Hacker News Reader

In what way is it not worth it? I'm genuinely curious.

I used to be dead-set-against electric cars but I just bought one and am loving it. The maths is staggering. It's secondhand though as I don't believe new ones are worth it.

View on HN

You can't find an equivalent for the same price. OP has an 11 year old car that apparently works fine. To get a EV means he needs to spend thousands (or settle for one that is a lot cheaper for a reason) more. We don't know how much OP drives, but in generally I'd expect several years before the savings from the EV are more than the upfront costs.

Now if OP's car is worn out and needs replacing anyway the economics are different.

I'm of the opinion that the greenest car you can have is the car that you currently own!

No matter what you buy, energy was expended to make it! The car you own already has spent the energy. It's done.

So, assuming you're not spitting flames and smoke out wherever you go, your current car will be greener than quite literally anything you can buy, new or secondhand.

Note: I've done zero maths to verify this but it makes perfect sense to me :)

blu nailed it, but to reiterate, if you already have a working car then the cost to to swap to an EV is not worth it. I have done the math with my current car and even with a downgrade it’s not worth it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com