Environmental concerns are not a reason why people own really old cars. Cost is. They'd buy something better but they can't and they are stuck with an old car.

Environmental concerns are not a reason why people own really old cars. Cost is. They'd buy something better but they can't and they are stuck with an old car. Eventually, you get a trickle down effect with EVs as well. They can last quite long and the new ones are gradually getting cheaper. At some point the cumulative maintenance cost and fuel cost start canceling the benefits of hanging on to your old ICE car. There will be plenty of relatively good ones to swap it with for a while as people abandon their ICE cars with more affordable EVs. So the good news, there's going to some supply of relatively new but cheap ICE cars for some time to come. The better news is that at some point those will be competing with old EVs and the EVs will be the more economical option and you'll have the option to do both. However, a lot of people with older cars don't have the option to spend on the more economical car though. Old cars are cheap to buy but not to drive. They need repairs, burn more fuel, and can break down on you. It's a form of poverty when that is all you can afford. In the same way people own fridges or washing machines that are cheap but inefficient and cost them a fortune in energy cost. The fancy energy efficient models would save them money. But it requires having the cash on hand to buy one. Also people are bad at math.