Let me start off saying I'll never give up my cummins powered F250. Never.

But

My commute is 48 miles each way. I have free charges available at work as well.

Does a electric vehicle make sense? If so besides tesla are there options out there that can take advantage of any tax savings or rebates?

Currently I'm driving a Volkswagen gti that requires premium fuel and only gets about 26mpg. While it's paid for and I can afford it burning money I don't have to doesn't make sense.


What electric cars are decent and priced at the point to save money?

I have a F150...just bought a 2021 Corolla Hybrid LE for $21,500 plus tax. It's not all electric but so far I am getting around 55mpg. It made so much more sense than spending way more on an all electric for me. It uses apple/android car play. Just food for thought...The dealer had Prius Prime limited for $8,000 off PLUS $4500 federal tax credit....I just didn't feel like paying $27,500 plus tax for a third car. I also have an Audi A5 Sportback

Just like people 100 years ago I think electric cars are a great idea.
And also like those people
I doubt they'll be totally feasable for me in my lifetime.

We really need to figure out where all the electricity is really coming from before going all in on electric anything.

I think hybrid make a lot more sense at this point and then really only in small cars.

Serious question:  How are you going to determine if you're "saving" money - ie how are you doing the calculations?  How much will you have to spend on the purchase of an EV/Hybrid in order to spend less per/mile of driving?

Years ago I ran the numbers to compare driving my '96 Dodge 2500 4wd Cummins w/5spd vs my '88 Suzuki Katana 1100cc sport touring street bike - both owned outright so no payment issues to worry about.  The Dodge was cheaper on a per mile operating/maintenance basis.  Tires & chain/sprockets were the biggest issue for the motorcycle and that was assuming the life of steel sprockets and decent mileage sport touring tires not sticky tires that have to be replaced at 3k miles.

My point?  You can buy a lot of gas to feed the car you already own with what it will probably cost to start driving an EV.

If you can find the right car I think it's a great idea.  My reasoning is what if there is a problem getting gasoline for a while?  My guess is the .gov will not let our electric grid come crashing down at the same time so you'll still have a vehicle that works.

So long as you keep at least one fossil fuel burning car.  

just by a Camry ( non hybrid)


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When I hear politically correct limousine liberals and GM pushing electric cars, I automatically think "FUCK YOU"

I have no problem with the concept of electric cars.  Not for some of the reasons the left have.  I don't consider them special except if one doesn't expect to exceed battery range ever there is less to break in them.  And they actually should be cheaper to make.  So the concept is good.  However when it comes to my own choice I prefer something that burns gasoline and kicks it in the ass when I step on the right pedal.  Bought this yesterday.

Electric is the future and is coming very quickly. It won't completely replace ICE for a while but will satisfy the needs of almost everyone's daily commute.

It's 2021 and we're still using power systems that stop 4 times to make power once, makes as much heat as it does torque, and a lot of noise and exhaust too.

I'm far from a tree hugging hippy, between vehicles, tractors, motorcycles and chainsaws I probably have well over 20 internal combustion engines. Gasoline is in my bloodstream, and I'm ready to start making the move to electricity.

If the economy doesn't fall apart my SOs next ride will be a Tesla.

I agree it's the future.  But the present still has some issues with electric cars.  For most people a Tesla car is adequate.   Most people don't need an SUV or truck.  A small car works.  I looked at them before getting my BMW.  Only words I can find are "butt ugly".  It shouldn't matter it's a utility item.  But it does.  That and Tesla is still more expensive than even my BMW for the same thing.

I did my search hoping I could find an electric or at least plug i hybrid I liked but not yet for me.  Likely in 4-5 years when I tire of this car they'll have it sussed and production full scale.  When I can choose between Benz, Beemer, Caddy, Lincoln for an all electric then I'll go electric.  Until then - 4 strokes it is.  

it's also the distant past.

fast fwd to about 3:15

Having a paid off car that gets 26mpg is going to be hard to beat running numbers for real cost. I think Nissan still has the full credit available so final cost that might be the best. The real problem is that when you can buy a gas car that gets great mileage for $10k-$15k most people won't be making money on an electric for a long long time.

I couldn't make the numbers work when I purchased my car last year.

Chevy bolt $31k electric but needed 220 run to my garage to make it usable as only vehicle and that was another $4k due to my detached garage and antique electric in my house.

Kia Rio $16k gets 42 mpg actual on my commute. Features and size nearly identical to the bolt.

Personal cost difference of $19k, before electric bill increases, pays for gas and maintenance for the life expectancy of the vehicle (200k miles). Gas and electricity need a much bigger price spread to make it work for me.

And performance electric cars don't do that?

This is the United States of America

We are not some dinky European country.

Our land is vast with interesting and beautiful things to see.

Why anyone would pen themselves in with an electric car that slow and difficult to recharge, is beyond me

I have the same commute as you OP. 46 miles each way. I mainly work on weekends, and have have a bunch of other trips on the other days to make to and from school twice a day. So I figure I drive about 24k miles a year.

I bought a model Y Tesla long range last fall. Since then I have put 16k miles on it. It replaced a 2017 Ford Escape 2.0 turbo which got around what you’re getting for mileage. I was spending around 325-375 a month in fuel. Mind you this was last summer when prices were way down. Today that figure would be about 450.

I installed a Tesla wall charger at my house. The charger cost me 500 bucks. I paid about 150 dollars in breakers, 4ga wire and conduit to run the charger. 60 amp breaker for the chargers and I needed a couple of those half size breakers to make room for the 60 amp. Pretty easy to install, but my location made it very easy. I only had about a 10’ run of conduit. The charger recharges about 15% per hour. So when I get home at night, it’ll completely charge up from whatever percentage I’m at by the morning. If your area has net metering where electricity is cheaper at certain times, the speed charger may help save you some money since smarter electric cars will let you set when when the car is to begin charging.

I charge at work as well, so that’s all free for me as well. My power bill went up some, but not very much. Maybe 60 bucks a month. I rarely use super chargers unless I’m going on a longer trip.

I personally would not bother with a hybrid. One of the main reasons to go all electric is to cut down on the maintenance side. The way a lot of these electric cars are performing, you should be able to get 10 years out of it before wanting to move on to something else. Having gas motor in there just adds all that right back in. At that point you might as well just stick with a Toyota.

Don’t expect the range quoted by the sellers. 310 miles on a Tesla is more like 200 unless you’re driving on flat Kansas roads at 45 with the AC off. My 46 miles to work is mostly downhill. So I end up using 7% of the battery. However going home is all uphill and eats up 30%. I also drive fast and have the AC blasting.

It’s been amazing in snow and ice. Even with the lame Continental tires on it, it handled my ice covered Mountain Road all winter long with zero issues. I didn’t get the performance model due to the tire options they come with. I didn’t want to get stuck buying another set of wheels/tires for winter. Roads here are shitty, so low profile tires are bad news.

The only maintenance I have performed is I had my tires rotated twice. Zero issues with the car so far. The Tesla is fun to drive. Luddites and boomers will hate on you no matter what since you don’t like what they like. While it doesn’t have the cool, “loud pipes save lives” sound, it does sound like the ghost busters proton pack energizing when you put your foot into it. You have to warn passengers when you’re going to pass someone since it will snap their neck into the seat when you step on it.

With the Tesla, another cool thing is you can set up the driver modes. So if your wife wants to drive it as a grocery getter and doesn’t like how responsive it is, you can tone it down and even change the way the steering is. Since they’re driver profiles based off of who gets in the driver seat, the car changes all the settings automatically for them including their seat settings.

Used Nissan Leaf are really cheap, I am sure there is a reason for that low price, but might be worth investigating.

I agree.  You need to factor in the purchase price of the EV in comparison to the paid-off car.  Doesn't make much sense to spend $20k+ to "save on gas"


Or, if your current car needs replacing, you can just get a $12k used Mazda3 or 6 and enjoy 40mpg in a great handling ride with a 6-spd like I did.  

EV's are stupid and gay.

There is no way you are going to save money or "avoid spending money I don't have to" by purchasing an electric vehicle, even at $5/gallon for gasoline.

If you want an electric vehicle or a new car to commute with, buy one.  Just don't rationalize it as a cost avoidance decision.

I ran the numbers and at $3/gal gas, the Tesla is equivalent in “fuel” costs to a 30 mpg car.

I would like to have one, but basically for convenience and performance. I can’t justify the payments for that right now though.

Solid state lithium-metal batteries could bring EVs to parity with ICEs, but the infrastructure isn't scaled up to handle mass power demand for charging, & power sources themselves are still predominantly "evil" carbon-based.

As usual, the impatient disciples of EV-all-the-things don't burden themselves with the details that will derail their xanadu utopia plans.