"Most US drivers"? Show me one US driver who needs to breath fossil emissions to survive.
this post was submitted on 26 May 2026
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If you don't drive, you cease being a driver.
If you drive a typical distance per year, the purchase price of a new vehicle is almost always more than the cost of all the fuel or electricity you will use in the lifespan of the car, so for some people the lower initial purchase price of an ICE vehicle could produce durable savings.
Some US drivers would not save money by switching to an EV.
There are some types of vehicles that don't work currently for pure EVs. Long distance hauling vehicles, for example. Mostly because most EV charging stations are not pull through, so hauling a trailer while charging is a PITA. A plug-in hybrid would be perfect for this application, though.
There are also many people who live in places where charging at home isn't practical. That's thankfully changing, though.
Most people, though, should be able to drive an EV in America. I drive a 2023 Bolt and it's fucking awesome.
Their point was that the cars need fossil fuels, not the drivers.
My salvage title 2006 Honda Accord cost me $3200 in cash over 3 years ago.
Since then, I've spent maybe another $2000 total on ALL service and maintenance. Including a full set of tires, an alignment, oil changes, brake pads and rotors. A pair of wheel bearings, a new radiator, and a pair of tie rod ends.
All of which I did myself.
Oh, and my monthly insurance premium for this car?
$32 a month. No car note. "But electric cars don't buy gas either" No. They use electricity. And my average monthly power bill is already over $400 a month. You think I want that to be even higher? No way.
Yea, I get that EVs are better.
But I don't do car notes. I can't AFFORD to do car notes.
So until I can buy a 17 year old EV for $3200 cash and only need another couple thousand to keep it running for an additional 3 years, I will stick to the used ICE market.
Honestly we aren't that far off from that. We don't have many 15 year old EVs but you can get a 8 year old used EV for 8K. I think you got incredibly lucky to get a 15 year old car that doesn't need it's transmission or engine or some other significant part replaced. Like others said you doing it yourself is what made your repairs much cheaper and to be honest you would be able to do the same thing on EVs for everything other than the battery and motors but depending on the brand you could fix broken batteries as well.
They use electricity. And my average monthly power bill is already over $400 a month. You think I want that to be even higher?
Some of your concerns may be valid, but I pay relatively high prices for electricity, 35¢/kWH, and even at that price, the hit to my electric bill is half what I used to spend on gasoline. Current gas price make that even better
Come to Quebec, where electricity is about USD $0.05/kWh. And over 99% of that is renewable (hydroelectric)!
Actually lack of that is one of the reasons we have high electricity prices. There was an expectation to buy cheap and clean electricity from Quebec, that kept getting blocked for reasons outside our control. I suppose at the moment with the political BS it’s just as well we were never able to get connected.
…. But our planned wind farms have also been blocked for many years. We finally got one open despite the federal government. It’s not even directly for us but is expected to cut 1.5¢/kWH off our overall cost of electricity
It's less about the gas and electricity than it is about adding a car note and higher insurance.
What's car note?
Note = loan in this context. OP is saying he doesn't want the burden of a monthly payment on a new car, and would rather buy a cheaper car that he doesn't need to borrow for. (Although these are becoming harder to find, at least in the US....)
Exactly.
Yeah, your electric bill would be higher but the increase in electricity you'd pay will be less than what you currently pay for gas, saving money overall. Only issue is the up front cost to buy one in the first place. And all the spying shit recent cars come with.
And all the spying shit recent cars come with.
Yeah this and all the infotainment bullshit they're putting in new cars is a huge incentive to just stick with my 15 year old ICE. If nothing changes I'm planning to drive this thing till it rusts to pieces. I don't need or want all that extra crap. Just give me A/C, power locks and windows and a stereo and that's it.
I live on the southern US coast. Unless I drive it straight into the Gulf, it isn't likely to rust away. It's a Honda, not a Dodge. 🤣
Most people can't repair a car themselves, especially true if it's something more complicated than brake pads and rotors. If you adjust your numbers to reflect what it would have cost if you had to pay someone for repairs I'm guessing it might seem a little crazy to invest that much in such an old car. If one were in a wreck and the car was totalled, insurance pay out wouldn't get close to the amount invested.
Me... I'm still driving a 20 yr old car. Low mileage since I've worked from home most the time I've owned it, but it's definitely showing its age. I can afford a new one but why would I want to right now? It still runs well and I have no desire to drop $50k on something to replace it. Happy now to keep my money saved.
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No. They use electricity. And my average monthly power bill is already over $400 a month. You think I want that to be even higher? No way.
Fueling costs per mile (using the term "fuel" rather loosely for EVs) are significantly lower for electric vehicles than combustion, even taking into account plugging the thing in at home with an extension cord. It's going to be a rather long break even period when comparing to a salvage title clunker, but for someone shopping for a new car to begin with it makes sense.
It's not costing anyone "less" to be paying at the pump. It's just an easily forgotten regular expense that everyone is used to. Meanwhile, people have been conditioned to have a cow over seeing any increased number on their electricity bill even if it's only a couple of bucks. Right now with local gasoline prices it costs something like $60 to fill up my Subaru from empty and nearly $150 for my truck (it has a 35 gallon tank!) and the former I could easily do twice a month if I weren't riding so many motorcycles this time of year instead. In the Scoob, that's around 784 miles of driving for $120 in fuel. That's only be $47.04 if I had a reasonably recent EV and charged it at home.
I went through the same rigmarole replacing my house's oil heat with mini splits. Yes, my electricity bill went up... On average something like $40 a month. Meanwhile I stopped paying $300 to $400 a month to my former oil company for five or six months out of the year. $2000 - $480 = a $1520 or so net yearly savings I proceeded to blow on camera lenses and more motorcycle parts.
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Now that the used ICE market is ruined due to COVID and trump, the only hope we have is cheap Chinese EV's to save the working class any money on vehicle purchases.
It's clear the domestic manufacturers have given up on Americans and only want to please the rich and their shareholders.
I have not been happy with most Chinese purchases I have made in the past. Are the EVs going to fall apart in 6-8 months also?
You typed this on a device made in china... You might want to update your talking points for the 21st century.
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