We’ve all been told how there’s no demand in this country for electric vehicles. From the mainstream media sources kowtowing to the Gropenfuhrer. And drivers of electric vehicles painted as environmental whackos trying to save the planet.
Newsflash: driving electric is cheaper than gas! It was at $2.65 a gallon. But now at a national average of $3.92 according to AAA and $3.49 at my local Costco in New York, the math maths even harder. There’s a reason the West Coast where gas is $4.70ish a gallon or more have adopted EV’s faster than anywhere else. Even with higher electricity rates. It’s still cheaper per mile to drive electric.
That’s not getting into things like no oil changes at $100 a pop every six months or all the little bits and bobs that go wrong on a combustion engine. I had to replace the muffler on our 12 year old RAV4. And a catalytic converter since the flange was rusted out. Parts alone were $500 from RockAuto with me supplying the labor. That’s a year’s driving my EV! EV’s aren’t maintenance free but there’s a lot less to go wrong. Tires are the big ongoing expense. But laying off the juice pedal helps. I got the expected 35k miles out of the stock tires on my Model Y (pre-DOGE Elon edition). It would have been more but for a nail making a flat tire unrepairable. I know cars and the shop wasn’t pulling the wool over my eyes when they said it was unrepairable.
For charging, 120v 12 amp charging works fine if you drive 30 miles a day or less. EV’s almost never get charged to 100%. The batteries like to hover around 50% charge. And speaking of the battery, it should be good for 15 or so years and hundreds of thousands of miles. That means retaining 80% capacity. Not flat dead.
Be on the lookout for 2-3 year old off-lease EV’s coming to used car lots over the next few years. There were a lot of them leased after COVID when the tax credit got renewed and before it was repealed. Those leases are ending in the next few months to years. It may be a great way to get into a newer, cheaper to run car and help insulate the monthly budget from gas price volatility.
EV’s: great for the wallet and the planet!
