From comments I’ve read on other websites from happy EV owners, there are the following advantages:
They’re great for short commutes, provided you have the capability to charge at home.
The EV may go 200K miles w/o battery replacement.
It takes 15 to 30 minutes to achieve an 80 % charge.
A 120/125v charger can be used, but will take longer.
There are free charging stations available, 15 minutes, while shopping at the provider’s store.
They can be used for long trips, and w/ GPS, charging stations can be easily found.
GM was providing a cash incentive for charging station installation with the purchase of an EV (truck, I believe).
Of course, there other issues that must be considered.
Home charging unit installation on an existing home can range from less than $1000 up to $50,000, depending on location, available service, work requirement, etc. But is unavailable, if one lives in an apartment.
The US Govt & the state of California have battery life warranty requirements.
https://joinyaa.com/guides/ev-battery-warranties/
The link provides that information, and also uses battery capacity retention, a limiting factor regarding battery power availabilty.
Free charging stations are analogous to free air for tires (and free water for radiators & batteries).
The demand for charging will create a cost.
You can get 300 miles on a 100% charge, which means that on long trips, one can expect to make several stops. I have seen charging stations readily available, but that will change as there are more EV’s.
The other factor to consider are your tires.
They run through tires faster than conventional vehicles.
See here:
https://cleanfleetreport.com/tech-why-dont-tires-last-as-long-on-an-ev/
Regular tires wear out roughly 20% faster on an EV than on an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. Many EVs today come with specialized tires, but even these typically need more frequent changes than traditional versions.
EVs need special tires because they put more pressure on them than ICE vehicles. First of all, EVs are heavier. Ford’s F-150 Lightning weighs 1,600 pounds more than a similar conventional F-150. This extra weight, which comes mainly from heavy batteries, means tires have to deal with more resistance as they drive.
Electric motors also deliver more torque than their gas and diesel counterparts. Torque delivery is also instantaneous in an EV, placing immediate and heavy pressure on the car’s tires as the driver presses the accelerator. EV tires typically feature better grip to deal with this torque, but that friction comes at the cost of faster wear and tear.
These have to factor in when we do cost comparisons.
From comments I have read, comments on why you would not want to buy an EV at this time:
The source power is primarily from fossil fuel based power plants. That, combined with efficiencies lost in power transmission and the horrible environmental impact of the mining of minerals for the batteries, offset any positive “green” impact.
Lithium-Ion batteries are not environmentally friendly nor particularly safe. They have a tendency to spontaneously combust, which is a bad thing to have happen to your car in general, worse when it is parked in your garage.
Towing drastically lowers range.
Cold drastically lowers range.
Running the air conditioning drastically lowers range.
Apps that help you locate charging stations do not always inform you of the operational status of the charging station nor the number of people waiting to charge at said station.
Road trips are particularly impractical.
If over 20% of current ICE vehicles are replaced with EVs most of the power grids in the nation would be overwhelmed. The cost of upgrading these grids is in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
EVs are particularly “connected” leading many to believe that pushing them is nothing more than a backdoor to more government control and monitoring of individual transportation.
EVs will be more practical when the grid upgraded and powered primarily by nuclear, hydro-electric, geothermal, solar and wind and when EV batteries are made of graphene and the range is 500+ miles with a recharge time in your home of less than 10 minutes.
I would never charge or park one in my garage.
Over and over the auto magazine and other tests show that real world range is about 70% of the EPA figures.
The faster charge rates cut into battery life.
There are several plug styles and voltages, not all are interchangeable so all chargers are not available to all vehicles.
Insurance rates have to be higher. I just can’t see how they are not.
I’m sure they are ready for someone just not for me.
My God - you got it all right! ;-)
Example: I take about 30 minutes on road trips for a charge and a charge happens every 100+ miles because I own the smallest Tesla battery. (SR+).
I do have to replace tires more often (Torque from the Electric motor wears them out quicker. )
The battery life is more like 10-15 years and I have an 8 year warranty on the battery and motor.
The battery cost was approximately 2/3 the cost of the car.
Someone earlier said the batteries aren’t close together in the battery pack - ah -yeah they are! Couple thousand of them in a small area - how do you imaging that happens - spread out on acreage?
The pollution angle is a red herring.
https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/electric-vehicle-myths#Myth5