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submitted 15 hours ago by Waldowal@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

I need a new car, and I really want to go full electric. I'm wondering if anyone regrets buying one? What are the downsides?

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[-] weew@lemmy.ca 7 points 13 hours ago

I love mine. Hyundai Ioniq 5.

2 years so far and it's been great. Wouldn't ever go back to gas. I don't even have a charger at home, but there is charging at work. I only need to charge it like 2 shifts per week, maybe 3 if I did a lot of driving, so it's not hard to keep it topped off just from work. Every once in a while the work parking lot is so damn full every single day that I can't charge there all week... So I have to suffer the inconvenience of... Going to a gas station and using their fast charger. Ugh.

Road trips take a bit more planning but I don't go on many road trips anyway. One per year, at most.

Weekend mountain trips and camping/skiing is great, though.

[-] movies@lemmy.world 10 points 15 hours ago

I haven’t regretted it. Though if you were to do consistent long drives, and only have one car, I might suggest checking out PHEVs.

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[-] hperrin@lemmy.world 6 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Downsides are you can’t drive as far, usually, before needing to fill up, and quick charge takes about 25 minutes, instead of the usual 5 for gas.

Upside is that only matters on road trips. If you have an outlet at home, like we do, your car is just always charged.

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[-] Leeks@lemmy.world 9 points 15 hours ago

I’m also considering getting a full electric car, but have a little range anxiety mixed with a general feeling that the improvements over the next couple years will make current electric cars obsolete, so I am following along with this thread!

[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 9 points 15 hours ago

improvements over the next couple years will make current electric cars obsolete

This is my problem with any new car. Practically every new car (even ICEVs) is just a smart phone on wheels now. It’s not like in the ‘90s - ‘00s when you could still legit buy a car from the ‘70s and daily drive it and repair it in your own drive way for cheap (most people in the 50s - 80s were capable of basic tune ups, etc).

My concern is that at some point the parts won’t be made anymore. Or if the LCD command console gets cracked or something your car’s totaled. I mean, people used to own cars for at least ten years, twenty years wasn’t uncommon. Do you think a 2025 XYZ is going to be on the road in ten years- twenty years? What’s the resale value on that / who’s going to buy a twenty year old phone on wheels?

As much as people believe EVs are better for the environment, aren’t they increasing the rate at which a vehicle ends up in landfill? I hope recycling is part of the car’s lifecycle.

At the same time though, I have to acknowledge that, without an ICE, EVs have far fewer points of failure. There’s a potential for them to be on the road much longer. I just don’t see that happening due to consumer demand. Even if you’re able to update the software and swap out worn out parts, is that enough to keep the car on the road as long as or longer than an ICEV? What happens when technology changes and they find better batteries or charging methods? How much do you have to invest in the phone on wheels to keep it on the road?

[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago

This is my problem with any new car. Practically every new car (even ICEVs) is just a smart phone on wheels now. It’s not like in the ‘90s - ‘00s when you could still legit buy a car from the ‘70s and daily drive it and repair it in your own drive way for cheap (most people in the 50s - 80s were capable of basic tune ups, etc).

Remember cars from the 70s and 80s were considered "clunkers" at 100k miles. Today that number is 200k miles generally.

My concern is that at some point the parts won’t be made anymore. Or if the LCD command console gets cracked or something your car’s totaled.

Thats true of all modern cars, not just EVs. That ICE car is full of computers named things like "Engine Control Module" etc. Its already happening where they are dying and a car is essentially totaled.

I mean, people used to own cars for at least ten years, twenty years wasn’t uncommon.

Twenty years wasn't uncommon? For collectors cars or sunday drivers maybe. There were extraordinarily few 20 year old Plymonth Reliants on the roads in 2001.

Do you think a 2025 XYZ is going to be on the road in ten years- twenty years? What’s the resale value on that / who’s going to buy a twenty year old phone on wheels?

Even though there were other EVs before it, the Tesla Model S was the first mainstream EV that most would consider. You don't have to wonder if they're on the road. You can do used car searches for 2013 (11 years old!) and find them for sale.

As much as people believe EVs are better for the environment, aren’t they increasing the rate at which a vehicle ends up in landfill?

No. Interestingly one of the challenges of setting up recycling facilities for EV batteries that there simply aren't enough EVs being taken off the road with their batteries junked to create enough feedstock to justify the facilities.

If anything, the cut corners and non-reparibilty of the many common ICE vehicles is generating far larger waste. Try to buy a rebuilt Hyundai Sonata ICE engine for a car built in the last 10 years. You will have a hard time because they aren't very servicable and they break often. Lack of replacement engines means many cars that look amazing are headed to the scrapper because there's no way to put them back on the road again.

At the same time though, I have to acknowledge that, without an ICE, EVs have far fewer points of failure. There’s a potential for them to be on the road much longer. I just don’t see that happening due to consumer demand.

"Electric cars accounted for around 18% of all cars sold in 2023, up from 14% in 2022 and only 2% 5 years earlier, in 2018." source

Nearly 1 in every 5 new cars sold last year were EVs.

Gasoline consumption for vehicles is down 4.4% due to those drivers now driving EVs and not buying gasoline anymore source

Demand of EVs seems to be pretty decent.

[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 hours ago

People also just drive a lot more today than 40 years ago, in part, because jobs and shopping are further away (it's gone down since COVID due to more WFH). A car with 100K miles on it was an old car. Now it's not unheard of for people to put that kind of mileage on their car in under five years. I have no argument that vehicles are much more well built today.

As I said in another comment, I'm not arguing that cars are more capable of being on the road, just that I don't believe people are going to choose to drive a ten to twenty year old car in 2035 - 2045 as much as they had fifty years prior. You could put less than $1,000 into a 100k mile car in the 90s and expect to get another 50k+ out of it. At least, I can confirm that that's what I did with my 1976 Ford Elite and later my 1980 Camaro.

Moreover, there's nothing aside from the maintenance of the vehicle and maybe improved gas mileage that would deter anyone from choosing to drive an older vehicle. There are far more reasons today to not choose a ten year old car than there were 30-40 years ago.

My point is about consumer choice and the advancements of technology. Will people choose to drive vehicles that aren't compatible with future technology.

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[-] noahm@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

Look for a used one now. The prices are low enough that you'll be able to get a good one for a low enough price that you may not feel bad if you decide to upgrade in 2 or 3 years.

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[-] drmoose@lemmy.world 6 points 15 hours ago

I almost bought a Chinese EV but decided to hold back and not support China because of their support for Russia. Got a 2nd hand ICE Mazda for now which I hope will last me until there's some non Chinese EV competion in my region or China finally grows some balls and starts doing the right thing.

[-] LesserAbe@lemmy.world 4 points 13 hours ago

I'm very pleased. I have a 2023 Bolt.

For us there was no way we'd get one without a home charger. It's great because every day you wake up and it's like a full tank of gas.

My wife still has a gas car and we bought the electric planning that we'd still use the gas one for road trips. The Bolt in particular doesn't have super fast charging (probably like 45 minutes to get to 80% using a fast charger) so if we didn't have the second car that might be my one concern.

My wife wasn't sold when we got it, but the electric was for me so we went ahead. Now she likes it. I'm banking on better EV options being available when we get our next car but I think it will be electric too.

[-] tankplanker@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

We've had three EVs for a few years now and they been great, had four in total and replaced the first one a bit over a year ago as its lease expired, so no regrets.

Lengthy road trips aren't a problem if you plan out your route in advance I get not everyone wants to do this so if this you then wait till there are more charging stations for your region. We plan stops based on charging stations that have a lot of high speed chargers (over 100kw) so we are never waiting more than 20 minutes and never waiting for a charger. It is faster to charge twice to around 80% on one of these than it is to charge to 100% once due to how much charging slows down as the battery nears completion. I would not even consider a car that does not have a 800v architecture due to the slower charging speeds if you plan on road trips.

We have done 1200 mile round trips, probably small fry for Americans but a lot for us, especially as we towing for all that. Its achievable with planning in most western countries. I want to stop at most every three hours as I want to use the loo, are people who are driving 6 more hours non stop peeing in a bottle or something?

Cost per mile is stupidly low as we charge at home when not on trips over 280 miles, 8p per kwh, with a monthly cost between the three cars of £40 for around 2000 miles a month (more in summer, about that in winter). Good luck doing 2000 miles on £40 for an ICE car. Charging when out is more expensive the faster you want to charge, ultra rapids work out about the same per mile as high economy petrol ICE, rapids or lower a bit cheaper but nothing significant. Its only going to be cheaper if you can charge at home and your energy provider has a suitable EV tariff as we do.

Absolutely zero chance I would buy an EV right now as depreciation is already horrendous and the rate of change for EVs is rapid unless you know the car will meet your log term needs and those will not change. We lease so that all the cost of the risk is with the leasing company and we know we want the improvements.

Edit: Plug in hybrids are fucking useless BTW, you are either doing a ton of miles and using the ICE all the time, or you are using the battery all the time and very rarely the ICE. It means carrying around both a full EV setup and a full ICE setup, so you have more than twice the complexity of either and more weight than an actual pure EV with the same battery that impacts both EV and ICE economy. Plus recent studies have shown that hybrids are far harder on the ICE part than a pure ICE, which is fucking awful for long term ownership.

They were only ever meant as a stop gap until battery prices dropped, which they have and its now possible to get EVs with over 400 miles of ACTUAL range not just promised range.

[-] bluGill@fedia.io 3 points 14 hours ago

are people who are driving 6 more hours non stop peeing in a bottle or something?

They are stopping every 3 hours for gas, but they have a "when the pump stops better be in the car" rule. Generally two drivers, one goes in, pees, and returns to watch the pump so the second can go in and pee. If you are young and fast is possible for two people to pee in the time it takes to fill your tank with gas. (males typically take half as much time as females)

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[-] hawgietonight@lemmy.world 4 points 14 hours ago

Do the numbers! Check that the range is at least double of that you need. Check if the purchase price makes economic sense. Put priority on wants and needs. Think of resale value, because you never know if some life changing event can happen.

I avoided that bullet in 2017 when my e39 blew the headgasket. It was either a modern EV or hybrid or a cheap second hand gas guzzler. At less than 5000km a year the numbers told me what I needed to know, and looking back, my Mondeo ST220 has been much cheaper overall, fun and dead reliable.

[-] lemmyseikai@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago

As much as everyone complains that it's too expensive I am very happy with the Toyota zx4.

[-] RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

I didn't like how it handled, but it was way way more comfortable and predictable than a tesla 3.

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[-] NutinButNet@hilariouschaos.com 2 points 12 hours ago

I had one and severely miss it. Well, I don’t miss the one I had but I miss the EV part of it.

I had a 2015 BMW i5 which apparently that and the 2014 models had a whole host of problems, especially if you were like me and had the range extender which was basically a small motorcycle gas engine seated in the back and could be used to charge the battery. Being BMW’s first generations, it’s not too much of a surprise that they’d have issues but there was more beyond those like the small form tires that didn’t last long, were rare, and expensive and the 12v battery which was also expensive, rare, and difficult to replace…

Beyond all that, I just miss the simplicity and the feel of the EV drive. Stepping on the accelerator and you feel it accelerate. It has much lower maintenance, with the only trade off being that tires usually don’t last as long as an ICE because the battery adds so much more weight and the battery replacement can be pricey. But other than that, no oil changes, no transmission worries, no smog checks, no needing to let the car warm up…just hop in and go. I also miss the charging aspect of it. Sure, it sucked not having the same range as a gas/hybrid where I now get about 500 miles on a full tank, but I actually liked going to charging stations and just sitting there while my car charged. I also liked the price difference, so much cheaper. I also liked that I could be lazy. I didn’t have to “fill up” when I was tired on my way home or early the next morning because I would charge at home and have a full “tank” to use the next day.

I only got rid of the i5 because of the host of problems and got a hybrid instead which has been fine and a better car in many ways, but I still long to go back. I’ve been thinking very strongly about going and trading in for an EV each weekend that passes by. I’ve been researching possible EVs to go to and have a few in mind I’d like to check out now that the prices are way down.

[-] faltryka@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

I love mine. I live in Kansas and that shapes some of my needs differently than most of the audience here, but have a Ford Lightning and it’s great.

I had to install a charger in my garage and unless you have a lot of public fast chargers near you then you’ll need that.

I’ve driven long distances with it and most of the Love’s truck stops have dc fast chargers which worked perfect on the interstate.

Weather, speed, and payload are the biggest factors for range for me. The only time any were a real problem is when the temp was near zero, but I could mitigate the severe range loss some by letting it warm up for an hour or so before I departed, which can be controlled in the app.

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[-] psmgx@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago

Father in law got one. Loved it until he had some sort of issue and needed to get it repaired. His old Honda Accord he could take down the block to any old mechanic but it was harder with Tesla. I think it soured him on it and he eventually ditched the EC when he moved out of the city

[-] hperrin@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago

I think mainly the problem there is Tesla. They’re a closed ecosystem.

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this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2024
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