cwerdna said:
GRA, I (and others here on MNL including someone who I spoke to personally in the past 6 months or so) am still puzzled by why you spend so much time here on MNL and yet have been unwilling to buy or lease any EV or PHEV
You don't need to spend tens of thousands of dollars. I spent just a bit above that including tax and license ($9,325 + tax and license) on my used '13 Leaf that I still drive today (usually about 3 days/week) but I'm trying to sell. Was my primary car from end of July 2015 until end of Jan 2019. Maybe you'd like to buy it?
I'd wanted an EV for a long time and had wanted a Leaf. I had to delay purchase/lease for a # of reasons until I finally leased my 1st one in July 2013.
I agree w/dgp.
I've explained many times my reasons why I remain interested but unwilling to buy at this time. Inexpensive BEVs are currently only suited for local/intraregional use. I have no need of a car for local use/commuting, and only occasional need for intra-regional use, preferring to use my feet, bike and rapid transit, all of which are zero emissions (depending on what I eat) as well as more energy efficient than using a 3,000+ lb. vehicle to haul myself around, not to mention the positive health impact for me of engaging in active transportation*.
My sole need for a car is for longer range trips, and it is in that area that current BEVs require spending tens of thousands of dollars, and even then the infrastructure is often sparse to non-existent in the places I wish to travel to, far off the interstates and often the U.S. and state highways as well. Once that changes, I'm good to go. Even better would be the ability to rent a long-range BEV as needed, in which case I could give up car ownership (my ultimate goal) now.
As for not buying a PHEV, I could, but that provides little advantage for me given my typical trip profile; I've run the numbers, and on my typical trip a PHEV would burn
more gas than a straight HEV due to the extra weight being carried around (not to mention the often decreased cargo space, which is a major issue for me). It doesn't make sense to get one unless my current car were to die, and I have no desire to exchange one ICE for another (albeit more efficient) one unless I have to.
Failing that, I prefer to wait until I can buy a ZEV to do the transition all at once, and continue to limit my ICE driving in the meantime. That makes by far the most economic and practical sense to me, and doesn't impose the energy and resource impact of making another car - I first want to limit the number of cars built, and only then use the most efficient one. Others may make different calcs, but as dgpcolorado wrote a long time ago, he didn't get a BEV because it made the most economic or practical sense, it was because he wanted one and was willing to put up with the limitations. I am not so inclined - until any car can meet my practical needs it has no value to me, and I'm not interested in buying one to 'make a statement' - I'll leave that to others. In the meantime, I've got my landlord to agree to install a charging circuit if/when Ido get a PEV, and probably even to install PV to serve both the main house and my unit, although that's more tenuous. I'm doing the legwork on that for him, getting quotes and checking specs.
*Active Transportation:
https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/active-transportation