When do you think you will buy a 100% pure electric vehicle?

[mramseyISU]

I'm not trying to sell you on the truck because I understand your concerns but I will keep passing on the results I have been getting. In the 15 miles I've driven this morning I've been at 2.35 mi/kWh but I haven't had the ac on. That doesn't use as much power as the heat. There are days in the winter that the range will probably be 1/3 less.

My wife's chevy bolt is averaging 3.6 mi/kWh to the 2 I have seen so far in the lightning. Her car weighs around 3500 lbs while the truck is over 6000 lbs, so it's still about moving mass.

I do like the frunk and having a 240v outlet that I can plug my welder into will come in handy.

Been having a lot of discussion about this at work lately. Is running a welder something you'd actually use this for or is it one of those things that it's nice to know you could if you needed to? I wonder about that because the 240V outlet in the bed is not what I'd consider a standard welder plug. The 240V welders I've seen since I was a kid used a 50 amp plug where-as the lightning has a 30 amp plug.

 

[Cloneon]

Having recently become a senior, I find myself reflecting on what I perceive to have been a much better life 40+ years ago. Interestingly, I find myself wanting 'less', but wanting 'better'. For example give me a truck with roll-down windows, manual transmission, and not much else, BUT make it so I can get under the hood to make sure the thing runs a lifetime. Geez, I just read the average car maintenance costs $5k. We've, collectively, bought into keeping up with the Jones' on stuff that has very little impact on improving our lives. We're living in electrical soup, are inundated with entertainment options, are gradually losing the choice of maintaining our own stuff, and have no concept of what we throw into the dumps yearly. So, that being said, I changed my answer to NEVER buying an EV.

 

[NorthCyd]

Geez, I just read the average car maintenance costs $5k.

What does this mean? Over the life of the car? If so that's great. I don't really believe that's possible. If it's annual I don't really believe that either.

 

[BryceC]

Having recently become a senior, I find myself reflecting on what I perceive to have been a much better life 40+ years ago. Interestingly, I find myself wanting 'less', but wanting 'better'. For example give me a truck with roll-down windows, manual transmission, and not much else, BUT make it so I can get under the hood to make sure the thing runs a lifetime. Geez, I just read the average car maintenance costs $5k. We've, collectively, bought into keeping up with the Jones' on stuff that has very little impact on improving our lives. We're living in electrical soup, are inundated with entertainment options, are gradually losing the choice of maintaining our own stuff, and have no concept of what we throw into the dumps yearly. So, that being said, I changed my answer to NEVER buying an EV.

Average lifespan of vehicles has gone up massively in the last 40 years. You're remembering a past that didn't exist.

https://www.bts.gov/content/average-age-automobiles-and-trucks-operation-united-states

 

[dmclone]

Having recently become a senior, I find myself reflecting on what I perceive to have been a much better life 40+ years ago. Interestingly, I find myself wanting 'less', but wanting 'better'. For example give me a truck with roll-down windows, manual transmission, and not much else, BUT make it so I can get under the hood to make sure the thing runs a lifetime. Geez, I just read the average car maintenance costs $5k. We've, collectively, bought into keeping up with the Jones' on stuff that has very little impact on improving our lives. We're living in electrical soup, are inundated with entertainment options, are gradually losing the choice of maintaining our own stuff, and have no concept of what we throw into the dumps yearly. So, that being said, I changed my answer to NEVER buying an EV.

What are you doing under the hood? I haven't had a car since the early 90's that had any reason to open the hood except add washer fluid. Yes, I sometimes check the oil but I've never had to add oil to any car I've owned since I drove a 1984 Firebird. I guess change the air filter. Are you synchronizing the carbs on your 440 6 pack or something?

I agree with you though, you seem like the last person that would ever want an EV.

 

[HFCS]

Having recently become a senior, I find myself reflecting on what I perceive to have been a much better life 40+ years ago. Interestingly, I find myself wanting 'less', but wanting 'better'. For example give me a truck with roll-down windows, manual transmission, and not much else, BUT make it so I can get under the hood to make sure the thing runs a lifetime. Geez, I just read the average car maintenance costs $5k. We've, collectively, bought into keeping up with the Jones' on stuff that has very little impact on improving our lives. We're living in electrical soup, are inundated with entertainment options, are gradually losing the choice of maintaining our own stuff, and have no concept of what we throw into the dumps yearly. So, that being said, I changed my answer to NEVER buying an EV.

I read your post and figured your last sentence was going to be that having one nice new electric vehicle is the answer to all your problems.

How many cars do you have? If you don't have a burning need for multiple cars you might be blown away by how convenient and affordable going to one car is (whether it's gas or ev). I'm not retired, mid 40s, but we've kind of settled into leasing one new/newish electric car is by far the cheapest, convenient and comfortable solution for us.

Maintenance, insurance, really high gas cost where we live and registration on multiple older ICE cars was just a constant financial groin kick. Going to one PHEV saved us a ton of time and money, upgrading that to one EV will save even more time and money.

 

[VeloClone]

Finally saw a cyber truck up close as someone had one parked in town near where we were going. No thanks as it looks like a stainless steel box.

Yeah, saw my first one driving up I-35. I thought Mrs. Velo was going to throw up...

 

[do4CY]

Been having a lot of discussion about this at work lately. Is running a welder something you'd actually use this for or is it one of those things that it's nice to know you could if you needed to? I wonder about that because the 240V outlet in the bed is not what I'd consider a standard welder plug. The 240V welders I've seen since I was a kid used a 50 amp plug where-as the lightning has a 30 amp plug.

It's one of those things that might come in handy once or twice a year. I would have to make an adapter to make it work but it should have enough power to run a small welder.

 

[FLYINGCYCLONE]

Where I work, we sell electric lawn mowers. Just got a notice that 2 models of the black and yellow ones are now listed as a DO NOT sell. Not sure what happened. So if you have a black and yellow one , maybe ask the place you bought it from, if there is a recall on yours.

 

[mramseyISU]

It's one of those things that might come in handy once or twice a year. I would have to make an adapter to make it work but it should have enough power to run a small welder.

That's what I keep hearing too. It's a nice to have feature but nobody really knows if it's actually useful. I also struggle with being able to justify it compared to something like an ecoflow battery that seems far more useful.

 

[HFCS]

Where I work, we sell electric lawn mowers. Just got a notice that 2 models of the black and yellow ones are now listed as a DO NOT sell. Not sure what happened. So if you have a black and yellow one , maybe ask the place you bought it from, if there is a recall on yours.

My quality of life has improved dramatically in the first year where gas engine leaf blowers have been banned locally. The amount of noise they created was off the charts stupid and the electric ones are so much quieter I barely notice them.

I never noticed any leaf blower or lawn mowing noise in Iowa or Chicago but in my LA neighborhood these leaf blowers were like living on an airport runway. Enough that I'd schedule my life around avoiding it. Somehow it was so much noisier than just people mowing their lawns in Iowa which never bothered me.

 

[Cloneon]

Average lifespan of vehicles has gone up massively in the last 40 years. You're remembering a past that didn't exist.

https://www.bts.gov/content/average-age-automobiles-and-trucks-operation-united-states

You call 30% 'massively'? Massively, by my book, would be twice the age. Furthermore, you didn't include the cost of maintenance relative to the value of the vehicle. You'll find that $5k per blue book value, is 'massively' expensive.

 

[Cloneon]

I read your post and figured your last sentence was going to be that having one nice new electric vehicle is the answer to all your problems.

How many cars do you have? If you don't have a burning need for multiple cars you might be blown away by how convenient and affordable going to one car is (whether it's gas or ev). I'm not retired, mid 40s, but we've kind of settled into leasing one new/newish electric car is by far the cheapest, convenient and comfortable solution for us.

Maintenance, insurance, really high gas cost where we live and registration on multiple older ICE cars was just a constant financial groin kick. Going to one PHEV saved us a ton of time and money, upgrading that to one EV will save even more time and money.

So, you're saying the cost to charge an EV will provide massive savings? I've read nothing but the opposite.

 

[Cyclonsin]

This thread has been marvelous proof that people are very good at finding evidence to support their beliefs while shrugging off anything contrary.

And that has applied to folks on both sides of the issue.

 

[HFCS]

So, you're saying the cost to charge an EV will provide massive savings? I've read nothing but the opposite.

I'm spending about 6x less on fuel, some months I spend practically $0.00 now so I don't even include those months. Many areas won't have that kind of savings but almost everywhere has some. Maintenance cost is also drastically less in some cases.

Reducing the # of cars you own probably achieves your goals more than EV vs ICE from what you said though. I'm with you on going minimalist, but the winning formula for me to do that is owning just one car that has almost no fuel cost and very little maintenance cost...an EV.

 

[dmclone]

This thread has been marvelous proof that people are very good at finding evidence to support their beliefs while shrugging off anything contrary.

And that has applied to folks on both sides of the issue.

I agree to some extent. With that in mind, let's say that you want to research reviews on Godfather the movie. Do you trust the people who have seen the actual movie or people that have talked to other people that have an opinion on a movie they've never seen?

 

[Cyclonsin]

I agree to some extent. With that in mind, let's say that you want to research reviews on Godfather the movie. Do you trust the people who have seen the actual movie or people that have talked to other people that have an opinion on a movie they've never seen?

By no means am I insinuating that everyone in here has cherry picked sources for their cause, there's been more useful and thoughtful conversation than not. I suppose that's a testament to the CF community. And for what it's worth, I think the never-EV crowd is significantly more prone to this than those who are pro-EV. As a pretty middle-of-the-road guy on this topic there have been some WILD claims from that camp.

Which is frustrating, because there are valid reasons not to get a BEV yet, but citing unreliable information undermines any healthy debate.

 

[HFCS]

I agree to some extent. With that in mind, let's say that you want to research reviews on Godfather the movie. Do you trust the people who have seen the actual movie or people that have talked to other people that have an opinion on a movie they've never seen?

I'd gladly agree with people that an EV is slightly less convenient on the 10-20 days a year I take a huge road trip. I've been pointing out they typically ignore the other 350 days a year they don't yet realize an EV is more convenient. They just don't even know, when they try it they'll have an "ah ha" moment most likely.

I'm also positive it saves me money where I live, but every area is different. My PHEV saved me money and the EV is going to save me even more. Not insignificant fuel savings, like $200/month, easily more than making up for any cost difference with a similar ice model. If I lived somewhere with cheap $3 gas it might be a more tricky calculation.

There are also a handful of people that need a super specific model. When this thread was started there wasn't even a model where you could load a big family up, the EV9 answered that recently and so many models coming out every year that one is really starting to fade.

In the end I think the most serious concern is someone who has absolutely no way to charge at home or at work. For real doesn't have the ability, not people who just ignorantly don't know how they could charge at home.

 

[dmclone]

By no means am I insinuating that everyone in here has cherry picked sources for their cause, there's been more useful and thoughtful conversation than not. I suppose that's a testament to the CF community. And for what it's worth, I think the never-EV crowd is significantly more prone to this than those who are pro-EV. As a pretty middle-of-the-road guy on this topic there have been some WILD claims from that camp.

Which is frustrating, because there are valid reasons not to get a BEV yet, but citing unreliable information undermines any healthy debate.

I agree 100%.

I've tried to provide actual data from the year my wife has owned her Tesla. I also only know about our experience with Tesla, so I really can't provide an educated response for other EV's unless it's something that's universal.

I really do wish more people would at least test drive them. My experience with test driving hybrids was "Oh this is nice, it drives a lot like an ICE vehicle". After driving the Tesla, it was more like "Wow, this is nothing like anything I've ever owned, and I'm going to hate driving my SUV"

 

[Bigman38]

My first sighting of one in the wild was last week in Ankeny. It's eye catching for all the wrong reasons. It looks like something from a bad 80s Sci-Fi movie.

Just saw one in person recently too, a cheap movie prop is a good way to describe the look.