Yes. Very focused use cases. Not for general adoption, not in any way.
Honestly, given the fire hazard, right off the bat I would not ever even consider buying one. There will come a time where they will be uninsurable for this reason, never mind the issue of having a minor accident in which the battery is damaged, and it totals the car.
Never mind the EV “anxiety” issue of driving from point A to point B, and never knowing if you are going to get there due to battery running down, charging stations all used or vandalized and out of order, and a possible delay of hours due to these things.
I just cannot imagine WHY anyone in their right mind would buy one.
1) I'm married and live in an area where we need 2 cars for the days we split up to run separate errands.
2) It was time to replace my wife's car anyway.
3) We can set up charging at home.
4) We drive tons of local miles charged at home (14K miles in the past 12 months) to make the gas savings and oil change savings worth it, but usually slow charge the battery.
5) We don't live in the cold north nor do we often make road trips north during the winter.
6) Most of the road trips we make are along areas with plenty of fast charging options (though we do have the gas pickup we can take if we decide to drive to other areas).
7) When we drive on long trips my wife wants to stop every 200 or so miles and walk around for 10-15 minutes. (Again, we have the gas pickup I can take on a road trip if I go without my wife.)
Last year we drove the EV from Alabama to east Canada and back. But again, that's an example of both a time (summer trip up north, not winter trip up north) and an area (densely populated eastern seaboard with many chargers) that EV's are good. The gas and oil change savings are real, and we drive it enough so that the savings more than offset the extra costs that come with an EV.
“I just cannot imagine WHY anyone in their right mind would buy one.”
I see LOTS of posts like this on FR, to the same extreme that liberals are pushing EVs. I think it makes both sides sound irrational and close-minded, looking at politics only. No one seems to have looked into one or driven one or known someone with one, and just repeats the same lines.
Like you said in the beginning of your post, there ARE focused use cases.
We got one (and love it actually, surprising us a lot) BUT
1. electricity is CHEAP in Tennessee and we have no tiered rates. It costs $7 to charge to over 300 miles (269 if the A/C is on).
2. Dealers can’t get them off their lots so dropped prices by $10K on an already somewhat cheap used car
3. The $4K tax credit makes it even cheaper, much cheaper than any other comparable used gas car we could get. It’s a credit so you don’t have to have the tax liability.
4. We have 4 other vehicles. An EV as an only car would be ridiculous. We only drive it around town. NEVER out of town.
5. We NEVER charge it anywhere but at home. The cost of charging at any station, and there’s actually a few near us, is comparable to paying for gas. So what’s the point then?
6. The thing is parked AWAY from any structures. Especially those containing the cars we really like, LOL.
7. It is surprisingly zippy, fun to drive. It’s second in line to the Viper as my husband’s favorite car to drive. I guess it surpasses the new Lexus! It replaced a Mini Cooper and is almost as tiny, easy to park anywhere. (Of course, other models will be different in this respect)
8. Charging is so easy - come home, plug the thing in, it’s charged in 7 hours at 220v. Hubby (works at power plants) put in a charging unit AWAY from all structures.
9. NO oil changes. Actually no maintenance mentioned at all. No nagging that it’s time to come in by the manufacturer. Our newer cars are annoying about that. I’m sure there’s some maintenance needed, but we have to figure out what. Which is weird...
10. The $$ we save on fuel will be going to get more guns.
“I just cannot imagine WHY anyone in their right mind would buy one.”
1) some people have a lot of money.
2) they are really fun to drive. Instantaneous torque. They are really fast.
One of my customers who lives in Idaho gave me a ride a couple years ago in his Tesla Model S Plaid. This was about a $125K car when he bought it. It was the fastest 0-100 mph car I have ever been in. It was just as nice as a Mercedes on the inside. He said it was more fun to drive than his former Porsche 911 Turbo. He is a rich guy who probably makes over $1MM/year.
He charges it at home. Had his company electrician install a charger in his garage. He also pointed out that Idaho has very inexpensive electric rates. That his electricity in Idaho Falls comes from the dams on Snake River. So, his car is hydro powered.
He is not a liberal. He is a former Mormon conservative. He also has a full sized Dodge diesel 4WD pickup. Plus his business has several large diesel delivery trucks.
“I just cannot imagine WHY anyone in their right mind would buy one.”
The government can and will turn off the gas pumps at will. Case in point Katrina or Harvey or covid lockdowns. It’s when not if the gov shuts off the gasoline supply for climate change bank on that.
The dotgov cannot shut off the giant thermonuclear power plant in the sky. No one and I mean no one has a oil well and a fully functional refinery in the back 40 to turn oil into the 87 at least octane a vehicle needs. Alcohols take acres of corn or potatoes then natural gas or biomass fired stills and extensive modifications to a vehicle to run and not crater the motor in short order...or you can have 4 or 5 commercial sized solar panels on your garage that in a single 8 hour sunny day will put 300+ miles of range in a Tesla. Mine do on a regular basis. This means the gov cannot shut off my fuel supply ever and I have a 150+ mile radius of freedom or a one way trip to the Mexican border or my sailboat on the Gulf Coast. It’s a preper thing. Plus the FSD is magical in gridlock traffic I watch Netflix and let the car deal with the hour plus in gridlock to the CBD of Big D.
I just took my Tesla to Midland which as most know is remote and in deep West Texas people say but but range and it’s rural. Well I left my place at 100% drive with the a.c. Ripping in Texas heat directly to Abilene stopped at the supercharger just east of Abilene for 15 min I had to pee stretch my legs after three and half hours in the seat then grabbed a beer and left for Midland got there with SOC to spare drove to dinner and some nightlife such as there is in oiltown then to the hotel where I L2 charged it overnight at my numbered spot reserved for me. That would be the only charge I needed the whole time in Midland I left with enough SOC to get back to Abilene and repeat 15min , a piss break grab a sixer for the cooler and directly back to far North Texas. Made it home with 20 ish % right to my L2. I took the Tesla specifically for the FSD it drove itself in the motorways it would have demanded hands on every few minutes but I disabled that annoyance so it thinks my hands are one the when it whines for it. That’s a compliance thing for dotgov not a need by the tech it’s stupid and it have been eliminated.
Do I have a slew of other vehicles yup, a diesel truck that does truck things and truck things only. A couple of motorcycles , a luxury car that hardly gets driven now that the Tesla has completely replaced it’s user functions. And a large SUV 4x4 again for camping and truck things. So no an EV is not an all uses for all cases it as the best commuter car made with FSD and one fifth the cost per mile in energy costs and also capex my Tesla is half the monthly payment as the Volvo it replaces. The only reason the Volvo stays is it’s sunk capex already paid off and on the two trips per year I want to go 600 miles in the seat directly to New Orleans with no stop in Alexandria or Shreveport it’s the go too car. I could rent a hybrid Camry for those two one WEEK trips each @187 weekly rates thats thousands less than owning that Volvo but it’s sunk cost and never again. It’s role is fully the Tesla now.