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Originally Posted by kyriian
This. The majority of the people that drive to work, the people that actually put in the mileage in their cars everyday, are unlikely to be anywhere near a BEV in the foreseeable future until lower cost BEVs become far more common. The benefits of BEVs are questionable when the majority of them are owned by white collar workers who can work from home. It will be so for decades ahead.
A Kia Soul here starts at 21k CAD, a EV version is 42k CAD. Why would I spend double when I am leasing for four years? All the additional costs of ICE won't even be on the radar in that timeframe.
This whole us versus them mentality has to stop. It's fine you enjoy your EV, but let me enjoy my gas guzzling prehistoric dinosaur.
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BEV costs can be a bit tricky to pin down. Compared to ICE cars there can be a lot of incentives at play that even the playing field or potentially make them cheaper.
For instance, my 530e was cheaper than a similar priced 530i due to the Federal EV tax credit it was eligible for. If I were in NJ I would have also had sales tax waived (that was 8% of my car price). If you combined the two incentives you'd have ~18% off the starting price of a 530 before negotiation. There may also be other local and state incentives that can be layered on like HOV lane access or inspection fee waivers (in PA we require annual emissions inspections that are waived for BEV vehicles). That's all before you consider fuel cost savings as well (assuming at home charging will be cheaper than gas costs).
It is on a car by car basis to figure out if the EV car is much more expensive.
The commuter car is a perfect EV candidate though. Predictable mileage with lots of miles that would benefit from the lower servicing costs and "full tank every morning" realities. etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by celsdogg
In time, probably.
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I'm not convinced we'll reach that point anytime soon as it requires a much deeper shift in how we approach responsibility. Who would be responsible for the crash in that case? The car owner? The Manufacturer? What about if the owner didn't keep the car spot less so the sensors were clear?
That is a dream goal for companies like Uber and Lyft as it would eliminate their expenses for drivers, but that would be a nightmare norm for any car manufacturer as it would turn cars into things that fade into the background so buyers wouldn't care for a BMW over a Toyota anymore than they care about who made the public bus people can ride today.
I'm also not convinced people will be ever comfortable turning over 100% of the control for things that can result in death with no ability to assert control. No one wants their life or death to rely solely on algorithms running on a machine.