Why I Haven't Bought an EV

[canyonwalker]

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.

Comments

[some_other_dave]

The "traditional" automakers are also offering EV versions of various vehicles now. I've seen reviews of trucks from Ford and Chevrolet (I think) recently. Mostly positive.

Your use-case seems like the worst possible one for an EV. You don't really do a daily grind, and when you do drive it tends to be longer distances to areas that often don't have robust infrastructure. So your drives will wind up significantly extended by charging, if you even find a place to do so! (And many of the older/more remote charging stations are VERY SLOW, even compared to non-"supercharger" stations.)

Unless gas gets to something absurd like $20/gallon, I don't see how an EV really makes sense for how you use cars. Or at least, my perception of how you use them!

Me, on the other hand? I'd love to get an EV. And charge it from our solar power setup. (Probably adding some panels to help with that.) But that's a big financial commitment, and our current vehicles are working more than well enough at this point. Plus we don't see options that we really like at the moment.

[canyonwalker]

You're right about other brands-- OMG I had a brain fart and forgot that Ford and GM have full-size EV pick-up trucks, the F-150 Lightning and GMC Sierra/Chevy Silverado twins. But partly also I left those out because a full size pick-up is NOT what we want. It wouldn't fit in our garage, the size is a liability on some off-road trails, and size is definitely a liability trying to maneuver and park as an in-the-city runabout. That's why I'm curious to see more about the Rivian R2 as it rolls out; it's a mid-sized SUV.

[canyonwalker]

I like your framing with "areas that don't have robust infrastructure." I'll refine that to something like this for when I'm responding to EV pushers: "We take frequent trips to areas that are at the fringes of, or well past the edges of, current recharging infrastructure."

That's just one of our cars, though. We're going to remain a two-car family. The other car can be our around-town grocery-getter and staying-on-main-roads road-tripper. But all 3 reasons I identified still apply. In a few years, when we're ready to replace a car, if what we want is available in EV form; sure, we'll absolutely consider it.