More efficient manufacturing, falling battery costs and intense competition are lowering sticker prices for battery-powered models to within striking distance of gasoline cars.

  • blarth@thelemmy.club
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    6 months ago

    I paid too much for my EV, but am glad to see the prices come down for future buyers. When the price is competitive with ICE vehicles, I think we’ll see rapid adoption.

    • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      I got my EV used, and in three years I’ve already saved more on gas than I paid for it.

      EVs are so much cheaper to maintain and operate; no gas, no oil changes, no transmission, no sparkplugs or timing belts. If the sale prices are close, the total cost of ownership will be massively in favor of the EV.

      • skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de
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        5 months ago

        Modern cars in general are cheaper to operate. Have had a hybrid for 7 or 8 years. Other than annual oil changes and one change of tires, it has been zero maintenance. Still on the original brake pads thanks to regen braking (which EVs also benefit from, but the extra weight forces more frequent use of friction brakes.)

        • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          A Nissan Leaf weighs about the same as a Prius Prime. Many EVs are way heavier though.

      • Crikeste@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        Wait WHAT? EVs don’t require regular maintenance like a normal car does? That’s SICK (if true)

        • Aux@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          It does require maintenance, but you don’t have to worry about the engine, transmission, turbos and other related moving parts. Your maintenance is basically brakes, tyres and other simple and cheap wear and tear parts.

          • Crikeste@lemm.ee
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            5 months ago

            So no oil changes and shit like that? That’s is the biggest pro I’ve ever heard for EVs lmao

            • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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              5 months ago

              Drawback is EVs tend to run through tires faster, and you should be careful selecting tires because they can have a drastic effect on range (the better ones obviously being far more expensive). Also, road noise from cheap tires is much more noticeable without several thousand controlled explosions per minute happening three feet from your face.

              • Aux@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                That’s a myth. EVs have EV specific tyres. Just like trucks have truck specific tyres. No one would drive trucks if you were forced to use small car tyres on them.

                • skyspydude1@lemmy.world
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                  5 months ago

                  Anyone who’s owned an EV and a comparable ICE vehicle knows this isn’t a myth at all lmao. They weigh more, and all that instant torque at 0 RPM means that you’re almost guaranteed to go through tires faster.

              • Sentau@discuss.tchncs.de
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                5 months ago

                Is this specific to cars¿? I have an EV scooter (more powerful than a moped and without pedals) and I have not observed higher tyre wear. But then again my scooter isnt much much heavier than its petrol counterpart. Cars on the other hand do see a drastic increase in weight when going from ICE to EV

            • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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              5 months ago

              Nope. I mean I’ve replaced the tires once and windshield wipers a couple times, refilled the wiper fluid, but that’s about it. The thing that powers the car is a sealed electric motor, not too unlike the kind you’d find in a washing machine; it works for decades and hundreds of thousands of miles without service. It’s just magnets and wires inside, no explosions or soot to gum up the works.

              Since the motor also works as a regenerative brake, you need to service the brake pads much less often. And since the 12v cabin battery is kept constantly tended and never used for cranking, it also lasts many years longer.

              So yes, still some maintenance, but you save a ton of time and money long term.

              • skyspydude1@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                And since the 12v cabin battery is kept constantly tended and never used for cranking, it also lasts many years longer.

                Ehh, this isn’t necessarily true for most EVs at this point, at least from my experience. Since they don’t have to put up with cranking loads, they tend to be far smaller than one in an ICE. This means that all the “idle” stuff that’s running when the HV contactors aren’t closed and the DC-DC charging circuit isn’t active drains the battery much more quickly, and draining them below ~70% is what starts to degrade them rapidly.

                I’ve personally never had an 12v battery in an EV last more than about 5 years, while I’ve had batteries in my ICE cars do double that before they showed any signs of trouble.

                One other slight issue I’ve noticed is that a marginal 12v battery makes the car absolutely lose its shit. I can’t even tell you the number of people I’ve seen on forums who think their car completely shit the bed due to the number of faults and such it’ll report, even though it’s still driving somewhat normally.

                • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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                  5 months ago

                  My 12v has a 10 year warranty, so if it did die after five years at least it would be free to replace.

                  I always turn the car on to use the accessories since ‘idling’ doesn’t really use any extra power, keeps the battery tended, and lets me use the AC/heater.

        • Jojo, Lady of the West@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          5 months ago

          Rotate/change the tires about as often as you normally would. That’s just about it. They have far less moving parts that get far less hot and don’t have tiny explosions in them almost ever.

        • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Most of the complexity in a combustion vehicle is in the engine and transmission, both things that an EV hasn’t got. A lot of mechanical compromises are made to allow converting gasoline explosions into forward momentum.

          An EV will still require brakes and tires, and eventually it’ll need replacement suspension components and probably wheel bearings just the same as any other car. And at some point it will surely need a coolant flush if the battery pack is liquid cooled, which it probably is.

          But it will not require engine oil changes, air filter replacements, spark plugs, transmission flushes, a replacement clutch, or transmission rebuild; nor will it ever need a belt replacement, pulleys, tensioners, or idlers; nor a timing belt replacement, emissions system repairs, and thieves will never steal its catalytic converter.

          An EV will, however, eventually require a battery pack replacement. Which is guaranteed not to be cheap.

      • Simulation6@sopuli.xyz
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        5 months ago

        Are you not including the cost of electricity into your estimate? It is cheaper then gas manly because it is not taxed out the wazoo yet.

          • Simulation6@sopuli.xyz
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            5 months ago

            It is not dumb and I don’t feel bad for asking a question. I am looking to get an EV and asked some people that have had one for a while about the recharge costs and 2 of 3 had no idea.

            • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              You can do the math yourself by taking your price per kwh and multiplying that by the battery capacity. The Tesla models range from 60 to 100 kwh, and my electricity is about 12 cents per kwh. So it costs between $7-12 to fully charge your car.

              If you can afford an EV, that’s not an amount of money that changes your spending habits.

              • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                And at current gasoline prices, it costs about $130 to fully fill up my truck. People are so set in their ways they don’t even flinch at this.

                And this is why I do so as seldom as possible these days, and only use it to move large objects. The rest of my life happens on two wheels whenever it is physically possible. (My RXB250L achieves about 60 MPG. My Honda Metropolitan gets 117…)

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              It’s just whatever your electricity rate is. A little more if you have to use a public charging station.

        • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          I happen to live next to a free charger provided by the state, and not far from a free fast charger provided by the dealership, so it’s essentially free for me.

          Electricity here usually costs about $0.12 per kwh, which can charge the car for 4-5 miles of range. That’s $0.84 to go 28 miles.

          Most people charge at home just by plugging the car into an outlet, so I have no idea how that would be taxed. With EVs we pay the road tax during vehicle registration, which is an extra $100 each year.

          • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            no idea how that would be taxed

            My utility company alleges that they charge a different – and higher, no surprise – rate for EV charging. I concur that I have absolutely no idea how they would know, unless you were dumb enough to volunteer to them that’s what you were doing and allowed them to install the charger themselves with its own attached meter. Especially if you’re using an L1 charger, plugging in your car would be indistinguishable from any other constant load like a heater.