Wilson2000

Sorry, I respectfully disagree. EV's require plenty of wrenching and grease, as do all mechanical systems (in spite of how much Elon would like us to believe otherwise). Yes, some of the maintenance and repairs are different, but much of an EV's electrical components, cooling systems, brakes, hubs, tires, wheels, suspension, body parts and accessories are similar or the same as ICE vehicles. I wouldn't put our most experienced automotive repair mechanics out to pasture just yet!

EZZ

The amount of maintenance is different though. No engine or tranny need maintenance. Brakes need much less maintenance (regen braking really makes using physical brakes pretty rare). Cooling need maintenance at the 100k mile mark. So you are left with suspension and body parts. This is going to put a lot of dealerships out of business if they can't get enough margin on car sales as their service department revenue may dry up.

Felix

Very good point about the electrical grid that we have in the US....

Vladi

Are there people out there who think Teslas are green and environmental friendly? Certainly they are greener when you account the whole oil industry but the more BEVs pop up the electricity will become more expensive. It's inevitable. If you can afford BEV and enough of solar panels to charge the thing then you are almost green.

LeX2K

Cost per watt is going to plummet, if electricity does become more expensive that will be due to taxes not the technology itself.

EZZ

They will charge BEVs at registration Ike they do in Illinois and California. Makes no sense to tax everyone for BEVs. It would only benefit the more affluent people if that were the case as those people tend to have a garage and solar. My cost of ownership has completely plummeted with a BEV.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Cost of copper has more than doubled, building infrastructure is going to be even more expensive. I am not worried about electric cars vs gas cars, I am more worried about all cars becoming too expensive for the masses. Thats why I said maybe it makes sense to buy a couple of reliable, inexpensive cars now, to keep for the future.

Och

iTrader: (3)

They will find other ways to tax you, perhaps with road use tax per mile.

LeX2K

We are already tax based on distance driven.

Och

iTrader: (3)

In Cali? We dont have it in NY but there are talks, im sure its coming.

EZZ

Road use tax may be cheaper than what's charged in Cali. I pay $150 per year for an EV which offsets my state gas tax. Given, I haven't driven nearly as much in the year, I probably paid 4x what I would have paid in gas tax. Illinois also charges taxes to EVs at the rate an average car would have paid in state gas tax. All evidence points to regulators charging equivalent tax to EVs vs ICE. I'm not really worried about it. In the end, the government will get theirs but their main goal is to keep the status quo...not surprising as the major auto guys are now lobbying for EVs anyway.

LeX2K

Everywhere. Energy is taxed the more you drive the more energy you need.

Och

iTrader: (3)

There are talks in NY about a separate per mile driven.

LeX2K

I know, which would be a tax grab since we already pay by the mile essentially. Where it gets complicated is when people generate their own power how to you tax that? Force people to disclose how much energy they produce?

Either way I will stand by my comment that in 10 years we will generate more energy than we need. If this doesn't happen it won't be for lack of technology it will be due to policy decisions.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Did you read the story about 15 years ago about a guy being fined for running his diesel car on recycled oil for road tax evasion?