Technology

My SUV is a 2004, it has stuff on it that I have no idea what the function is supposed to be. However the basics are still there, they have plugs or ignition coils, belts, a cooling system, brakes, and power steering. There are various sensors for the computer that can be hard to find but fairly easy to replace once you locate them. The worst of the problems haven not changed -- parts that are difficult or nearly impossible to get to, and parts that have rusted in place. Some things are just worth letting the professionals fight with, but other things I'll do myself to save that $200 minimum fee that the shops charge. At one point I had a shop replace one of the front axle bearing for me, that cost about $300. Then I started having other things go out and after doing some reading realized the mileage on the SUV was high enough that these parts were due to be replaced anyway... for another $300 and about 2 hours of my time (mostly figuring out how everything came apart) I replaced the other axle bearing plus both of the front axles and a couple other smaller items. If you have the patience and some tools, there are plenty of videos online now showing how to replace this stuff, just start with something small (belts and ignition coils are actually easy) and you might surprise yourself!

One of our friends we visit on a regular basis is a 90-minute drive away (a little over 100 miles each way), and we typically stay for about 4 hours before heading home. Anything outside of town is going to be at least a 45-minute drive each way and when we go into Denver we're talking over an hour. And since I live only six miles away from the mountains we tend to drive around up there quite a lot which can easily lead to a 2-3 hour drive on some pretty substantial grades. But let's just pretend for a moment that I don't care about range, and I grab the only used EV I see within my range -- a Nissan Leaf with a listed range of 84 miles. That means most mountain trips are out because Estes Park is the only place that might have a charging station. But what about visiting our friends? If I fully charge the EV at home before we leave, I'll still have to stop at least twice during the trip to fully recharge. Are we talking about the addition of a few minutes to my trip, or are we looking at adding hours to an already long drive? Range matters when you live in an area where everything is spread out.

On the other hand, my wife rarely drives her car outside of town and is never used for long trips -- so THAT is something we have discussed replacing with an EV when the time comes and the prices are more reasonable.

You DO understand that some synthetic oils are actually made to take you more than 6000 miles, right? Take a look at Amsoil, many people have tested it and sent their oil to labs for testing. This stuff stands up to real-world testing. As far as concerns about permanent damage -- well I've put 120k miles on this vehicle so far and it still purrs along without any sign of trouble. And seriously, nearly 300k on my previous V8 engine (it had 106k when I bought it and I rolled the odometer twice before selling it) and it was only just starting to blow some white smoke when I first started it up. That's with plain old Valvoline dino oil for most of its life although I did upgrade to the high-mileage synthetic blend in probably the last 100k, and only doing oil changes about every 20-25k. And that thing was a racing engine, I could do 70mph in first gear, so I never treated it lightly. Sorry you've had such bad luck, but I'll stand by what has worked for me.

So yeah, there's fewer moving parts on an EV, and fewer things that can break down. I can still drive my ICE for massively less money. Just looking at the used market in my area, anything large enough that I would even consider driving (because I won't risk my wife's life in a damn subcompact car) start at over $30k, and we won't even talk about Teslas. If you're going to make an honest comparison of maintenance costs (suspension parts wear out on every vehicle, but ICE parts are of course not directly relatable to EV engine parts) I can easily buy a used vehicle and drive it for years without even approaching half the cost of a used EV.

Even the price to gas up versus recharging is greatly debated. Sure you can get some great rates if you always charge up from home and your local power company offers off-peak subsidies, but for me even driving to work mean recharging during the day to get back home, and those charging stations have a premium price. Just checking google for research in the last couple years, the articles are pretty evenly split over which one is cheaper, but many of those were comparing the best electric prices charging at home to some of the worst gasoline prices at $4/gallon. Unless you already have a full solar installation on your house, comparing apples to apples in refueling costs doesn't seem to show any clear advantage in either direction, so it's not like driving an EV is going to "pay for itself"... at least not yet.

I'm not throwing all of this out here to try and suggest that EVs are a terrible idea and nobody should ever consider them. For most people who make short trips and drive in reasonably flat areas, I'm sure they are getting past the point of status symbol and are starting to become a great solution. But for people like me who regularly travel long distances, needs to carry construction materials or tow heavy trailers for various projects, and doesn't mind doing the occasional repair at home, an EV is still an insanely expensive prospect. I mean $30k is more than the total I have spent on all of my vehicles AND my wife's vehicles combined in nearly 40 years. Yes I'm keeping an eye on things because EVs are definitely the way we are heading and the infrastructure is getting built up pretty quickly to support them, but for my own needs they are just not there yet.