#evownership — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

I bought a used electric car in 2020. Here are some thoughts from me about this. #evOwnership #EVs #electricVehicles #electricCars

Some background:
I bought a 2017 Chevrolet #BoltEV with Premier trim and 17k miles in 2020
My wife bought her 2017 Bolt EV a year later
I live in a suburb of Seattle
I own my home

Some thoughts:

1. It's easier to maintain
2. It's cheaper to drive
3. It's more fun to drive
4. It keeps its value
5. Owning a home makes it a lot easier

1. It's easier to maintain -

They recommend an undercarriage wash once per month, and I should probably change the cabin air filter soon..

The good:
The brakes don't wear out because they're almost never used.
There's very little recommended scheduled maintenance.
There are very few moving parts to wear out in the motor compared to an ICE so you don't have to go to the shop unexpectedly

The bad:
Registration costs more. But to be fair I don't pay the per gallon usage tax placed on gasoline sales and my car puts more wear on the road, being heavier and all.

Also there was a battery recall which left us with 2 cars that they said not to park within fifty feet of any structure. Like, how would I ever charge my car then? In the end though they replaced the batteries with bigger, better, -won't catch fire- batteries, so I'm happy now. Came with a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty just like it was new too.

2. It's cheaper to drive -

I charge at home. I installed my own charger, the purchase of which was subsidized by my electric company. I actually bought the charger before I bought the car feeling kind of like when you buy plane tickets and then you HAVE to figure out that trip‽ So I didn't spend a lot to get my house ready for driving electric.
I think a full charge at home costs about 6 or 7 dollars US, vs $5 for a gallon of gas. A full charge gets between 200 and 250 miles in most cases, putting energy cost at 2.4-3.5¢ per mile. My last car got about 25 miles per gallon, at $5 each that's 20¢ a mile just for fuel. Combine that with the decreased need for EV maintenance and my biggest operating expense is probably for tires.
It does like more expensive tires and it's harder on them being so heavy with the battery and having so much torque.

3. It's more fun to drive -

It always has available torque. You don't really know what that means until you feel it but it responds immediately when you push. There are no valves that need to allow fuel into a chamber. There is no transmission that needs to drop gears. The motor pushes when you push it. It goes on demand in proportion to how much is demanded of it.

One pedal driving is awesome. I love it. In L mode (dumb name) I can let off the accelerator and it will completely stop the car. I don't need to reach for the brake in stop and go traffic anymore unless something crazy happens. This reduces stress by a lot. Like. SO much. My wife still likes to drive her car "regular style" so it coasts faster down hills and lurches forward if you don't hold the brake at a stop light, just like a regular car.

4. It keeps its value -

I just looked up the value of my car. I've owned it for 3 years and I've driven it 25k miles. It only lost about $3000, or 15% of its value since I bought it. Or more precisely, if I sold it now I should expect to get $3000 less than I paid for it.

I paid more for this car than any other car I've owned. Partly because I could afford it now, partly because I really liked the car, and mostly to stop buying gasoline. I won't pretend it wasn't expensive but used Bolts are some of the best and cheapest used EVs around, I think. They have great range but fast charging is slower on a Bolt than almost anything else available, TBH.

5. Owning a home makes it a lot easier -

I was able to install my charger cheaply and I have a secure place to charge every night. These facts really helped this make sense for me. I have to assume that living in an urban area would be more challenging for EV ownership if you can't get charging where you park, for example.