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> I do not see a viable electric vehicle for me. Tesla looks awesome, and I cannot find an affordable one near me. Hell, there are TWO (count 'em, 2) used Model-3's within 20 miles of me, and they're selling for $50,000.

I think this year is a watershed along those lines. My guess is you will start seeing used hybrids shortly (within 3 years) at reasonable prices.

Quite a few "hybrid" cars in California are losing their ability to use the carpool lanes because there are so many of them. You now have to be able to do something like 40-50 miles on battery or you don't qualify anymore.

In addition, I think GM has moved out of the first tier of federal rebates on their electric/hybrid cars because they've sold so many of them.

You probably won't find used Teslas, but I bet you will start finding used Volts/Bolts.

From my point of view, the biggest issue I have is that while my internal combustion engine car is 25 years old, I haven't been able to keep a hybrid for more than 5 years because the technology is still evolving so quickly.

The Model 3 has only been produced in significant numbers for a few months now. The oldest production unit that exists at all is barely over a year old. This isn’t the sort of situation where you find a bargain on used cars. Give it a few years and there will be a more reasonable used market.

For Teslas, wait a bit, you'll see them coming in some years

That's what I'm hoping for. You may notice I mention "quality" electric car ... and from what I can see, Tesla is the only producer of quality electric cars, period.

We bought a 2014 leaf last October for less than $10,000 after tax and registration. FWIW Quality was much higher than the 2006 Civic I had previously. It is a great car and cheaper to operate.

Used Leaf's have come down to the upper end of your price range. Heck, with group buys and all other related discounts, I've seen them for $14k new.

I got a 2013 one not long ago with a 24kwh battery (with about 20kwh of capacity remaining). I paid well under $10k for mine with a bunch of Nissan incentives (warranty and MOT cover for 3 years, things like that).

In fuel and tax savings it'll have paid for itself within those 3 years (versus a petrol or diesel car), after which it's effectively a free, zero-tax, zero-fuel-cost car.

My point being that an EV is already an absurdly good deal if you can make it fit your lifestyle. Also, I realize I'm biased, but I don't really get the range anxiety argument. If I run out of gas in a car I need to get towed to a gas station. If I run out of electricity I need to get to literally any wall outlet.

>Also, I realize I'm biased, but I don't really get the range anxiety argument. If I run out of gas in a car I need to get towed to a gas station. If I run out of electricity I need to get to literally any wall outlet.

This adds to my thought that EVs will be a massive boon to the working poor. No more scraping the couch cushions for enough change to put in your tank to get to work, just go sit at a free charger somewhere. No more random breakdowns of a transmission, radiator, exhaust, etc. which can cascade into a lost job from missing work since you cant fix it. Once you can get an old used 20kwh+ EV for ~$1000 in decent shape, it’s going to be amazing for these people.

You can just fill a can with gas and bring it to the car.

(this is what a tow service will do if you've only run out of gas)

Yes, but I ignored that because it didn't support my argument. And you caught me!

You're right of course, although I still maintain plugging the car into a wall socket for an hour is easy to do almost anywhere - realistically this would get enough charge for most people to get to a charger (in my case it would get me to a rapid which would top up the rest of the battery in another 25 minutes).

I wonder if the day will come soon when tow trucks feature inverters and outlets as a standard feature, in order to help "gas up" a stranded (electric) motorist.

One could pretty easily imagine tow trucks carrying around a 1kWh battery with some standard DC connector, and that would get you a couple miles.

A 1kWh battery is not big; e-bicycles carry ~500Wh.

Would be literally the electric equivalent of a gas can.

Price anxiety and maintenance anxiety. I buy 2-3 year old cars and drive them for another 10 years. What is maintaining a 12 year old electric car going to cost? Nobody knows! When Tesla has been gone for 5 years, will a 10 year old model 3 still even boot up?

Indeed.

Tesla has its nay-sayers and financial enemies shorting it, yes, but there is decent reason to wonder if they'll be around 10, 20 years from now. If I buy a Model 3 in 10 years and plan to drive it 10 years, that's a very important consideration.

Good point.