• VitoRobles@lemmy.today
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      6 days ago

      The pandemic killed my car because I left it sitting for weeks. Which wasn’t a big deal since it was almost twenty years old and still had a CD player.

      Excited, I was expecting to pay like $20k for a really nice new car. And to my surprise, $20k is baseline average used car now, and new cars are at least twice as much.

  • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca
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    6 days ago

    idk about the US, but for Canada, there’s nothing under $50k, and anything around that mark is not what I want.

    I want economical, basic, non-super-smart, halogen headlight, simple to repair, minimal touchscreen, physical driver controls, and at minimum a hatchback (but ideally wagon)

    that car doesn’t exist. so I’ll keep buying used cars and repairing them instead of funneling money to manufacturers for shitty products.

    • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip
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      6 days ago

      Yep. This is what’s up.

      When Nokia translates their brick phone design into an electric car, it’ll sell like hot cakes.

      Until then, we will see how many shitbox Toyota’s we can keep running well past 300,000 miles.

    • Nurgus@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      The used car market comes a bit later after new car sales gets going. It’s taken off here in the UK now, we can buy lots of EVs second hand. I never buy new cars.

    • dreugeworst@lemmy.ml
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      5 days ago

      do you guys not get European, Korean or Chinese EVs? or are thw prices of those inflated in Canada?

      • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca
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        5 days ago

        I guess not?

        I went to two websites that claim to help you select an EV in Canada and used those results as the basis of my claims.

  • mlg@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Because they banned the affordable and superior imports from China lol.

    • BananaPeal@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      Look into the used market. Lots of nice EVs for cheap because people think EV batteries degrade at the same rate as cell phone batteries. They don’t. I got a 3 year old EV for under 25k.

      • ContriteErudite@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        This! I’ve had my EV for 6 years and my battery has degraded ~8% according to diagnostics. It’s still enough to get me ~275 miles at highway speeds before I need to charge. I take it on a couple long-distance road trips every year and have never had an issue with range.

  • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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    6 days ago

    People are poor and have no money, EVs are new and cost a lot of money. Is this the same situation when they keep asking why people are not having kids? I think they know the answer but don’t like it.

  • Bakkoda@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    My local gas station doesn’t have a charger. My place of enjoyment doesn’t have a charger. No gas station near me has a charger. My home is old enough where i would need to upgrade the service to get a charger installed.

    • BananaPeal@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      Is your daily commute less than 40 miles? Then a level 1 charger could be enough. Especially if you can charge at work. Worried about the occasional longer trip? Look into plug-in hybrids. You can run your daily commute on the electric engine but the ICE engine is there for longer trips.

      You likely don’t need to upgrade service, for a L2 charger either. I have 100 amp service and my biggest hurdle was making room in my circuit breaker. I just had to combine some circuits. I had a few circuits that were just lights. Every bulb I have is LED, so there was no problem combining them. Then I added a $100 device that monitors my whole house usage and turns off the charger if there’s a chance of tripping the main breaker. But that never happens because I have the charger set to 30 amp, which is plenty for me. I’d have to be running the dryer, oven, and charger at the same time for that device to kick in, but I have the car set to charge after 9pm when we never cook or do laundry. I could run it at 50amp with this strategy, but it’s way more than I need for my 20 mile commute.

      If you’re genuinely interested but think you can’t because of your home charging options, then check outthis video from Technology Connections. This video about electricians unnecessarily hooking up 50 amp lines for EV chargers might be useful too.

        • BananaPeal@sh.itjust.works
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          6 days ago

          I live rural and there are no chargers around me for almost 20 miles, the same as my one way commute. I easily charged that up in a night with L1 charging. I was also able to charge at work sometimes.

          Also, you don’t save money when you public charge. It’s about charging at home. Going EV requires a mental change in how you “fuel up.” You don’t stop to charge, you charge when you stop.

          I was on a L1 charger for a couple months and after the mental adjustment, I only public charged when I went on longer trips.

        • noodles@slrpnk.net
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          6 days ago

          I live in a moderately sizes city >100k people within 30 miles of two bigger cities and no gas stations have chargers in town. There are chargers, but they’re in weird places like by the movie theater or tucked behind a brewery.

          • vagrancyand@sh.itjust.works
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            6 days ago

            Assuming you’re in the US, you have at least two gas-station adjacent super charger locations within city limits of any 100k city, except in alaska.

            • noodles@slrpnk.net
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              6 days ago

              I don’t know where you’re getting that info, but I just checked google maps for my city and it isn’t true. There is one single Tesla supercharger location, outside a coffee shop in the parking lot of a Walmart. The nearest gas station is 1.8 miles by car, .4 miles walking (lots of one way streets).

              I guess maybe my city is too small on a technicality? The 2020 census put us at 98k people, with 175k in the urban area.

              The nearest big city has a population of 299k (metro 800k) and apparently has two total superchargers near gas stations, though one is literally on the city line, so whoever is making that claim is operating entirely in lawyer speak and not how most people would understand that claim.

              • AA5B@lemmy.world
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                5 days ago

                You can’t only look at Tesla. They may be the biggest, cheapest, most reliable network, but there are lots of other brand chargers as well. You may need an adapter but it could mean a lot more convenience

                • noodles@slrpnk.net
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                  5 days ago

                  I’ve never used a Tesla charger, my car can’t without an adapter. But the commenter made a claim about super chargers, Tesla’s proprietary charging network, specifically and it sounded like the info came from a PR promise Tesla made that isn’t true in a practical sense.

                  I’ve had no problems charging my car on road trips, but it has mostly been in e.g. Ford dealerships outside of towns with nothing to do but sit in my car.

        • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca
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          6 days ago

          to be pedantic, no gas station near me has a charger, they’re all at grocery and dpmt stores lol

        • Bakkoda@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Most of the time you are right. Last three contact jobs were well over 60 miles round trip. This job is about 30 mil it’s round but trip. Problem is Im a long term contractor so once year I’m close, next few I’m not 🥺

          • bluGill@fedia.io
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            6 days ago

            I got a quote to put a 50 amp outlet for a level 2 charger in my garage for $600. This isn’t free, but at your commute it will pay for itself quickly since then you can charge overnight. I run real numbers, but I tell people my electric car is like paying $0.30/gallon of gas, which is close enough for my area. I can’t tell how much my electric bill has gone up since getting the EVs (last year without any I spent more in February than this year with two - that is my heat pump was working harder last year, and in turn costs more than whatever I’m spending to charge the cars)

            Do make sure you get something with plenty of range - in some cars winter range really is half summer so consider getting the extended range battery. Or just remember to find a charger when you are at those distant charges - odds are they are there just hidden.

            • AA5B@lemmy.world
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              5 days ago

              If you live in a colder area, it’s well worth selecting an EV with heat pump, so less reduction in winter range. Many do, but sometimes it’s an optional feature

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      I am very happy to never use local gas stations again. Charging at home is a huge convenience.

      You might take a closer look at whether you can install a charger: a nice 50a charger is a great convenience, but you could still cover your needs with less.

      • most EVs can schedule charging, so it’s only used overnight when nothing else is
      • I saw a blog about a “smart” charger that only charged when sufficient capacity was available
      • i saw a smart dryer adapter - use the 30a dryer outlet but only when the dryer isn’t running
      • you could install a 20a/240v air conditioner circuit to cover most charging needs
      • even a standard household outlet can keep up with average driving
      • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip
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        6 days ago

        Because some cars run on electricity now, and because there’s no more dinosaurs dying today to replenish the gas reserves.

        • Nurgus@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          I meant more: Why do you expect your local gas station to have a charger? What use is it? You need chargers 200 miles from home at rest areas with decent coffee, not near your home.

      • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        We should make the engineers die a death of madness by forcing them to design a single receptacle that can both charge an EV AND pump gasoline!

        • Nurgus@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          I already spark riots by parking my EV at the pumps when I just need something from the shop…

  • deliriousdreams@fedia.io
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    7 days ago

    For the same reason I’m not buying a new ICE car. I can fix the one I have. I have the tools and the ability. And that one isn’t spying on me.

    • darkmarx@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Exactly!

      Price is one thing, but this is the deal breaker for me. I want something I can fix when broken. Something with components that can be replaced with typical shop tools. Give me physical buttons over a touch screen. Give me hydrolics, link and pinions, and belts over electronics. There is zero reason for a door handle to be electronically controlled. There is zero reason for the manufacturer to have any control, or knowledge of, where I go or what I do. I want a vehicle, not a fucking tablet on wheels.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        I don’t even mind electronics, but I do mind DRM and spyware, and every new car is chock-full of it. (Not to mention, increasingly and insanely, ads!)

  • commander@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Honda and Toyota parts are easy to come by. People consistently drive these for 20+ years. No need to throw down $30k+ on a new car when automakers still treat EVs as something that should be marked up compared to ICE vehicles

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    I blame politics. Somehow EVs became political, so now people have all sorts of misconceptions and antipathy.

    Combine that with price. Carmakers have decided they can be profitable selling fewer more expensive cars, rather than cars everyone can afford

    Here’s a recent story …. I live in one of the more progressive states and we do have a decent percentage of EVs (12.5% of new cars as of 2023). My kid is in college about 90 miles away. When picking up at the end of the semester, another parent said “you’re so brave to take an EV this far”. In my state where EVs are well known. Where there’s a supercharger in town and nearby in each direction. Where it is only 90 miles each way

    • bluGill@fedia.io
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      6 days ago

      Most people buying a cheap car think “why buy new when I can get a 3 year old luxury car for the same features”. Thus selling more expensive cars is the way to make money. Luxury car buyers like that there is value in their older cars - meaning they can upgrade more often since they don’t have to pay that difference.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        I question the “most people” part.

        In my experience most people want a car that suits their needs, and newer is better. They understand that many of the features are unnecessary gimmicks making it more likely to break, and are profit center for the manufacturer, charging you way more than it costs.

        Your “most people” is different from mine

  • Lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    6 days ago

    My 2 cents: I could benefit greatly from an EV. Just a small one like a Bolt or something, for commuting… shudders in suggesting GM for my own use

    However, I rent. And my lease dictates that EV chargers are explicitly banned on the property. Something about “safety” and “risk of fire” and all that. Yet during my last inspection, they had absolutely zero issues with my welder, nor do they mind me working on my gasoline/diesel vehicles within the garage (as long as it’s not on the driveway…something something property values…nothing more than a brake job in the driveway).

    Yes, I know that EVs can be charged elsewhere. But that takes significantly more time than a standard gasoline fill-up, and my workplace (which is 99% of the reason I would own this hypothetical EV anyway) does not have any EV chargers. They might add some in the next year or two, but that’s still a “definitely maybe”, and so my only other alternative choices are a bike or public transit. Except my commute - a 55MPH rural highway - is too dangerous for biking with the complete lack of bike lanes, and public transit doesn’t exist in my area.

    I’m left with no other choice but to use a gasoline/diesel vehicle. Or walk, I guess?