We have the Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Protection Bureau, Consumer Product Safety Commission, USA.gov, and even state-level agencies, claiming an interest in consumer protections, but no one is investigating the hidden costs of owning an electric vehicle (EV).
Related: Consumer Reports: EVs are Some of the Most Unreliable Vehicles Sold In America
Nor are they working to educate the public on the truth.
The front-end and end-of-life carbon footprints (if you care about that sort of thing) are massive. There are humanitarian concerns over how the raw material is mined (conflict EVs!). They can be dangerous to drive even when not damaged. EV car fires create a significant toxic pollution risk and are difficult or impossible to extinguish. The extra weight adds stress to roadways and bridges.
The higher average cost unfairly prices most people out of the vehicle market. You are more likely to charge them with electricity from oil, coal, or gas. Estimated fuel savings can take up to ten years to break even on the purchase price if the battery lasts that long; extreme heat and cold affect efficiency and battery life. Replacing a damaged or worn-out battery can cost 15-30,000 dollars, and because of that (and some new and daunting facts below), insurance premiums for EVs can be 5-15 percent higher annually. That number is only going to rise.
Bad to worse
No one seems to know how to fix them when they’ve been in an accident, and the risk of fire from damage means repair shops may not want them on their premises. An EV car fire can easily ignite adjacent vehicles and property. In the UK, the risk is so great they require you to separate EVs from other cars and each other by at least 15 meters.
The US has yet to implement these or similar cautions, but it is inevitable. They represent a significant uncontrollable fire risk.
And while a simple combustion engine fender bender might cost the owner a few bucks (their deductible) and a matter of days or weeks for repair, EVs will cost more to fix, take longer to repair, and might get written off as totaled due to the risk of battery damage even when the car is still relatively new.
You can wreck and repair a combustion engine car numerous times, while an EV might be done after one minor front-end collision. There’s nothing earth-friendly about scrapping a low-mileage vehicle, even if some gets reclaimed.
Here’s a video by a car guy from the UK who – clearly not a fan of EVs – lays out some of the cost/replacement/repair issues I just mentioned, but he does it with an accent.
