I own a BEV from 2012 and a PHEV from 2014. BEV has only had around 8% battery degradation, PHEV has around 20% but that's still enough to not use gas unless we're driving out of town. They're both in very good condition and look fine.
They've both been paid off for years and years. A new set of tires for each were the most expensive maintenance. We fill up the PHEV with gas around once a year for $40 and get an oil change whenever it prompts us, which is around every two years because we use gas so rarely. Insurance and registration for both cars ends up being a little over $1000/year total - both included. Our power costs are around $.055/KwH here - mostly renewable at this point - so we pay a few hundred in extra power costs each year charging them up.
Back when we got both the conventional wisdom even then was "lease don't own because the technology will be better in three years". Actually, the conventional wisdom was "wow, don't buy an electric car, what are you doing?" You know what? These guys still get around town just fine, don't look like junk yet, and paying a grand total of $750 or so per car per year feels real good.
Where is electricity that cheap? In California were paying about $0.36 which makes charging my Chevy Volt more expensive than gasoline if gas is under $4.
People with plugin Priuses actually need gas to be $5 or higher for plugging in to payoff at my energy costs.
Californias love complaining our fuel costs 30% more than most states. Yet most don't know our electricity is 300% more.
Austin. Fully loaded - all electrical costs and monthly surcharges - we're still paying <$80/m for our (detached) house and both cars. Obviously summer costs are way higher than winter costs here. (We have a high-efficiency HVAC system installed 2018, decent windows and various efficiency improvements, thank god.)
We bought our BEV in California and were on Schedule EV with PG&E, and it was always a delicate dance of "charging at the right time" to make things cheap. Here, our EVs just don't cost us much.
If I leave my home unattended for a month on vacation, but leave my fridge and water heater going, my gas and electric cost is about $70. California is a special place.
Yes power in CA is expensive, and might be right for a Volt. However, here is a comparison of a Polestar 2 using $0.36 electricity:
Full charge (.36 * 78kwh) = 28.08
Range = 276 mi
Cost of fuel per mile = $0.10
Subaru Outback
Full tank of gas (ca avg 4.89 18.5 gallon capacity) = 90.46
Range = 476 mi
Cost of fuel per mile = $0.19
Its still almost half the cost of gas. That said, experientially at times it feels more expensive. Also, there are rate plans that move the cost lower to something like $0.21 instead, which really relies on you managing your charging times.
They've both been paid off for years and years. A new set of tires for each were the most expensive maintenance. We fill up the PHEV with gas around once a year for $40 and get an oil change whenever it prompts us, which is around every two years because we use gas so rarely. Insurance and registration for both cars ends up being a little over $1000/year total - both included. Our power costs are around $.055/KwH here - mostly renewable at this point - so we pay a few hundred in extra power costs each year charging them up.
Back when we got both the conventional wisdom even then was "lease don't own because the technology will be better in three years". Actually, the conventional wisdom was "wow, don't buy an electric car, what are you doing?" You know what? These guys still get around town just fine, don't look like junk yet, and paying a grand total of $750 or so per car per year feels real good.