As an EV owner, I have a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to people’s opinions on EVs here. Many will approach me to genuinely ask about the car, the range anxiety, recharge, etc because they are curious and thinking on getting one.
Then there’s “the others”. People who for some weird reason hate EVs (especially now that gas is over 2€/lt) will approach me to throw hate on them parroting the usual silly remarks about battery degradation, range, lack of “engine sound”… And it’s funny because I never open up a conversation about my EV, you won’t see me trying to forcefully talk about it… so when I tell them that I don’t care if they like EVs or not, they get even more pissed because they just want to shit on them and hope that I get upset or something? Idk, in Italy there’s this kind of people who need to show others how noisy their car is and how manly they are for driving a car that is noisy.
Idk, in Italy there’s this kind of people who need to show others how noisy their car is and how manly they are for driving a car that is noisy.
Oh how I wish that was only an Italian thing
I find this fascinating because no one has ever said anything about my car. I was actually worried they would before I got an EV, because of stories like this.
But I’ve had the car for six years now and I have only had pleasant interactions about it.
They are extremely common here though, so that might be partly why.
In fact, once I thought an elderly man was going to ask something snarky. He said “hey, can I ask about your car?” and then he very kindly asked about what the brake calipers were, because he literally had no idea. Then he said “it’s a really pretty car” and then I felt mentally bad for doubting the sweet old guy.
Living in the inland northwest US I’ve never had anyone approach me to talk about EVs one way or another. I’ve been driving a Kia Niro EV for a year now. Not even the few times I’ve been into North Idaho.
I don’t think I’d be bothered too much by some EV hater trying to be an ass either though given I’m not the one eating shit at the gas station. Charging from flat to full would cost me $6.40 at home… where I essentially do all my charging at 10¢ / kWh
Now you know how vegetarians and vegans feel. Most don’t bring it up (I only bring it up now in this context), but still get pulled into discussions about it.
Remember, you don’t need to engage. You get pulled in because you want to be pulled in.
I’m usually the one who talks the least on the table when it comes up. I’m really not interested discussing my personal choices. Some people really are though.
Have ya see much difference between Chinese EVs and European ones? I’d like to get me a BYD but it seems very expensive here.
In price? To have a car that had a similar amount of equipment than my atto3, the average difference between the atto and the european brands was around 6-8k euros. And that’s just considering the ADAS (like 360° cam, park sensors, autoswitching beams, etc). If I wanted an euro car with all the other “silly” things like the opening roof, the heated wheeldrive and seats, etc, we were going to almost 10k more expensive.
The U.S. & Canada put a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs. But with the trade war with the USA in full swing hopefully we’ll i state free trade with China.
Canada dropped the tariffs on 50,000 cars. Most of them as Chinese made Teslurs.
And it’s funny because I never open up a conversation about my EV, you won’t see me trying to forcefully talk about it
I guess this is a reality similar to that of most vegetarians or vegans…
Was just about to say the same. It’s a great source of unwelcomed conversations alongside queerness and toe shoes.
Oh well toe shoes can go to hell, that makes sense.
Oh no, shoes shaped like feet! Won’t someone think of the children??
As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to realize that many people (too many, IMHO) are not only only somewhat aware* of cultural stereotypes but also seem to willingly, if not proudly adopt them as a vital ingredient to their persona. Like some vibe coders/script kiddies copy-pasting themselves an identity from barely-skimmed “data” they got from a friend of a friend who “totally knows what they’re talking about, bro.” 🙄🤷🏼♂️
*at least, that’s what they’ll tell you, ofc.
For some people the politics or aesthetics of their choice of car outweighs the economics or convenience.
I am not rich enough to be one of those people.
Ah the South European Uncle™, I know him well
We rented an Ionic 5 for the weekend and I will be going back to gas because… uh, it’s rented.
Real talk, though, we’re trying to find a good EV because it is better. I don’t particularly like the Ionic 5, but that’s mostly a hatred for crossovers than anything; also the severe lack of clicky buttons and stuff like automatic mirror dimming that isn’t working right. Ugh.
I just wish we had more options in the States, especially without the touch screen nonsense.
Edit to complain: finished our trip and EV charging stations are so hit or miss. People worry about range but that’s not it-- it’s the fucking apps, flex time pricing and 350 kW chargers only putting out 50 kW for mysterious reasons. This shit needs some serious regulation in the US, fucking yikes.
I have a 2019 Nissan Leaf and it was manufactured at the perfect in-between time of still having physical buttons, without the surveillance tech inside, while also having the ‘basic’ fancy features like Android Auto, backup cam, etc.
I think ideally, I would have liked an EV conversion kit for my 2006 Scion xB, but it wasn’t in the cards at the time.
It does seem like the physical buttons are making a comeback.
Edited small typos
Here’s hoping. I’d look into even a used option like that, but I’m also hoping we get new battery tech in the next year or two. Not that I mind 350W charger speeds, though.
It is extremely annoying that here I am nearly 8 years later, and the Model 3 is the still the only real choice if you want a compact sedan EV. I don’t want to buy another one, but for the love of God, every other option sucks, is impossible to get, or costs $30k more than a Model 3
Yeah, would prefer my Volt be a sedan instead of a hatchback. I’ve not planned to replace it yet, but I hope there are more that one manufacturer offering EV sedans in the U.S. when I do go to replace it.
Would a Kia EV6 or a Jaguar I-Pace be options?
Both the EV6 and the I-Pace are crossovers, more wagon-like than sedanlike. And the I-Pace was discontinued in 2024.
In terms of a true sedan, the Polestar 2 (also discontinued), the BMW i4, and the Lucid Air are options, but they’re significantly more expensive than a Tesla Model 3.
I want aware that the car has to be brand new as OP never stated that.
Call me a Heather but if the EV6 isn’t sedan-like enough, the Tesla 3 isn’t either.
A Lucid Air plays in a whole different league as It probably beats the Tesla S. However there’s a risk the company itself might be discontinued.
There’s a bunch of Chinese brands that deliver - they might not be available in the US or are tariffed out of budget range.
I want aware that the car has to be brand new as OP never stated that.
No, but I’m pointing out that cars that have been discontinued will not increase in number, so they’ll be harder to find on the used market over time.
Like the parent comment, I’ve rented a Hyundai Ioniq 5 a few times, and liked the way it drove. But it is so ugly I’d never buy it for myself. The EV6 is nice, and I agree it’s quite close to a sedan.
The Polestar 2 is great. Drives like a sedan. Undisputably a sedan. But its manufacturer is in a weird regulatory limbo, there weren’t a lot of 2s sold, and I personally find the clicking of the turn signal annoying. Also a bit expensive for its specs, even on the used market.
I think we’ll eventually see Kia/Hyundai/Genesis, Toyota/Lexus, and maybe Volkswagen and BMW compete in this sedan space with new cars. But for now, most car manufacturers selling in the US seem to be focused on SUVs and crossovers.
I leased an Ioniq 5 SEL for three years and loved it (other than it being an SUV).
When the lease ran out, I bought a used 2024 Ioniq 6 SE which has 360 mile range and almost every feature of the SEL. It was super cheap and it suits me even better than the Ioniq 5.
It’s probably worth checking out if you like EVs.
That was my thought, the Ionic 6 looks solid and more like my Ford Fusion Hybrid I’ve been driving for a decade.
One of the reasons I got my BYD was because of the clicky buttons. Yes, I have the big touchscreen, but all the car controls have a clicky button that I can feel and touch without looking at a screen. Hell, even for the things that don’t have a clicky button (like A/C temperature) you only need to swipe up or down with three fingers on any part of the screen to adapt it so there is nothing you need to find in the screen to drive the car.
I’m honestly surprised anyone rents electrics. I love owning one, but recharging would be obnoxious when traveling to a new place and having to juggle half a dozen different charging apps and a charger probably requiring you to go to a Walmart and sit for half an hour.
Can confirm, but we wanted a challenge and it hasn’t been that bad with just one app. We even had terrible luck and had to change plans and find another spot (diesel truck overturned, which is ironic when gas is the reason your EV trip got sidetracked lol).
I imagine having reliable charging at home and work makes it braindead.
You only discover the absurd insanity of the charging market once you drive an EV.
Here you’ll stop at charging stations that proudly state they got incentive money (aka your tax €) from the EU and then ask for >1€ per kWh - unless you are a subscriber, then it’s 15% less. If you are a paid subscriber the rebate is more than 50%. Then you check the roaming service of one of your many subscriptions - it’s 2€/kWh.
It’s like streaming but way
more exploitativeshittier. I think this needs needs government regulation and companies abusing EU incentives should pay back every cent including compound interest immediately.More chargers are getting tap-to-pay every day, so it is getting easier.
Also, while I doubt electric charging will be as fast as gas within this generation of vehicles (the required voltage would be rather insane), the EV guys I see online suggest charging to 75% or so because it gets you out of there in half the time. It means slightly more frequent stops, but also makes them not much longer than a bathroom break and snack run.
Oh really? That’s good to hear. The requiring an account and app thing was such nonsense.
Made a road trip 2 years ago and the charge time itself was never an issue, it was more the limited chargers and people on slow charging older EVs keeping them tied up for so long.
I was on AC / L2 chargers (my Volt), so it might not apply directly to DC charging but last weekend both the chargers I used and the DC charger I accidentally parked next to, took tap to pay, though one I ended up using did have an additional fee for tap-to-pay so I used my ChargePoint account. The week before that the DC charger that I just happened upon (and was disappointed didn’t do AC charging) actually supported both tap-to-pay and the older mag-stripe-swipe.
All those stations were in MO. I was driving AR-IN and back.
I love owning one, but recharging would be obnoxious when traveling to a new place and having to juggle half a dozen different charging apps and a charger probably requiring you to go to a Walmart and sit for half an hour.
When I see complaints like this, I read it as, “I’m a reckless driver who should have their license taken away.” If you’re taking long road trips and not stopping every 4-6 hours for a 20-30 minute break, you shouldn’t be allowed to own a vehicle at all. You’re a danger to yourself and everyone around you.
That’s an incredibly weird take. How did you get to that from a complaint about how hard it was to find a decent charger?
My example wasn’t even about a long drive, just being in a town with only 3 high speed chargers and over the course of a week I got to drive well out of my way and sit and wait for a turn at the Walmart twice. If I’d had a gas car I could’ve filled up at the many many stations nearby so it was an example of why I still wouldn’t rent one when traveling. Hell lookup driving to Yellowstone for an easy example of a route with limited chargers for the large number of summer tourists.
Did you miss the part where I love actually owning one?
Maybe it’s an LLM bot set to act contrarian?
stopping every 4-6 hours for a 20-30 minute break
An EV that drives for 6h and is charged up in 30min? This has to be an hallucination.
It would be great to have this kind of range though.
Maybe it’s an LLM bot set to act contrarian?
This hurts my soul.
Hi, I routinely drive 12+ hours only stopping for gas and bathrooms. It’s fun, and what I do for vacations, and I will never stop. I’ve been doing this since I was a teenager and have never been in a car crash because I’m an absurdly safe driver compared to most people on the roads. I think you have a really extreme view of what safe car driving looks like.
I assume you also grew up in Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average.
I test drove the ioniq 5 when it came out and its problem, to me, wasn’t even that it’s a stupid tall hatchback (barely a crossover even). It’s that the suspension setup makes it both uncomfortable AND unsporty. No idea if they changed it in later models, but they wouldn’t have fundamentally changed the entire setup anyway, only fine-tuning.
When the test drive was over, I sat back into my W211 and that was much more comfortable. Way slower and sluggish, but it was smoother on rough roads, and yet I actually felt where the grip was when going into a corner fast. That car was manufactured in 2003, the Ioniq 5 was a 2020 or 2021 model.
I ended up getting a lightly used W205 C-Class instead, staying with diesel. It was half the price of a brand new Ioniq 5 (since those weren’t available used)
But I’m not trying to tell you to buy an ICE vehicle like I did back then, I’m just saying that a lightly used executive car that still has warranty is going to be significantly nicer to drive than a brand new budget car. At the end of the day, you’re looking at EVs, battery warranty is 8 years anyway. Get a 2-3 year old one, sell it when the warranty is starting to end (degradation isn’t a real issue anymore, but sudden battery cell death can still be).
Your part about the suspension just clicked for me why it was bothering me so much. It was really more bumpy than I thought it would be, compared to what I normally drive. It was more like when I drove a mini cooper, tiny wheel bumpy ride.
But yeah, a slightly used but good car is probably my best bet right now, or just hang on one or two more years to see if there’s a breakthrough in batteries or we get Chinese imports, basically.
Hell, it’s hard to find subcompacts here at all. I’m willing to abandon my U-turn machines for electric when my car dies, but I’d really rather not. Fuck I love having a miniscule turning radius
Uhh on what sites? Every driver I talk to online or otherwise have nothing but praise for EV.
Yes. Drivers.
But the online mediasphere is chock-full of EV haters regurgitating propaganda about how they’re worse for the environment, the posters suddenly care about child labor in foreign countries, and then there’s the regressive mentally 14 year old tools who can’t handle a car that doesn’t spew noise and exhaust everywhere to make people look at them because that’s a real car. But none of them have owned an EV.
I’m a big car fan, and IMO, the majority of car fans are backwards and stubborn. They can’t stand the idea of EV, they have to have the ability to make stupid power with lots of noise to drive to the mall. Thing is there’s room for both EV and ICE cars. They need to get a grip and stop hyperbolizing that it’s a binary choice, ICE is going to be around for a good while longer.
Thing is there’s room for both EV and ICE cars
Eh, maybe this is just my opinon / hot take, but I think we really gotta stop burning petroleum and petroleum products, especially at the individual consumer level.
Yeah, but we can’t switch everyone over immediately. Don’t worry, the trend is there, and it’s good; soon the majority of new cars sold will be EVs, based on what I see. They’re just cheaper.
They need their emotional support vehicle to be noisy because otherwise they are not “real machos”. Driving a silent EV is for girlies, not for realmen™
EVs are fast as fuck without even trying. There’s nothing macho about watching an Ioniq 5 blow your gas guzzling street racer off the line.
My Volvo EX30 does the quarter mile in 7.5 seconds, and it only takes that long because it reaches its 180km/hr speed limiter before the end of the quarter mile.
And if you’re not stomping on the go pedal it’s also perfectly fine coasting around shopping centre car parks.
Aaaand it costs me $14.50 for a complete 0-100 percent charge at home, which it can do overnight after taking 10 extra seconds out of my day to plug it in. And then I’m good for another week or so of around-town driving.
But yeah, I can imagine if I had to haul 9000 pounds and 8 people back and forth across the entire continent every week like your typical regular car owner, yeah, I can see how it might be difficult to own an EV.
Mine isn’t quite that fast as it is a 3 row SUV. Nobody expects it to be as fast as it is though. It’s pretty fun to surprise people.
Cheap fillups are the best part. I have solar panels on my house as well so I get paid to drive mine lol
People do have a point about vehicle telemetry and complexity but that’s not unique to EVs or even vehicles in general. I do my best to avoid that kind of thing but it’s difficult when our whole economy revolves around stealing people’s data. You do the best you can in an imperfect world.
Pretty much all the torque is there on demand at whatever speed you happen to be doing, that’s the biggest difference I think.
There’s no changing down a gear or two to spool up the engine to get the acceleration. You want to go a little faster, you just press the pedal.
Real men need stepladders to enter their vehicles.
I legit once saw an old guy stumble over to his giant ass pickup, physically struggle to pull out a step stool from the back seat and then proceeded to climb into the driver’s seat. It was legit terrifying.
Mechanics now need stepladders to look under the hood. It’s all incredibly fucking stupid.
Facebook, according to the original headline. But I changed it because I knew I’d be getting 5 different comments from people getting hung up on the ‘Facebook’ part.
I’ve seen YouTube videos of those car sales guys talking to customers and then regretting getting an EV because of the distance/range and lack of charging stations and stuff.
How many of videos are real and all that, I have no idea. Also, most of those customers are rolling negative equity and stuff so not a great judgment.
There’s a car site for leaks and industry news called Auto Spies that just constantly shits on EVs. They used to be good for breaking new car info, but now they have a massively right slant on everything.
Forget what you read online
… What was I doing, again?
tries to check history
navigates to profile page and reads it
What’s my name again!?
I’m the owner of a Mustang Mach-E, and I will never go back to gas, I spend between $0 - $20 CAD/month charging my vehicle.
I have a Chevy Bolt EUV. I will also never go back. I need to get a bigger SUV because kids grow and their equipment for sports is out of hand. But it works for now.
My friend got a Telluride EV and she loves it. She has kids and so she’s got lots of stuff to carry around. It’s a huge car; I rode in it once and felt amazed how we’re at a point where even massive SUVs can be powered purely by electricity. She was especially appreciative that she chose the EV option after gas prices spiked due to Trump’s Iran meddling.
I love how they implemented the door handles on the Match-E. Overall a nice car.
My EV is quite possibly the most poorly planned decision of my life.
I live in an apartment and cant charge it overnight. Its a leaf so it only has l2 slow charging and Chademo charging; i live in the US so it doesnt exist – an adapter costs $750 minimum. I charge for 3 hours every week to go a maximum of 70 miles at a time. When its cold out, thats 4 or 5.
I don’t regret it at all, unironically, genuinely.
There’s something to be said for not going to gas stations. Ever.
Yeah, but my version of that is sitting in a dead parking lot for 2 hours to spend $3 on 60 miles with my j1772 connection. I cant wait to have $750 to spend on my stupid computer adapter so i can instead spend 15 minutes at an electric gas station
I have said it a million times. Whenever I drive a car with an internal combustion engine it feels so incredibly primitive.
Loud, too much vibration, slow start up, doesnt even sound like a spaceship
Monke brain like vroom vrroom
Jokes aside, car manufacturers figured consumers would miss that feeling enough to install software in EVs to mimic it.
Yamaha went the extra mile and patented a fake engine for electric bikes that moves and moves air just like a real engine, except it generates negative work.
I hate everything about it and everyone who had a hand on it.
I was so excited for EVs to be quiet. The spaceship noises make me so sad. Like finally, we figured out a way to make a car that didn’t make too much noise, and we legally added in stupid scifi sounds. These neurotypicals ruin everything.
Ive definitely sneaked up on people, even with the added spaceship sound. Its 100% for safety and honestly too quiet.
That being said a lot of hondas have like an angelic hum that I really hate
I think most of that is due to regulation, it is so you can’t sneak up on someone like Andy in his Prius. Early Model 3s don’t even have a speaker to make the sound so they still don’t, a friend of mine has one and it doesn’t make any woowoo noises
It was the smell for me. They all smell like horrible chemicals, I was just blind to it until I spent a few weeks away from one.
Not so much primative, just the peak of an outdated technology, nostalgic in a way, like when you get on a steam train
Why?
However, 100% of fossil-based vehicle drivers will end up driving EVs.
Except for the ones who park in the garage, close the door, and leave the engine running to escape the pain of existence.
Finally! Someone paying attention to what we’re really losing with EVs. What am I supposed to asphyxiate on non-ionizing radiation? That could take years!
If you drive a cyber truck you can just spray some water on it and the poorly isolated battery will probably catch fire. If you want to die from the fumes or cooked it’s your pick.
You can also get yourself killed by activating the self driving on a tesla or, even better, by having it activate itself in the worst moment to kill you.
I thought the Teslas only run over children. I’m way too big for those britches.
No, no, you got it wrong. If you activate the self driving while driving a tesla it will probably kill you (while trying to run over a kid) by hitting something hard, catching fire, blocking you inside and cooking you alive.
That seems like a lot of effort. I wonder if I could just get the built-in Grok to roleplay the scenario into existence.
Just keep a gas generator around for such an occasion, then you can use it anywhere in the house, not just the garage! Think of the possibilities
Around me , people use gas BBQs inside during a two hour power failure.
You okay mate?
Yeah but morbid jokes are funny. :)
Hey! A privleged few will go for ebikes + transit.
But I read this online so, I should forget this too?
It’s a podcast
Ohhh so only believe what you hear on podcasts?
You can also believe images and videos, as long as they don’t have any text on them for you to read
But do stay alert. O&G and combustion car manufactures are spending billions on propaganda to make you change your mind.
Even mechanics, gas station attendants, and car dealers will spin records to make EVs look bad and turn you into their next customer.
I’ll buy an EV when I find a reputable manufacturer that isn’t microtransacting or requires to have a “smart” system installed in it.
same goes for any non-ev built after 2013.
I want a car, not a device.
Sounds like your next car is going to be a bike then
Electric bikes are awesome
My bike runs on tofu haha.
But real, e-bikes are cool. Kind of jealous when I’m going up a hill and see someone just like gliiiide past me. But then I do also like the free endorphins so it’s a balance.
The good ebikes let you dial in the exact level of assistance you want
That sounds cool and expensive!
Having a few different levels is standard these days
Indeed they are but even if I lived somewhere with decent bike infrastructure I wouldn’t want to commute on one in the winter.
I bought one in February and it’s absolutely amazing. I live next to a mountain range and to just bike into the mountains and forests is incredibly nice. My buddy instantly got jealous and then bought one himself, so we now quite often go for trips. I had wanted one for years and had been saving money to buy one for about 18 months. Zero regrets, even though I have had a ton of injuries already, including a broken arm.
The biggest downside is that they’re expensive. I did an ebike conversion on my old mountain bike and that was pretty easy. It works really well too. Buying a nice 5-10 year old bike of your preference and converting it is definitely the way to go if you want to save some money.
I did that with a dirt cheap Walmart bike and I’m having so many problems, all of them with the dirt cheap Walmart bike parts, the actual e-bike kit has never given me a single problem.
Yeah I could imagine that would cause some issues. Those bikes don’t seem to be the best quality. I suppose the bright side is that there’s no reason you couldn’t find a used bike somewhere and move the motor and battery to that bike instead. You can’t do that with any of the manufactured e bikes that I’m aware of
or it won’t be manufactured after 2013.
Check out the Slate, I have it preordered. Electric, and dumb.
If (and when) Slate makes a vehicle type that fits my needs I’ll consider it. For now, a two-door two-seater (basically) doesn’t cut it for my family.
For ~5k more you can get the SUV version, the real issue is the range imo
It’s not really an SUV version, it’s just a second row of seats. Still two doors, still 2wd. Wouldn’t work for my family.
Good luck with a new vehicle from a new company.
Thanks?
For real. I love the propulsion tech of EV; hate the in-car experience of every one I’ve been in (and to be fair, most new ICE cars have the same problem.)
My next car will likely be a [used] ICE, not because it’s not EV, but because it’s not a spaceship.
I’m in the same boat; can’t wait to switch but I will be converting my 2003 Jeep. I like standard shift and off road capabilities. I’m still not sure what kind of a conversion I will do since it floods here so you know lithium and water aren’t the best combination.
180,000 MILES on my EV! Best purchase I’ve ever made. The amount of money saved on maintenance and fuel (got free charging at work and now a neighborhood hub has a free charger). Love it!!
Thats basically what every poll/study I ever read online said…
What do you mean about what you read online? Am I going to the wrong places? This stat sounds perfectly reasonable to me, and I don’t even drive one.
I would never go back to ICE. But I do miss driving a car with a clutch sometimes.
ah yes americans and their acronyms, Internal Combustion Engine I’m guessing
Nah, I’m on the run from immigration and customs enforcement ;).
(Yeah you got it)
Same. I love my EV as a commuter machine but I do miss having a more engaging car. If I can ever afford it I’d love to have a little weekend car like a Miata in addition to an EV that I drive 90% of the time.
Also same. I can even afford an older used Miata if I squint. But man, where would I put the thing? We’ve fortunate enough to have two cars, but storing a third would be very awkward. The current EV charger location means my car must be parked in the garage. My wife will not be bumped out and shuffling cars seems like a massive PITA.
I also live in SE MI and our roads are firmly grid oriented. I moved here daily driving a 96 Miata and got very little joy out of driving it here.
I don’t have a garage so any car I own would be living outside, right along with my EV and its charger. But it sounds like you wouldn’t get any joy out of having a sports car so I think the best solution for you is to just not.
