boemElectric cars will be cheaper to make than gas vehicles but with much higher repair and insurance costs
RookiThey will never be cheaper. Just the costs of the battery, or they do shady bussiness tricks, like hooking you in cheap initial costs but horeandus repair/replacement bills.
An electric motor is SIGNIFICANTLY more simple to produce than an entire internal combustion engine. There are far fewer moving parts on an electric car than a gasoline one.
The battery is a significant cost, but not all cars need to have 300 miles of range. It is also possible that once the market is saturated (i.e. - several decades), that recycled battery packs will be cheaper to produce than batteries built from raw materials.
The major reason why electric cars are so expensive right now is because there are far fewer of them, and the ones that are being made have a target market of an upper-middle class household. They’re luxury/status symbols as much as anything else. Secondarily, there isn’t a large used electric car market yet.
There is a large potential for cost reductions. Assuming technology continues to improve, electric cars will drop below the price of gas and diesel for everyday driving. Internal combustion engines will most likely be reduced to specialty vehicles.
UsernameblankfaceAlso, as we realize that we don’t need 400+ miles of range in a commuter car, cheaper battery chemistries make a lot of sense, despite their shorter range per kg or lb
BombOmOmMost people want a car that can do everything they need a car to do. As otherwise they have to buy a SECOND car that can perform the jobs the first car can’t. At that point people look at their finances and wonder why they have the first car at all, that first car has a monthly payment, insurance, and repairs. It would be so much cheaper to ditch it and just have the car that performs all the functions.
gregorumIn that case, why not just have no car at all and use a bike or public transit and rent a car when you really need one?
Car rentals are expensive and time consuming affairs. This ‘solution’ is worse for the vast majority of people who currently own cars. It’s why you don’t see people doing it.
When compared with the cost savings, in my personal case, renting when I need a car to drive 100+miles, is cheaper than buying a more expensive ev, or paying for fuel in a gasoline vehicle.
The time is negligible as well when I compare the time I don’t spend at gas stations because I charge at home.
I drove a beater with no note for like twenty years and just rented for car trips.
Having two or three car payments a year is cheaper than twelve.
It’s unconventional, but plenty of people do it.
The feasibility of that will be highly variable depending on where you live. Much of America is a public transit desert.
Thats not true. I guarantee that whatever town you live in has a robust public transportion system that hits every single residential area.
The problem is that only children are allowed to use it, and only twice a day.
Hah. As somebody that had to be driven to the bus stop because it was over a mile away, I call BS.
toni_bmwThere are countless things that can’t be done without a car, even when you are a certain age or care for older family members. The reasoning of living without a car in property, in my humble opinion, is only valid at a certain time in life