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Comment by mseebach | Hacker News Reader

That's like saying "I badly want to own a car in my lifetime", then speccing out a brand new Range Rover (think Escalade if you're american) and deciding it's impossible.

The Vauxhall Ampera is £29k, you can get a used 2012 Chevy Volt from around £17k.

I'm not sure how the limited lifetime of batteries will affect the used car economy, but the kind of people who buys a brand new Model S generally aren't keen on driving 10 year old cars.

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I briefly considered hybrids, but the question was concerning an 'electric car', and I don't really feel like hybrids fit the brief.

Like I said, this might all change with the Model 3, and I genuinely hope it does. I'm tired of driving petrol dependent cars, and I want my next new-car purchase to be fully electric.

How about that, I actually thought the Ampera was a full electric, but they've thrown in a small combustion engine. They hide it well in the specs, though.

Edit: You could always get a G-Wiz. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REVAi

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/postcode/l331ze...

I need to do more research on the Leaf but yeah that is a close contender.

The Zoe is a problem. I love Renault cars, my Clio was my favourite thing in the world, but the Zoe has DRM in the battery which you have to rent from Renault for a fee based on your mileage, which as far as I could tell, worked out to more than I would pay in petrol.

I believe, although it may have been FUD, that if you go over the mileage you have pre-arranged with Renault, they will disable your battery remotely.

It seems like it would be FUD, as the capability to remotely disable the car (and dealing with the liability from doing that in a inconvenient or even dangerous place) seems rather expensive, when you might as well just check the milage when it's serviced (not servicing your new or new-ish car at an authorized dealership is a great way of slashing its resale value).

The reviews I've found claim they remotely disable your ability to recharge the battery if you go over the mileage you've paid for, so the car keeps going until the battery runs out and is no more at risk of dying at a dangerous time than if they hadn't disabled it.

Ah, that makes better sense, but that's probably not a remote capability, just a check on the milage in the charger.

Since that charger can be an electrical outlet with no internet connection, I think it has to be a remote capability.

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