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Comment by bongodongobob | Hacker News Reader

My strategy is never buy new cars, period. Spending $50k+ on a car seems absolutely insane to me. In the past 26 years I've been driving, I've spent a total of $19k on cars, $11k of which is on my most recent as I got a great deal from a family member. So previous to last year, I was averaging a $26/mo "car payment". No major repairs outside of alternators, starters, batteries, and tires. I probably won't own an EV for another 20 years.

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It’s a good strategy for someone who doesn’t care about vehicles and mostly sees them as a point A to B thing.

That’s not how many Americans view vehicles though. They view them as a reflection of themselves and as a status item.

$50k to you seems insane but I was eyeing a car that was about $280k in Redwood City last week. It’s been sold. Some of us enjoy cars.

That's what blows my mind. A married couple in the midwest might make $130k combined and have 2 $60k cars in the garage.

If so, they probably didn't buy them outright. They probably leased them.

Is t one of the main problems with used EVs the battery cap? Unless battery tech gets better can it be assumed that most EVs on the used market would also require a battery replacement so they have the original range?

Liquid cooled batteries (so, not the LEAF) have pretty modest degradation. Yes, it would require a new battery if you needed 100.0% of original range, but if you need 92% of range, you just buy a much cheaper used EV.

You would just deal with the reduced range. With a hybrid it's not really an issue.

The battery replacement meme seems like mostly propaganda. Lots* of 10 year old EVs have 20% or less degradation. That's very usable.

Excluding cars without active thermal management, which mostly means the Nissan Leaf.

Yes sounds like propaganda but I worry about the long term repair costs of the rest of a car like Tesla. They weren't built well in the first place and age can only make that worse. This is where right to repair would have really helped Tesla but no they have to act like every other crap SV company.

At this point, most car brands with dealerships also have a selection of EVs. You can get things like extended bumper-to-bumper warranties also.

Tesla batteries are close to 90% after 200,000 miles. There is some degradation but it plateaus quickly.

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