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It's an easy calculation. Just like cars get mpg, electric cars get miles per kWh. Commercial charging stations cost more than your home plug does in most instances.
The upshot is, unless you are getting free charges (again, that won't go on forever and shouldn't be the reason why someone buys an electric car as a long term purchase), if you don't charge at home you are actually paying more than a hybrid and probably close to what a regular similar sized ICE car does in "fuel" costs.
That doesn't really matter as the vast majority of people do not keep their cars until they're paid off anyway. So they never really own it either.
I actually had that talk with my salesman last time I bought a new truck. He said the vast majority of customers these days are not only not keeping cars until they're paid for, but they aren't even hitting the break-even point and are rolling negative equity into the new vehicle they end up "buying".
Leasing can make sense, and for others, it's a complete rip-off. It all depends on how your specific deal is structured and your financial situation.
It seems to me what your salesman describes totally 'defeats the purpose', financially. As you note: it's basically rolling negative equity into their next vehicle. Happily I've kept all three vehicles I've purchased at dealerships well beyond having paid them off. Basically 'ran them into the ground' as another poster put it. Really a good feeling paying off my vehicle, keeping it several more years debt free, and only having to pay for gas, yearly NC inspection/taxes, and maintenance/change my own oil.
It's an easy calculation. Just like cars get mpg, electric cars get miles per kWh. Commercial charging stations cost more than your home plug does in most instances.
The upshot is, unless you are getting free charges (again, that won't go on forever and shouldn't be the reason why someone buys an electric car as a long term purchase), if you don't charge at home you are actually paying more than a hybrid and probably close to what a regular similar sized ICE car does in "fuel" costs.
But most people do charge their EVs overnight at home.
I have 32000 miles on my Bolt and have probably used a commercial charger 5 times.
It seems to me what your salesman describes totally 'defeats the purpose', financially. As you note: it's basically rolling negative equity into their next vehicle. Happily I've kept all three vehicles I've purchased at dealerships well beyond having paid them off. Basically 'ran them into the ground' as another poster put it. Really a good feeling paying off my vehicle, keeping it several more years debt free, and only having to pay for gas, yearly NC inspection/taxes, and maintenance/change my own oil.
I literally don’t remember the last time we had a car payment. 20 or 30 years ago, maybe. I’m not sure we ever had one since we’ve been married. We’ve had 9 vehicles, some new, some used. Just always paid up front as far as I can recall. We don’t carry debt except for the house payment.
It just seems to me that BMW's have been in vogue in Raleigh for a long time. It also seems that I would see Accords everywhere back in the 80s and 90s.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Originally Posted by poppydog
These would be easily doable in an EV. Like super easy, just one short stop for Hilton Head. Virginia Beach, Roanoke and Bristol, no stops needed.
You could do Phila and Cape May with one stop for lunch and charging. DC is one quick stop, if that.
The Florida and especially the south Florida trips are more stops. Do you stop overnight or just bust it on straight through? We did a whirlwind 4 day weekend to Orlando early this month and did end up taking our Honda Odyssey. We considered the Bolt, but it seemed a little too quick of a trip, especially since we didn't overnight on the way back, but just came straight through.
If I were going to Miami in my Bolt I would probably stop in Florence SC for 30-45 min (my battery would probably be about 1/3 full, so I might try to push on to Walterboro SC, but probably would stop at Florence). Then I'd stop in the historic district in Savannah and have a nice walkabout, maybe a meal. Could even overnight here. We did that on the way down to Orlando in the Honda and had a college tour of SCAD. Then in the Bolt I would probably stop in St Augustine and Port St Lucie before getting to Miami.
I think if you had a Tesla you could do it with less stops. Maybe just Chapel Hill to Santee SC to St Augustine to Miami. Might need a stop between St Aug and Miami.
Everybody needs to stop some unless you've got bladders of steel and gargantuan gas tanks.
I can't do that driving overnight business. My husband can, but I get too sleepy and am a danger to myself and everyone else on the road, so I am talking about daytime driving.
We do go straight through to Florida. Right now we do a quick gas stop in South Carolina and then a stop at the Florida welcome center and breakfast/gas in Jacsksonville. I wouldn't want to add an extra 30-minute stop in the middle of the night somewhere before the welcome center, but would if I had to.
Usually our trips are crammed into 3-day weekends or holidays with a lot of traffic and already take longer than they are supposed to, so I just want to get to where I am going. I could handle one 15 or 20-minute stop between here and DC - we usually do a gas/bathroom break at Wawa in Fredericksburg anyway - but with the traffic, our trips up there are already pushing 5 hours or more, so I wouldn't want to turn it into a 30-minute stop if I didn't have to. One 30-minute stop between here and Philly/Cape May would be totally fine if it's where we are going to stop to eat anyway - again probably a Wawa.
I'm not in the market for a car at this point, but maybe in 3-4 years when we are, I would consider an electric vehicle. I definitely would like one that gets the most distance though since we do so many car trips. And I imagine there would be many more charging stations at that point in time.
A Tesla Model 3 might work well for you when the time comes. Worth researching at least. I don't know that much about them, but we love the Bolt. I don't think we will ever buy a gas vehicle again for me and my husband. Might help the youngsters out with one if that's what they want/need, but I think we will stick with electric from here on out. When our Leaf got totaled we didn't even entertain the idea of replacing it with a gas vehicle. It was more a case of which EV would we get. The Bolt had the best range and availability at that time (end of 2017), but there are lots of others on the market now.
We'll probably keep the 2005 Honda Odyssey until it dies or until we give it to one of our kids, too.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl
Having homes in both Raleigh and Miami, I've probably done the round trip drive about 50 times. I don't driver overnight, but I do leave around 5 AM from either city. This avoids all morning rush hour in all of south Florida and Raleigh. On the tail end of the trip, I am usually hitting Raleigh as rush hour is going the other direction in the afternoon. South Florida can be a bit trickier, but it too is an opposite rush hour with most traffic going north in the afternoon. I stop in the same places every time, and only do so when I run out of gas. I can usually complete the trip in 11.5 hours or less.
The problem is is that we go to Florida over Christmas break and sometimes Easter break, so the traffic is that much heavier during those times. South Carolina is particularly bad, since they only have two lanes in each direction. We started out driving overnight when we lived in DC, and when we moved here we tried driving early in the morning the next day since it's a much shorter drive. Of course it was the day after the schools get out for Christmas break, and we sat in a huge traffic backup in South Carolina. It took us two extra hours, and we said never again. Now we go the night before.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,775 posts, read 15,776,851 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by poppydog
A Tesla Model 3 might work well for you when the time comes. Worth researching at least. I don't know that much about them, but we love the Bolt. I don't think we will ever buy a gas vehicle again for me and my husband. Might help the youngsters out with one if that's what they want/need, but I think we will stick with electric from here on out. When our Leaf got totaled we didn't even entertain the idea of replacing it with a gas vehicle. It was more a case of which EV would we get. The Bolt had the best range and availability at that time (end of 2017), but there are lots of others on the market now.
We'll probably keep the 2005 Honda Odyssey until it dies or until we give it to one of our kids, too.
I'm sure we will consider it when the time comes. Right now my husband is driving a Prius to Burlington which is a huge improvement over our previous car. He puts on 64 miles round trip, so it's a good savings. And I'm sure an electric vehicle would be perfect for him for that commute but we're not in the market right now. We're hoping our minivan lasts us until the kids get through college. We like all of the room it provides for our trips and for transporting things. It's a 2011.
Has anyone else noticed a massive influx of Mercedes and BMWs? I used to see them occasionally, but now they make up at least 25% of the cars I see. A decade ago I would only see Chevy, Ford, Toyota and Nissan, very rarely would I see a BMW or Mercedes.
Any ideas or thoughts? Is there a dealership running a sale?
Your mileage is obviously different from mine but I've always seen a good number of BMW's, MBs, etc. out and about in Raleigh and Cary.
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