I need a new car, and I really want to go full electric. I’m wondering if anyone regrets buying one? What are the downsides?
Yeah, I bought a Tesla and now regret it because Elon is a dipshit.
That said, I’ve gone over 38,000 miles for less than $900 in electricity. I haven’t had to deal with oil changes or any other maintenance items other than tire rotations and tire replacement (the latter was of my own accord they actually said I didn’t need to yet, at the time).
I recently did a nearly 4hr trip with no need to charge on the way, and at my destination basically filled back up in something like 25 minutes while checking in to my hotel. So, no range anxiety for me.
The ride is nice, the features are helpful to me, and I have had no other issues with the vehicle.
So if it weren’t for Elon I’d love it. I still like it, but I just hate being seen in it now. It’s paid off so the financial cost of getting some other EV doesn’t make a ton of sense right now, so I guess I’ll just drive it until it dies…which at this rate might be a long-ass time.
I read somewhere that people have bumpersticks and stuff that say things like “I got the car before he went crazy” or “if I knew him then, I wouldn’t have bought it”
I’m not a huge fan of bumper stickers, but I might make an exception for this 🤔
Same boat here. I bought mine back when Elon was just “juvenile weirdo who makes dick jokes and smoked weed with Joe Rogan”. Best car I’ve ever owned hands down, no intention to buy anything Elon is selling ever again.
This is what I’ll now show to lemmy when they again run in their denial circles about tesla being a bad car, or the company going bankrupt soon.
I like the electric part.
What I don’t like is that it’s a steaming heap of spy-ware on wheels with no opt-out ability.
Which may lead to more expensive insurance depending on your driving style, or could be abused for even more nefarious reasons.
That’s not limited to EVs, though. Most modern cars have the same antifeatures.
You’d be hard pressed to find any modern car that isn’t doing that.
Last time I had to buy a new car was 2022.
Based on my driving habits and needs total cost per km driven was 3 times as high for electric.
Most of it being purchase price of the car. There were no used electric cars that has the winter time range so I had to compare a used gas vs new top of the line electric.
No regrets, but I do acknowledge that it’s very different and has different challenges. The usual worries before buying about range, mileage, battery drainage, top speed, maintenance fees, towing capability etc, do not actually exist. I understand why people worry, but no, they are not actual issues.
In reality: Software. That’s an issue. Car mechanics do not know how to service software. Doesn’t matter if it’s a subscription to a service or a mandatory but malfunctioning pressure valve, it’s software and they don’t know about it. It usually not a serious issue, but it might be, especially for cars with a lot of gimmicks and shit. This issue also exist with new fossil fueled cars as well. For most part, it can be ignored.
The charger at home may be an issue. (Maybe i. Europe mostly?) Some cars only accept voltages with a very low resistance. Both Renault and Tesla require a better grounding than the building code in most countries. It’s not costly to fix, and it’s a one time fix, but it may be a surprise…(that you need to expand on your electric circuit just for this), but you should have done anyway).
I will acknowledge that range is a downside. Not in everyday use, but for longer trips, you will have to plan your trip according to charging. It has never been an issue for me, because I generally never drive that long without pause anyway. Time it to to your breaks is all there is to it.
For a comuter car with home charging, you will have absolutely no issues in switching. It does have many more surprising positives than negatives. Like, never having to set foot on a gas station. Never mind the cost, but the time spent on going there or stopping on your commute to do it, or holding the nozzle in the cold, or being tempted to buy stuff in the convenience store etc. In comparison, I go home and plug in to charge my car, exactly the same way that I charge my phone, so it’s ready for the next day. It’s not difficult at all. It might take 30 secons and more often than than fueling but it’s still much faster than stopping on the road, gas or not.
Only actual real downside for me is that I’m also a cheapskate. I prefer to time my charging to the variable electricity prices, but not everyone has that option and it’s completely voluntary… I’m not sure if it’s worth it. Sure, i save a few bucks, but the hassle of it is real. I am considering changing to a subscription model instead, just to avoid worrying about it.
The best advice that I got before buying was: “Just drive it”.
Don’t think about it: It’s a tool, use it. In a lot of ways an EV is much better suited for that, because you only need to worry about it being ready to use. You probably never thought of that for your ICE car, because you’d do refueling and other fluids on the road. If you fuel at home, you’ll also have to refill your sprinklers and remember to wash it every now and then… Maintenance is home based, not on a station.
There’s a whole lot of benefits to it as well, but you didn’t ask for those, and I think you should just go test drive one to see for yourself.
Tesla require a better grounding than the building code in most countries
Is this a European thing too? I’ve never heard of this limitation in the US, and I certainly didn’t have to get anything changed. I’m curious about the details
Yes it’s country specific, but more about old houses.
In my case the building code says the ground should have an impedance of maximum 1666 ohm. My installation was already grounded and had about 400 ohm.
The charger guidelines says 200 ohm, however the car refuses to charge on anything over 100 ohm. I had an electrician add a new ground spear, bringing the impedance down below 1 ohm.
The building code in USA already recommends 25 ohm, so it shouldn’t be an issue if the installation is up to date.
TIL … thanks
Short answer no. I now have two in my house. VW ID4 & ID3. So nice to drive, cheap to run and the maintenance costs are basically 0.
You haven’t replaced the tires?
That’s still super low cost compared to all the regular repairs a combustion engine needs, especially when you consider that combustion cars also need tire replacements, just a bit less often
regular repairs
Are you driving an alfa romeo? An engine is just a part of a car that needs service and there are ICE cars with 500kkm on them that only had their oil and maybe a timing belt replaced. Neither is an expensive thing.
The electric cars also have suspension, brakes, comfort systems etc. And those need fixes or maintenance just as often if not more often then the engine (especially with more electronics and smarts these days). The electric propulsion system also isn’t a simple thing and I bet with enough time there are going to be brands or models to avoid because of expensive battery/drive train component failures.
That being said an electric brushless motor has much less mechanical complexity than an ICE. But saying that EVs are going to require significantly less maintenance needs to wait till we see twenty year old electric cars with hundreds of thousands kilometers on the odometers.
There’s no way you’re driving 500,000km in an ICE without replacing stuff like spark plugs, clutch, alternator, filters, sensors.
I’ve driven a diesel Renault for 12 years (loke 300k km) and didn’t need to replace any of those. The only big unplanned cost I had was a faulty EGR valve, which happened at 600km and wasn’t warranty for some reason.
That said regular oil change for clutch and brakes were mildly expensive, but I guess even for EV you’d want the brake hydraulics replaced the same way.
Edit : just spotted filters. Yeah I replaced every filter every service, but with how grimy they look, even in EV I’d argue for replacing them.
Replacing brakes on an EV should be much less frequent, since regenerative braking doesn’t use the brakes
Funnily enough I heard mechanic friends say that EVs need the brake rotors replaced more often than combustion cars, because the EVs use the brakes so infrequently that the rotor just rusts so badly it needs replacing.
Downsides are you can’t drive as far, usually, before needing to fill up, and quick charge takes about 25 minutes, instead of the usual 5 for gas.
Upside is that only matters on road trips. If you have an outlet at home, like we do, your car is just always charged.
Yeah it seems only practical if a person is travelling local and is assured outlets are where they are going. Road trips you are never assured there is a station especially if you’re seeing relatives.
That’s not what I said at all.
Charging stations are pretty plentiful. Basically if there’s a gas station, there’s probably also a charging station nearby.
None of my relatives have a charging station.
If they have electricity, you can charge there. Portable chargers are a thing.
But, I wasn’t talking about a charging station in their house. I’d assume they also don’t have a gas station in their house. I’m talking about a public fast charging station. Something like Electrify America, ChargePoint, or Tesla Supercharger.
I don’t think you’re here to discuss, just to lick your own bum on what works for you explicitly.
Me and the millions of other people who own electric cars. What value have you added to this conversation? Do you even own an electric car? It sounds like you’re not talking from experience.
I can talk from experience as a car owner and as someone who should be interested enough to know if it’s viable enough for me.im allowed an opinion. My feedback for my needs is valid. Deal with it or cry more.
Make sure that the car matches your expectations.
Don’t trust their range claims, most of the time they are exaggerated and only able to get that range on a perfect day doing constant 45mph without hills.
Do you have a reliable place to charge it? If you don’t have a personal parking place, and cannot install a charger at said place, trusting you have the range you need gets difficult, and expensive. As you have to rely on public chargers that are not very reliable, and worse for battery longevity (level 3 chargers)
Speaking of range. What range do you actually NEED? My opinion is the minimum range should be double the normal daily commute, as most level 2 chargers can add ~18 miles/he charging (overnight charge means 144 miles charge). Double your commute gives you a buffer for the heater, or the grocery run after work. For most people this is only 80 miles… which almost every electric only car can do without issues.
Is the cost worth the vehicle? Buying new is expensive, buying used can be risky. Do your research thoroughly and you’ll be able to decide what fits what you NEED (and that answer may easily be a used ICE vehicle instead)
I’ve had a full electric vehicle for 5+ years now as my daily. But I have always had a personal parking place, with a level 2 charger. I consider electric only to be a commuter car at best. It’s not going to be able to do a road trip. And depending on the car and the commute may even not be able to do a grocery run after work some days. If you have another car that is ICE that you can keep for those times, cool. Or if you are ok with planning, and rent a car when you want to do a road trip, great.
Personally I suggest a plug in hybrid for anyone who can only have one car, and is considering going electric. Prius prime, Chevy volt, Chrysler Pacifica are the ones that have enough range for a short commute, the rest are trying but just haven’t gotten there yet.
I’ve found that buying used is fine if the car is still under the manufacturers original warranty. Better yet if it has the premium/extended warranty package.
That’s basically the only warranty that you would care about (and actually want to extend), most other warranties have so many exclusions that they’re not worth it. And definitely ignore anyone calling you telling you that they’ve “been trying to reach you about your cars extended warranty.”
Double your commute gives you a buffer for the heater, or the grocery run after work. For most people this is only 80 miles… which almost every electric only car can do without issues.
Is the cost worth the vehicle?
This is where I get grumpy. I feel like that kind of range is a different category of vehicle, and it should be significantly cheaper than an ICEV, since it means I need to plan around the range.
I realize it’s the size of the battery pack, so it isn’t where most of the cost of the vehicle comes from, but still.
When it’s time to replace my current vehicle, I’ll probably go PHEV. But ideally public transit will be solved, so I won’t need to. 🤣
That kind of range is a different vehicle. My 500e I bought for 7k. It’s the perfect commuter.
Do you really NEED to be able to drive 300 miles every day? If so, battery isn’t likely for you. And if you don’t need to, why cry that it can’t?
if you don’t need to, why cry that it can’t?
Because I need to drive 300 miles every few months and a car I own that can do that is cheaper than a car that can’t and renting something that can for the few times I need it. Rental cars are expensive and most come with per mile charges on top of the daily rate.
It takes less than twenty minutes to charge enough to make that in any modern ev. Unless you’re filling up on gas before your trips anyway, you’re still gonna have to stop. The difference in time is negligible.
I’ve been wanting a plug-in hybrid, where you’re fully electric under ~40mi of daily travel, and if you exceed it switches to gas for backup. RAV4 prime has been my dream car lately…
I have a 10 year old Chevy Volt. 95% of our households driving is on the 38 miles of battery range. Oil changes every 2 years.
Downsides: Have to go to a gas station to find a squeegee to clean the windows.
Upsides: You have no other reason to go to a gas station.
What about for gas station sushi?
Heh. Now that’s a party.
And then, a porcelain party.
