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It's not literally just an extra engine you're carrying around, it's the whole ICE drivetrain and exhaust system: engine, starter, air intake, transmission, alt

It's not literally just an extra engine you're carrying around, it's the whole ICE drivetrain and exhaust system: engine, starter, air intake, transmission, alternator, oil pump, fuel tank and fuel pump, gas lines, catalytic converter, muffler, all the various sensors for the engine, etc. Electric cars have none of those. Thanks to government subsidies in place for 14 years so far and locked in for at least another 10, I've experienced no actual depreciation on my electric cars to date. I've actually made money upgrading to a new one every few years. My current daily driver is a 2021 VW ID4 that had a sticker price of $44K, $36.5K after the federal tax credit, and Carvana offered me a bit over $43K if I want to sell it today.

notch656a 4y ago
>It's not literally just an extra engine you're carrying around, it's the whole ICE drivetrain and exhaust system: engine, starter, air intake, transmission, alternator, oil pump, fuel tank and fuel pump, gas lines, catalytic converter, muffler, all the various sensors for the engine, etc. Electric cars have none of those. So I was an electrical engineer and designed (and hand wired) a complete drive system for an electric vehicle company. Electric car has, in some sense, all of those. It has a motor(s) instead of a starter. It has an inverter and gearbox instead of a 'transmission' [0]. It has a rectifier / charging system instead of a fuel pump. It has a DC/DC converter instead of an alternator. It has HV electrical distribution network instead of gas lines. Instead of the metals in a catalytic converter or a gas tank, you have hundreds of pounds of chemistries such as lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide. Instead of a muffler or air intake, you have air and fluid cooling systems for the batteries. There are 'all various sensors' for battery temperature and status monitoring as well as for positioning and feedback of the motors. [0] https://cleantechnica.com/files/2018/03/jack-rickard-motor-1-corrected-added-caption-with-annotation.jpg https://cleantechnica.com/files/2018/03/jack-rickard-motor-1... My grandma gave me $7500 to buy a car so I can sell it for a profit! -- the logic that 'because tax credits' the car didn't depreciate. I bought my Toyota new off the lot in 2020 for $29k and Carvana offered $31k in 2022, without taxing/inflating/indebting grandma and the rest of the populace $7500.
- lmm 4y ago
  > So I was an electrical engineer and designed a drive system for an electric vehicle company. Electric car has, in some sense, all of those. It has a motor(s) instead of a starter. It has an inverter and gearbox instead of a 'transmission' [0]. It has a rectifier / charging system instead of a fuel pump. It has a DC/DC converter instead of an alternator. It has HV electrical distribution network instead of gas lines. Instead of the metals in a catalytic converter or a gas tank, you have hundreds of pounds of chemistries such as lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide. Instead of a muffler or air intake, you have air and fluid cooling systems for the batteries. There are 'all various sensors' for battery temperature and status monitoring as well as for positioning and feedback of the motors. The point is that in a plug-in hybrid you still need all that. You're carrying around two full drivetrains instead of one, for a benefit that might actually be pretty marginal.

notch656a 4y ago

>It's not literally just an extra engine you're carrying around, it's the whole ICE drivetrain and exhaust system: engine, starter, air intake, transmission, alternator, oil pump, fuel tank and fuel pump, gas lines, catalytic converter, muffler, all the various sensors for the engine, etc. Electric cars have none of those. So I was an electrical engineer and designed (and hand wired) a complete drive system for an electric vehicle company. Electric car has, in some sense, all of those. It has a motor(s) instead of a starter. It has an inverter and gearbox instead of a 'transmission' [0]. It has a rectifier / charging system instead of a fuel pump. It has a DC/DC converter instead of an alternator. It has HV electrical distribution network instead of gas lines. Instead of the metals in a catalytic converter or a gas tank, you have hundreds of pounds of chemistries such as lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide. Instead of a muffler or air intake, you have air and fluid cooling systems for the batteries. There are 'all various sensors' for battery temperature and status monitoring as well as for positioning and feedback of the motors. [0] https://cleantechnica.com/files/2018/03/jack-rickard-motor-1-corrected-added-caption-with-annotation.jpg https://cleantechnica.com/files/2018/03/jack-rickard-motor-1... My grandma gave me $7500 to buy a car so I can sell it for a profit! -- the logic that 'because tax credits' the car didn't depreciate. I bought my Toyota new off the lot in 2020 for $29k and Carvana offered $31k in 2022, without taxing/inflating/indebting grandma and the rest of the populace $7500.

lmm 4y ago
> So I was an electrical engineer and designed a drive system for an electric vehicle company. Electric car has, in some sense, all of those. It has a motor(s) instead of a starter. It has an inverter and gearbox instead of a 'transmission' [0]. It has a rectifier / charging system instead of a fuel pump. It has a DC/DC converter instead of an alternator. It has HV electrical distribution network instead of gas lines. Instead of the metals in a catalytic converter or a gas tank, you have hundreds of pounds of chemistries such as lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide. Instead of a muffler or air intake, you have air and fluid cooling systems for the batteries. There are 'all various sensors' for battery temperature and status monitoring as well as for positioning and feedback of the motors. The point is that in a plug-in hybrid you still need all that. You're carrying around two full drivetrains instead of one, for a benefit that might actually be pretty marginal.