Only 1% of EV Drivers Would Go Back to a Gas Car*
Only 1% of EV Drivers Would Go Back to a Gas Car*
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News! A new survey of electric vehicle owners around the world finds that only 1% of electric vehicle owners would buy a pure gas-powered (or diesel-powered) car for their next vehicle. The survey comes from ... [con...
More like 5% if plug-in hybrids count as "gas car". 95% satisfaction is still great though.
I've been daily driving EVs for over eight years. I wouldn't go back either, as long as I can charge it at home anyways. And I pay my own mortgage, so hopefully that remains the case.
Hell I've even taken my EV to race tracks. Charging in between runs is a hassle, sure, but the serenity on the track from no engine or exhaust noise removes a lot of anxiety, and I get to enjoy the sounds of all the other fun ICE cars that much more
I've been waiting for 3 things: An income that can afford a new car, EVs with 500+km of range (I make regular trips through regions with poor charging infrastructure, and experience winter), and for my current ICE car to kick the bucket.
The first two have come to pass. Just waiting on that last one.
Obviously because they don't understand that trips over 4 hours take an extra 10 minutes which will cause any real man to melt!
/every EV thread on the internet
Technology connections (yt channel) recently had a video where he modded an electric shop heater to be powered from his EV charger.
He had a little mini-rant about how the current state of charging reflects how policymakers have absolutely no idea what day-to-day ownership of an EV is like, and think everyone is DC fast charging everyday.
My parents live next door to me. Between us we have three vehicles: My father's new-ish sedan, an old sedan that was my grandmother's and my pickup truck.
At this point I would gladly replace the old sedan with a Nissan Leaf or some other electric car, because it NEVER goes beyond 20 miles from the house, almost always on grocery runs. There are weeks it isn't driven at all. Honestly we could do without it entirely, I drive it mostly to spare my truck the mileage.
This is against my father's religion. Every single thing has been a FIGHT with him. "Let's get the gas powered hedge trimmer." "It's heavier, we'd have to keep buying gas and oil for it, and it'll only ever start and run three times maximum. We'd put it in the shed over winter, the carburetor will fill up with adamantium and it'll never run again." "Let's get the gas one. The men with the knives told me they'd hurt my mom if I bought electric tools." "You're 65 years old and your mother is currently in an urn at Bethesda cemetery. Look, this one runs on the same batteries as our hand drills."
"Let's get the gas powered chainsaw." "Let's get the gas powered string trimmer." "Let's get a gas powered lawn mower." Kicked, screamed, bitched, moaned, collapsed the USD twice, sheepishly admitted the electric ones work better and are easier to start, "LET'S GET A GAS LEAF BLOWER." We own five rakes, dad. "DO WE NEED ANY MORE?"
He wouldn't accept an electric car unless it charged from a solar panel on its roof from empty to full charge in a third of a femptosecond. The man who will go on long, angry rants about not wanting to ever go anywhere ever again because there's only one toilet on the planet he can stand to shit in will say 'What if I want to drive to Honolulu?"
Every cunt-missing navel-fucking thing with that man. He'd have a gas powered hair dryer if they made one.
My girlfriend's dad when I first met him rotated his 4wd tires by hand with the spare tire wrench and the little complementary tire jack. I gave him my old air tools (I don't use them anymore). Eventually got him into the Ryobi ecosystem for the rattle gun, leaf blower and line trimmer. He was adimint that any battery tools were just a gimmick.
You don't need the Milwaukee million dollar aircraft carrier starter motor gun, heck my second hand air tools were enough. But to go without battery tools nowadays is just making life deliberately harder.
I'm on both sides of this. Had an EV for nearly 4 years and had to go back to gas for work (construction, moving/having tools, materials and supplies).
I cannot wait for an affordable small ev pickup. Even a not that affordable one. I just can't do $100k for an oversized monster like the Lightning. But give me a $60k Ranger/Frontier style (basically the smallest truck they make these days, without a full SUV on the front) and 500km range and I'm in.
I hate getting gas. I hate it so much.
Why do specifically need a pickup?
Couldn't agree more. I'm considering the hybrid ones from ford, but I'd be most happy with a full EV ranger
I can't wait to replace our service vans with EV. Fuel costs are a killer, as is the downtime from servicing, not to mention the cost of brake pads and rotors which chew out semi regularly due to the weight we carry.
Unfortunately the only electric vans have terrible range when empty, and far worse when fully loaded. 250k is insufficient.
I'd probably settle for a hybrid, BYD Shark style. Something with a big enough battery for urban use, and a little petrol motor on board to give you range when you actually need it.
People always forget that when you leave home with an EV, you always have a full "tank".
All you need is a house and a garage and room to keep your evs in there and an ev with a range big enough to handle all your travel needs or you'll still gave to own a 2nd vehicle that uses gas and then if you want to keep your ev past 100k miles just be sure to keep an extra $20,000 lying around for when the battery needs replaced.
But yeah, you can always leave home with a full tank. Of course, filling it to 100% also degrades the batteries faster. But don't worry. Your warranty will kick in once you lose about 1/3 of capacity. Sure ducks if your 300 mile range vehicle (when the weather is right) can only go 220 miles, but that isn't quite bad enough for warranty coverage.
Once upon a time I knew someone with a small contracting business. Needed to move sheets of plywood and tools and whatnot around town. Anyway, fed up with one of the pick ups breaking down, he wound up at a used dealer to replace it. He ended up leaving with a wagon instead of a truck, and later on replaced the other trucks he had with wagons. Seems to be a win, it's been about a decade now.
I got the Kia Soul EV for that reason. That poor little "SUV" had more 2*4 and assorted furniture and metal in it that probably 99% of other Souls ever do in their lives. The roof carpet was trashed, the side wall plastic was shaved and scraped, the back of the seats were ripped....
It's true even my smaller truck does almost all I need and is overkill 30% of the time. But you have to be flexible.
I honestly can't fathom what you hate so much about sitting in your car for 5 minutes while you fill up.
All my gas vehicles have had the gas door on the outside of the car, and I don't have a full time assistant to go out and operate the pumps, sadly. It's an embarrassment.
But given the choice, would you prefer to go to a convenience store 1-2 times a week and place your phone on a charging mat for 5 minutes? Or do you prefer just plugging it in at home before bed?
People don't realize how archaic something is because there has never been another way to do it.
I think ford forgot that Truck makers went big on chassis sizes is for the exemptions for fuel economy signed into law a decade ago.
They could have made a ford ranger EV that was normal truck size from the old days. They went against that because of mentality of current truck drivers. At the same time, the truck drivers who want EV trucks probably aren’t driving the 3 gpm monsters they sell today.
If you’re loud enough on social media, you might get your modest size EV truck in 3-5 years.
I mean, I can't get rid of my S10 because there's no new truck on the market today sufficiently small enough to allow me to compensate for my enormous penis.
If someone made an ev kei truck that wasn't shit, I'd be so happy.
Ford made the much smaller Maverick truck starting in 2022. It was a hybrid, not an EV, but they definitely are looking into that market.
Elon Musk is doing everything possible to sabotage the world's transition to EVs.
In his new position as president Musk is looking to end funding for EVs and pivot his company to hydrogen fuel because they realized they can't maintain a fuel racket like with oil if they allow people to swap to EVs.
The real EV boom will be when China's EV prices start to beat American EV prices despite the 100% tariff.
Currently China is the only country who seems to be actually pusbing EVs in a practical way.
I heard the Toyota has planned on bringing in the Stout small pickup as a hybrid. We might get one of those in a few years once our Tacoma is too expensive to fill up.
I just can't do $100k for an oversized monster like the Lightning
Lightning is like $50k now. But yeah I get it. I just saw one of the 43574 Chinese brands made a small truck.
I'm in Canada, I do t think even a used bare bones Lightning is $50k CAD. I'll take a look though because last time I checked prices was in the spring. But it's still too big for my parking situation and a danger to pedestrians. I need a truck not an SUV with an exposed trunk.
Currently using a prius C. In theory I'd prefer to have an EV, but I just don't have a consistent place to charge, and I already outright own my existing car.
Currently working on trying to reduce my use of my existing car. Because at the end of the day an ebike will always be better than any type of car.
I was talking to someone I know well about this, she was in an EV and went back to petrol. Two factors, range anxiety and the EV was "soulless"
I do wonder at how the vibrating nature of a fossil car works into that. I know some people call e-autos "dildo cars", which I guess would make fossil cars "vibrator cars". It annoys me these days, like the car can't just sit still like a normal thing, but I guess some people would like it.
That's the same kind of thing people say about vinyl records vs CDs, digital video vs film, 48+ vs 24fps.
All I hear with that kind of complaint is: "It's too good, I'm not used to it. I want what I'm used to, even if it's worse."Vinyl I find is a much more holistic experience than makes listening to music easier for my ADD.
It becomes a process where I can feel the record, read the liner notes, enjoy the album art, and since it's not easy to just skip a track or change to a different artist I find I'll actually listen to an entire album instead of just individual songs.
As for cars, I don't like a lot of modern regulations forced into vehicles. I really like small, simple machines with analog controls that are intuitive to use. Modern cars in general have grown in size that make them less pleasurable to drive. They also are rife with touchscreens and so many systems are so interwoven with software that it becomes a pain in the ass to modify them.
I don't want something that sings at me if I put a bag on the back seat but don't fasten a seat belt. I don't want something that alerts me that I'm speeding. I don't want an infotainment screen that controls my AC which makes it hard to upgrade my stereo. I don't want my car to have a cellular antenna. I don't want "software updates" that change how my car runs. I don't want an entire system locked behind DRM.
I want a car that looks good, not like current copy and pasted of each other's makes. CR-V? Rav-4? Rogue? They all look like similar piles of plastic.
Cars are something I actively enjoy fixing and working on. They are a hobby and a love. Modern vehicles are turning into iPhones where everything is decided and controlled by the manufacturer.
The soul of a petrol/diesel car, what's that new strange noise, did I change the oil recently, is the cam belt about the explode, acceleration until you have to change gear, inconsistent acceleration, don't cook the brakes going down hill, did I remember to sacrifice to the car gods with morning, how I wish my EV had a soul
Typically I prefer my appliances soulless.
Not surprising that someone who calls a vehicle an "appliance" would say something like this.
For some people (myself included), driving is more than something you're required to do to get from point A to point B. Driving is an experience, something meant to be enjoyed.
I love the feeling of the car communicating with the road through the tires, suspension, and steering, and throughout my body. I like to feel like the vehicle and I are a single entity, and not just something to be driven, something I'm fighting to control. Which is why I prefer small, sporty, nimble roadsters with firm, communicative suspension, and hydraulic rack and pinion steering. Not a giant boat of a crossover that handles like I'm floating on a cloud, with electric steering that vaguely goes in the direction I point the wheel.
I drive not just because I have to, but also because I enjoy doing it. Not having the right car is detrimental to my enjoyment. I need a car with soul. (Just not a Kia Soul.)
Everyone i know who had actually owned an EV has realized that range anxiety is largely a myth.
Yep, if you buy one that's realistic for your lifestyle a few weeks in something pops and you wonder why people were making such a big deal out of it.
I've looked at a few EVs, and I do keep going "Well not yet" because of the goddamn interiors and controls. All of a sudden they don't have to worry about mechanical linkages and they can't fucking help themselves but make you shift it into drive by tonguing a clit on the ceiling.
I know your mommy didn't let you go into art school, doesn't mean you get to take your creativity out on me.
I was an early adopter, and I went back to gas. My car only had like a 30 mile range though, which was cut in half during the winter. I'd consider that new Mustang SUV though, that looks like a bad-ass vehicle.
A 30 mile range? What did you buy, a Sinclair C5?
Chevy Volt. It had a gas generator that would kick in and charge the battery after the battery was drained. It was pretty gutless on generator power though, even though it had a lot of character on straight battery. The generator was nice for longer trips though. I drove it across the State and didn't have to worry about charging it, since it could run on gas only for extended periods. It wasn't considered a hybrid though, because the gas engine wasn't connected to the powertrain at all. The gas engine was just a generator that charged the battery, which drove the electric motor.
My parents bought one of the mustangs. They are pretty conservative people who live in FL now. My pop says it is his second favorite car ever behind the 98 BMW 540i he had and they’ve owned a lot of cars. It’s wild to me that he loves this electric car so much.
I hope my mother goes back because I'm tired of her having trouble reaching her destination every time she wants to visit our family... At the moment she's considering leaving the car there for the rest of winter and coming back by bus because she doesn't know if she'll be able to make it! She barely managed to make it across the 250km no man's land in the middle of the trip and the whole thing took her 8h instead of 4.5h like it usually would.
This sounds like a highly unusual situation for someone with an EV. Given the circumstances I'd also be switching back or at least renting a car depending on the frequency of that trip. I've personally never had range anxiety but I understand it can still depend a lot on the specifics of your vehicle and where you live.
Sounds like someone either exaggerating or making shit up whole cloth.
A 4.5 hour trip does not take 3.5 hours of charging. Any EV that I know of could do that with one stop each direction.
I don't think it's that unusual when you live in places where there's actual winters...
She used to own a Leaf and would rent a gas car for the trip but in the end she would end up spending more than she saved on gas by owning an EV (renting a car gets expensive when driving long distances!)
Maybe this trip will be the one where she realizes she needs an EV with way more range (which she can't afford because they're fucking expensive)...
Sounds familiar. An european EV with a claimed range of 400km in the winter required a total of 3h30min charging time on a trip of 600km. Real range was about 350km, in the winter less than 300km (heating the cabin and having the thermal pump on full speed to prevent the windows from freezing). Battery did not receive charge with claimed charging speed although it was preheated.
It took 11 hours for EV to finish the trip that takes a bit less than 7 hours on a gas car, two families travelling the same trip with different cars, lunch and coffee break included. And return trip will take even longer due to charging the EV is not an option in the destination.
With bad luck it takes 13 hours on return if charging stations are occupied after christmas when everyone are traveling back after the holidays, you only need one charging station to be occupied.
Not my experience at all, my EV has an even smaller range and we just did 1300km across Europe to come visit the family for Christmas, yes it was a bit of extra break times with the low-ish range of my e208 (340km official, much much less real range on highway in winter). There's so many chargers now you can definitely avoid full ones, apps show you if it's full before you get there. But I never had it yet that it was completely full/had to wait. Charging time always super quick and by the time we walk to the shops, toilet break and get a coffee we're good to go, sometimes we take more time than the car need when the little one needs to play. For the rest of the time there's always chargers nearby and in every day driving I never feel range anxiety, I do wish I had an extra 30min highway time before charging which I think I'll have in the summer. I think if you'd have one of the newer EVs with even faster charging and insane range I don't see how you could struggle at all.
She's taking my cousin's car and her car will be brought back on a trailer because she probably won't make it from charging station to charging station in the middle of the trip.
What make/model of EV?
BMW i3
It's too bad PHEV's are so expensive. It sounds like they would otherwise be a good fit for a lot of people like your mother.
I'm a little surprised that towable generators as range extenders for EV's that you could rent for a fraction of a car rental aren't a thing. But I supposed EV makers wouldn't be incentivised to make their vehicles compatible with an accessory like that because it would be perceived as them admitting their range is insufficient.
Sounds like poor planning to me. The range and how cold affects the batteries are public information
Guess what, when you have a window to go somewhere and get there on time, sometimes you don't have a choice and you go when you need to no matter the conditions.