Are electric cars that much cheaper to operate?
Charging location & housing constraints
- Strong consensus that home charging is dramatically cheaper than public charging, especially with night or EV-specific tariffs.
- Major concern: many people (renters, street parkers, condos with shared lots) cannot easily charge at home; HOAs and older residents often block upgrades.
- Some argue this is overstated: many detached homes have driveways; 120V outlets are enough for low-mileage drivers; work and apartment chargers are slowly spreading.
- Others counter with data that many US households lack garages or dedicated spaces, so “just charge at home” is not realistic for a large minority.
Public/fast charging economics
- DC fast charging is frequently as expensive per mile as gasoline, especially in California and parts of Europe/Norway.
- Explanations: high capex per stall, utility “demand charges,” local monopoly utilities, and operators pricing “what the market will bear.”
- Time-of-use and EV tariffs can make night-time home charging extremely cheap; in some regions renewables overcapacity drives near-zero or negative wholesale prices.
Grid capacity & emissions
- Claim that “the grid can’t handle EVs and it’s all coal anyway” is widely challenged.
- Multiple comments cite figures showing modest incremental load over decades and falling coal share; even on fossil-heavy grids, EVs’ lifecycle CO₂ is argued to beat ICE.
- Benefits emphasized for local air quality in traffic and the ability to decarbonize centrally over time.
Depreciation, batteries & resale
- Depreciation is contentious: some say rapid innovation and price cuts make EV economics “never better,” others note used EV bargains as a result.
- Tesla price cuts and brand issues are blamed for steep recent drops; other models (e.g., Leaf, Bolt, Kona, Niro) can be extremely cheap used.
- Battery life data so far looks better than early fears, but uncertainty post‑warranty and high replacement cost still worry many buyers.
Maintenance, usage patterns & alternatives
- Many EV owners report essentially only tires, washer fluid, and rare 12V battery replacement over tens of thousands of miles.
- ICE owners with simple, reliable cars report low costs too, so savings depend heavily on model and mileage.
- Several argue EVs only make sense if you can charge where you sleep; others see PHEVs as a practical middle ground.
Non-cost factors
- Repeatedly cited advantages: quiet, instant torque, one‑pedal driving, home refueling convenience, pairing with solar, and resilience to oil shocks.
- Some view EV adoption as primarily a climate/health goal where slight cost disadvantages would still be acceptable.