I don't know anybody who has money to throw around like that.

@barjoe I know one person, but instead of buying an expensive EV, he bought a Durango SRT Hellcat with 710hp.

@JeffMurray I wouldn't buy that either.

@barjoe I would! It smoked a C8 Corvette in the quarter mile.

@JeffMurray It's a Chrysler piece of shit. The Vette is a better car. I don't care about speed tho. I just want a cheap car to get me from A to B

@barjoe I love getting from A to B dangerously fast...

Harleys the best fuck the rest.

@MrDragon Best at what?

@MrDragon If you like a slow overpriced bike.

@barjoe
You need know how to shop for them. And I do like slow comfortable riding, you own a Harley you own a real American made machine.

@MrDragon "American-made" means absolutely nothing anymore. I bought American-made cars before, and the companies didn't stand behind them AT ALL. The Mitsubishis and KIA I bought, however, fared much better, with a better price, better warranty, better service, and dealers/service departments that took care of me way more than any American company ever did. I'll never buy another product touted as "American-made" because now it's just an advertising line used to increase consumer confidence in an inferior product. If "American-made" meant something, why don't they make their warranties as good as foreign car warranties?

@JeffMurray that's nice, doesn't change a thing for me I don't stress that crap, I work on my own machines always have always will, I hate all that computerized crap. I love my bike, you do what ever the hell you want.

@MrDragon I want to spend my time making more money per hour than it costs to pay someone else to work on my car... I also want a car that doesn't need as much work because it was built well in the first place.

@JeffMurray lol, I learned how to repair all that stuff so I wouldn't have to pay anyone, my grandfather had one hell of a workshop in his garage and told me to not be the one paying, so, I learned how to repair everything, from cars to tractor-trailers, and building houses, I do all that myself, so I don't worry about warranties if it broke and I can get the part I can fix it. I am the one you would be paying. Glad to meet you.

@MrDragon Even if you're not paying labor, your still buying parts and spending your time that could be spent elsewhere.
Good to meet you too, but with my nice warrantied Mitsu, I don't really need a mechanic.

@JeffMurray your welcome and I am glad you don't, however, I enjoy doing that, it's not a burden, that why I like old Harley's and old cars, you have to have a love for the mechanics of it all, and it's a skill that has freed me and my money, even your warranties are limited and you pay for an Extention of those warranties, I would rather save my money for, let's say better ventures and fun.

@MrDragon I wish I was handier. Maybe not necessarily for cars, because like you said, getting a bunch of computer equipment to fix a new one, but there's a bunch of other stuff I wish I could do myself.

I'd buy a hybrid.

I don't know anybody who has an EV. I know people who have Prius. Norway is a very small country and it can't equate to American lifestyle. I don't want to schedule my trips or my life around charging my car. I will continue to drive a regular gas car. City dwellers who would most benefit from reduced emissions won't be able to ever own an EV. Thousands of charging stations? There are millions of gas stations in the United States, each with an average of 12 pumps. Two minute turnover. No thanks.

@barjoe ironically city dwellers would benefit most from an EV car mainly because of the lack of air pollution they put out.

Please consider a hybrid which will still use your gas if you need it but will provide you probably about 55 miles per gallon in the city and produce a lot less air pollution for you and your neighbors.I only get 47 miles per gallon in my newer Prius. Like you I always buy used and my Prius is a 2014. Hybrids always have increased gas mileage in traffic than they do on the highway and I drive on the highway just to get to traffic.

I agree that Norway is a much smaller country but that seems irrelevant when you talk about your driving habits which seem to be urban centric. I also think it's very telling that Norway provides so many carrots to EV drivers when they have one of the largest oil reserves in the world in their North Sea. EV drivers there never pay a toll never have to buy a car tag or pay any excise type tax when they buy an EV vehicle. Norway seems to think the health of their people and the planet is more important than dollars.

The problem is, used EVs have batteries with a shelf life, 10 years. Buying a used car won't be an option. I've never bought a new car. I guess they can replace and dispose of batteries every 10 years. I've owned a car for 45 years, always been used car. Always. Used EVs won't be a good option. Middle class people will all be burdened with a car loan.

@barjoe when I bought my 2007 Ford Escape hybrid in 2011 they said hybrid batteries only lasted 7 years. I sold it to a friend in 2019 with the original battery and he has driven it another $40,000 mi since without any hybrid battery problems. In other words I think their battery estimates are very conservative. When we bought the Ford, people were saying that replacing a hybrid battery would cost about $4, 500. My buyer wasn't worried because he had found out they are rebuilding the hybrid batteries now for only $500.

I've also been told that engines for hybrids and electric vehicles have a lot less moving parts to go wrong therefore maintenance and replacement costs are much less. I had very good luck with my Ford and I have friends that love their Prius as well because of low maintenance costs. My Ford was not well maintained because the first two years after my husband died I forgot to change the oil.

Doesn't the possibility exist for an engine with near zero emission? If you rely on future technology that doesn't currently exist. Just saying.

High speed rail? Takes away personal transportation. You still would need transportation to and from the "high speed rails". People will only buy EVs if the government forces them to do so, leaving no other choice.

@barjoe not taking away personal transportation, for long distance travel. I do think we rely too heavily on personal transportation here, which is why public transportation is shit and poor people end up driving shit cars with no insurance. They can't get to their jobs without cars and can't afford insurance. Public transport in cities is awful, and if you aren't in the city it's nonexistent.

@JonnaBononna I have a bus stop a block from my house an El stop 5 blocks away. I have an insured used car that I park on the street. To charge an EV wouldn't be an option for me. I drive <5K miles/year, car gets 40 mpg. I use 100 gallons of gas a year. I don't think privileged people should tell poor people they have to take the bus. That's what an EV only fleet would do.

@barjoe poor people have to take the bus now. I've been doing it for almost 5 yrs and am about to start again. Fossil fuels will run out eventually and they are helping to destroy the environment. We need this change.

@JonnaBononna No thanks. I'll keep my car.

I have a friend that just received a small inheritance and he ordered one of those Ford trucks with that inheritance.

@Lorajay If I came into money, that's the last thing I'd do with it.

I used to have a girlfriend who could...

Could have been the starter instead of the battery. If you want to foolproof it, always have a stick shift and park on a hill.

@Lorajay no, it was the battery alright, hard to park on a hill when there isn't any. lol

Where will you charge it Tom? Do you have a parking space? If I bought one, I'd have to park it in the street like I do now. If there was a charging station nearby, I'd have to do an excursion once a week and do something for hours while my car was charging.

@barjoe Whoops. I edited to describe the only vehicle I’ll need.

@yvilletom A golf cart won't work for me lol.

@barjoe that is one of the major problems with EVs. City dwellers who would benefit the most from electric vehicles (reduced pollution, savings on fuel). Are the least likely to get them due to not having access to charging. Few have off street parking. And those who do would have to worry about vandalism. A system of rental stations might be workable (like the bike stations), though they come with their own set of problems.
Infrastructure for charging is the biggest problem overall with electric. Hershey Park and several other public places I have been lately are starting to install pay chargers in their lots. But they are few and far between. And if you consider how many people run out of gas on a daily basis, the EV owner won’t be able to carry around an empty gallon container to take to the nearest gas station!

400 miles max. Extreme heat will dramatically cut down on that because of A/C. Extreme cold is even worse. The advertised range by Tesla is under optimum conditions. [blog.evsolutions.com]

@barjoe
My wife's brother is a former career independent trucker and he's become a snow bird for the last couple of decades.

At the moment (the last year or so) we've been helping him 'store' his Prius when he doesn't use it.

@RichCC Prius needs to be stored? Why? Can't you just start it up? One a month or so? Somebody should drive it or he should just sell it.

@barjoe
His big house is on the edge of Tucson. This way he doesn't have to leave the car alone when he's off in Oregon.
(It so happens he just recently bought a Toyota RAV4 Prime anyway.)

@barjoe I think he meant “stored” asin he gets to drive it!

Not the same as a hybrid. A hybrid doesn't need to be charged, even if it's a plug in. You can just go to the gas station like everybody else, albeit less frequently. EVs are battery only cars. The only EVs I ever see are Tesla and Nissan Leaf. I don't know anyone who has one and I rarely encounter them.

@barjoe thanks for the clarification. In that case, no, I probably won't consider a fully electric vehicle.