[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Xist

I feel like electric cars are hobbies for rich people.

If something happened to my Accord before I got my Civic back on the road I would probably try to find the most reliable $1,500 beater that I could. Many things would need to change before I could put together the $6,000 that I paid for my Subaru.

How many people are in my situation?

Let's go along with the argument "You can't afford not to!"

Looking in the Phoenix area, I found:
$4,000 for a 2013 Leaf with 92,000, six bars, and a lien:
https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/c...832147566.html
$6,998 (plus tax?) for a 2011 Leaf with 69,000 miles and a new hybrid battery: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...place_pill_tab
$6,800 for a 2012 with 58,000 miles and a new battery: https://offerup.com/item/detail/652170125/
Emissions are good: https://offerup.com/item/detail/625513051/

So, for $7,000, I could have a basically new six or eight year-old car--which would seem quite new to me. I would need to finance, which would be a pain for a private party sale. I read that banks charge more interest, if I can even get approved for a loan, because being able to have a mechanic inspect it means it is riskier.

Wait.

Let's say that I put down $1,500, finance $5,500 at 8% (is that realistic? I do not have any idea) for 36 months. I pay $172 monthly towards the loan, $45 monthly for electricity, and charge over two hundred times a year. After three years and $7,812 I have a paid-off car with a degraded battery. After five years the possibly aftermarket battery will have as many miles as when it was originally replaced.

Let's say that I charge three hundred times a year, but still pay $540 annually for 15,000 miles. $8,892 plus a set of tires for five years and 75,000 miles, $1,778.40 annually, $148.20 monthly, and 12¢ per mile.

I do not understand the argument that electric cars are more convenient because you do not spend all of that time at gas stations. Seven minutes every week or two? I insert the nozzle, clean my windshield and back window, and put the nozzle back.

Anyway, my Accord is twenty years old and goes 550 miles every single tank, using an average of 16.6 gallons. Right now a tank costs $45.15.

Dang.

So, $102.61 monthly for gas, plus oil changes, and other ICE-related maintenance.

Mr. Money Mustache explains the convoluted way he bought a new Leaf for about $16,000: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ho...000-2016-11-02

Fun fact: "Over half of Colorado's electricity comes from coal-fired power plants." https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=CO

Source for $540 for 15,000 miles: https://pluginamerica.org/how-much-d...-electric-car/

Probably most people are in your situation, and most people hold your view that EVs are hobbies for wealthy people. In fact, something like half of people say they couldn't come up with $2,000 if something happened, and that includes the ability to borrow the money. That's insane to me. I could work McDonalds and have $2k on reserve in a year. Most people make more than minimum wage, and yet have no reserve.

I didn't follow any of your math because your basic assumptions about most things were quite off. Used car loans aren't financed at much more than new cars. USAA (which you should have from being military) rates are 2.89% new and 3.59% used. Practically nothing. Index funds have a historic average much above that, so you're better off financing even if you can pay cash for the vehicle. Banks are dumb; people should not have bank accounts. Credit unions (such as USAA) have the best rates for both lending and saving, and better terms.

https://www.usaa.com/inet/wc/bank-lo...kredirect=true

At my electric rates, the cost per mile is 2-3 cents per mile. There's no gasoline vehicle that will do that well.

How is 7min every week at the pump more convenient than 5 seconds to unplug and 5 seconds to plug back in per day? That's 1 minute per week "filling up" compared to 7. Home filling is way more convenient than away filling.

A new battery in a Leaf should go at least a decade, not 3 years.