These Are The Things Still Keeping You From Buying An EV

All cars depreciate, but I’m still seeing massive depreciation on EVs. Why would I put money in something that drops in value so fast? Looking on Autotrader right now, I can find a one-year-old:

BMW i7 (MSRP ~$105k) for mid-$80k with under 3k miles

Kia EV6 (MSRP $44k) for low/mid-$20k with under 30k miles

Nissan Ariya (MSRP $43k) for $34k with 7k miles, or another with 10k miles for $31k

Cadillac Lyriq (MSRP $61k) for $47k with 13k miles

Chevy Bolt EUV (MSRP $28k) for $19-21k under 25k miles

Suggested by: OnceInAMillenia

I live in a state that gets it’s fair share of hurricanes and power outages that go with it. I’d want an affordable, comfortable midsized car/crossover that gout a lot of range before I’d even think about EV ownership. The though of trying to get to a safe place after a storm doesn’t jive with the range of an EV that fits my budget.

Suggested by: Job Rowe via Facebook

The real jerk of a time it is to get a quad-friendly/power wheelchair-accessible EV. You’d think the typical skateboard-platform EV in van form would be great for the task - the lower floor would allow lower entry incline and more interior space, not to mention the advantage of having plenty of battery power to accommodate a lift and a billion other random-but-necessary things...

But nope, I’m inconveniently tall (and don’t have coachbuilt-Mercedes money), so I continue to ride in the ol’ Windsor-powered E-150. Do better, car universe.

Suggested by: Captain Tangent is totally rad()

I need to tow for business, up to 500 miles on way. An EV truck doesn’t have the range to do it. All the tests show they barely hits 150 miles before it’s dead.

I’m not quite sure what truck this person is referring to, but this is more or less true. Independent testing by AAA on the Ford F-150 Lightning with a 1,400 pound load saw a 25 percent reduction in range.

Suggested by: Dan Williams via Facebook

Seems like every EV is going with capacitive controls for things I want buttons and knobs for. I adjust things while driving and don’t want to be looking at a screen while hurtling down the road.

The only one that has tempted me is the EV6, and even it does the stupid HVAC/Audio switching via capacitive controls.

Suggested by: Drew

No one is making anything that ticks all the boxes for me. As soon as someone makes a good looking EV sport coupe that performs, can fgo around a corner, and has a 300 mile range in the 55-65k range, I’m in.

Suggested by: Noah Gilbert via Facebook

The ‘gamefication’ of charging. You’re making a long trip and have to charge somewhere other than your house? Well... Find a charger, hope its working, pray there aren’t ten people waiting in front of you or some douchenozzle hasn’t cockblocked it, download an app to use the charger, sign up with the company, setup an account to use the charge THEN wait a longer-than-filling-with-gasoline amount of time to charge up enough to eventually get where you’re going. Repeat as many times as necessary. When they have a charger on every corner (like gas stations) and you can just swipe a credit/debit card to pay (like gas stations) and be done in 15 minutes...I’ll consider it.

Suggested by: KazarSoze

I don’t need to go 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds on public roads, wait 30 mins to fast charger or be like every other Gen X or Gen Zer on the road. When I want to drive, I take my ICE car on the twisty mountain roads. Make me work for my fun.

Suggested by: Thomas Reyes via Facebook

I don’t want a rolling iPad, I want a car. I don’t want every last system in my car controlled by a computer. I want simple subsystems that have low TCOs and easy repairs. As an example, I should never be locked in or out of my car if its batteries are dead or some system “thinks” the batteries are dead.

I don’t want 0-60 times and I don’t want obscenely high horsepower ratings. I’d rather have range and a low curb weight. Give me 300 to 500 miles of range, 150 - 300 HP, and keep it between 3500 and 4500 pounds.

I want completely modular systems. Standardized battery packs with open specifications. If and when a new battery technology is available, I want to be able to upgrade my existing one if my vehicle is still in good shape and I’m still happy with it. Same goes for other systems. If there is an updated infotainment or nav system available, I just want to be able to install it, not buy a new car.

And last but not least, I want the manufacturer to fully support the car and every last system within it. Not treat it as some bastard not worthy of an ounce of attention the moment after it leaves the dealer’s lot.

Suggested by: alteregon

If I could park it in a garage, I might consider it. It would have to sit out in the elements in Southern Arizona, which is not good for advanced electronics, especially batteries. It would also have to navigate extremely bumpy country roads, which is also not good for advanced electronics. I would also have to be able to afford the extra electricity to keep it charged. I would also have to time my trips so that I arrive at home base exactly when it needs a charge, and that’s difficult because I live 15 miles from my nearest grocery store, and other errands take me much further than that. Also, I don’t have $80,000 sitting around, and I will not get financing.

Suggested by Troy James Martin via Facebook

I’m a single car household so I still need one vehicle that can do absolutely everything, and part of that everything is multiple 450 mile drives a month across states with lousy infrastructure in general and lousy charging.

Basically I’m a statistical anomaly. I don’t need anyone to build an EV with a 500 mile range, I don’t really even need a better charging network, what I need is high speed rail so I don’t have to do the long drive at all.

I’ll just add, for fucks sake, we don’t need a 1:1 replacement of ICE with EV- we need other options to get around that don’t involve a single person in a 3-4,000 pound vehicle.

Suggested by: Buckfiddiousagain

It makes zero financial sense to replace my current vehicles.

For how much I drive on a weekly basis (not much, I commute by bike and take my kids to school on a cargo bike) I just can’t justify getting rid of my paid off 2011 WRX hatchback for the occasional trip. When I do drive, it is typically long haul camping trips in my truck with the Four Wheel Camper in the bed and towing a small boat or hauling bikes, not something an electric truck would excel at. And for the 8-10 trips per year, even if an electric truck would work it would be hard to justify ditching the 2018 GMC Sierra (our only remaining car loan but with 2.5% APR).

For my wife it could make sense as she does a lot of short around-town trips. But again, it’s hard to justify getting rid of a perfectly good 2016 Explorer that is paid off. I have tried to get her to consider an ID.Buzz but she A) doesn’t want a van and B) rightly called out how little sense it makes financially.

Submitted by: SantaCruzin6

The same thing that’s stopping me from buying ANY new car: PRICE

I’m currently paying $240/mo on a used 2016 Mini Cooper S (about $30 of that is additional that goes directly to principal). I can’t justify spending more than $300/mo on a car, especially a new one that’ll depreciate 40% in the first year. Not to mention, the upfront cost of having to install a charger at my house, plus upgrading my electrical service to accommodate it.

Suggested by: veteran011

I’ve rented a few EVs. Mostly accidentally when Hertz didn’t have anything else. Two Teslas and a Polestar. It has never not been a hassle keeping them charged. Chargers constantly full. Chargers constantly broken. Chargers constantly driving me fucking nuts with their apps. People driving me nuts by keeping their cars on chargers for 20 hours. Even in a high EV adoption area (had a Polestar in East Hampton last summer) where there are lots of chargers it was still always a problem. A certain percentage of every day was spent worrying where I could charge the car.

I’ll buy an EV when there are half as many chargers as there are gas stations. I don’t mind the 15/20 minute charge time. That’s honestly fine with me. But it has never happened to me that I could pull up to a charging station and actually leave within 30 minutes. Not once.

Suggested by: Kerberos824

For me, I just don’t see the value proposition at this point in time. My current commute is <25 miles round trip, my commuter car gets up to 40 mpg highway, and it has very low maintenance costs. An EV wouldn’t actually be “cheaper to own” once I factored in the higher cost to buy, higher property taxes, higher insurance premium, cost of installing a home charging system, and the above average depreciation, etc. Yes, I would save on “fuel” and maintenance costs; but it will take quite some time for that to become a “net cost savings”. I did the math about a year ago, and the break even on something like a Model 3 (a relatively inexpensive EV) would be about 7-8 years for me; which is not a particularly attractive proposition (and I have no desire to give Elon any of my money).

I nearly bought an e-Tron GT RS earlier this year as my “fun car”; but the depreciation on those is just mind blowing. So it’s one last ICE “fun car” for this guy.

Suggested by:featherlite