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There are also people like me - who were considering an EV but in the meantime... stopped driving altogether. Ok, I haven't completely stopped, but I do less t

• the_snooze 3y ago
  I'm in the same boat. I bought a small ICE car a few years ago, figuring that the fact I drive so little (under 5000 miles a year) gets me most of the fuel and environmental benefits of an EV without the cost or inconvenience.
  • ghaff 3y ago
    I had to get a car summer 2022 and I was lucky to get what I wanted without too long a wait. Electric and hybrid options just weren't there for what I wanted so I figured I'll buy something and see what's out there in maybe ten years.
• saltcured 3y ago
  As someone who has had several cars like that (built in the late 70s and late 90s), I'll note that operating costs get much harder to quantify with an older car... I suppose it depends on your maintenance philosophy and risk tolerance, but the cost per distance goes up dramatically for infrequent use and as the car ages. Many fluids and components don't just wear out by distance driven, but also by time since manufacture or time exposed to the environment. I keep wondering how EVs might behave in this regard. Can they be effectively parked to defer their useful lifetime, or will batteries and power electronics also degrade whether you drive or not? Imagine power electronics succumbing to "bad capacitor" fiascos like other consumer electronics, or batteries being cooked by poor charge controllers when a car is constantly on standby. But I also wonder this about the ever growing informatics systems, regardless of whether it is EV or ICE. Will modern cars be able to be used 10-20 years later, or will some crucial systems fail with no cost-effective service option because manufacturers have moved on to completely different tech? I'm very disheartened to see the smartphone obsolescence mentality seeming to infect car designs. I followed the "buy and hold" strategy for the past 30 years, but I start to wonder if I'll be forced into leasing due to these concerns about the practical longevity of all the newer tech. It seems the only way to make the manufacturer somewhat responsible for the residual utility of the car after its prime years.
  • ghaff 3y ago
    I'm also guessing that, whether or not there's something at least very close to self-driving under many conditions in ten years, unless you really like being in full control, I'm guessing in ten years, you'll be looking enviously at those cars that can drive themselves around on the freeway most of the time.
    • saltcured 3y ago
      I understand what you mean. I'm a bit of an ideologue who would rather sacrifice some comforts or conveniences in order to reject the plan marketers are trying to force onto me. I am disgusted by the cynical vertical integrations which are trying to shorten the lifecycle of mechanical equipment by conflating it with the life of digital systems and software. If I were King of the World, modular construction and operation would be mandated as a philosophical extension of "right to repair" into "right to retrofit". The core electro-mechanical car-as-transport would have standardized mount points and interfaces to allow sensor-suite, processing, and driver-automation to be upgraded. A bit like the DIN car stereos of yore, the fancy driving modes or infotainment systems should be field replaceable bits that can be added to an older car to prevent its obsolescence. And conversely, the new car should be able to be bought and used in an old fashioned manner without all those add-ons, if desired by the buyer. I don't want the car manufacturer to limit me to one and only one automation or infotainment suite that they can force into obsolescence. I feel similarly about the actual EV traction bits, but realize current packaging is at its limits to squeeze sufficient battery into the chassis. If battery chemistry ever permits, I would hope that traction batteries can eventually be a smaller modular unit to swap in or out of a car again, more like the conventional 12V battery in standard forms shared by many car makes and models.
• spindle 3y ago
  FWIW, I'm the same, and one (admittedly minor) motivation was not having to decide what kind of car to get next.
• NeoTar 3y ago
  Are there not annual car-taxes where you live? Surely at that rate of usage selling the car is more financially efficient than keeping it!
  • ghaff 3y ago
    Where I am in the US, insurance is more than excise taxes/fees. But even if you don't drive a huge number of miles/kms annually--I probably drive about 5k miles these days--you can still more or less need one day-to-day and want one for things like heading off hiking. I don't drive a lot of miles but absolutely could not live without a car.
  • ahazred8ta 3y ago
    In many US states, $100-150 per year is typical.
  • Tade0 3y ago
    I'll do you one better: I have full insurance coverage for the vehicle and it's 5% of its residual value annually, but I still intend to keep it. The reason is that it's an incredibly useful tool - especially for a family with small children - and I can't rely on renting services during bursts of demand like during the holidays. Also I picked a vehicle that was way less expensive than what I could afford at the time, not to mention now that my financial situation is better. Our household saves 40% of its income after taxes, but we don't choose everything (or anything really) with just financial efficiency in mind, because to me personally such a life would be quite hellish.
    • NeoTar 3y ago
      My apologies - I misread your first comment as '6 km' (rather than 6k km) annually, hence my incredulity.