Cars Kinda Suck RN 1/3: Are EVs Worth it?

In April my car was in the shop three times. It was supposed to be one trip (O2 sensor, evap leak, & tires), but it wound up being divided into three because of some unavailability on my part and the mechanic’s, combined with a delayed shipment. Anyway, I got it back and figured I’d be done with that stuff for a bit. Within 24 hours I was jacking it up to see if a wheel bearing was bad, and within 48 I was riding back in a tow truck. Long story short, it looked to me like coolant was leaking into the engine; though upon having someone who knows what they’re doing look at it, turns out it was just a busted thermometer housing.

Of course, good old Ford decided to make that housing out of plastic. Yup, boiling coolant held in by plastic. Don’t worry though, I’m sure a shareholder somewhere has a penny they otherwise wouldn’t have. /sigh

Anyway, I had already been on a bit of a car rabbit hole. Given I was driving a Ford that’s approaching 100k miles, and given it had already been in the shop a few times (even though it was for non mechanical issues), I figured it wouldn’t hurt to know what options are out there. That search accelerated in the ~36 hours I didn’t know if the motor was toast. I plan to hold onto my car for a while longer, I like it and I own it - you really can’t get much better than that in a car. Still, that hasn’t stopped me from compiling all the different bits of information I learned from my ‘research’ (a.k.a. AI and YouTube Videos) and then rambling on about it here.

Like a lot of my posts, the document kept growing as I explored more topics and added more tangents and comparisons. So, instead of committing a hate crime against your feed reader’s RAM, I figured I’d divide it into a few separate posts. This one here is dedicated to whether EVs (electric vehicles) are worth it. Part two will be two wheeled vehicles (ebikes, motorcycles, mopeds), and part three will be me complaining about tech in vehicles as well as going over vehicles I may consider in the future.

My Driving Habits

With fuel on the rise, electric cars were something I looked into. The last time I familiarized myself with the state of electric cars was when I bought my Fiesta in 2022. At the time I had nowhere to charge it and regularly drove 300+ miles to and from my home state, so my conclusion was that it was a no go. Now I’m looking to buy a house - if all goes well I might own one by the end of the summer¹ - and I’ve changed jobs and states.

The exact amount of driving I do for my current job is a bit in flux. Some days I’m driving a quick 22 mile round trip commute, and other days it’s a little over 200. The 200-220 mile days are rare though, usually once a month. Most normal days it’s between 22 & 170 miles. On average, though, I drive a lot. Checking my maintenance logs I put 2.5k miles on my car between mid April and today (June 13th), as well as 948 miles on my motorcycle between May 3rd and June 3rd. That’s about 2k per month, 840 of which were reimbursed by work² for my May travel.

Since I may soon have a place to charge an EV, as well as no longer regularly exceed range limits, that might warranted another look at them.

Costs

The costs of buying and owning EVs compared to combustion engines.

Energy Costs

EVs, with today’s fuel costs, have a considerable edge on per mile expenses. At the current gas prices (May 2026) my car costs me ~$0.11 USD per mile in gas to run. A cheaper electric car like the Chevy Bolt looks like it would cost about $0.06 in electricity if charged at home. On paper - assuming gas prices don’t go back down - it’s pretty impressive; nearly halving my fuel costs. Now, it’s not exactly worth upgrading from my working car: paying 10k to change to an electric car³ would mean I’d need to drive nearly 170 thousand miles to get that money back in fuel savings. Still, had I a place to charge the car and I needed a new car anyway, the fuel savings would be significant. Beyond that - given the Fiesta is one of the most fuel efficient non-hybrid vehicles ever sold in the US, and given they don’t make them anymore - the calculus is going to be even further in favor of electric when most other non-hybrid vehicles are considered.

Vehicle Costs

As far as the cost of the vehicle itself is concerned, used EVs seem fairly competitive, although new ones are still considerably above their gas counterparts. The cheapest new car in 2026 is the 2026 Hyundai Venue, with a base MSRP of $20.5k (replacing the now discontinued Nissan Versa at $18.3k). The cheapest reliable⁴ car would likely be the Toyota Corolla at 23.1k (or the hybrid Corolla at 24.5k). The cheapest EV for sale is the Chevy Bolt, with a base MSRP of 27.5k. The cheapest reliable⁴ electric car would probably be the 2026 Tesla Model 3 at 36.9k.

Used EVs are a bit of a different story, however. A ~5 year old Chevy Bolt, in good condition with ~50k miles, seems to run about ~13-15k in my area; more premium vehicles like Teslas running ~20k. Used budget vehicles from most manufacturers seem to be running at a similar price to the Chevy Bolts: a 2-6 year old vehicle in good condition with 30-80k miles running ~10-15k. The more reliable brands like Honda and Toyota hold their value even more - I’ve seen dealers listing 5 year 80k mile Corollas for 20k (3k off MSRP), and low mileage (under 10k) Toyota & Honda vehicles within 1k of their MSRP. Used EVs seem to be going down a lot; it looks like it might be possible to get a used EV for around the same price as a used gasoline vehicle - which will last for as least as many miles, have at least as much horsepower, and cost less in energy.

That being said, the cost of used EVs might not be where it is forever. From what I understand, the price of new EVs were effectively subsidized twice in the US. First, and more directly, the federal government (and some state governments) were covering the cost of part of the vehicle at purchase via tax write off. Secondly, the CAFE standards were unreasonably high and forcing manufactures to use electric vehicles to increase their average vehicle MPG; encouraging them to sell EVs at cost or a loss. Both of those lowered the price of a new EV (naturally reducing the used price as well), and probably flooded the market with more cars than the market would naturally support. Both the federal rebates and the aggressive CAFE standards have been rolled back, raising the price of an EV back to it’s sticker price, and potentially raising the sticker price when new models are rolled out⁵. With new EV sales dropping - not to mention more durable batteries and higher fuel prices - I’m wondering if the used EV market will go up considerably.

Misc Costs

Outside of fuel and vehicle costs, however, there are a handful of miscellaneous costs that I’ve seen from my (limited) research as well. The first is maintenance, which looks to be a bit of a mixed bag. To my surprise, according to this JD power study, EVs and hybrids are apparently having more issues than gasoline vehicles. I was a bit surprised by that; EVs are a lot simpler of a drivetrain, and Toyota is proving that hybrids can have extreme reliability, but apparently overall maintenance and reliability are a bit iffy on EVs. I’d assume some of this has to do with manufacturers making unreliable iPads on wheels. I’m betting if you go with something more reliable there’d be considerably less issues; with no preventative maintenance like oil and transmission fluid, at the cost of slightly more common replacement of weight effected wear items like tires and wheel bearings. But that’s just a guess.

There also look to be a fair amount of extra fees and costs of owning an EV. Insurance looks to be much higher - I’m paying $400⁶ per 6 months, but apparently it’s not uncommon to be quoted $2,000-4,000 per 6 months to insure an EV. Apparently, according to Reddit⁷, if you shop around and bundle multiple vehicles you can expect to pay ~800-1k per vehicle for 6 months assuming you have a good/perfect driving record. Beyond insurance, some states are also charging much larger registration fees to make up for the lack of gas taxes, and California is apparently even in the process of taxing you for how many miles you drive in an EV⁸.

Obviously it depends on what you can get for insurance and what your state/nation taxes you, but it looks like - in a lot of cases - taxes & insurance can pretty quickly balloon to exceed what you save in fuel. It’s kinda disappointing to have a potentially better thing made worse than the alternative solely due to bureaucracy, but lol, guess that’s the story of everything ever.

Ownership Experience

The day to day stuff.

Range (on paper)

The first thing that probably comes to peoples minds, and the biggest potential issue in my case, is range. Like mentioned above, as of late I usually exceed 100 miles in a day several times a week. A couple times a month I may exceed 200 miles, although that’s generally divided up into multiple stops, with the longest possible distance between stops being 101 miles. I’d be unable to charge an EV at work. Ironically, I work at a power company and they’re big on pushing for electrification - they even have EV chargers at some sites - but they’re for company vehicles only. Although, as I’ll mention below, EVs can lose quite a lot of their ‘on paper’ range in some real world situations.

That said, a 200-250 mile range EV would suit my needs most days, and a 300+ model would likely always have enough range in even the rarer 200+ mile days during poorer EV conditions. Even when I couldn’t get by on home charging, taking a rare detour to a public charger - or even bringing a small generator along and topping my car up while I work⁹ - might be a possibility. There’d also be some irony in charging an EV with a generator: the EPA has all these strict regulations for vehicles, but generators can kinda do whatever. I can only imagine the YouTube thumbnail for something like that.

Charging Convenience

Overall, charging at home looks like it’d be a lot more convenient than getting gas at a gas station. No more gas station visits before or after work, just plug the vehicle in when you get home and it’s always ready for the next trip.

Though, on the flip side, relying on public chargers seems to be a mess of limited infrastructure, long wait times, and broken charge ports - not to mention considerably higher prices than charging at home (sometimes more expensive than gas). I’m sure that may change in the future, but for now, if you can’t get by with home charging 99% of the time it’s definitely not worth it. Not to mention that most chargers sound like they require an app and account. Imagine if you had to have an app and account for every individual gas station chain.

Charging Reliability

On one hand, you can’t beat the reliability of gasoline when it comes to storing energy. Gasoline cars store more fuel with a longer ‘range,’ and a five gallon gas can with fuel stabilizer will be an immediate ‘recharge’ of hundreds of miles of range regardless of what’s going on in the world. Even in a prolonged power outage or natural disaster, once a gas station can get a generator running, pumps will work again and fuel can still be sold. Not to mention FEMA can truck in fuel for essential workers and services to keep things going. Electricity, on the other hand, is a lot more finicky. If you rely on home charging, and the power goes out, you’ll likely be without transportation after a day or so. If you rely on public charging then not only are you reliant on the power grid¹⁰, but you also risk chargers being taken down by internet or payment service outages¹¹.

On the other hand, you can’t make your own gasoline - but you can absolutely generate your own power. Ironically, if power outages effecting transportation was your only concern, the easiest way to negate the fear would be a gasoline/diesel generator (refer to the infographic above). Alternatively - though I haven’t researched it all that much - it looks like you can get used/refurbished mono-crystalline solar panels for very cheap. Setting up at home solar can be costly and a big project, but a makeshift solar panel array in a yard not connected to the grid looks pretty simple to do yourself. I haven’t crunched the numbers on the cost of generating your own power via solar panels, so I don’t know how long it would take to break even¹². Still, there’d likely be value in having redundant ‘off grid’ power - and in the principle of having a portion of your transportation energy free from reliance on the grid or future price increases.

EVs are giant portable power banks

Also, because EVs are big batteries on wheels, there is some value in having the ability to store electricity. While gasoline might be more efficient to store for transportation itself, stored electricity can be used for a lot more than just transportation. Some EVs support vehicle-to-home use: using EV batteries as home backup power during short power outages. Even ones that don’t support that will likely have 110v outlets and/or USB-A/C to charge basic electronics and run smaller appliances. And, when paired with a generator or solar, an EV could be used to store locally generated power¹³.

EVs are efficient at different speeds

Finally, something else worth noting, is EVs are most efficient at very different speeds than gas cars. While gasoline cars usually get their best efficiency while highway driving, EVs get more efficient the slower you get. EVs don’t have transmissions, so unlike a gas car, doubling your speed means doubling the speed that the motor spins.

Whether that’s good or bad depends on what kind of driving you do. If you’re doing city driving then that’s great; the slow driving makes electric more efficient where gas would be less - not to mention that you don’t burn energy while idling (and don’t have auto start stop wrecking your engine if you have that).

That being said, if you’re doing a lot of highway driving it’s going to burn more electricity per mile than the car is rated for. I do quite a bit of highway driving, so in a case like mine it’s worth considering that I likely wouldn’t save quite as much per mile as the car’s spec sheet claims I would.

EV vs Gas Drive Trains

Comparing electric and gas motors for reliability

Batteries are Wusses

Batteries can lose a lot of their estimated range in the real world. NCM (nickel cobalt aluminum) batteries will degrade much faster if you charge them over 80% or drain them below 25%, limiting you to a bit over half the ‘range’ of the car if you want it to last for a while. LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries, however, don’t share this limitation - at the cost of being physically larger to hold the same amount of power. NCM batteries are the most common now, but the industry appears to be moving to LFP batteries, so that limitation may not be here forever.

Batteries also don’t do well in extreme temperatures. Exposure to heat above 95F - even when parked - can damage batteries, something that can be present during mid summer in WNY. In worst cases, you could lose up to 55% of your battery range at -20F, which can be present during mid winter in WNY. While most newer vehicles can heat/cool their batteries - negating temperature issues - that comes at the cost of draining your battery and running up your power bill; effectively idling constantly during extreme temperatures.

And, of course, batteries are rather fragile. Even minor damage, if it impacts the batteries, can total a vehicle. In a worst case scenario physical damage or software glitches can also cause thermal runaway, creating a very dangerous electrical fire that can’t be extinguished without specific equipment. Again, though, LFP batteries reduce the risk of this significantly.

Longevity

Drivetrain longevity, however, brings EVs back into a more competitive situation. While data isn’t quite as widespread as gasoline cars, and it varies by manufacture and battery chemistry, EVs look to last longer than gasoline cars on mileage. NCM batteries - which are more widely used at the moment - look to last 250-350k miles if you baby them, and 100-150k if you ‘abuse’ them¹⁴. LFP batteries, however, appear to last 500k-800k miles if treated well - a rather impressive lifespan.

There is, however, one caveat to that: calendar degradation. EV batteries will likely be degraded after 15-20 years regardless of their use. The concept isn’t solely relegated to EVs - a Honda or Toyota is still going to be trash at 50k miles if the frame rusts from a decade of salt exposure. But there’s 100 year old Ford Model Ts still on the road, and many 300k mile capable cars might hit that over 20-30 years. It is still impressive if you can rack up enough miles within their lifespan, although it’s worth taking into account the life span’s limitation¹⁵.

But, assuming the vehicle isn’t an iPad on wheels that becomes too expensive to repair for other reasons (or is unable to be repaired properly due to manufacturer restrictions). And, assuming you drive it enough to get those miles, a half a million+ mile vehicle is extremely impressive. Even if the price of an electric vehicle is higher, if it lasts twice as long as an equivalent gasoline vehicle, that changes the calculus significantly.

So, are they worth it?

In NY on 06/06/2026 a Chevy Bolt costs $27.5k and $0.06 per mile in electricity, and a Corolla hybrid costs $24.5k and $0.09 in gas. To save the $3k difference, you’d need to put on exactly 100k miles. However, if you drive 10k miles per year you’re saving $300 in fuel, and likely paying more than $300/yr extra in higher insurance and registration. But, if that Bolt (which uses LFP batteries) lasts 500k miles, and the Corolla lasts 300k miles, you’re getting 40% more vehicle life. 60% of the cost of the Bolt is $16.5k, which brings purchase price per mile significantly under the Corolla. I know expecting longevity out of a GM vehicle is a bit of a laughable concept, but you get the idea - the math is intended to compare technologies instead of companies.

And, of course, that doesn’t take into account repairs either. Despite the JD Power report showing more issues with EVs than traditional gas engines, I would have to be near certain that a well built EV would cost considerably less in total repairs/service than even a Toyota used for 300k miles. As EVs become more common economies of scale might pull down MSRPs and insurance premiums; only further increasing their value proposition. Not to mention the possibility of taking advantage of EV depreciation to get a much cheaper used one, although as I mentioned above, I’m not certain that will be the case long term.

From my fairly surface level research, at today’s energy costs, it looks like EVs are worth it if you:

• Drive a lot of miles¹⁶
• Charge at home¹⁷
• Don’t need to exceed range limitations¹⁸

When comparing economy vehicles on price, it does look like electric vehicles have an edge. In my particular case, since I drive a lot of miles but rarely exceed 200 in a day, a vehicle with a 250-300+ mile range would likely fit my use case while being cheaper and (theoretically) lower maintenance than a gasoline vehicle. When my Fiesta needs replacing, I will probably consider buying one.

That said, if you don’t have all three of the above, then it’s probably not worth it. Also, like calculated in the beginning of the EV section, if you already have a car it’s probably not worth replacing it with an EV. Unless you’re getting really bad gas mileage, or it’s getting really expensive to repair your gasoline car, spending 15-60k on an EV isn’t going to be worth the 2-10k you’ll save in fuel over the next decade.

And, of course, I did all the research using today’s gas/power costs in NY. That same Chevy Bolt that costs $0.06 per mile in NY would cost $0.036 per mile in Texas; NY pays a fair bit more for our power than the national average, and Texas pays a fair bit less - that’s going to lead to a very different calculus. That also assumes energy prices remain the same in the future. Better power production may very well bring down the price of electricity, but at the same time, further electrification and very overdue grid modernization may bring the price up. Gas prices have historically kept pace with inflation with small spikes every so often. Gas prices will probably go down from what they are now in the coming years, unless we end up working towards WWIII, in which it’ll probably become rather scarce.

Other considerations

Ramblings that I stuck on the end

There’s still other factors than long term ownership costs

If total ownership cost was the only factor in buying a vehicle, then everyone who didn’t need ground clearance, 4WD, or hauling/towing capacity would be driving a Corolla hybrid. I’m sure there was at least a couple environmentalists screaming at me through the screen as they read through and found I didn’t even bring up emissions once. It’s not that I don’t care about pollution, but I don’t care about it enough to be the primary factor in what I buy. There’s people that have been driving EVs for the last 15 years, despite higher ownership costs, because that’s what they value.

Or maybe you enjoy gasoline engines, and even if electric becomes more practical, you get more enjoyment out of a purely combustion engine. I just went on for however many words about how budget hybrids like the Corolla and budget EVs like the Chevy Bolt/Nissan Leaf are the best bang for your buck in some circumstances, but when it comes time to replace my car I could very well wind up going with a Civic Si for the sole reason that “sporty manual go vroom.”

And, of course, EVs look to be in the long term savings category. For a lot of people, a high interest loan is going to multiply the price of a vehicle: a cash or low APR EV might provide long term savings on fuel & longevity, but compounding interest on a vehicle that’s more expensive upfront is going to eat up those savings and then some. And that assumes the larger purchase is even an option - a $3-7k gas car, financed or cash, might be all somebody is willing or able to spend¹⁹.

If you’re buying a luxury truck or SUV that costs as much as a pre-covid house, clearly cost of ownership isn’t your primary factor. Although, with such high markups and low fuel mileage on those vehicles, I would assume EVs might have a greater edge over the gasoline variants. Alternatively, if you want sports car low end torque while still staying under the average new vehicle price than a Tesla or an IONIC 6 N might be the right choice. Or, if you want something with a higher top speed and some cool engine noises, a gasoline sports car is still the way to go. If you do long distance towing - aside from major advancements in battery technology - diesel or diesel-electric will always be the best technology for the job.

New things coming down the pike

Basic battery tech is improving. LFP batteries are safer, cheaper, and longer lasting. EVs appear to be moving in that direction, and it’ll likely continue to push EVs in a more practical direction. Solid state batteries, while previously relegated to the vaporware section of tech, may be coming at some point. A number of large, fairly reputable companies like Toyota, BMW, Tesla, and BYD have all made claims of planning to ship solid state batteries within a few years. That’d - theoretically - be a considerable increase in range and longevity.

There’s also some growing competition in the budget EV space. Both Slate and Ford are planning to launch small electric trucks in the mid 20 thousands, likely cheaper than anything on the US market at the moment. That will also probably force more competition in the space. I’ll ramble on more about those in a future post.

Chinese EVs probably won’t save us

BYD has made some headlines for cheap EVs, and has some pretty impressively affordable vehicles. Their cheapest option is the BYD Seagull, which is sold at ¥90k ($12k USD). They’ve also begun the process of opening a plant in Mexico, which would get around the tariffs that they’d otherwise be subject to here in the US. Still, I don’t think it’ll have the impact that a lot of people expect.

First, they may not stay that cheap. Right now competition is very high in that sector, and the Chinese government is pouring a lot of subsidies into it. At some point, just like here in the US, subsidies may dry up during a drop in sales and leave the market to fend for itself. Not to mention, from the (little) research I’ve done, it sounds like the budget models are being sold domestically at razor thin profit margins - using foreign exports and hybrid vehicles to remain profitable.

Secondly, while we live in a global economy, regional costs still alter prices. That same Seagull, re-branded as the Dolphin Surf in the UK market, appears to run £20.3k ($27.2k USD) - already the same price as American EVs. While you might be able to get a big discount if the BYD factory is just down the street, and they get their batteries from the BYD battery factory down the block, things are probably going to be a lot closer in price to other companies globally. If BYD ships those batteries to Mexico, or whole vehicles to the US, they’re probably going to be a lot closer to the price of an equivalent Ford that bought Chinese batteries and assembled their vehicles in Mexico and Indiana than they’d be to ones sold in China.

Third, once they’re assembled and ready to be sold, it’s a fair bit more expensive to sell vehicles in the US than in other markets. There’s the bureaucracy involved: most parts need to be certified by the DOT, and there’s a long process of crash/safety rating that AI claims costs 5-15 million per vehicle model. Some of that is safety I’m glad we have, and some of it is probably bureaucratic bloat (I’m not knowledgeable enough to draw the line on what is what), but it all adds to the price of doing business. Once that’s done they’ll have to use the dealership model (no direct to consumer sales), paying American wages and American property prices. Even comparing US dealers to UK dealers, employees in the US are probably going to be paid approximately 50% more in wages than those in the UK selling the same vehicle for £20.3k.

Finally, of course, there’s the features to contend with. That Dolphin Surf is rated for 200 miles of range, compared to the 250-300+ that most EVs sold in the US are rated to do. It’s a much smaller car when compared to something like the Chevy Bolt (or even the Honda Fit), with less space and power. And, while the budget BYD cars aren’t bad cars, the reviews of them I’ve seen have made mention of somewhat cheaper construction: lots of road noise, cheaper plastic panels, and missing features of more premium vehicles.

Ultimately, while they’re good cars for good prices, I’d be willing to bet that even if they come to market here they won’t make as big of a splash as the hype around them might lead you to expect. Especially as other manufacturers begin competing with small EV city cars, we may end up seeing BYD vehicles for a couple thousand less at the cost of some range, size, and features.

e-revs

Another technology that might be under utilized is e-revs. Most hybrids are gasoline based, with a small electric engine that can help the gas engine, but that could otherwise run like a gas car if you take the batteries out²⁰. Even plug in hybrids are still effectively gas engines with all the same gas engine maintenance. Two power trains bolted onto the same transmission create a lot of complexity, and while some manufacturers like Toyota have built rather bullet proof hybrids, if you refer to the JD Power study above most manufacturers have had rather poor luck in the reliability department.

E-revs, however, are regular EVs with a generator strapped on. They have the simplicity of an electric drive train, and can be charged like any other EV, but can run off generator power if you exceed the battery range. Unlike regular hybrids, you could take out the gas generator and it would run just fine, (theoretically) giving you a lot better vehicle longevity with lower maintenance - while still giving you the infinite range as long as you can fill it up at the pump. E-revs usually come with smaller batteries, which give you less electric range than a standard EV, while reducing battery costs (the most expensive part of an EV). This does come at a cost, however. E-revs aren’t efficient when burning gas; you’ll wind up getting gas car MPGs when using the generator. Some e-revs will also be limited in speed/power when running off their generator - the generator unable to keep up with the electric motor’s peak power draw.

In short: most hybrids are gas cars, using electric to boost their MPG. E-revs are electric, using gas to boost it’s range. If you regularly needed to make long trips a standard hybrid would be the way to go - it’s going to get higher MPG regardless of if you’re driving 7 miles or 700. Plug in hybrids have electric costs per mile on short trips while getting standard hybrid MPGs on longer trips, but they cost more than standard hybrids and still require standard gasoline engine maintenance. E-revs get electric costs per mile on short/medium trips, and forgo the standard gas engine maintenance²¹, but it’ll cost you gas car per mile expenses on longer trips. You also may experience poorer performance while running the generator depending on it’s size.

Footnotes: