Why I Haven't Bought an EV

I've been thinking for a while about writing on the topic of "Why I haven't bought an electric vehicle (EV)." Recently that topic came up on a Discord my partner is active in. Except it wasn't people sharing a thoughtful self-examination of why they have or haven't bought an EV, it was smug self congratulation, "I bought an EV and I am so pleased with my choice that I cannot imagine why any other person has not bought an EV unless they're morally defective or plain stupid."

That kind of high-functioning idiocy, being smart enough to figure things out except when they involve questioning your own assumptions or grasping the consequences of your own actions— including, "Huh, I'm being really insulting right now, could that be the reason people are responding harshly to me? Nah, it's gotta be because they're mean, toxic, stupid people and so I should block them."— is sadly prevalent in that community and why I dropped out of it a few years ago. But anyway, the question worthy of thoughtful self-examination remains: Why haven't I bought an EV yet?

Let me first clarify things that are not the reasons why I haven't bought an EV:

1. I am not unaware of EVs, how they work, or where/how they present possible economic savings for their owners.
2. I do not dismiss EVs as "clunky", "quirky", "slow", "unreliable", or "woke".
3. I am not a climate change denier.
4. I'm not poor. Inability to buy one is not the reason.

So what is/are the reasons I haven't bought an EV?

Let's start with this one:

1. I'm not in the market to buy a car.

I haven't bought a car in 5 years. I don't expect to buy one for at least another few. That's the main reason I haven't bought an EV— I haven't bought any car recently.

Related to that is....

2. I don't see the advantages of an EV as so compelling I'd replace an existing car prematurely.

One of the big wins people cite in switching to an EV is the savings in gas. Well, the price of gas is not killing us. We drive our vehicles very little on a regular basis. Hawk hasn't had a daily commute for two years. I haven't had one since 2018. If one or both of us were commuting us was commuting 50-60 miles a day, 4-5 days a week? Sure, the gas savings would add up fast. But right now our regular driving works out to less than 10 miles/day. Add in occasional road trips and our cars have been logging only 5,000 miles/year recently.

I'll note, also, in the "costs to refuel" ledger, the people who are most excited about pocketbook savings are people who can charge their EVs for free at their place of work or school. I don't have the benefit of using OPM (Other People's Money) to run an EV.

The other dimension of savings people talk about is savings to the environment. That one's hard to quantify. But qualitatively one thing we consider is the impact to the environment of having a whole new vehicle manufactured for us.

Also related to #1, above:

3. EVs that matched my desires/needs haven't existed.

The last car I bought, 5 years ago, was a sporty convertible. I really wanted a convertible. We really wanted a convertible. There are no EV convertibles. If there were we'd have seriously considered one.

Our other car, now going on 15 years old, is a 4x4 SUV. We use it for real off-road stuff. EV SUVs capable of real off-road stuff haven't existed until the past few years. The few that have come out— Tesla Cybertruck and Rivian R1— are bigger than what we want. They wouldn't even fit in our garage. Plus, it's unclear how capable they really are in off-road situations that aren't staged for cameras. I'm really curious to see how the new Rivian R2 pans out, as it's more the size of vehicle we'd want. I'll watch how it tests in real-world situations.

Then there's the problem of refilling. I know that charging stations are way more prevalent now than, say, 10 years ago. I know people are doing coast-to-coast drives in EVs. But I also know from thinking about it myself, and having this verified by friends who are actual EV owners, that it takes a lot more planning to do a long distance road trip with an EV. You can't just pack a bag, hop in the car, and go, trusting that there'll be a filling station pretty much wherever you need it, that you can get in and out of in 5 minutes.

"Filling station wherever you need it" is especially an issue with trips offroad or just to remote areas. The gasoline infrastructure is built out well enough that even small towns that don't have a stop light have at least one gas station. I know, because in the past year I've stopped in several of them to buy just a few gallons of gas. EV charging was nowhere nearby.

Hiking Sierra Vista Open Space

I've said it so many times and I'll keep on saying it. One of the things we like so much about living in the San Francisco Bay Area is the proximity to outdoors beauty. And by that I don't just mean that Yosemite is 4.5 hours away. Significant natural beauty is all around us. And a lot of it is protected as parks.

A week ago Thursday we made an impromptu trip to the Sierra Vista Open Space preserve above San Jose. Rather than head there via the shortest route we opted to drive around the back of the hills, driving up Calaveras Rd. from Milpitas, past Ed Levin County Park, to Felter Rd., to Sierra Rd.



There were views all the way on this mountainous drive. And it was wonderful to do it on a warm, sunny late morning in our convertible with the top down. The best views, not too surprisingly, were as we approached Sierra Vista. The photo above is from the road maybe a mile east of the park entrance. The next photo is from the edge of the parking lot.



Yes, this is a parking lot photo. I mean, I'm pointing my camera away from the parked cars. It's just that it's extra exciting to go to a park that offers fun hiking— plus fun even without hiking. When we texted a few pics to my mother-in-law, she lamented that she's in no condition to walk even 150' right now. (She's undergoing treatment for a serious illness.) At Sierra Vista one can enjoy this view just sitting on the bench 10 steps away from the parked cars.



There are even better views farther afield, of course. We did one of our usual routes partway down the ridge, out past a saddle, and to the next peak. I enjoy this route especially because of the way views over the whole of Silicon Valley reveal themselves as you round the bends. Out here I always think of the song 🎵 Do You Know the Way to San Jose 🎵.



Part of what motivated us to visit this particular park is wildflower blooms. Speaking of songs, 🎵 It's the Time of the Season 🎵 for them. We'd just traveled hundreds of miles the week before to see wildflowers in Antelope Valley and at Carrizo Plain. We figured we check out places much closer to home on Thursday.

Although it's the right time of the season, this year's bloom isn't huge. We saw several small patches of California poppies (the showy orange/yellow flower above) and other wildflowers. But the hills were not carpeted with them like they are once every few years in a super-bloom.



Soon enough it was time to head back. Although this photo (above) shows a long, gentle uphill climb it was tougher than it looks. It was tough because a week ago we were having record-setting heat. I drank all the water I carried with me on this trail and then sucked down another 500ml bottle as soon as we got to the car. It's good we keep several spares in the car!