this post was submitted on 26 May 2026
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/64500038

top 28 comments
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[–] AlphaOmega@lemmy.world 13 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

After 1 year ownership.
Zero maintenance costs this year, plus averaging around 3 to 5 cents per mile.

My motorcycle costs more to drive and maintain.

It's nice knowing that no matter how expensive gas gets, I'm unaffected by it. Power comes from solar.

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)
[–] AlphaOmega@lemmy.world 5 points 5 hours ago

2 recalls, no cost to me. Brakes were serviced during that time free of charge. All they did was clean and check them. Also rotated tires for free.

My biggest expense I would assume will be my tires. It does weigh like 5400 lbs

[–] pound_heap@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Yeah... Too bad that all EVs are spyware on the wheels. When car makers will be forced to stop or significantly reduce the amount of data they are collecting, I may consider buying one. Probably not going to happen in my lifetime.

[–] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

You can probably pull out the sim card that calls home. Plenty of guides out there too

[–] pound_heap@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 hours ago

I'd think most of the modern cars use eSim, not a physical card

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 7 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Lol if you're in North America look for an older ev with 3g. The network is shut down so there's no way it can communicate as long as you don't give it your Wi-Fi password.

[–] pound_heap@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I am. And I didn't realize that's a thing! But there is not many models... WV e-golf maybe a decent option

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Yeah, leafs are cheap AF, if you can make due with the small range. They have passive cooling for the batteries like the egolf, but I'd be wary of an egolf since I don't know how well they're supported by 3rd parties like the leaf is.

I-miev didn't sell well, and I've seen lots of problems with them, so I'd stay away from them. bmw i3 would be the most expensive of the older, 3g options both to buy and maintain.

The other option to consider if you don't mind an even shorter electric range would be a phev like Chevy volt or Ford fusion. But your commute would need to be less than 10 miles for that to work.

[–] kungen@feddit.nu 8 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Wasn't this already well-known? An internal combustion engine is less effective already from the start compared to "modern" fossil energy power production. Even if the energy came 100% from coal, there wouldn't be too much difference anyways.

The only thing electric cars are worse for, environmentally, is increased tyre wear due to weight. And then the battery production/disposal of course...

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 7 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Even if the energy came from 100% black coal, EVs still have less emissions than ICE

[–] Honytawk@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 hours ago

About 30% less.

Goes to show how inefficient an engine is that runs on explosions. A gear shifter is a necessity just to keep it running at optimum rotation, otherwise it would be even less efficient.

[–] areakode@riskeratspizza.com 40 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

Yup. We knew this. But they won't let us buy the affordable cars because that sort of free market would put US companies out of business.

In this country, we have the FREEDOM to buy any overpriced domestic or foreign (assuming they're on the list of good foreign countries) tank-sized SUV you want.

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 19 points 11 hours ago

Who ever thought the US would be a place where the federal government would prevent you from buying the coolest cars and coolest drones? Lame.

[–] Flower@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 hours ago

Yeah, you're living in state capitalism in the USA these days.

[–] Jolteon@lemmy.zip 6 points 9 hours ago

Bold of them to assume the people concerned about money are the ones buying new cars.

[–] bluGill@fedia.io 9 points 11 hours ago (3 children)

The cost savings, even at $5\gallon don't make up for the payments, much less taxes and insurance. But the old truck needed $10000 in repairs to stay on the road and so I'm stuck anyway no matter what.

[–] kungen@feddit.nu 6 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

You have higher taxes for electric cars? It's the other way around here.

[–] bluGill@fedia.io 4 points 5 hours ago

We have higher taxes for newer cars. If your car is more than 10 years old, your taxes go way down. When I replace my truck because parts were rusting off, taxes went up because the vehicle is newer.

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

depends on the state/locality in the US. Since we pay for road maintenance with tax on gas (which EVs don't pay obviously), some places add an EV tax to make up for it. Problem is it's usually a flat tax that is higher than most people would pay via gas taxes.

[–] bluGill@fedia.io 1 points 5 hours ago

I did the math in my state and the higher taxes are almost exactly what you would be paying gas tests assuming you are average in every possible way, which is unlikely, but what else are they going to do when they don't track mileage?

[–] rainwall@piefed.social 14 points 9 hours ago

Trucks are still tricky, but new EVs cars are about the same cost as new ICE cars. Used EVs are basically entirely reasonable and in some cases cheaper than used ICE.

Nothing new is going to beat a paid off car for affordability, but that's a pretty apple to oranges comparison no matter how you slice it.

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

well yeah, you also have to factor in maintenance and repairs.

[–] xordos@lonestarpiefed.duckdns.org 0 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

OK, want to throw this discussion. The battery cost. Very rough say battery last 100k miles and cost 10k to replace it. Then for the ICE car at 20 mpg that means battery cost equiv about $2 per gallon? (If battery cost half then it will be $1)

Right now charging time is most burden that I am not toward ev. I know this is become better but the battery cost is another factor which I am not sure.

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 9 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

The thing most people miss is that the lifespan rating on most batteries isn't the time until it's completely dead and useless. At 10yrs/100,000mi the battery is usually rated to retain at least 80% of the original capacity. Most testing I've seen shows ~85%+ remaining after that. (So long as it's not an air cooled battery like early Nissan leaf)

[–] W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 6 hours ago

Batteries last more than 100k miles; if they didn’t no one would buy an EV.

[–] AlphaOmega@lemmy.world 6 points 6 hours ago

According to the manufacturer, my battery should last 300k to 500k miles.