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What a pointless article. Any car that needs a $10k battery is going to be more expensive than an ICE vehicle. You’ll save money most of the time over the life

What a pointless article. Any car that needs a $10k battery is going to be more expensive than an ICE vehicle. You’ll save money most of the time over the life of the vehicle in the form of lower fuel and maintenance costs. Once again Americans get stuck on the upfront cost, not the total cost of ownership. At this point I have to wonder what the motivation of articles like these are and how much money is behind them.

rsj_hn 4y ago
> You’ll save money most of the time over the life of the vehicle in the form of lower fuel and maintenance costs. In theory, this is true. In practice, Teslas are very expensive to repair, don't have a very good reliability track record, and there isn't the secondary market yet for independent mechanics and part suppliers to be able to challenge factory repair costs. This is why Tesla sets aside roughly the same amount for warranty reserves as their competitors, meaning they expect to spend the same amount per year doing repairs on their cars as do the ICE makers. Really the auto industry itself is making the cars unappealing by locking things down with DRM and trying to change the ownership model of cars, even being able to block you from starting the car remotely. So we have propriety charging stations that are owned by the automaker, a repair ecosystem controlled by the automaker, and powerful software in complete control of every aspect of the car communicating constantly with the automaker. In that type of environment, expect to get milked constantly regardless of the theoretical advantages EVs have in terms of cost. A truly open platform electric car -- one that is highly modifiable and customizable and mechanically much less complex -- that's a DIY/hobbyists' dream, and it should have much lower maintenance costs. But automakers are standing in the way.
- PaulHoule 4y ago
  My son is looking at getting his first car, he wants a "classic car" but given upstate NY winters I think we are going to add whatever economy car we can find to the motor pool at the farm. He absolutely hates the idea of a "connected car" and if affordable electric cars are glorified cell phones he is going to stick with old gas cars.
  - thisarticle 4y ago
    That’s coming to all cars, even old ones. (A new car now in 20 years will be a beater).

rsj_hn 4y ago

> You’ll save money most of the time over the life of the vehicle in the form of lower fuel and maintenance costs. In theory, this is true. In practice, Teslas are very expensive to repair, don't have a very good reliability track record, and there isn't the secondary market yet for independent mechanics and part suppliers to be able to challenge factory repair costs. This is why Tesla sets aside roughly the same amount for warranty reserves as their competitors, meaning they expect to spend the same amount per year doing repairs on their cars as do the ICE makers. Really the auto industry itself is making the cars unappealing by locking things down with DRM and trying to change the ownership model of cars, even being able to block you from starting the car remotely. So we have propriety charging stations that are owned by the automaker, a repair ecosystem controlled by the automaker, and powerful software in complete control of every aspect of the car communicating constantly with the automaker. In that type of environment, expect to get milked constantly regardless of the theoretical advantages EVs have in terms of cost. A truly open platform electric car -- one that is highly modifiable and customizable and mechanically much less complex -- that's a DIY/hobbyists' dream, and it should have much lower maintenance costs. But automakers are standing in the way.

PaulHoule 4y ago
My son is looking at getting his first car, he wants a "classic car" but given upstate NY winters I think we are going to add whatever economy car we can find to the motor pool at the farm. He absolutely hates the idea of a "connected car" and if affordable electric cars are glorified cell phones he is going to stick with old gas cars.
- thisarticle 4y ago
  That’s coming to all cars, even old ones. (A new car now in 20 years will be a beater).