Do You Guys See An Electric Car In Your Future?

[Singuy]

There seems to be a huge electric car push in the future. Many companies are announcing that they will end pure fossil fuel cars by 2020-2025.

Do you guys see your next long term purchase to be an electric car?

I am going to get myself a used Tesla Model S in 3 years. In fact I am already putting in a charging station along with my solar panels.

[scfr]

We are seriously considering an electric vehicle for our next car purchase.
The final decision will be made based on where we believe we are getting the best overall deal when DH's current "golden chariot" ('99 Camry) finally bites the dust.

We looked at hybrids for a long time before we finally bought one. For many years we considered them over-priced, and bargains could not be found, but during the Toyota Prius' darkest days (remember the media circus and the phony sudden acceleration claims?) we were finally able to find a deal good enough to give us the incentive to buy. If we could find a similar deal on an electric vehicle, we would consider buying right now. But I don't expect that to happen for at least a couple more years.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

No i see a minivan. And the reason is I want the seating space and capacity. So unless it's an electric minivan I doubt it.

[TexasHusker]

Had a Volt. It was fun, but lost 60% of its value in 2 years and I bought it at invoice from the dealer. Electric cars are NOT the future. The Volt costs GM $89K to build, and they are losing about $50K per unit - they are selling them for under $40K. That’s not sustainable.

The electric car is actually the dirtiest car on the road, and significantly so: It is powered by the electric co, which is still two thirds powered by coal and natural gas. And the amount of energy used to squeeze out a Kilowatt hour from coal and natural gas for your electric car is embarrassingly large. The reason is, you are using energy to produce energy. That means much of the energy from the source - fossil fuels - is lost in the process. In a combustible engine car, the energy powers the car directly from its source - a very small amount of energy is lost.

The electric car is headed the way of shag carpet, despite what the gubmit tells you. The math simply doesn’t work.

[corn18]

Probably not. Don't see the point.

The next revolution in transportation will be driverless cars. When it becomes ubiquitous (which I predict my kids will see in their lifetime), cars will be irrelevant. They will be a means to an end, not an end upon themselves. And cars driving themselves will increase efficiency by an order of magnitude vs. stupid water bags driving them now and well beyond what any electric car might be able to achieve.

So my recommendation is to invest in anything that has to do with enabling driverless technology. And don't invest in auto makers.

[phantom]

I've been lusting after a Tesla Model X for a little while now. I love how they look, and when I visited a Tesla showroom, I was impressed without much space they have inside. I also love the idea of having a vehicle with fewer mechanical parts and fewer things that could fail and go wrong. But, either the price would need to come way down, or I'd need to have a lot of money I didn't know what to do with before I could image spending close to (or more than) 6 figures on a car. I just don't enjoy cars all that much.

The problem with electric cars for me is that most of them are not SUVs, and I really don't like driving anything smaller than a small SUV. As that changes, I guess I'll be more likely to consider them.

[msomnipotent]

Not all electric, but we are considering the Pacifica hybrid once we sell the house. We don't want to install a charger in a house we aren't keeping. We get the green sheet price for Chrysler/Dodge and any tax credits (if there are any) would make it pretty affordable for us. Our cottage is 2 1/2 hrs away with light traffic, which never happens, and we drive to our vacations. I think it would be a good fit for us.

[rob62521]

Unless the electric cars are decently comfortable (I get the desire for the minivan) and there are places to charge besides installing something at home, I can't see them being something in my near future.

[Singuy]

Had a Volt. It was fun, but lost 60% of its value in 2 years and I bought it at invoice from the dealer. Electric cars are NOT the future. The Volt costs GM $89K to build, and they are losing about $50K per unit - they are selling them for under $40K. That’s not sustainable.

The electric car is actually the dirtiest car on the road, and significantly so: It is powered by the electric co, which is still two thirds powered by coal and natural gas. And the amount of energy used to squeeze out a Kilowatt hour from coal and natural gas for your electric car is embarrassingly large. The reason is, you are using energy to produce energy. That means much of the energy from the source - fossil fuels - is lost in the process. In a combustible engine car, the energy powers the car directly from its source - a very small amount of energy is lost.

The electric car is headed the way of shag carpet, despite what the gubmit tells you. The math simply doesn’t work.

Are you comparing the resale value of a volt with tax credit factored in? Yes, the volt loses a lot of value the minute you drive it off the lot, at least $7,500 because that's the amount the second buyer cannot benefit.

Also that stuff about electric power being dirtier than gas has been debunked. And it will continue to be debunked harder as we move toward renewables. You talk about using energy to produce energy..last time I checked..I don't exactly have an oil refinery in my back yard but I sure have many electrical plugs in my house. Oil refining, transportation, storage, and having people physically going to a gas station all require energy in order to put gas into the car. There are 168,000 gas stations in the US. That's a lot of energy being used by oil trucks to fill these stations weekly.

[TexasHusker]

Are you comparing the resale value of a volt with tax credit factored in? Yes, the volt loses a lot of value the minute you drive it off the lot, at least $7,500 because that's the amount the second buyer cannot benefit.

Also that stuff about electric power being dirtier than gas has been debunked. And it will continue to be debunked harder as we move toward renewables. You talk about using energy to produce energy..last time I checked..I don't exactly have an oil refinery in my back yard but I sure have many electrical plugs in my house. Oil refining, transportation, storage, and having people physically going to a gas station all require energy in order to put gas into the car.

I bought a loaded volt for around $37K, tax credit $7500, sold it for around $13,500?

I’m not going to argue the electricity thing. Other than to say the amount of energy needed to send 11 KWHs - the amount to fill up your car so it can make it 40 miles - to your outlet is enormous.

And until the car makers can produce these things without losing money - $ tens of thousands currently - it’s all just another liberal agenda item that has no relationship to reality.

[disneysteve]

I honestly haven't given any thought to owning an electric car. A hybrid maybe, but not a purely electric one. From what I know (which is admittedly not much) they don't have a very long range. I don't want to have to worry about running out of juice when I'm out and about. Even if charging stations become widely available, who wants to stop what they're doing to recharge somewhere. We just got back this week from a 1,500 mile road trip. Can you do that in an electric car? We drove 700 of those miles in one day. Do any electric cars have that ability?

Now a hybrid is certainly something I might consider if the price was right. Knowing that if I'm low on fuel, I can still pull into a gas station and fill the tank and continue on my way.

[Nutria]

Now a hybrid is certainly something I might consider if the price was right. Knowing that if I'm low on fuel, I can still pull into a gas station and fill the tank and continue on my way.

Or, if you're evacuating before a storm, bring a couple of jerrycans of gas in case the en route gas stations are empty or have loooong lines.

[Singuy]

I honestly haven't given any thought to owning an electric car. A hybrid maybe, but not a purely electric one. From what I know (which is admittedly not much) they don't have a very long range. I don't want to have to worry about running out of juice when I'm out and about. Even if charging stations become widely available, who wants to stop what they're doing to recharge somewhere. We just got back this week from a 1,500 mile road trip. Can you do that in an electric car? We drove 700 of those miles in one day. Do any electric cars have that ability?

Now a hybrid is certainly something I might consider if the price was right. Knowing that if I'm low on fuel, I can still pull into a gas station and fill the tank and continue on my way.

Road trips are not really the purpose of electric cars no matter how many charging stations they put up unless gas becomes 7 dollars/gallon like in Europe..then waiting 20-30 mins every 3-4 hours is probably worth it.

If I go on a road trip, I'll probably rent a camper or a minivan so I don't have to put so many miles on my personal car.

One thing people didn't talk about is electric cars of the future should be more reliable. No need to worry about metal parts rubbing against each other with controlled explosives. No more gasket leaks and timing belts. Studies have found Tesla batteries to last 25 years...so once they perfect or simplify all the other moving parts in an electric car..it may last 400-800k miles without a tuneup.

[msomnipotent]

They are also pretty silent. The thought of sneaking up on a person and scaring them is what gets me out of bed in the morning.

[Nutria]

One thing people didn't talk about is electric cars of the future should be more reliable. No need to worry about metal parts rubbing against each other with controlled explosives. No more gasket leaks and timing belts. Studies have found Tesla batteries to last 25 years.

How many lithium ion fires have there been in the past 10 years?