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Comment by aprilthird2021 | Hacker News Reader

aprilthird2021

Also, if you get into an EV now, before everyone else does, you can still enjoy a cheap fueling experience for a little while longer

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I can't see how they can make at home charging more expensive without making all other electricity uses expensive and that will have severe backlash.

On the go DC fast charging is already not cheap. It costs as much or more than gas.

They can mandate separate metering for the charging circuit and tax it to make u p for the lost gasoline taxes.

those gasoline taxes currently pay for roads. and EVs put more strain on roads due to their increased weight.

ICE vs EV difference is negligible compared to 18 wheelers and alike on road strain.

And 18 wheelers pay a lot more road tax than passenger cars do.

It's hard to say, considering studies attribute 50% to 98% of road wear to them.

EVs have heavier batteries and ICEs have heavier engines and drivetrains. Go compare two similar models at most brands and the curb weight will be within 50-100kg. Add in a full tank of gas to the ICE and the will likely weigh about the same.

I guess it's increased/comparable weight + lack of gas tax. There's definitely something thrown off by EVs and the suggestion to tax charging EVs specifically makes sense.

> EVs put more strain on roads due to their increased weight

Only if you trade in a gasoline SUV for an electric SUV. A hatchback EV weighs about as much as a compact SUV, and is cheaper to buy and operate.

Right, but it's not apples to apples. And what about all those people driving ICE sedans?

What about them? 10 years ago the best-selling vehicle in the US was a sedan. Today it's a pickup truck. Nobody said boo about road damage. It's a made-up reason to hate on EVs.

Well if you scroll up to my original point re: gas tax paying for roads, it's not really the same thing.

Because trucks also used more gas. EVs don't.

"Mandate" how? Unless they're doing expensive mandatory periodic inspections nothing is stopping me from plugging my EVSE into an outlet meant for a welder, dryer, pool pump, etc.

And can always charge L1 120v, even if it's unbearably slow.

Most people will have an electrician install a charging station. Sure, some people will dodge it, as they already dodge other building code requirements.

Or, they can just tax the car based on some average mileage statistics. That's what my state does. Registering an EV is substantially more expensive than an ICE vehicle.

Is it more expensive per mile though with all things considered?

Probably not.

We bought a used EV, and I ran the numbers vs. a 20mpg car.

The EV will pay for itself in saved gasoline after about 53K miles.

That’s not breakeven time; that’s “the car is free” time.

Breakeven was less than half that long because the old ICE car would have had non-zero depreciation.

Apples-to-apples break even would have been 10-20K miles (ignoring free charging at work), but it ended up being closer to 300 miles. Thanks to a fuel crisis, the price of the EV increased by $5K shortly after I bought it. (It’s back down now.)

I don't even much care. I couldn't see myself driving back to ICE purely on account of the driving experience. They feel like janky fragile technology from the past with too many moving parts.

My car got totalled in September and I had to replace it. Since I didn't drive much at the time I entertained just getting a super cheap old ICE to replace it. Then I started remembering all the annoying maintenance.

Still, back to DC fast charging... I use it rarely. But it's not cheap. And it's a shit non-standardized, fragmented experience.

Also, with time, we can make effort to decarbonize the production chain of EVs. With ICE vehicles, they reject carbon and there are only so many micro-adjustments we can do.

Right, much safer to expect oil and gas to stay consistent because all those EV drivers will be using pure renewable electricity.

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