Range anxiety is overrated

[NeilBlanchard]

The evidence that quick charging doesn't harm batteries is - every EV with quick charging. There are even early Leafs that have only ever been quick charged.

Why do you not worry about an engine that is grinding itself away over time? Burning fossil fuel is so much damaging to all life on the only planet we have.

Let's leave fossil fuel in the ground!

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

How many of us purchase new cars?

I don't normally. To me the sweet spot to buy a car is 2-3 years old.

[Fat Charlie]

My last two, sadly. One was a new platform (no used) that begged to be riced and thrashed (do you really want used?).

My current one was new at $15k. Used ones couldn't depreciate fast enough to make them attractive.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by JSH

Been there done that. In my earlier years I was driving $300, $500, $1000 beaters. Yes it was cheap and I can do the work myself to keep them running but something always needed to be fixed.

I have a 2003 Chevy Astro that I bought two years ago and converted to a campervan. It was $4300 with 60K miles at purchase. I've spent $505.96 and many hours getting the van to pass inspection (Evap emission problem that turned out to be the pressure sensor on top of the tank. It ran fine when I purchased it but the check engine light came on the drive home. I should have brought my scanner). The light came back on again Sunday...

To date I have replaced:

• Radiator hoses
• Coolant
• Thermostat
• Rear calipers and lines
• Evap purge Valve Solenoid
• Evap Vent Valve Solenoid
• Fuel Tank Pressure Sensor
• Mass Airflow Sensor
• Battery

Insurance: Insurance on my 05 Prius was $455.79 per year. Insurance on the 2016 Spark is $551.36 per year. Of that $551.36 only $202 is collision and comp the rest is mandatory in my state.

Fuel: Is free to me for the EV

Cost per mile @ 10K miles per year:
Spark:
$0.12 Lease
$0.06 Insurance
$0.00 Fuel
$0.18 Total

For comparison the 05 Prius averaged $0.26 per mile (not including insurance) Purchased used and kept for 10 years / 123,514 miles and averaged 46.34 mpg

Right and my Subaru is less then the spark CPM if I sold it today (similar to what happens with a lease) and if I drove it 10,000 miles/year, (which I don't.) Want to save the fossel fuel think about why you put 10,000 miles on your car every year. With 2 drivers and 3 cars we don't put more then 8,000 miles total every year on all 3.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Right and my Subaru is less then the spark CPM if I sold it today (similar to what happens with a lease) and if I drove it 10,000 miles/year, (which I don't.)

You sure about that? Can you get your Subaru under $0.16 per mile on my commute? A quick calculation puts gas alone at $0.11 per mile.

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Want to save the fossel fuel think about why you put 10,000 miles on your car every year. With 2 drivers and 3 cars we don't put more then 8,000 miles total every year on all 3.

I know exactly why I put 10K miles on my car in a year. 52 weeks x 5 work days = 260 days. Minus 31 days off = 229 working days per year. I live 22 miles from work so that is 44 miles per day. 44x229=10,076 miles per year.

I could take public transport. A yearly transit pass is $1100. So I would save $650 per year. Driving to work takes 1.5 hours round trip and taking the train is 3 hours. So 1.5 x 229 = 343.5 hours (14 days / 2 weeks) extra time at work away from my family. So two weeks of time (which can never be replaced) in exchange for $650. No thanks.

Now you might say, move closer to work. My 1000 sq ft house cost $250K. If I move 10 mile closer that jumps to about $350. If I live next to work that house is $500K. There is another problem though. My wife also works. She is 7 miles from work, the other direction. So shortening my commute adds to hers.

[Hersbird]

I pointed out my car is basically free with no depreciation the last 3 years, my insurance is $17 per month, and the liscense was $90 one time 3 years ago and good forever now. I change the oil once a year myself for $20. And it gets at least 27 mpg around town and 35 on the highway. Tires I haven't needed, or brakes, they were new when I bought it and still look 70% or so. Someday I would like to move 30 miles out, but I will wait until I'm retired or close to it. After commuting 40 miles a day from North of SF to Alameda, I swore never again. I would live in a dumpy apartment before wasting all that time and energy in a crowded freeway.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Why do you not worry about an engine that is grinding itself away over time?

Because it is a simple, and relatively inexpensive, matter to rebuild an engine to original specs. Not so simple, nor cheap, to rebuild batteries.

Burning fossil fuel is so much damaging to all life on the only planet we have.

Let's leave fossil fuel in the ground!

I completely agree, but it's a different question. If pure EVs won't do what a lot of people need/want them to do, they will keep on buying gas-guzzling ICE vehicles instead. You get far more bang-for-the-buck by making plug-in hybrids that use minimal amounts of fuel, which can come from biofuels.

[oil pan 4]

It takes fossil fuel to build all this "alternative energy " stuff we are using now.
Leaving it in the ground" would stop all new solar and wind production.

[Grant-53]

It all depends on the size and type of battery. Twelve years selling auto parts persuaded me that all machinery wears out sooner or later. The best deal ever was the Huffy bicycle I bought in 1967 and still have.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

I pointed out my car is basically free with no depreciation the last 3 years, my insurance is $17 per month, and the liscense was $90 one time 3 years ago and good forever now. I change the oil once a year myself for $20. And it gets at least 27 mpg around town and 35 on the highway. Tires I haven't needed, or brakes, they were new when I bought it and still look 70% or so. Someday I would like to move 30 miles out, but I will wait until I'm retired or close to it. After commuting 40 miles a day from North of SF to Alameda, I swore never again. I would live in a dumpy apartment before wasting all that time and energy in a crowded freeway.

I'm glad your old Subaru works for you. You don't seem to get that what it costs for you to operate a car in Montana has no relevance to what to it costs me to operate a car in Oregon. License fees for me are $48 a year regardless of the age of the car not a 90 one time fee. Insurance for me is $400 a year without comp or collision not $17 a month. I can't image that any Subaru that I could get for $3000 would get better than 20 mpg on my commute idling in bumper to bumper traffic for miles.

You also seemed to completely miss the fact that a cheap apartment close to my work does not solve my commuting problem because then my wife would then have a similar commute in the other direction. It is challenging for two working professionals in different fields to find jobs close together. We've tried it in 3 states to date and this is the closest our jobs have been.