4 ms·

Buying a car right now feels like a tough decision. ICEs are on their way out, even illegal pretty soon, but EVs aren’t quite there yet especially if you live i

by Swizec 4y ago

Buying a car right now feels like a tough decision. ICEs are on their way out, even illegal pretty soon, but EVs aren’t quite there yet especially if you live in the city and can’t charge at home. Probably best to wait ~5 years then buy an EV, if you can wait.

RosanaAnaDana 4y ago
Eh, EV's are there. The older models like my 2012 leaf arent. But everything new is. The bigger issue is infrastructure. Leaving it to the market to put in charging has been a disaster. I can't relate or understand the 'city' argument (if you live in a city, get a bus pass), but for home charging, so long as you've got a commute or two of range, you can either charge at work parking or at home, mix mox.
rootusrootus 4y ago
Owning my own house, I will say that I'd happily never buy another ICE car. Charging at home is so much better than waiting in line at the gas station every week. The performance is excellent. In basically all ways that don't involve absurdly long road trips, the EV is the better choice. But price. That's the killer right now. They're popular, batteries are expensive. I may actually go back to a PHEV for my next car even after I swore I'd never own a non-EV again because I'm hooked. Because the price difference is 20 grand, and the EV will never save me 20 grand over its life compared to a good PHEV. I'm a bit miffed about the whole thing, to be honest. Prices are insane for everything. I need a raise, clearly.
- badpun 4y ago
  > Charging at home is so much better than waiting in line at the gas station every week. There are lines at gas stations in developed countries? I can't even remember when I last saw one.
  - erik_seaberg 4y ago
    Many stations aren’t busy, but some people wait in line for Costco prices.
JKCalhoun 4y ago
Internal combustion illegal soon? To own? I missed that memo.
- vkou 4y ago
  Illegal to sell new in a number of jurisdictions, starting sometime in the next 10-to-never years. Would probably put us on track to 3-4 degrees of warming.
  - JKCalhoun 4y ago
    Unless it becomes illegal to sell used also then that should not be an issue when deciding what type of car to buy now.
    - natch 4y ago
      There are plenty of levers available to government for hastening the demise of CO2-emitting vehicles. Curtailing new sales is just one of them.
    - vkou 4y ago
      I would be shocked if it ever becomes illegal to sell used.
  - pcthrowaway 4y ago
    I don't think it's actually going to be illegal to sell cars with ICEs anywhere, just cars that don't have a zero-emission run mode (so plug in hybrids will still be OK even though they'd run fine without a plug-in)
pcthrowaway 4y ago
Wouldn't hybrids be an acceptable middle ground for right now then? I imagine they won't be illegal any time soon, since it'll probably be at least 2 decades before we see EV infrastructure coverage of 99% of drivers' trips, and that last 1% (think driving around Alaska) will take just as much effort to service as the first 99%

by Swizec 4y ago

RosanaAnaDana 4y ago

Eh, EV's are there. The older models like my 2012 leaf arent. But everything new is. The bigger issue is infrastructure. Leaving it to the market to put in charging has been a disaster. I can't relate or understand the 'city' argument (if you live in a city, get a bus pass), but for home charging, so long as you've got a commute or two of range, you can either charge at work parking or at home, mix mox.

rootusrootus 4y ago

Owning my own house, I will say that I'd happily never buy another ICE car. Charging at home is so much better than waiting in line at the gas station every week. The performance is excellent. In basically all ways that don't involve absurdly long road trips, the EV is the better choice. But price. That's the killer right now. They're popular, batteries are expensive. I may actually go back to a PHEV for my next car even after I swore I'd never own a non-EV again because I'm hooked. Because the price difference is 20 grand, and the EV will never save me 20 grand over its life compared to a good PHEV. I'm a bit miffed about the whole thing, to be honest. Prices are insane for everything. I need a raise, clearly.

badpun 4y ago
> Charging at home is so much better than waiting in line at the gas station every week. There are lines at gas stations in developed countries? I can't even remember when I last saw one.
- erik_seaberg 4y ago
  Many stations aren’t busy, but some people wait in line for Costco prices.

JKCalhoun 4y ago

Internal combustion illegal soon? To own? I missed that memo.

vkou 4y ago
Illegal to sell new in a number of jurisdictions, starting sometime in the next 10-to-never years. Would probably put us on track to 3-4 degrees of warming.
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  Unless it becomes illegal to sell used also then that should not be an issue when deciding what type of car to buy now.
  - natch 4y ago
    There are plenty of levers available to government for hastening the demise of CO2-emitting vehicles. Curtailing new sales is just one of them.
  - vkou 4y ago
    I would be shocked if it ever becomes illegal to sell used.
- pcthrowaway 4y ago
  I don't think it's actually going to be illegal to sell cars with ICEs anywhere, just cars that don't have a zero-emission run mode (so plug in hybrids will still be OK even though they'd run fine without a plug-in)

pcthrowaway 4y ago

Wouldn't hybrids be an acceptable middle ground for right now then? I imagine they won't be illegal any time soon, since it'll probably be at least 2 decades before we see EV infrastructure coverage of 99% of drivers' trips, and that last 1% (think driving around Alaska) will take just as much effort to service as the first 99%