Here's What's Keeping You From Buying An EV

It looks as if a lot of you are holding out on buying an EV. Given both the current state of the country's infrastructure and how the new vehicle market is with both price and vehicle availability, its not surprising. While everyone had their own reasons of course, those reasons were mostly the same across the board: charging access, something comparable to what you own now, range, and the biggest reason, price.

Last week we asked readers what's holding them back from EV ownership. These were their reasons.

EV's are too expensive. They don't work well in extremely cold Canadian climates, and the charging infrastructure for them is basically non existent in Saskatchewan rural areas. I'm at least 15 years away from owning an EV, and even then I'll probably only buy one when I'm retired.

Submitted by: Brent Mooney via Facebook

Far and away, cost. I make great money, but most of these cars require hundreds more per month than I'm willing to put into a depreciating asset, especially with EVs being so new and the depreciation curve being unknown. As an example, look at a 2019 BMW i3: originally $45k MSRP but now you can pick one up for half of that with fewer than 40,000 miles. 50% depreciation in 5 years (a reasonable auto loan period) doesn't make sense to me.

Close second though, is range between recharges. I've said before that I don't want a long range EV because I regularly drive long distances, I want to only need to recharge my car about as often as I would fill up an ICE vehicle. Something like 300 mi minimum would be OK for a small econobox like a Honda Fit, but for a midsize sedan, my 1996 Mazda Millenia would regularly do 424 mi before the fuel light came on, so it's gotta be similar, if not better.

Submitted by: OnceInAMillenia

I just don't want one. My office has charging, but for the 1-2 days I go into the office, that's not really a necessity. I can install a charger at home, too. Truthfully, cost isn't a factor for me either, there are models out now that I could afford to buy.

There are just no electric cars that I want right now. I like the car that I have now. I'm not making up excuses; I don't need to tow, I don't need practicality, I don't need range. An EV would suit me just fine, but I don't want it.

Submitted by: Sean Gorelik via Facebook

I'm not buying an EV because they're modern cars. I won't buy ANY car made after 1985. I don't want computers in my car. I don't want gadgetry. I hate the styling, the ride, the visibility, the cramped interiors of modern cars. I refuse to buy an automatic transmission.

What I want in a car just flat out isn't legal to sell anymore as brand new. I want a carburetted engine, a manual transmission, air con, FM radio, defrost, AND NOTHING ELSE! No power this, no heated that, no automatic yadda yadda. JUST what I listed. I don't want half a best buy in my car, I don't care about crash test ratings, fast just means it's going to cost a fortune to keep on the road and so isn't a good thing...just...bleh.

I love my 85 F150 and my next car purchase will be something from the 1940s or 1950s with a 3-on-the-tree in it. And likely the valves will be BESIDE the pistons instead of above them.

There's no superlatives you can ever attach to a battery car to get me to buy one. And, no, I won't buy one if you slide the guts of it into a 57 Belvedere either. As much as I'd love to drive a 57 Belvedere to work every day, half the point of doing so is having the flathead six and 3-on-the-tree doing the work!

Submitted by: JennyC6

Nobody seems to want to make an equivalent to my current car. I drive an Accord that is pretty nice, with okay power and a decent price. I don't think a manufacturer has made a genuine effort at a mainstream electric car since the EV1 decades ago.

Submitted by: Aaron Cohn via Facebook

You hit the nail on the head with this article; for me it's the combination of price and range. The EVs with the longest ranges have higher pricing that just don't convince me to switch. I drive a hybrid that easily gives me 360 miles on a tank for a better, more competitive price than an EV with similar range. Until EVs have similar ranges as their hybrid and gas powered automobile counterparts, it's not an evenly matched game for my dollars. 55k or higher for 260 miles of range for the entry level EVs plus the charging time and total cost of ownership makes this an imbalanced proposal.

Submitted by: Bobby G Slaughter

It's the range per dollar. I know 100-120 like the i3 and electric Mini Cooper would cover 90% of my needs but if I know I can never leave the city I am not paying anything close to 30k. Sure I want a powerful 400+ mile electric truck but those of us who are financially responsible know that 85+k is an insane amount of money in a country with an individual median income of 54k a year. Look at all the auto loan delinquencies as of late there has been a lot of irresponsible lending to irresponsible individuals getting into vehicles they can't afford.

Submitted by: Nathan Yount via Facebook

Like I said before, I live some 150 miles north of the Alabama Gulf Coast. If a hurricane or tropical storm makes landfall from New Orleans, Mobile or Pensacola and moves inland, I'm pretty much in the strike zone. Same goes for tornadoes, especially if they're coming from Dallas, New Orleans or Memphis. I'm situated between two power grids coming from the Southern Company/Alabama Power Co. plant from nearby Forkland. When the storms hit, power lines are down, the plant goes offline, and the entire area is in blackout for a long time. During Katrina in 2005, that was nearly 2 weeks.

Many of the C-stores, truck stops and service centers in the area have invested in commercial-grade LP or natural gas-fueled generators to keep the stores opened and fuel pumps operating during power outages. Fuel deliveries are ensured.

I let Governor Ivey's office know how I felt about her mandate for the state to go all EV. The office was not pleased.

Submitted by: IDM3

On paper it's the combination of weight and range. I like the idea of a range of 300+ miles, so I can go surfing or windsurfing (-30% range) at places without chargers circa 100 miles away (allowing for heaters in winter, batteries degrading over time, etc). However, I don't want to drive a car that weighs over 1.7 tonnes. If I stop racing and don't need to tow, <1.4 tonnes would be ideal. This combination is unavailable right now, but hopefully in the future.

Another problem is that I currently need to tow a racing car in a trailer, and EVs seem to have very low towing limits (plus it's range -50%!), but I'm willing to give that up, as I can barely afford it now anyway.

The final issue is that for me, cars have steadily declined in how nicely they drive over the years. I've driven current ICE cars from every year from about 1990 up to today, and this downward trend is marked from about 1999/2000 onwards. It's got so bad that I've not driven a car made after 2020 that I'd want to own. I had a new car for the day last week that I actively didn't enjoy – I constantly wanted every journey to end. To see how EVs compare I'd need to test drive one, but I'm not hopeful.

My current plan is to run my 2016 ICE daily driver and 1977 track car as long as I can, then restore a classic 90s saloon for everyday use, and buy a pre-2000 sports car if I quit racing. I will obviously test drive an EV first.

Submitted by: Rob Manser via Facebook

I live in Craig, CO and have a 2023 Ioniq 5. I drive 1000 miles a week on average, so I decided to make car payments instead of fuel payments. I'm an IT Tech so I'm pretty savvy, and fully understand how to find the DC Chargers I'll need to be able get around. The infrastructure is GARBAGE. Luckily I have a Level 2 Charger at home. Solely relying on publicly available stations out here is risky at best. I've had to fix a couple of Electrify America charging stations to be able to make it home. ChargePoint in the Western Slope was down for a month while undergoing upgrades, so I had to use the backup ICE a couple of times to get to Gould, CO and back.

You have to plan, plan, plan if you're going to use more than 50% of the range. There's no "I'll just get off at the next exit" or "we'll skip this charging station and catch the next". I LOVE my hatchy. I would never put my mom in one.

Submitted by: El Perro Nego

Waiting for a cool & affordable one to be available. Nothing released so far really interests me. Would love an e-tron GT or an R1S but my budget is about half that.

Submitted by: Corey Kononchuck via Facebook

I actually had a confirmed order and deposit on a RWD Lucid Air Pure until Wednesday. I am retired, and I drive from MA to FL in the fall, and back from FL to MA in the spring.

When an EV can do 400+ miles on a charge (Lucid – Check) AND charge from 5% to 90% in under 10 minutes (nope), AND the whole clusterfuck that is Electrify America on the east coast gets fixed, I will look again. Until then I will continue to drive my 2009 Tacoma, which has 400+ miles of range, can fill the tank in under 10 minutes, and gasoline stations in the USA simply work.

Also when an EV maker makes batteries that can EASILY be replaced when needed (as in a Prius). My belief/experience is that Li-Ion batteries seem to die in less than 10 years (please correct me as needed). My ICE truck is 14 years old. My ICE car is 22 years old. Neither has a problem with going 400 miles on a tank of gas, and neither has had to have their engine, or fuel tank replaced – EVER.

Submitted by: Eighty-Eighty

Price, charger availability in non-owned housing and across the country and, most importantly, fun-to-drive factor. I like to shift my own gears. Find me an EV in the same price range as my 2023 GTI S that delivers a similar experience.

Submitted by: Filipp Gorelik via Facebook

My daily driver is a 2+2 RWD coupe that's under 3000 lbs. It's comfortable, engaging to drive, and I'm able to do all the maintenance myself. Until there's something comparable out there, I'm frankly not interested in a BEV. I don't need 500 miles of range or a 3-second 0-60: 250 miles and 5 seconds, respectively, would do just fine.

Furthermore: I'm not impressed with the 'features as subscriptions' model that a lot of manufacturers are moving to (especially in BEVs), and I dislike the forced adoption of touchscreens and always-emitting displays when simple mechanical buttons and gauges could work, instead.

I know I'm a dinosaur, but until that asteroid hits I'll keep doing what I'm doing.

Submitted by: TheSchrat

What keeps me from buying an EV is that there are zero wheelchair accessible options in the US. Otherwise I'd snap one up in an instant.

Our gas van is 15 years old and only has 60,000 miles on it, but it's basically rotted away from disuse because we need it so little; battery goes dead, fuel goes bad, oil goes bad, seals dry up, engine sits; it's become very unreliable and expensive to maintain to even this sad state. But when we need it once or twice a month for MD visits or the like, we NEED it.

And an accessible van is a long-term investment. We can't afford to pay $60-90k for a $30-50k van more than once every 15-20 years.

An electric vehicle that sits in our driveway or garage, plugged into a conditioning charger and is ready to go 50-300 miles per trip every few weeks with no engine maintenance is IDEAL.

Submitted by: Gin and Panic