>Households in some locations could reduce their annual transportation-energy costs by $600 or more, and cut their annual carbon footprint by more than 4.1 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, by buying a new EV.
600 USD/yr sounds like much less than the cost of a new electric car. Until that changes, "research" like this is useless.
>600 USD/yr sounds like much less than the cost of a new electric car.
Not only, it is much more than the difference of costs.
If we assume that to buy a new EV you need only US$ 6,000[0] more than a corresponding ICE model, it makes it a 10 years investment (considering the EV lasts 10 years, and not considering interests or inflation).
It simply makes no sense financially.
[0] more likely it is much more than that, probably in the 10,000-20,000 range.
Will the battery pack last those 10 years while maintaining a significant fraction of its capacity? Otherwise the cost of a swap has to be factored in - there’s no direct counterpart in the ICE car.
EV’s look fine for the daily or weekly drives we do. The problem of long haul/freeway worries me re recharging availability and time, and unless battery swapping is possible getting stuck without power will be a bother - can’t carry a couple gallons of electrons.
Modern batteries often last longer than the owner wants to keep the car. The direct equivalent in an ICE car is the engine and transmission, in both cost and complexity. Modern EVs also have a range of 300 miles or more, and few people drive that far on the freeway without stopping for refueling, be it gas or electrons.
It is true that EVs aren't great for every All American Roadtrip (a tradition I love and believe in), but they will be a big cost savings for the vast majority of Americans who drive every day to and from work, shopping centers, schools, and parks.
>The automobile business, a uniquely American proposition
Sure, they do not exist in other continents.
>So the cost of filling your electric car at home will be the cost of the electricity that you can buy. Is this less than the equivalent cost of gasoline? Everything in my research says, “Yes, by as much as 2x.”
Well, the article is exactly about this not being true (anymore) in several US states (here in Europe, in many countries, cost for recharging EV's is already the same as the cost of fuel in an ICE car).
Sure it is possible, in theory, in practice it is not happening in Europe and seemingly it is not happening in the US as well, no idea if the cited US$ 600 savings per household is accurate or not, but if it is, it is a tiny amount, when compared to the initial cost increase of the EV.
Broadly speaking, the "economic" car price for an ICE car here (Italy, but prices are not so different in other EU countries) is roughly in the 17-25,000 Euro range while the "same" car in a full electric version is (still roughly) in the 28-35,000 Euro, or at least 10,000 Euro difference.
In ten years/200,000 km, the gasoline/petrol may be 20,000x6/100x1.8=2,160 Euro per year, let's make it 2,200.
To make even the electricity for 20,000 km should cost 1,000 Euro per year or less, i.e. less than half, it being "cheaper" (which currently does not happen as due to a number of reasons electricity is currently very expensive) is not enough.
In the US you have much cheaper electricity (but also much cheaper gas/petrol) while I believe the difference in buying an ICE car vs. a comparable EV is the same or more, the projected 600 US$ will need what 20 years to compensate the initial excess spending?
BTW there are the "moral" implications of driving a "zero emissions" vehicle and thus being good for the environment, but financially it isn't seemingly not standing even in the US.
600 USD/yr sounds like much less than the cost of a new electric car. Until that changes, "research" like this is useless.