You can rent a truck, but owning a truck means you have to pay more to haul around a bunch of stuff you don’t need. That’s why you shouldn’t be worried about every possible thing you might need a vehicle for.
It’s more over-weighting rare long road trips compared to everyday use. People are terrified of having to spend an extra 30 minutes charging an EV on a road trip, but don’t think about all the time they can save on a weekly basis by never having to go to a gas station, or never having to get oil changes, etc.
¿Por qué no los dos? I own an EV for city driving, but I also own a gas car for road trips.
having to spend an extra 30 minutes charging an EV on a road trip
I’ve taken the EV on road trips a hand full of times and sometimes it was just 30 minutes. Other times, it was waaay longer than that because there were 5 charging stations, but, surprise, 2 of them are broken and the rest have long lines of cars waiting.
Personally, I find those situations pretty stressful, so I don’t take the EV for road trips now.
Newer EVs use NACS, which opens up a huge number of fast DC chargers all across the interstate system. Unfortunately those chargers are almost all Tesla superchargers, and we all wish there was a less musky alternative out there.
I’ve taken a road trip in the new NIssan Leaf, which has NACS. It wasn’t bad; we had to stop for ~30 minutes every ~300 miles, which lines up with just about how often my aging body needs to go pee these days…
Because much of the stated reason for EVs is the money you’ll save on fuel and maintenance costs, so spending extra money on something you’ll use once per year doesn’t fit the money saving narrative.
Ultimately, what I and the other commenter is saying is a once a year “need” really isn’t a need at all. To further my example, if I lived in the snow or traveled there regularly, then AWD is likely a reasonable expense, but if very rarely used it would make more sense to rent/borrow. Same goes for a truck (for hauling), or gasoline car for the range.
I drive an EV now and my next car will likely be an ICE AWD vehicle. But I’m also aware that it’s not the most economically sound decision and I’d be buying it for fun. Under no circumstances would I be justifying it by the longer range (which I very seldom need) or to travel to the snow.
How can you not consider your all of your needs when buying a vehicle?
You can rent a truck, but owning a truck means you have to pay more to haul around a bunch of stuff you don’t need. That’s why you shouldn’t be worried about every possible thing you might need a vehicle for.
It’s more over-weighting rare long road trips compared to everyday use. People are terrified of having to spend an extra 30 minutes charging an EV on a road trip, but don’t think about all the time they can save on a weekly basis by never having to go to a gas station, or never having to get oil changes, etc.
¿Por qué no los dos? I own an EV for city driving, but I also own a gas car for road trips.
I’ve taken the EV on road trips a hand full of times and sometimes it was just 30 minutes. Other times, it was waaay longer than that because there were 5 charging stations, but, surprise, 2 of them are broken and the rest have long lines of cars waiting.
Personally, I find those situations pretty stressful, so I don’t take the EV for road trips now.
Newer EVs use NACS, which opens up a huge number of fast DC chargers all across the interstate system. Unfortunately those chargers are almost all Tesla superchargers, and we all wish there was a less musky alternative out there.
I’ve taken a road trip in the new NIssan Leaf, which has NACS. It wasn’t bad; we had to stop for ~30 minutes every ~300 miles, which lines up with just about how often my aging body needs to go pee these days…
One of the needs was not driving a huge ass truck for the 99% of trips where a smaller, more efficient car works so much better.
“Consider”, yes. But buy based on every need, no.
I go skiing once per year. Should I buy a vehicle with all-wheel drive just to satisfy that one need? Of course not.
Why not?
Its your money.
Because much of the stated reason for EVs is the money you’ll save on fuel and maintenance costs, so spending extra money on something you’ll use once per year doesn’t fit the money saving narrative.
Ultimately, what I and the other commenter is saying is a once a year “need” really isn’t a need at all. To further my example, if I lived in the snow or traveled there regularly, then AWD is likely a reasonable expense, but if very rarely used it would make more sense to rent/borrow. Same goes for a truck (for hauling), or gasoline car for the range.
I drive an EV now and my next car will likely be an ICE AWD vehicle. But I’m also aware that it’s not the most economically sound decision and I’d be buying it for fun. Under no circumstances would I be justifying it by the longer range (which I very seldom need) or to travel to the snow.
Its your life man, fee, free to sell yourself short at will.
I am genuinely confused at this statement. How am I selling myself short and what is “at will” meant to mean?