this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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Gas prices keep going up and electricity keeps getting cheaper. Factor in that and never having to pay for an oil change again and an electric car starts looking much cheaper.
I spend $30/month on gas. Electricity is gonna have to get a whoooole lot cheaper to justify at minimum $30,000 to purchase an EV. Maybe if we get rid of some of the protectionism and allow Chinese $10k EVs into the US I’d consider it. An oil change once a year over the course of owning a car is less than $1000… it costs $25 to do yourself, $50 to have someone else do it. That’s… not a significant cost for even the poorest of people.
Prices on used EVs are coming way down and there are significant tax rebates.
It is much cheaper. My 40k VW id4 on sticker costs me about 700 less than a 30k gas powered car with the payment being 500 dollars more!
I don't have to buy gas, change the oil and the brakes last longer due to regenerative braking.
I charge at home and haven't touched a gas pump since last summer.
I mean, if you’re well off enough to buy a $30k car, you’re better off than most Americans anyway. What about those of us that couldn’t afford that, and instead are faced with the choice of taking out exploitative loans and paying for years, or keeping our high mileage, high MPG vehicles?
It seems there’s an assumption that everyone eventually has to buy a new car, but that’s not true. I can count the number of people in my life who have ever bought a new car on one hand. The rest rely on old junkers they replace every couple years because $2000/2yrs is significantly more affordable for someone in poverty than $30,000+ in one year, or $500/mo payments for 5.
Like for me, I spend $30/mo on gas. That’s it. I spend about $25/yr on oil changes, I spend $75/every 2 years on emissions. I’d have to save a hell of a lot more than just gas and upkeep costs to save even a single dollar, and even then I’m definitively losing money over just keeping my car because I will have to pay payments for years because I don’t have the money to buy a new car outright. Personally, I will never buy a new car, nor take a loan for Car, so that puts EVs even further out of my reach. Wheres the $5-10k EVs that are present in much of the world? I don’t want a 16” tv in my dash, or heated seats, or a vision system, or rain sensing windows. I want a bare bones car, with no luxuries, for as cheap as possible, that is as efficient as possible. My 15 year old Corolla is better than the majority of modern cars available in my country in nearly every respect that is meaningful to me than any EVs available for sale in my country, every way except emissions. Unfortunately, my economic security takes priority over individualist attempts to address climate change.
Used electric cars are showing up more and more. You can get one for $10-15k and that's before you factor in the EV tax rebates.
My original comment was in the context of new versus new. If a person is going to buy a $30,000 car regardless it's cheaper to get an electric one because you never have to buy gas for it.
I have no idea why you're bringing up your 15-year-old Corolla or your personal operating cost for it why are you bringing up car sales in America new versus used none of this is relevant.
13 million new cars were sold in America in 2022 that is a substantial amount of cars the fact that more used cars were sold is more or less a sign of the times than anything else, moreover there has been a massive chip shortage less new cars are being made.
As a matter of fact statistically speaking the majority of people keep the cars they already bought for years and years at a time which means that car sales are going to go down anyway. So the fact that more used cars are being sold then new ones is also irrelevant.