Whenever it’s time to replace your car, get an EV instead of an ICE car. That’s it.
It actually makes sense to replace a gas car that is still running in a lot of cases
On the other hand, we’re in a period of relatively rapid EV development. If your gas car is fairly fuel efficient or you don’t drive much, it may make more sense to hold onto it for a bit and wait for EVs to get better.
This is my current situation. My current vehicle is relatively new, but I want to get an EV soon. With how fast EVs are evolving, and the hope that the US will open its market to other EV manufacturers in the near future, I might have to wait for a bit.
It really does sadly. My poor '10 Versa got rear ended and repaired multiple times but the cumulative damage allowed water to seep into the undercarriage every time it rained. One could hear it sloshing around every time it had to stop at an intersection. The whole car started to smell like wet clothes left in a bag for a week. No amount of airing out, coffee grounds, Febreze, or air fresheners could get rid of the stench and I wasn’t gonna keep showing up to work reeking of a waterlogged rag.
Luckily I made the switch to a cheap used EV back in February right before the Iran clusterfuck happened
Input cost for current paid off 10 year old car of $0 and it takes a long time to pay off.
But assume I’m comparing two new cars, absolutely cheaper to go even PHEV.
I did some calculations for Australia recently - the average driver here pays about $125 in petrol every week, whereas an EV on a 5 year loan would only cost about $105 ($95 loan repayment and $10 electricity expenses).
So even with an existing car before even considering any trade in value you can save money getting an EV.
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The gas car will be driven by someone else (buyer) so emissions-wise, there is no benefit.
one more used car means one less new car that needs to be built.
When your gas car no longer works, and costs more to repair than makes sense, and you can reasonably afford an electric vehicle.
The point is that in many places, it makes financial sense sense to scrap a still-running gas car.
Then you are still adding to the problem.
Far far less than if you keep on driving a gas car. It’s better to not drive at all, but we’re not going to get everybody out of cars.
Proper scrapping does mean destroying the old car and not merely selling it
Buying a new car, any new car, EV or not is much worse than continuing to drive a current car. Most of the emissions come from the manufacture of the vehicle.
Most of the emissions come from the manufacture of the vehicle.
Not true. EVs offset production emissions in 20-30, 000 miles.
You can actually scrap a nearly new ice car to change for an EV and still come ahead in lifetime emissions
No mention of other emissions besides CO2?
2020 I bought a slightly used hybrid car for $18,000…dealer could not get rid of it because gas was dirt cheap and smart buyers knew gas would be cheap forever because the price never goes up.
I did the 5 year math and concluded the car would save me $2200/yr in fuel. I did not expect gas prices to increase.
6 years later, I saved close to $15,000 and in eight years, the car will be free.
This will be repeated with a used EV in a few years.
Math! Bitch!
whatever you do, DO NOT dump your gas vehicle in a ditch! that is completely insulting and poisonous for ditch wildlife…
(unless you need to fake your death… but make sure to pay for towing service ahead of time to minimize damage to the ditch creatures.)
The calculator is good for new cars, but it uses a 5 year loan for the full cost of the car for the first five years so it isn’t helpful for cars that have already been paid off. If you buy a new EV that cost is going to be the same, but the price of buying a new vehicle is part of the cost.
If one spends only a couple thousand a year on a 10+ year old paid off vehicle between tags, gas, and maintenance then switching to a used electric is going to take a decade to be more economically competitive because buying a new vehicle plus tags and maintenance is going to offset the fuel savings as long as the ice vehicle is running reliably.
Yes, if someone is already buying a vehicle they should get an EV or a hybrid or something better than just ice. It doesn’t make economic sense if they are not.
I don’t understand people who buy a new car that loses 30% value driving off the lot and 50% after 3 years. EVs make sense used. Devaluation is more math people don’t do, because they want something smelly and shiny.
I have owned a dozen used cars and bought two new ones. The first one lasted me 17+ years and I replaced it with a new one four years ago during covid when used car prices were frequently higher than used because I needed a different type of vehicle. The new one will most likely last me another 20+ years in excellent condition and the extra cost will be averaged over those two decades.
Someone has to buy the new cars or there wouldn’t be any used cars. The ones who are losing out are those who buy new every few years.
I’m currently saving ~$4000 per year that was previously spent on gas. Living in an are with cheap electricity helps a lot, but I would guess that it is worth it for most people, provided they can charge at home.
In my region, the poorest, dumbest fucks drive the biggest trucks and SUVs and it’s the gubmint’s fault they are poor.
Same thing here, especially those trucks with the ridiculous mud tires which I’m guessing must get horrible mileage at highway speed.
I checked and just this year we started having electric car recharging stations showing up. There’s still a lot of infrastructure needs for my town before more can go EV. We may have to start petitioning apartments to provide some ports so people have a place to charge it.
We made disabled parking appear overnight and everywhere.
Seems to be about 7 years until the EV becomes more cost effective at current gas prices.
