{"id":73704,"date":"2022-10-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joggingvideo.com\/cars\/why-i-dont-own-an-electric-car-yet\/"},"modified":"2022-10-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T00:00:00","slug":"why-i-dont-own-an-electric-car-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1800birks4u.com\/cars\/why-i-dont-own-an-electric-car-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Don’t Own an Electric Car Yet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>\n This story is part of Plugged In<\/span>, CNET’s hub for all things EV and the future of electrified mobility. From vehicle reviews to helpful hints and the latest industry news, we’ve got you covered. <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n In my line of work, I’m asked all the time if I have an EV. People are surprised and, I suspect, disappointed that my answer is no. Here are my reasons, none of them perfect, for not yet taking the plunge into what I nonetheless think is the future of driving.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is the big one: It’s an awful time to buy any car, thanks to record high transaction prices and record low choice on dealer lots. I don’t relish getting at the back of a long line to pay top dollar for any commodity, which I suspect CNET’s\u00a0Farnoosh Torabi<\/a><\/span> has my back on. That said, major consultancies believe we are close to a sea change when EVs will equal conventional cars in total cost of ownership and even beat them on purchase price, without incentives.\u00a0<\/p>\n I much prefer to buy late-model used cars, but they’re also experiencing high cost and low supply, compounded by the fact that there are even fewer desirable used EVs in the pipeline. Sorry, a first-gen frog-eyed Leaf<\/a> just isn’t on my list. This situation will correct itself over time and I don’t worry about a used EV having some range loss; see my piece from not too long ago<\/a><\/span> about giving yourself a reality check on how much range you need — it’s less than you think.<\/p>\n There has to be more to the story than Tesla, but right now that one brand essentially is the US EV market\u00a0and pretty much owns the excitement around it. But history tells me that two to three other major makers, existing or new, will emerge with similar or even greater success, and I want to see how they get there before I buy.<\/p>\n I’ve covered many tech revolutions and they all have a similar arc, starting with convulsively innovative products before morphing in a marvelous monotony of uniformly excellent offerings trying to make big news out of small improvements. That describes smartphones, TVs, laptops and combustion-engine cars today, with products in each category doing about the same thing as the other guy and about as well. EVs will get there, which is when I prefer to buy anything that depreciates.\u00a0<\/p>\n I live in a single-family home, so charging would be easy, but I’m also cognizant of an increasing drumbeat behind daytime charging away from home, as advocated by a new Stanford study that says such charging behavior pays major dividends in terms of grid stability and cleanliness. Ideally charging should be the same as parking, just about anywhere you go, but we’re a long way from that.\u00a0<\/p>\n You probably buy an EV to save money and the environment, but for the first year or two you may pollute and spend\u00a0more<\/em>, because you caused a huge battery and car to be built and transported, and because you spent a bunch of money to buy a car at historically high prices that you probably didn’t\u00a0need.<\/em>\u00a0Both deficiencies can be earned back, but timing your purchase well can shorten both windows thanks to better market conditions and improved technology, like…<\/p>\n These may be coming at scale by 2025 and could reduce the carbon footprint of an EV battery by nearly 40%, take an 80% charge in 15 minutes instead of 30 and have a longer cycle life of charges and discharges, giving cars equipped with them better long-term value. That said, a solid-state battery revolution is still nebulous enough that I rank this concern fairly low, but I also don’t want to be that\u00a0last guy who bought a laptop running on nickel metal hydrides.<\/p>\nLousy timing<\/h2>\n
Used cars FTW<\/h2>\n
Beyond Tesla<\/h2>\n
Waiting for monotony<\/h2>\n
Charging will get easier<\/h2>\n
Spending more, polluting more<\/h2>\n
Solid-state batteries<\/h2>\n
Byzantine tax incentives<\/h2>\n