Would you buy an electric vehicle - Why or why not?

Certainly something to consider:

  • Does this account for how many kilometres of use are taken from the battery before it reaches it’s end of life? Each brand has warranties in years and kilometres that allow an informed decision. 8 years 160,000km for the lower cost MG ZS EV.
  • In 8 years time assuming your battery is no longer usable and out of warranty, how much cheaper will the replacement be? Battery prices have continued to come down over time, even without considering the benefits of major technology improvement.
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Our currently car is 11 years old and has done about 83K. We are just starting to consider purchasing a new or low mileage second hand car. We do not use the car for commuting, so the only driving is local shopping, weekend excursions and the occasional longer holiday car trip each year. We are also going to downsize our home in the near future so it’s not worth putting solar panels in and it is most likely we will be moving into a unit which, given the current state of unit developments, unlikely to have solar panels so we’d be reliant on grid electricity. Until EVs come down in price to be more comparable with internal combustion engine vehicles, the finances don’t stack up with respect to any savings on running costs over the life of the vehicle and/or battery. There is of course the environmental impact to take into consideration and that does shift the balance more towards EVs, but not until grid electicity is much less reliant on coal fired generation.

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I have an mg ev and really like. I also have solar panels and charge during off peak. Just got my quarterly electricity bill. My cost for all electrical house and car comes to $15 per month. I drive about 900 km per month. Obviously bill will be greater in winter for the house but car should stay about the same depending on sunshine. Sunny day and off peak panels are doing all the work

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I see a lot of the EV fan “perfect-world” exaggerations are appearing here already. EV are the future without a doubt but there are major hurdles to surmount in terms of both price point and public infrastructure.

We currently drive a hybrid and I like EV technology, but there need to be good quality (trusted brand) and well optioned with safety feature vehicles around AUD $30K to $35K on the road before we are likely to purchase one.

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I made the mistake of working out the carbon dioxide emissions of a monthly 600 km trip. My relatively thrifty 2015 Golf wagon gets about 5L/100km on the highway, driving conservatively. At 2.3 kg of CO2 per litre of petrol, it works out at about 30 litres of petrol and 69 kg of CO2, or 37.6 cubic metres. Green Vehicle Guide says that my car produces about 1.92 tonnes CO2 per year driving 14,000 km/year, presumably at its stated combined fuel economy of 5.4L/100km. At my average over the years of 6.1L/100km, that would be closer to 2.17 tonnes

Of interest, when buying a new car, picking one which is 1L/100km more fuel efficient than an initial choice, there will be a saving of about one third of a tonne of CO2 per year for 14,000 km, if my calculations are correct (please correct me if I am wrong). If one considers that this will be the case every year of the vehicle’s life, the buyer will, in effect, save over 3 tonnes of CO2 after 10 years, whether still owned by the original owner or the second or third owner.

I hope to buy an EV when the supply of vehicles returns to normality (and a wider range of new EVs).

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I purchased a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (A Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV). It is a hybrid as there were no EVs on the market here at the time. I installed Solar PV and considered what to do about the excess energy. Hence the EV. In the first year, I reduced petrol consumption from 1200L (a Falcon BF) to under 200L. In later years, I reduced this to about 130L of petrol pa. The car demands at least 15L per quarter by design. I will replace it with a fully electric vehicle, but I do not know which, yet.

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My concerns are related to battery life and its replacement cost.

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Battery life is measured by manufacturers by both years and kilometres. Standard is 8 years or 160,000 kilometres. At that time they state that the battery would be holding about a 70% charge compared to new. Manufacturers warranties on batteries are offered for that period ie 8 years or the 160,000 kilometres.

By the time you get to need to replace one, costs will have come down and performance will have gone up, they continue to develop the technology.

If you consider that you probably would like to move to a newer model by that time, battery cost should be of little concern, if instead you wish to keep the vehicle the cost will have dropped (current trend is exactly that) and replacement will be much cheaper vs performance gained.

It is worth noting, Hybrids like all ICE vehicles will be withdrawn from manufacture sooner rather than later. From the UK:

"Step 1 will see the phase-out date for the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans brought forward to 2030.

Step 2 will see all new cars and vans be fully zero emission at the tailpipe from 2035.

Between 2030 and 2035, new cars and vans can be sold if they have the capability to drive a significant distance with zero emissions (for example, plug-in hybrids or full hybrids), and this will be defined through consultation."

So from 2035 in the UK there will be no sales of any Hybrid, unless it is a hydrogen cell one. This may be earlier depending on the definition of ‘significant’ as it relates to distance. I’m sure by the passage of a few more years, most Countries will have moved in a very similar direction. Will we become a dumping ground for the unwanted tech of other countries, if history is any gauge we will be.

We get so hung up on the ability to travel long distances by vehicles, when so many of us already don’t do that. If petrol prices continue a rapid rise, I don’t think many will be taking those long trips unless their wallets are bulging. For those who do undertake very long distance travel, we still have for a short period the option to use ICE. This problem of distance and time to recharge, I think in a few short years will be largely of no concern.

An article that supports much of what I have written:

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The potential for secondhand EVs as replacement vehicles should also be considered. There are businesses who import secondhand EV vehicles from places such as Japan. Once here, the vehicles are complied to our standards and resold. While the battery may not be new and somewhere in the midst of it’s life span as a useful battery, the price of buying as an example, a secondhand Leaf (2 TO 3 years old) is vastly cheaper than a new unit, and with a further 6 potentially good years of use would still see them as a bargain compared to new. There are others being sold in the secondhand market, it just isn’t a big market yet. If all a person is going to use them for is the run around their city, then the secondhand EV may be the bargain and good choice users are looking for.

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I have a 5 year old VW Polo manual which has done less than 20 000km. I am in my late seventies and apart from anything else cannot afford the cost of an EV.

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Have just actively looked - would buy a small electric SUV for mainly suburban use if they were cheaper.

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Welcome to the community @maree.mastwyk
All new technology comes initially with a premium before it be becomes everyday normal. Those of us a bit less youthful can remember how a colour TV or even before that a B&W version were not common due to their great cost. And when they broke down the repair man would come to your home and do the repair for a fraction of the cost of a new one.

The greater the volume of low emissions EV’s produced the more affordable they will become for all. How soon they become as low cost as some of todays small cars, is the only unknown.

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I had to replace my vehicle last year. I wanted electric but there is currently not enough infrastructure around the country. Since I am now retired and not travelling 70km a day to/from work, I bought a Hyundai Ionic PHEV. I charge this at home during the day on Solar (3.3kw) This gives me 65km. This takes 2.25 hours. Since 95% of my travel is around town, the petrol engine is very rarely used. For long drives I use petrol then electric at my destination. Unless charging infrastructure and charge times are radically improved, I will be staying with the Ioniq. Even in the UK where infrastructure is better, EV users still encounter charging problems (chargers out of order and charge times). The Victorian road usage charge is also a disincentive unless it is applied to all and replace the fuel excise (not going to happen).

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The other consideration is that currently EVs don’t have the same level of taxes which conventional vehicles have (e.g. road going vehicles which pay fuel excise). These taxes in part are used to fund the road infrastructure that vehicles use - sort of a user pays type system.

In the future EVs will have additional levies/taxes etc to also provide the same level of funding lost from taxes through conventional fuels, as less conventional fuels are used. This will affect the economics of EVs and also should be considered as part of any EV purchase - so when the levies/taxes are adopted universally throughout Australia, there aren’t any surprises and their cost has been factored into the original purchase decision.

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At this stage I would not consider an EV as there is not enough infrastructure in the rural areas of Australia. However if I lived in the city and rarely left it, I would more than likely buy an EV. Having said that when the batteries eventually fail, the cost of replacement of them is more that the original car was worth. So it goes to land fill, batteries and all, and you buy a new one. And the last thing we want in land fill is decomposing lithium batteries.

I agree with you on most of your points, but that comment is contrary to the evidence. See posts 20 and 28 in this topic.

Depending on how the used market for EVs goes battery cost could equal or exceed its used car market value, but that aspect would be similar to having to replace brakes, tyres, boots, or other maintenance items on a ICE vehicle as a point of comparison.

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Actual cost of a replacement Tesla battery for an example is $12,000 to $13,000 US dollars. Car cost vastly more than the battery. It would be similar for most vehicles. The battery can be removed and used for other tasks including power backup for a home. Most batteries do not fail they just don’t hold enough charge for a car to use them, and they certainly can be recycled. The remaining capacity after removal is about 60 to 70 % of original, meaning they have a lot of oomph left for non car usage, a typical house battery is much less even brand new.

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It’s not the accepted norm. Some time past it seemed to be the country side was littered with old vehicles and remains piled up at the local tip. There is still a percentage of vehicles illegally dumped, burnt out through crime or left by owners with little care to rot out the back. Who’d do that instead of trading it in?

Currently scrapped motor vehicles don’t in general go to landfill nor do used automotive batteries. There are recycling arrangements in place for both, including scrap merchants who will buy/collect old vehicles. The components of lithium batteries are also too valuable to waste. Aside from any obligation to act environmentally responsibly.

Even our retailers are on board.

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Our 14 year old Hyundai is up for replacement and we put a deposit on the strange-yet-hopefully-decent BYD Atto3. At $40-45k for a mid-size SUV, it’s not crazy expensive like a lot of the current crop of EVs. I just hope it (a) works well and (b) turns up in July/Aug as predicted. I have driven 2 EVs for fun (too expensive, but enjoyable test drives) and there is no chance I’d ever fork out for an ICE car now. EVs are great in so many ways. Every time an ICE car goes past my kids and I while walking and stinks up the air with its exhaust, I look forward to the time when they are thing of the past, unless there’s no choice but for an ICE due to driving many KMs. It would definitely help if our governments encouraged EV purchases (which they’re starting to do, at state level), but if they’re not readily available at reasonable price points then I understand that there’s not much that can be done. Hopefully it won’t be long. Other countries will lead the way, and make the money in the end, unfortunately.

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Cost and lack of infrastructure regarding charging stations. I also tow a boat, so will a EV be able to do this?