AS YOU'RE DRIVING?) So I do all my own maintenance and repairs whenever I can. But it's a bit of a hassle in my case. Going by the manual's recommendations, I've had the Avalon since August and I've already had to change the oil 3 times, the transmission oil once as well as the intake air filter (it says to do all that at these mileages right in the OEM owner's manual). Add to that we decided to have just one car, so when I change the oil and rotate the tires once about every 2 months my wife sometimes gets a little impatient.
But in the Leaf it was so much easier. No oil changes. No transmission to worry about. Just plug in and go.
Of course for a fair comparison as far as money goes, EV's don't have expensive engines and transmissions that could go out. But those components in an ICE car can last some 200,000 miles average, and much more than that with proper care. But in an EV the battery is also expensive. And for many, they are having to change their batteries out long before 200,000 miles. For an example, the 24kWh Leaf battery now costs some $8,000. But some Leaf batteries are reaching end of life capacity levels in as little as 2 years with less than 30,000 miles. Replacing an expensive engine and transmission every 200,000 to 300,000 miles is one thing. But replacing an expensive battery every 30,000 to 50,000 miles is another. Of course there are better EV batteries than the Leaf battery, and in the right climates the Leaf battery does last a lot longer. But maybe not 200,000 miles long.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
Sales of EV's is growing very quickly, and as we get more models to choose from, they will take over the market. How quickly did cars replace horses?
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I sure do hope so. Right now most of the world can either buy a Leaf, a Bolt or a Tesla. And that's about it for most folks. For those that want to save money their best bet is a used Leaf. We need more than that. And most importantly, EV's need to build up a good reputation of reliability. And all that takes time. And so far, it hasn't been all good for the EV. Like I say, many Leafs have already needed a new battery with very little mileage compared to an ICE. We're still in that "wait and see" period of what will happen in the future.