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I have solar panels at home which generate way more than enough for my home and EV (and still costs less than my old electric bill before solar), so I count charging as free.
People here keep mentioning battery degradation and replacement costs. I got a Kia EV6 and I love it. I tried many other EVs at the time earlier in 2023 when I bought it and the EV6 blew them all out of the water on both features, quality, and (surprisingly) price. And they also have a 10 year warranty for the battery. They mentioned that it would also qualify for free replacement under the warranty based on degradation if it's past a certain amount. I need to pull out the paperwork and check the criteria.
As far as price comparison to ICE vehicles, I think a fully kitted Mazda CX5 is a good comparison. It's about 42k with 22-27 mpg, so would cost me around $150/mo in gas. Over 10 years that's $18k for gas. Compare to the EV6 that I got for around $65k. I'll definitely save that extra $5k in maintenance costs over 10 years.
Due to the fact that it doesn't have a bunch of moving parts wearing down constantly like an ICE vehicle would, it'll probably last longer than 10 years. Most ICE vehicles I've owned start to become a real hassle after 7 years. I also appreciate not having to constantly get maintenance too.
Helping reduce pollutants is nice, but that's a bit of a heated discussion due to what's required in lithium mining. Even so, it at least feels like I'm trying to do the right thing.
And lastly, EVs are just plain more fun to drive! The linear acceleration is a little weird to adjust to, but it means steady and fast acceleration from standstill since you don't have to change gears, jolting the passengers just to get up to speed. And I don't feel like accelerating a bit quickly is financially irresponsible either since I'm not burning extra gas to do it. When I'm in my gas car, I can practically see the dollars burning away.
I'm very curious about your experiences of having problems with ICE cars after 7 years ... I've never owned a car that's less than 10 years old, and have rarely had problems with them.
It's morbidly fascinating reading how rich people see the world ...
Fuel pumps, exhaust systems, injectors, tuneups, new radiators, belt replacement are all very common after 7 years. Thankfully less common now, but still occurring on many vehicles are head gaskets, transmissions, motor mounts. None of these issues should effect EVs.
Uh... have you ever owned a car long enough to need new injectors, radiators, or exhaust systems?
I've owned three vehicles that surpassed 400,000 miles, with one approaching 600,000 now. I've replaced a radiator once, and it was because of a small boulder tossed by a semi. Belts are usually less than $60, and are only replaced after 120,000 or so. Your average driver won't have to worry about those but once every 5-10 years. I've never had to replace a injector system (and if your dealer tries to sell you a service to 'flush' or 'clean' the injectors, decline; most auto manufacturers recommend not doing anything but replacing, as the service of cleaning/flushing is more likely to cause damage than actually be beneficial).
Fuel pumps are going to be brand-dependent. Don't buy ford, because good lord they suck and the pumps do go out, but again, I've never had to replace a fuel pump (my three are toyota, honda, and volkswagen).
If you pay for a tuneup, you're either racing or are a fool. One of those use cases isn't relevant to a discussion about the average person owning a vehicle.
Where do you live? Anywhere that has winter you will be certainly replacing a radiator long before that. I have not owned a vehicle that has made it past 250,000km without needing a new radiator and at least some exhaust work.
You are describing statistically anomalies of automotive maintenance.