Rethinking EV’s?

[JeffinOregon]

The current oil crisis/kleptocracy has made me reconsider EV ownership. On a BMW owner’s survey, I indicated that I would hold out for internal combustion engines basically as long as possible, and sadly that’s no longer the case.

Anyone else having a change of heart?

[clarknm]

I find it to be an enjoyable daily driver, the savings are nice but if I didn’t like the car I wouldn’t buy it. Go try one out before dismissing them. At this point “range anxiety” is a solved problem for most drivers and otherwise…I’ve got the music on too loud to hear my car anyway

[DanG]

With no way to charge an EV at home, I have zero interest in getting one.

P.S. I like many neighbors do not have a garage

[RedSparky]

I really love the evs but replacing anything on them is so expensive.

[RedSparky]

If you have the money to replace things when they go wrong or you know how to work on them yourself I’d go for an ev.

[GTF]

Nope. Range and depreciation = nope

[jaffles]

For me I think its inevitable. Just bought the staff member an EV as a pay rise. I have large solar system on the business so it will charge the car for free 4.75 days of the week. The car does about 20k km a year so will save $4900AU in the old fuel money, or $8300 in the new fuel money. I'm hearing various refineries have been bombed with one that will be 5 years to rebuild. So recovery won't be quick and I'm betting neither will the war.

As for the private car, we have 13kW of solar and extending to 20 which with a 25-30kW battery and the sun will charge the car overnight. With current fuel and energy prices the break even has come down to 5 years or less.

I read enough EV forums now to not be concerned by battery failure out of warranty. And like my ICE car new EVs plumet in value so you can find something appropriate at a good price. Bro in law just bought a 180K Jag for 30k AU with 30k km.

Lastly, I was at drift school last week and there were 2 evs there. Initially they just went around in circles as they put too much power down to sharply. But after 4x 10 minute sessions the owners were starting to piece it together. So they are not bad, just different. Definitely fast. The staff members twin cab ute does 0 to 100 on 5.7 sec making my BMW look a bit tardy.

[Efthreeoh]

No. Temporary situation.

On December 10, 2021, during the idiocracy, I paid $4.81 for Shell premium (adjusted for inflation). Yesterday, April 3, 2026, I paid $4.99 for Exxon premium. Same regional area.

[HUGN*RDS]

Would be curious if you drive an EV for work if you get reimbursed expenses like you would with fuel. If you’re charging at home on solar, are you netting some profit?

[DrewNewM2]

I have a company car and don’t have to pay for gas or anything which is even lower cost than an EV and I STILL choose to drive my own cars most of the time. Why? Because they are WAY more fun to drive and we are all on limited time. Might as well have fun!

[allinon72]

This would be a very long term decision being made on a couple weeks worth of volatility - if you were already in the market and this was your tipping point...maybe. But world events move at 10x speed vs. 10 years ago, way more data is needed to go this route.

[SYT_Shadow]

I don't let short term situations dictate long term decisions

[M-technik-3]

No my current auto's are paid for so having a payment is not what I am looking for these days. The gas I consume is less than I would be paying for most electric cars. If I was at the point of shopping for an electric car it would be a hybrid of some sort. Massachusetts adopted California's silly in 2035 mandate that all NEW cars sold would be EV's.

[jaffles]

Originally Posted by HUGN*RDS

Would be curious if you drive an EV for work if you get reimbursed expenses like you would with fuel. If you’re charging at home on solar, are you netting some profit?

I claim the charger, installation, car repayments, insurance, tyres, any out of warranty servicing/needs. The staff member pending how you see it gets 10 - 20K pay rise. The business needs to spend money on something otherwise it just goes in tax. I don't feel like dropping 330K on a new truck, I don't need a new car so bought him one. He gets to sell his and have no running cost. No skin off my nose.

[vt100]

A good fun hybrid is a much better solution in this case.
But a hybrid with manual is unbeatable!

[G30M]

Originally Posted by JeffinOregon

The current oil crisis/kleptocracy has made me reconsider EV ownership. On a BMW owner’s survey, I indicated that I would hold out for internal combustion engines basically as long as possible, and sadly that’s no longer the case.

Anyone else having a change of heart?

the moment I got myself an EV i realised how silly it was to drive an ICE (unless you do tracking).

it's just better in every way (assuming you have access to electricity/charging)

the unfortunate thing was I had a M340i and a M550i that i no longer drove, sold the M340i (still miss her) and my 2021 M550i has 6000 miles on it.

it's a no brainer. if EVs were invented first (actually it was!), and an engineer said hey i have a new motor that explodes and grinds metal on metal and has 1,000 moving parts, and only gives you power from 5,000-6,000 rpm.

you'd think he was crazy. but as it is, there is nothing wrong with ICE other than the fickle supply and the entire world is held ransom by a few big corporates. more importantly, there is nothing wrong with EVs. been driving it 99% since 2022 and not going back to ICE.

i didn't drive EVs to save the planet. i drive EVs because it's better than any of my BMW ICEs.

here's my garage list which is a mixture of ICE and EV and how much i like driving them from best to least

- Kia EV9
- Kia EV6
- BMW M550i TTV8
- BMW M340i I6-Turbo (sold)
- Nissan Leaf (EV)
- Toyota Sienna NA V6

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by JeffinOregon

The current oil crisis/kleptocracy has made me reconsider EV ownership. On a BMW owner’s survey, I indicated that I would hold out for internal combustion engines basically as long as possible, and sadly that’s no longer the case.

Anyone else having a change of heart?

Do you have 20 solar panels on your roof? If so, then it makes sense to go with an EV. Otherwise, you'll be fueling with same fossil fuel that an ICE uses.

[Altamate]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Do you have 20 solar panels on your roof? If so, then it makes sense to go with an EV. Otherwise, you'll be fueling with same fossil fuel that an ICE uses.

I have 20 panels on my roof, EV’s need more range and there needs to be more fast chargers before I’m replacing my ICE stuff.

[ToMorNotToM]

Originally Posted by JeffinOregon

The current oil crisis/kleptocracy has made me reconsider EV ownership. On a BMW owner’s survey, I indicated that I would hold out for internal combustion engines basically as long as possible, and sadly that’s no longer the case.

Anyone else having a change of heart?

Absolutely not. I despise EV's with a passion.

[Higgs Boson]

I would do the math on fuel savings vs depreciation. EV's drop like rocks. That's because of supply and demand. Demand is so low that supply could be 1 and they would still drop in value.

Do the math on what your car is worth vs what you paid for it vs the 1.50 or whatever your gas has gone up and then add the depreciation of your EV you will inevitably trade back in for a huge loss when your miss your ICE and gas prices come back down. You should probably keep your car and pay for gas.

Depreciation is a long term solution for a short term problem.

[ericold]

the only thing i like on EVs is the instant acceleration,i mean you could drive a BYD and have the feeling of a porsche acceleration.other than that no..hybrid is the best combination of economy and pleasure right now.

[kudos]

Absolutely not. EV's suck. I drive in eco mode if I need to lower my gas usage.