cheaper to operate than an electric car?

[cowmeat]

My Volt is pulling about three times the mpg you're getting in the HCH if that helps

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

My Volt is pulling about three times the mpg you're getting in the HCH if that helps

And my electricity costs 2-3x as much as gasoline.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

We are talking about <b>regular</b> maintenance.

Who are you calling "we" here? I think everyone but you is talking about ALL maintenance, and I think it's a little dishonest to talk about maintenance as though it only involves the power train.

An EV drivetrain has about 15 moving parts, with very little wear and tear, and no vibration, and almost no waste heat. By definition, it will have less long term problems.

Not necessarily. If you want to be technical, an EV power train has billions and billions of moving parts: they're just moving at atomic scale. Which is why, as I said above, the biggest long-term maintenance issue with my Insight involves the battery, and that didn't show up until the car had been driven for about 8 years.

The thing about the maintenance issues with IC engines is that almost all of them are trivial to take care of. Even a total engine rebuild is not out of reach of the average mechanically-inclined person. With an EV, it seems as though any battery problems require trips to the dealer for a complete replacement, and that's not going to be covered under warranty forever, you know.

Seems IC versus EV maintenance is rather like the difference between working on a standard PC and an iPhone. Almost anyone can replace or upgrade parts in a standard desktop/tower machine, or even build one from parts. Even notebooks aren't impossible to work on. But try working on an iPhone, or indeed, an i-Anything :-(

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Ecky

And my electricity costs 2-3x as much as gasoline.

Instead you should convert your insight to a PHEV,

I am waiting for Mudder's Linsight to put into my project insight.

EV mode and great gas MPGs all in one package.

[Ecky]

That would be ideal. I have a limited weight and space budget so keeping the gasoline engine limits how much battery I can stuff in, but the more I think about it, the more Linsight appeals to me. I don't think decoupling the electric motor is going to work out very well but I would certainly enjoy putting around with a constant assist and topping off at free charging stations.

Speaking of which, how easy is it to build a connector to allow the use of public EV charging stations?

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Ecky

That would be ideal. I have a limited weight and space budget so keeping the gasoline engine limits how much battery I can stuff in, but the more I think about it, the more Linsight appeals to me. I don't think decoupling the electric motor is going to work out very well but I would certainly enjoy putting around with a constant assist and topping off at free charging stations.

Speaking of which, how easy is it to build a connector to allow the use of public EV charging stations?

J1772 is about $120 easy

[NeilBlanchard]

Tires and wiper blades are on all vehicles. Costs that matter are the ones that don't offset because both EV's and ICE's have them.

So, the entire ignition system in an ICE is a MOVING PART? Good to know ...

By that same hair-splitting "logic", an ICE would have to include the billions of moving gasoline molecules, and in the billions in the exhaust gasses, too.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by sendler

Right now gas is obviously way too cheap in the USA. There is no real incentive for Joe Public to even think twice about wasting it.

Yeah, let's screw the poor and middle class even more! Trust me, when it takes 3 weeks pay just to make rent you worry very much about wasting gas even if it's "too cheap". The average Joe Public can hardly afford full coverage insurance that would be required on an electirc car let alone the payments. Much more expensive then buying a beater and spending $500/year on gas and oil.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Yeah, let's screw the poor and middle class even more! Trust me, when it takes 3 weeks pay just to make rent you worry very much about wasting gas even if it's "too cheap". The average Joe Public can hardly afford full coverage insurance that would be required on an electirc car let alone the payments. Much more expensive then buying a beater and spending $500/year on gas and oil.

Historically I could have fallen into that category, but I rejected living that way, I could not increase my earnings, so I then searched diligently to locate the least expensive per month accommodations.

For many years I lived in a $240 per month all utilities included studio apartment (while others in my same boat were buying houses, not paying student loans or paying 4-8 times on rent because they "needed it")

I drove a 25 year old vehicle

I paid under a dollar a day for food.

I completely reject people who start describing specific types and locations of apartments as "needs"

They aren't, if you want to live somewhere you can't afford you either need
1. Roomate(s) with gainfull employment
2. To move
3. Parents
4. a more efficient lifestyle

don't like it, welcome to the real world hippie.
Its always a choice, make the right one and your life is easier.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Trust me, when it takes 3 weeks pay just to make rent you worry very much about wasting gas even if it's "too cheap".

Does not seem to be true of a lot of the poor and average Joes and Jills out there, since they seem to be buying used gas-guzzling pickups and SUVs at about the same rate that more prosperous folks buy new ones.

The average Joe Public can hardly afford full coverage insurance that would be required on an electirc car let alone the payments.

But Joe still takes out a loan to buy his used car, so has to pay for that full coverage.