It’s a Luxury Item

18 Replies to “It’s a Luxury Item”

1. did it take an expert to tell us that ? any truth telling electric owner knew

2. Not high enough. 10x would make me smile. Give it to the virtuous good & hard.

3. But, but, but … EVERYTHING sold as “green” is also sold as “cheaper”. Everything!

   You’re not telling me the “Green New Deal” is actually a rip off?

   https://youtu.be/eMBqzwwJ39A?si=-qqOjXurg-Q8GJUY

   1. Get a life. Go outside. Do something. Your insights here are dull and boring.

      1. You are a dumb as a bag of rocks.

4. I think my favorite little government gimmick is from New Jersey. The owners of an EV are entitled to a $4,000 rebate from the state govt of NJ. However, it’s on a first come first serve basis, and the funding ran out in April. It’s an empty account and the money went elsewhere….so it’s written that the rebate is applied when available.

   To add insult to injury, NJ then processed a new tax for EV owners that accommodates the lost taxation at the gas pump.

5. Britain’s public charging network is so expensive that the cost of driving an electric car is now up to twice the price of running a petrol or diesel vehicle.

   You stunningly stupid twits. Then again, you pay the government to watch TV.

   1. Note also that the price of gas and diesel in the UK is about double what we pay, so an EV driver over there is paying four times as much as we do to drive an ICE car.

      Furthermore they pay a hefty annual tax, plus needing an annual safety test. It is very expensive to drive in the UK.

6. Funny how this is exactly the same thing that happened to heat pumps in Ontario once Dalton Mcguinty got his hands on the power grid.

7. Two Tesla fam representing. I’m pretty honest with people – doesn’t make sense unless you charge at home, which overwhelming majority of EV owners do.

   1. I love the part where any road trip out of the city takes an infinite amount of time and makes you a sitting duck at any number of sketchy charging stations.

8. “While electric cars are significantly more efficient and less polluting than petrol or diesel vehicles, the high cost of chargers — and the falling price of oil — can make going green an expensive choice for those who do not have access to charging at home.”

   Good Lord, what a load of BS.

   1. Which part?

9. I have an EV. I wouldn’t put all my eggs in that basket, but I have one, so here is my take.

   Fast charger in Florida is 50¢ per kWh, and my car gets on average around 4 miles per kWh, so that works out to 50/4 or, 12.5¢ per mile. Figure gas at $3.00 a gallon in Florida, 300/12.5 = equivalent to gas of a car that gets 25 mpg. So in Florida, fast. chargers like the ones from FP&L are about equivalent to gasoline. This is of course as Joe has been draining the SPR to keep gas prices low for the election, but rough figures, fast chargers equivalent to gas, because my EV, that gets around 4 m/kWh would probably get 25 mpg based on its size.

   If you charge using FPL home power, and use the programs that allow you to get a lower rate by using the features included with the car to schedule when it charges, and assuming a 240 V power source to get the car charged in a reasonable time, you are around 12.5¢ per kWh, so you are at around 3¢ per mile, meaning that you can get 100 miles for your $3, or a 100 mpg equivalent.

   That being said, you can buy an ICE car cheaper, and the price difference will get a decent amount of gasoline. Not to mention, I used the EV exclusively for about 12 days, did a 250 mile round trip during that time, and while it wasn’t hugely difficult to keep it charged, it was certainly more effort, and a lot more time, than fueling up a car. I like to read, so I keep a novel in the car. After going back to my ICE car, the first time I put gas in it, and this car gets around 25 mpg, I was watching the gallon counter, and every four gallons being 100 miles, I rapidly put in over 500 miles, it never took less than an hour for my EV, on the fastest charger, to put in 150 miles, and on a 240 v charger, it would take seven or eight hours.

   Still, the EV is a lot of fun, and I never bought it for anything but charging overnight and running around town, and this trip was unexpected, and I like the EV. The little woman likes how quiet and comfortable it is, and I like how quick it is and how it drives. If they ever fix the battery problem, a big IF, ICEs will be for hobbyists. Right now though, most working people just don’t have the time or resources, I am retired, to drive an EV unless they have very special circumstances.

   1. And imTay, you said you were in Florida, where it rarely reaches -30C. So, you don’t have the cold weather reduced range or charging problems.

10. As far as weight damage to the roads, damage to the roads runs to the cube of the weight, but the way roads are designed for heavy trucks, the increased damage from EVs is not that significant, because that cube of the weight thing means EVs hardly climb the damage/weight curve, which only really starts skyrocketing at far higher weights than an EV. If they were noticeably damaged by EVs, they would crumble under truck traffic in no time.

    The real problem is that most urban dwellers who do not have a protected, assigned parking spot, which is almost everybody under a certain income level in cities, will never be able to use them without spending a significant amount of time chasing around and waiting at charging stations.

    1. Not to mention, that the savings over gasoline for these gypsy EV owners is minimal, as the article, and my own experience, points out.

       Not ready for prime time.

    2. I live in an older condo building. We will never have chargers as the buildings power system could never support it. It would cost millions just wire the parking lots.