You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: TESLA MOTORS Showroom [Martin Place, Sydney]. Who Killed the Electric i-MiEV? [SteemitWorldMap]
My problem with EVs is that they are just too expensive (that, and I need something bigger than a go-cart that seats 5 comfortably). With the supposed simplicity of EVs, shouldn't they be much cheaper that gas vehicles? Gas vehicles may cost more in maintenance in the long run but you also aren't financing that higher initial price. A relative few can afford the outlay of an EV (or any new car) in cash. The current vehicle I'm looking at in my budget and that fits my needs is a couple year old Dodge Caravan.
Used EVs are a steal. The batteries are the expensive part of the car. That is the single largest cost of a manufacturer in making one.
We didn't pay for ours in cash. We financed. That's saying something considering we didn't owe a cent on the Lancer. It might be worth doing the sums for yourself - ESPECIALLY depending on your location. We have everything stacked against us in Australia (poor network, no incentive, small market etc), and it was still cheaper over ten years.
I'd never go back to an internal combustion vehicle. That's what driving an EV daily will do to you. Our next car will likely be a Hyundai Ioniq or Nissan Leaf equivalent in the future. This would be to cater for possibly having a child in the family, not that the i-MiEV can't fit a child seat because it can do that, too.
By then we may just have solid state batteries that will give cheap, base model cars an effective range of 300-500 km. Crazy days ahead.
Take care.
Nick.
The issue is for me that I have a family of 5. Something like a Leaf just isn't going to be big enough all the time. I'm looking for something mini van sized and there just isn't anything electric in that class available in the U.S. that I could find.
While used electrics are affordable (if you are looking for a smallish vehicle anyway), they are hard to find in my area. I could order one and have it shipped of course but i prefer to see what I'm buying first, especially when it is used.
An electric car would be absolutely ideal for my daily short commute to work and back and would probably be sufficient to drop the kids off at school too but I think I would still need a larger vehicle for the times we actually needed to carry stuff in addition to all the passengers. Plus I make semi-regular trips (~12 to 24 times a year) of about 90 miles (one way) so I need something with an easy range of 180 miles too. Stopping to charge for 30 minutes or more isn't reasonable. It may be possible to charge at my destination in the future though.
Electric cars are almost there but I just don't think there's one (affordable anyway) that quite meets my needs yet. I see that Nissan does have an electric van available in Europe anyway. Not too fond of the design and the range still isn't quite there but I'm sure in a few more years it will happen. If I could get an affordable ev minivan with a 350km range now I would be sold.