7 ms·

they put in parking meters to collect money. Are you sure they wouldn't put in charging meters with the equivalent price of gas? That's worth maybe 15k mi/yr /

they put in parking meters to collect money. Are you sure they wouldn't put in charging meters with the equivalent price of gas? That's worth maybe 15k mi/yr / 30mpg * $3 = $1500/yr for the average user (assuming they use it regularly.. which apartment users would). That seems like a pretty decent incentive.

Marsymars 8y ago
Why would someone buy an electric car if they had to pay the equivalent price of gas to charge it?
- colordrops 8y ago
  It would in all likelihood still be cheaper than gas, but even if it weren't, electric cars are just that much better all around. After you've driven one for a while, you realize what a smelly complicated Rube Goldberg mess the internal combustion engine is.
  - Marsymars 8y ago
    To each their own, but I work for a service provider tangential to the auto industry, so I've had the chance to drive a lot of different cars, and I'm pretty ambivalent about electric vs ICE cars. None of the engineering complexity of an ICE (and associated components) is particularly relevant to me as a car owner, and we've been building them for long enough that despite their complexity, they're extremely reliable.
    - colordrops 8y ago
      Yes, to each his own. Even with reliability, I find several aspects of ICE undesirable: Slower start time, vibration, noise, inconsistent acceleration, the smell of gas at the pump and exhaust from the tailpipe, the pollution, the maintenance schedule, less cargo space, and the greater decrease in reliability with time.
- chaostheory 8y ago
  Why? If they care about the environment. If they don't like wasting time at the gas station every week or more. If they don't like to deal with the horrible maintenance schedule of traditional engines vs having an oil change every 2 years.
- icc97 8y ago
  They're quieter and safer and as Tesla has shown can have much better acceleration. The batteries are likely to survive 500k miles and there's a lot less moving parts so less things to go wrong.
- gnicholas 8y ago
  I bought a used C-MAX plug-in hybrid and was told that with the EV plan offered by PG&E, I'd save money versus gas. Only after I purchased did I learn that the EV plan gives you cheaper charging at night only if you're willing to stomach very high rates during the day. Since I work from home a lot and have a toddler, this is a non-starter for my family. So we pay roughly the same amount per mile with electricity as for gas — and I'm in CA, where gas is expensive. We do save a tiny bit when we get to charge for free or at a subsidized rate somewhere. But I think most of the savings comes from not wearing down our brake pads on the hills in our neighborhood, and not having so many moving parts to wear out. These savings are not huge when amortized over the number of miles driven.
  - rypskar 8y ago
    >in CA, where gas is expensive That actually made me laugh. It might cost more than in other US states, but is almost free comparing to most of Europe [1]. Average size of cars and engines, larger car with larger engine use more gas, also tell a lot of price compared to income, and it you compare traffic in Europe and America you will also see that Americans pay way to little for gas [1]https://www.statista.com/statistics/221368/gas-prices-around-the-world/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/221368/gas-prices-around...
  - sokoloff 8y ago
    I'm in MA (home of $0.20/kWh electricity) and my LEAF gets about 21 miles per dollar of energy. A comparable gas car would get ~13 miles per dollar of gasoline. I think you're likely still saving money on the electric portion of your driving, as CA rates seem to be slightly lower than MA rates from a cursory Google search.
    - gnicholas 8y ago
      We pay a bit more than this for electricity, on the margin (they give you low rates on the first chunk but then it goes up from there). But most of the difference is that our vehicle is nowhere near as efficient as yours. The 9kW/h battery only goes about 18-20 miles on a charge, and it costs more than the $1 that you pay to get that many miles.

Marsymars 8y ago

Why would someone buy an electric car if they had to pay the equivalent price of gas to charge it?

colordrops 8y ago
It would in all likelihood still be cheaper than gas, but even if it weren't, electric cars are just that much better all around. After you've driven one for a while, you realize what a smelly complicated Rube Goldberg mess the internal combustion engine is.
- Marsymars 8y ago
  To each their own, but I work for a service provider tangential to the auto industry, so I've had the chance to drive a lot of different cars, and I'm pretty ambivalent about electric vs ICE cars. None of the engineering complexity of an ICE (and associated components) is particularly relevant to me as a car owner, and we've been building them for long enough that despite their complexity, they're extremely reliable.
  - colordrops 8y ago
    Yes, to each his own. Even with reliability, I find several aspects of ICE undesirable: Slower start time, vibration, noise, inconsistent acceleration, the smell of gas at the pump and exhaust from the tailpipe, the pollution, the maintenance schedule, less cargo space, and the greater decrease in reliability with time.
chaostheory 8y ago
Why? If they care about the environment. If they don't like wasting time at the gas station every week or more. If they don't like to deal with the horrible maintenance schedule of traditional engines vs having an oil change every 2 years.
icc97 8y ago
They're quieter and safer and as Tesla has shown can have much better acceleration. The batteries are likely to survive 500k miles and there's a lot less moving parts so less things to go wrong.
gnicholas 8y ago
I bought a used C-MAX plug-in hybrid and was told that with the EV plan offered by PG&E, I'd save money versus gas. Only after I purchased did I learn that the EV plan gives you cheaper charging at night only if you're willing to stomach very high rates during the day. Since I work from home a lot and have a toddler, this is a non-starter for my family. So we pay roughly the same amount per mile with electricity as for gas — and I'm in CA, where gas is expensive. We do save a tiny bit when we get to charge for free or at a subsidized rate somewhere. But I think most of the savings comes from not wearing down our brake pads on the hills in our neighborhood, and not having so many moving parts to wear out. These savings are not huge when amortized over the number of miles driven.
- rypskar 8y ago
  >in CA, where gas is expensive That actually made me laugh. It might cost more than in other US states, but is almost free comparing to most of Europe [1]. Average size of cars and engines, larger car with larger engine use more gas, also tell a lot of price compared to income, and it you compare traffic in Europe and America you will also see that Americans pay way to little for gas [1]https://www.statista.com/statistics/221368/gas-prices-around-the-world/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/221368/gas-prices-around...
- sokoloff 8y ago
  I'm in MA (home of $0.20/kWh electricity) and my LEAF gets about 21 miles per dollar of energy. A comparable gas car would get ~13 miles per dollar of gasoline. I think you're likely still saving money on the electric portion of your driving, as CA rates seem to be slightly lower than MA rates from a cursory Google search.
  - gnicholas 8y ago
    We pay a bit more than this for electricity, on the margin (they give you low rates on the first chunk but then it goes up from there). But most of the difference is that our vehicle is nowhere near as efficient as yours. The 9kW/h battery only goes about 18-20 miles on a charge, and it costs more than the $1 that you pay to get that many miles.