I’ve heard about the long charge times. I’ve seen videos of Electric Vehicles queuing up for public chargers – only to wait for hours to be able to spend even more hours actually charging (if Level 1 or Level 2).
Add to that those EVs that spontaneously decide they identify as a campfire (writ large) either on the road or in your garage.
The constant discussion is that while the per mile mechanical costs are lower with EVs (no engine, no large transmission), the replacement battery cost is no small deal. What do you do when that replacement cost is more than the car is worth?
And then there is THIS story of a family that tried to do the “green thing” by their 17-year-old daughter and bought her a used EV (emphasis mine, reformatted). YIKES!:
Electric Vehicle Nightmare: Girl Learns Car Needs New Battery, Then Family Realizes It Isn’t Made Anymore
…Avery Siwinski, a 17-year-old student in St. Petersburg, was thrilled to join the ranks of electric car owners, thinking she not only was helping to save the environment but also was going to save a ton of money by avoiding high gasoline prices…Siwinski told WTSP-TV in St. Petersburg she was excited when her parents bought her a used 2014 Ford Focus Electric from AutoNation Ford in Pinellas County. The car was like new with only 60,000 miles on it. “It was fine at first,” she said. “I loved it so much. It was small and quiet and cute.”
But then, Siwinski said, “all of a sudden it just stopped working”. Her dashboard started lighting up like a Christmas tree telling her that a major problem was detected. After owning the vehicle for only six months, Siwinski was shocked that it needed service so soon. But her shock turned to outrage when she and her family took the car to AutoNation to see what was wrong. The Siwinskis were told the battery pack was at the end of its life and needed to be replaced — and the bill was going to be $14,000.
OK, that’s not unsurprising – I’ve seen the prices for a new pack which does make up the majority cost of an EV. But the greenies keep telling me that the pack should last at least 100,000 miles – oopsies! Then the family found out the really bad news – similar to going to the hospital, end up there for a couple of days, and then finding that the bill adding up to 6 digits:
The family had paid only $11,000 for the used EV in the first place, and now they were being expected to shell out more than that just to replace the battery pack.
But WAIT! There’s MORE (bad news):
But then things got worse. The dealer said it couldn’t even get a battery.
So the dealer offered $500 to take the car off their hands. And that was it. They didn’t even have the tech(s) to do the maintenance even if they could get a battery for an 8 year old EV. No supply chain supports – heck, the supply chain for NEW cars is hard enough.
The big deal with current internal combustion cars is that the tech is mature and you can get parts for used cards – often for decades after the sale.
Sorry, even as the Biden Administration is forcing us into EVs by artificially making fossil fuels way too expensive ON PURPOSE as they illegally are implementing The Green New Deal legislation (that failed in Congress) by Executive Fiat, here’s a real life example of The Law of Unintended Consequences. The Administration’s emphasis is the upfront and how WONDERFUL it will be that we don’t have to buy gas anymore. Like what dope Petey Buttigieg, US DOT Secretary condescendingly said:
Paying near record-high prices for gas may be hitting your wallet hard, but according to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, that will just make an electric vehicle all the more worth it. During a House hearing on Tuesday, Buttigieg said, “The more pain we are all experiencing from the high price of gas, the more benefit there is for those who can access electric vehicles.”
But paying $11,000 for a used car that was only good for 6 months? That’s not going to lower my net household cost, will it? The Treehuggers keep telling me that the costs WILL come down shortly. Sure, a $0 price is pretty low but is of no help to keep a car going.
Doesn’t do any good if the manufacturer has decided to deep six that car model like an old desktop computer. As the Siwinski family just found out the hard way
(H/T: IJR)
