Thread

1. cmiles8 · 1790590664 · focus · HN ↗

   Headline is misleading. Cheaper on per-mile operating costs but typically more expensive to purchase and insure. There’s also a nasty depreciation curve to contend with. Nobody wants a 10 year old Tesla, but a 10 year old well mentioned petrol car still has a ton of life left in it.

   It still often ends up a bit cheaper across comparable vehicles but not a slam dunk and nowhere near as good as the headline suggests.

   1. stinos · 1790591513 · focus · HN ↗

      Headline is misleading

      Honest question: how else would one interpret 'cheaper to drive', if not 'cheaper per-mile operating costs'? Wouldn't they have used plain 'cheaper than' if they would have meant 'purchase+operating'?

      1. cmiles8 · 1790591833 · focus · HN ↗

         Because driving includes a lot more costs than just fuel. And as others are calling out, nobody wants a used EV so deprecation is a real cost to every day regardless of if the car is driven or not.

         1. tverbeure · 1790592785 · focus · HN ↗

            > driving includes a lot more costs than just fuel

            Oil changes, break pads, oil filters, spark plugs, …

            For whatever reason, my wife’s car needs yearly scheduled dealership visits that always cost a few hundred. Meanwhile, my 5 year old EV has had none of that, other than one of those recalls that required a technician to park 15 minutes on our driveway to tighten some bolt (which my wife’s car also had, but it took another visit to the dealership.)

            The depreciation thing is true, but I drive my cars into the ground anyway, so it’s not a factor for me.

            1. Ferret7446 · 1790735733 · focus · HN ↗

               Break pads on ICE wear out slower than EV due to torque and weight difference (but also greatly subject to driving style of course). Similarly EV tires wear out faster creating lots of very bad pollution.

               1. tverbeure · 1790904270 · focus · HN ↗

                  > Break pads on ICE wear out slower than EV due to torque and weight difference

                  The only time I use brakes on my Tesla is for unpredictable events on the roads or for going from slow to standstill. For everything else, I use regenerative braking. In fact, back when I just got mine, I asked my tire/brake shop about typical brake pad lifetime. They said that they almost never service brake pads on EVs. It's just not a thing.

                  If your brake pads don't last at least 100k, then you're holding it wrong.

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.