CNET
Electric Cars Are Hot in Some Places and Like UFOs in Others
But that’ll rapidly even out across major cities and states. These factors could make anywhere the best place to own an EV. Subscribe to CNET: Never miss a deal again! See CNET’s browser extension 👉 Like us on Facebook: Follow us on Twitter: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on TikTok: Intro 0:00 EV Friendly…
Stephen DiBari
June 4, 2022 at 3:13 pm
we’re at least a decade away from going full EV; the infrastructure is not even close. Sleepy Joe has crippled the fossil fuel industry since day one and you can’t do a drastic energy nationwide change with a swoop of a pen.
Rising prices of gasoline it’s all part of his plan to cripple the combustion engine and go EV. 95% of the cars/trucks on the road are gasoline combustion engines especially diesel that runs all the trucks that delivers all the goods to all the stores across America. where they’re going to get a EV 18 wheeler not anytime soon?!
The average price of a new EV is about $10k more than an new gasoline powered car.
This whole plan is so unpractical its ridiculous. And if you don’t own a home like mentioned in this video what do you do run extension cord hundred feet long using 120 V it will take up to a full day to charge a car.
And if you own a home and you want to install a 240 V charger you need to up your amperage in your electrical panel which could cost up to $2000 by licensed electrician. And what about the cost of replacing an EV battery, the battery itself cost anywhere from $10-$14,000 and $2k in labor. Not very practical at all
My guess is people who own an EV won’t be keeping it until 100+ thousand miles so the battery replacement won’t be an issue BUT Resale value of a used seven or eight year old EV will be drastically reduced when the potential second owner realizes he has to spend about $15,000 in the next couple years replacing a battery!!
Steve Urbach
June 4, 2022 at 3:19 pm
There is no Tesla dealers in my town (>88K). OTOH there are LOTS of them on the road (and at L2 public chargers) here.
A tip for those who would like to try/ride. There are regional ‘Drive Electric’ events at different times of the year.
You made a good point about DC Fast Chargers WHERE you need them vs where they ARE. For most @ work, a L2 is sufficient because you are there way longer than it take to top off. OTOH Freeway exits need DC Fast charge (same place they have Travel Plaza.)
TheJoncic
June 4, 2022 at 3:22 pm
I’m getting all sorts of anti-Musk spam ads in my Facebook feed now after he went to get Twitter and criticize Biden who pretends Tesla doesn’t exist.
RickOShay
June 4, 2022 at 3:33 pm
Time for the motor industry to wake up. Climate change is not a fashion – its here to stay.
Collin Shores
June 4, 2022 at 3:43 pm
I never considered installing a separate meter for the car charger and having it on a different rate plan than the home. That’s genius…
Cactus Bob
June 4, 2022 at 6:35 pm
no that’s stupid…….A new service with meter socket , disconnect, breaker box, wiring permitted and inspected will cost between 2K and 5K depending on where you live. a good guess is 15 years with that lower rate to break even.
Rich Stanton
June 4, 2022 at 7:04 pm
I would FIRST check with your electric utility and see
1. Is the utility planning a complete switch to “smart” meters that would offer lower pricing for overnight charging
2. Does your utility offer the option of you having your old meter swapped out for a “smart” meter AND rate plans that would be cheaper to charge the car during off peak times. Even if the utility reasonably charged for. the meter swap that would be far, far cheaper and infinitely quicker.
Here in the St Louis metro area, Ameren Missouri is converting system wide to “smart” meters. The actual service interruption was about 5 minutes. Ameren Missouri offers about 5 various rate plans including the old one rate “flat rate plan”. Ameren just swapped my meter on June 2 this year so I have some studying/planning to do especially since I DON’T own an EV or plug in hybrid. I own a “standard” hybrid Ford C-Max.
As to the rates and savings, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)😁
Good Luck!
Very good video
Jferrari427
June 4, 2022 at 3:57 pm
A new EV on the low end costs about $50K. A new gasoline powered vehicle that’s fuel efficient costs about $25-30Kish. How long would you have to own an EV to make up a $25K premium over a new gas powered vehicle ???
Kinan Asif
June 4, 2022 at 4:37 pm
There are plenty of options below $35k. Federal and state incentives on top of that etc. Plus a $50k EV is head and shoulders above it’s $25k counterpart
Cactus Bob
June 4, 2022 at 6:19 pm
@Kinan Asif : But out of warranty repairs will kill you. an EV’s electronics costs thousands to repair or replace. older Tesla’s are worth very little resale because of the costs to repair them. a broken Tesla will(do now) cost you at least $2,000 for even a simple repair compared to a Gasoline car that might just be a fuel filter or a bad spark plug. even normal wear things like tires cost much more on an electric. Driving Electric is VERY VERY expensive overall.
Chris Friends
June 4, 2022 at 10:11 pm
Costs an average of $80 to fill a gas car vs $14 for an 100kw ev.
MrBigBoy4Life
June 4, 2022 at 10:36 pm
@Cactus Bob as an actual EV owner of 5 years, where do you get your numbers from? I haven’t experienced any of the exorbitant repair costs……interesting.
MacTX
June 4, 2022 at 4:25 pm
6:10 You probably don’t even need a separate meter, just a smart one. Here where I live in Texas, they went through and replace all the meters to smart ones more than a decade ago. I’m on a power plan that has free nights, they’re able to differentiate between day and night already.
Ace MacGruber
June 4, 2022 at 4:31 pm
Excellent points Brian. Imo, until EV’s are cheaper overall to own and operate, they will face resistance. (Edit: an EV could handle 99% of my needs, but it’s much cheaper to use my current car.)
MrLegobro
June 4, 2022 at 4:35 pm
Very hot market in Texas.
Cactus Bob
June 4, 2022 at 4:46 pm
We “Drive” because cost per mile, for us, allows us to drive. otherwise we would have to walk.we never have paid more than 5K for a car. all our cars are between 15 -40 years old and are driven between 200K and 400K miles before there sold for parts. we do ALL our repairs in house from mounting tires to head gaskets and even engine and transmission change outs. This lifestyle has allowed us to live debt free (even our home is paid off) food is well stocked even our retirement is well funded. all paid for with just one lifestyle change that most people do not consider.
An EV changes all that. everything about it is “Dealer Service Only” complex high voltage systems that if you did understand, the parts alone would be a budget killer. EV’s have extremely high Depredation and a very short lifespan(in the future there will be no running 15 year old Ev’s to buy!)
Even at 10-15 Dollars a gallon it will still pay for us to own a High MPG gasoline or diesel car. everyone living within a budget should look at there real “cost per mile ” and try to reduce it.
M. Hill
June 4, 2022 at 9:59 pm
You’re right. We should continue to have our entire economy dependent on an ever dwindling resource and have all of our costs at the whim of for-profit oil companies, there’s just no other way to do it at all
dave white
June 4, 2022 at 5:17 pm
There are more repos right now than in a long time, banks are starting to balk at car loans of 50K or more. These high priced EV’s are gonna be tough to sell in the next couple of years. The $26K Bolts will rule the small Ev market by the end of next year….One of the things that need to be discussed is the brawls and fights at these charging stations.The long waits cause folks to cut in front and this is causing fights galore….Also there’s not enough EHV transformers and unless they build mini nukes the power won’t be there and electricity will skyrocket.
Brett Paynter
June 4, 2022 at 6:04 pm
Once the rental Car market gets involved you will see alot more of the vehicles being sold in other markets as well as being sold 1-3 years used with 40-70k on them
DJ_Darkstar
June 4, 2022 at 6:24 pm
I see Tesla’s everywhere in New York… Westchester and upstate NY.
Philly Phil
June 4, 2022 at 7:44 pm
re: “I see Tesla’s everywhere in New York… Westchester and upstate NY.” of course, as there’s NO SHORTAGE of wealth stashed away in that area.
Victor's Voice
June 4, 2022 at 8:21 pm
It might only take 5 minutes to fuel an ice car. But you may have to drive 20 minutes to a filling station and wait in a queue.
The advance of an electric vehicle is you can charge at home off rooftop solar. Or at the supermarket or shopping centre.
R P
June 4, 2022 at 8:46 pm
Overstating…20 min
Joel Feila
June 5, 2022 at 12:26 am
90 percent of Americans live with 5 mi of at least 1 gas station. My town has 4 large grocery stores and not 1 ev charger at ant of them.
Craig Merkey
June 4, 2022 at 8:50 pm
The current fossil fuel infrastructure has has 100 + years with mega lobbing power and subsidized by it! It will take time.
R P
June 4, 2022 at 9:09 pm
I love all the great reasons why EVs don’t work, meanwhile I’ve been driving 2 used EVS for three and a half years.
Joel Feila
June 5, 2022 at 12:19 am
how far are you from a dc fast charger?
R P
June 5, 2022 at 12:35 am
@Joel Feila pretty far my car doesn’t DC fast charge anyway. It’s nice to have the option but most of the chargers are L2 and it’s cheaper that way.
scott3637
June 4, 2022 at 9:15 pm
Talking about saving $$ by using electric power over petrol power, when will the power generators start cranking the price of electricity? When the EV population is 50% of the national fleet? 75%? I cannot imagine power generator not getting their taste.
Sir Jon Smith III
June 4, 2022 at 9:34 pm
Bateries cost too much, would never buy a used one.
Philip
June 4, 2022 at 9:45 pm
I am surprised at the number of EVs here in Utah, considering the population. There are no extra state incentives. Probably most here have multiple vehicles per household and may get a new EV for a parent who commutes and use the old gas car for the teenagers or long trips. Most new apartment complexes are getting chargers but not many in the old ones. The Electrify America network has improved from Brigham City to St George.
MrBigBoy4Life
June 4, 2022 at 10:33 pm
Lol, most people, like myself, who’ve actually owned EV’s for several years find many of these “negatives” to be hogwash.
SpottedSharks
June 5, 2022 at 3:45 pm
Yes, the EV misconceptions and even flat-out lies are incredible.
John_Dee14
June 4, 2022 at 11:34 pm
Cooley single handedly will push this movement to a growth stasis.
TheTanman412
June 4, 2022 at 11:55 pm
239 miles of range on my Kia Niro EV is plenty for driving Lyft 6 hours here in the Bay Area. Filled to 80% & drained to 15%. Probably could get 7 or 8 hours if I charged to 100%, which I only do before a roadtrip. I charge for FREE at public charging stations at Whole Foods, Movie Theaters, doctor’s offices, parks, gyms. Both AC and DC 6-50kW, via Volta. I only pay for “fuel” when on roadtrips or I’m too far from home and miscalculated my range during a ride. I’ve never waited in a line to charge (Non-Tesla). I’ve never charged at home (too slow, no garage).
12 hour driving shifts are a physical and mental health threat to both the public and yourself. 6 hours is my max. But if you wanted to, all you’d have to do is simply charge DC 50-100kW for 30-50min at Hour 6, which should be a break and a meal by the way, to get to 12 hours. You don’t need 500mi of uninterrupted range. After doing some research of all chargers near you, you may be shocked at how many are hidden/not well known or not yet categorized on navigation apps, or built in the last year.
Kerpaltheballer
June 5, 2022 at 6:52 pm
How many miles do the public chargers charge your Kia in an hour?
Joel Feila
June 5, 2022 at 12:18 am
I would have bought an ev a few months ago, but I could not use one because there aren’t enough chargers in my area. I drive 30 mi to get work and I would need to charge some at charging station. But the only one on my way is 2 spots and not compatible with a leaf, it was j1772 ports not chademo. My parents live WAY out in the country and would not be able to use an ev. When the closest dentist is over a 100 mi away. In home charging is great unless you rent.
Mark Shellard
June 5, 2022 at 1:14 pm
You could use the same plug your phone uses. My wife drives 30 miles to work and it charges back over night.
Joel Feila
June 5, 2022 at 5:53 pm
@Mark Shellard assuming you don’t do any other driving, and only have job, or or don’t drive much farther to work
Phil Adkins
June 5, 2022 at 12:30 am
I have no objection to EV’s but the technology and economics just are not there yet. I can purchase alot of fuel for the cost of a new EV. Until chargers are as ubiquitous and fast as gas stations, the minimum miles per charge hit the 300 range, and the batteries life and charge ability remain at 100% for 200,000 miles I’m not interested.
SpottedSharks
June 5, 2022 at 3:43 pm
You just described Teslas and their charging network.
Phil Adkins
June 5, 2022 at 4:21 pm
@SpottedSharks Not for folks who do not live in a metro area and no charger will charge as fast as a gas pump will. Before you try to make the argument that “everybody” stops for at least 20 mins anyway, I rarely stop unless I need fuel which is about 350 miles. So no, it’s still has a ways to go.
SpottedSharks
June 5, 2022 at 4:37 pm
@Phil Adkins I charge at home and get 300 miles range easily. Have a look at teslas super charger map then revisit the claim they are only in metro areas.
Phil Adkins
June 5, 2022 at 5:05 pm
@SpottedSharks I’m happy that you feel it’s works for you. They are not where I would consider them viable as yet and I can not see any compelling reason to be an early adopter.
mlu007
June 5, 2022 at 1:13 am
Where I live, it’s not uncommon for the temperature to dip below -20°C (-4°F) in winter. Batteries deplete faster in cold temperatures so EVs naturally lose range in winter. In addition to that, EVs just don’t heat up as well as gas vehicles. As if that wasn’t enough, turning on the heat to defrost the windows, or just to make the cabin more comfortable, will deplete the battery even faster.
jank330
June 5, 2022 at 2:03 am
ya so i live in canada drive 250 km every day i schedule my car to preheat in the morn on the road never an issue.
Ben Brown
June 5, 2022 at 4:22 am
@jank330 definitely preheating helps. Also pre-cooling your electric car on hot days is an advantage as well. I borrowed my friend’s Chevy Bolt and found with the heated seats and heated steering wheel I was quite comfortable on a 2-hour trip in late winter winter
Baron Von Jo
June 5, 2022 at 2:57 am
When I went to Hawaii. Had to also lay over in LA. I was amazed to see so many electric cars there and Honolulu. The car choices are so alien. Especially Honolulu where smaller Japanese cars dominate there except for also Teslas.
I can’t currently ever imagining ever owning a EV. It seems like a privilege for the rich. Also I bet they will age like crap in 15 years.
Greg Kramer
June 5, 2022 at 1:51 pm
@Ray Tiger About 2% now and sales grew 35% there year over year.
Greg Kramer
June 5, 2022 at 1:54 pm
They are an extra $10k to $15k up front but would save most people >$1500 a year. So it the gap is not as big as you think. Think of a loaded Rav4 costing $40k and a loaded ID.4 costing $50k.
Baron Von Jo
June 5, 2022 at 2:28 pm
@Greg Kramer Banks wouldn’t care. They might approve for a 30k RAV4 but increasing the loan by 20k for a EV is ridiculous.
Baron Von Jo
June 5, 2022 at 2:29 pm
@Ray Tiger Shows how little there are in my state. They were basically on every corner I went to. I’m not exaggerating.
Greg Kramer
June 5, 2022 at 4:37 pm
@Baron Von Jo So a stripper Rav4 would not compare to a loaded ID.4. At that price you could get the 2023 Bolt EUV which will start at $29k. Hardly the $20K you insist on. Or the base ID.4 which is $35k after tax credit. How are you coming up with this $20k number?
Ben Brown
June 5, 2022 at 4:04 am
My non-working hybrid car was beyond my minimum wage budget to repair. A friend loaned me his wife’s Nissan Leaf while she was teaching overseas. I was so impressed by the experience and the economics of charging it at our University’s solar array that I imported a much cheaper used Mitsubishi i-MiEV from North Carolina to Michigan. Everything you say in the video is pretty much accurate. Range anxiety is mainly lack of experience and far less limitation. I will admit charging is a culturally different understanding of The Car Driving Experience then filling up with gas. Plus as you note the financial advantage in owning and charging an electric car is quite significant from the moment you turn it on. It sounds crazy but the money I saved in owning an electric car helped me come up with the down payment for my residential home after less than 3 years of EV ownership. Foremost two-car homes having one electric car is a financial advantage. In my case electric car is my only vehicle and still the best car purchase I’ve made in my life
Dan Jones
June 5, 2022 at 4:38 am
Not everyone qualifies for the Federal $7500 incentive.
Lawrence Fearon
June 5, 2022 at 4:48 am
E85 is the clean fuel choice for me. No need to buy an entirely new car when Flexfuel adaptability is less than $1000 for my roadster’s gasoline engine. 40% less than premium. There’s 5,561 Stations selling E85 across 2,969 cities in US. No EV even comes close to the V12 roadster experience or E85’s ability to cut carbon intensity in half immediately as measured and reported by Argonne National Laboratory.
acontiniouslean
June 5, 2022 at 5:05 am
Electric vehicles are UFOs in red states because they’re too stupid to understand much .
Albert 0194
June 5, 2022 at 5:16 am
You can’t consider any decent electric car right now unless you have at least 40 to 50 grand to spend
Steven
June 5, 2022 at 11:22 am
I own a Bolt, these are great cars. The 2023 is 25,600.
Mark Shellard
June 5, 2022 at 1:15 pm
This is simply not correct
Phat Gunpla Builds etc
June 5, 2022 at 5:32 am
no cheaper rates for puget sound energy where i live…so it doesn’t matter when i charge my car..so sad!
Bryan Wilkins
June 5, 2022 at 8:01 am
It is not either or. There is room for everything. Economics will choose the numbers of vehicle sold and now the ability to produce them. I had a 2017 Prius that got 48 MPG in a northern climate. Car got totaled with 195,000 miles on and the 2022 Prius replacement has averaged 53 MPG the 1st 12,000 miles. (4 month wait and a total out the door price $29,200) 8 years when I’m 70 my last car will need to be a gatabout cheap and simple to bounce around town. I cry because there is no simple cheap anything on the market any place.
SecretOfMonkeyIsland
June 5, 2022 at 10:03 am
With a lot of people with EV’s charging at home (Particularly in the UK) does this now mean when a guest with a EV visits you will now have to pickup the tab for them to charge their car when they visit like you would if they said “Is it ok to charge my phone the batteries low?”. If you say “Ohh thats a bit pricey” you will look like a tight wad. Otherwise its going to be like saying in todays world “Ohh here take this free tank of petrol for your car” which wouldnt occur.
Mark Shellard
June 5, 2022 at 1:09 pm
I’m willing to spend the $5 ony friend while they visit me.
SecretOfMonkeyIsland
June 5, 2022 at 4:09 pm
@Mark Shellard I dont know how much it costs as dont own a EV, but id imagine filling a EV to full charge will cost quite a lot in the UK due to the Russian caused energy price increases. £5 is fine, but i suspect in the USA your costs are not like ours as the US is always a lot cheaper.
Steven
June 5, 2022 at 10:49 pm
@SecretOfMonkeyIsland 9.8 cents per kwh in Indiana
Marcin Karwiński
June 5, 2022 at 11:18 am
Similar to USA states, EVs are or are not popular across the globe. Around me, and I’m living in an apartment in a block, people have cars, approx. 2 cars per apartment (one for husband and the other for wife or similar dispersion) or more, and within the whole city district we do not have any EV car owner… Why? Answers are few but simple… An EV or EV variant typically costs between 140 an 180% of a petrol/mild-hybrid/hybrid all-options-included combuster alternative… That in many home-use/apartmen-dweller small city car cases translates to approx. 120k-150k kilometres at current gas pricing and relatively relaxed city speeds. Bearing in mind, that most of the cars in the district rarely go more than 50km/day, that value would equate to approximately 2500 days worth of travelling costs using CE compared to EV pricing, that equates to nigh on 7 years of car usage for CE one compared to just buying an EV. Many people here sell their cars approximately at 5YO mark, so you know, a CE car at current pricing for city-dweller often has its running costs for years of usage kept below the asking price of a comparative EV. And that’s just one aspect that EVs lose to CEs. The other is recharge stations count in the areas… there’s more than 20 fuel stations, each with 8-10 distributors, within 10km radius, and just a single lower-voltage charging point at one of those fuel stations… with the closest rapid charger nearly 30km away… Sure, at higher class vehicles market the difference in pricing between CE and EV is smaller, the prospective buyer can also tolerate price hike entailed by vehicle motor type far easier than the budget cautious city-car buyer, and sure if you have a car from the higher class chances are you’re also living in your detached house or maybe in some new appartment structure with own private dedicated charging infrastructure in underground parking, so the EV owning issues are less impactfull for the prospectful owner. However, majority of areas and potential customers still face the same issues I can see around me – lack of infrastructure and disparate MSRPs between CE and EV variants in many parts of the car market spectrums. And sure, many cities now grant extra privileges to EV owners – rights for bus lane usage or strict city center access or parking allowance are just a few, but the same ruling councils currently also push for more palatable laws by introducing green zone access with special EURO6-verified stickers or some extra subscriptions/fees for those that still need to access the same areas as those privileged EVs. But there remains the huge asterisk and a ‘but’ in the whole ‘EVs are good’ move in the market – both the pricing difference between ECs and EVs needs to level and the infrastructure for those without private dedicated chargingstation enabled spots needs to grow far faster, before the EVs become the mainstay on the markets. And I bet, it’s similar case in USA…
Steven
June 5, 2022 at 11:32 am
I live in rural Indiana. I drive a Bolt. Yesterday for the first time ever I saw another Bolt. We talked like two soldiers trapped behind enemy lines.
Mark Shellard
June 5, 2022 at 12:55 pm
20-30 minutes is not too long to stop on a long road drive.
Dave Smith
June 5, 2022 at 2:07 pm
So happy Elon Musk is now a Republican 👏
Steven
June 5, 2022 at 10:54 pm
They still won’t let him sell Teslas in Texas. Texas wants to build EVs, they just don’t want anybody to buy them.
Carl van Simpleton
June 5, 2022 at 2:11 pm
Change is the only constant.
krishna nagavolu
June 5, 2022 at 2:27 pm
The “Import” stretches till South Florida too.. I wanted to get a small electric, Fiat 500e or Mini Cooper Electric and neither are sold in Florida, but I started observing a lot more Fiat 500e’s around and to my surprise a lot of dealers were importing them and were being sold the same week that they were imported.. I went ahead and bought a used Fiat 500e which was imported from California, I was the first to see the car and had to get it at a premium price..
Christian EV
June 5, 2022 at 8:12 pm
I live on the Est coast of Canada and I bought a 2015 VW e Golf that came originally from California I’m really happy with it for what I use it for I have a old Gasoline Jetta for times where it doesn’t make sense to take the EV witch is very rare.
Andrew Hayden
June 6, 2022 at 12:23 am
I live in Seattle, and more of the newer apartment buildings are offering EV parking with plugs/chargers for their tenants as a competitive amenity. Our building has about 15-20 spaces and is planning on adding more in the next year. I think this is going to be the trend in more urban areas.