Should I Buy An Electric Car UPD
Most EV owners hire an electrician to install a 240-volt outlet in their garage. This allows for Level 2 charging, which can add around 25 miles of range per charging hour. Make sure to find out how much it will cost to add 240-volt service at your home.
should i buy an electric car
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Regardless of where you live or where you charge your EV, electricity will still cost you much less than gas. According to the EPA, fuel costs for a BMW 3 Series are nearly four times more expensive than charging a Tesla Model 3. However, there are details you should know in order to save the most money.
States, cities, local utilities, various EV-related companies and even some automakers also offer credits and incentives on top of the federal tax credit. Make sure to do your homework to find out if you can get a local discount, financial assistance for a home charging system or any other local incentive for purchasing an electric car.
New electric cars are coming to market often, and current models are getting better every year. Many EVs get new technology and more range with each new model year. Leasing ensures that you can take advantage of the newest technology or swap your car for an even better EV every few years.
Overall, electric cars require less maintenance than gas-powered cars. There are virtually no fluids to change, and the friction brakes last longer since regenerative braking assists with stopping the car.
The electric car era is here, with California announcing a ban on gasoline-powered new car sales in 2035 and other states following suit. Automakers are announcing new electric vehicles at a blistering pace, and we now know what federal EV tax credits will look like in the coming years.
Despite all the attention, America's electric vehicle (EV) industry is still in its infancy, with only a small percentage of all new vehicles sold featuring battery-electric technology. The U.S. trails China and Europe by a wide margin when it comes to our adoption of EVs.
With the growing variety of models, EVs are available for many more buyers. Electric pickups are now on the road, and more electric SUVs are on sale this year than last year. Electric compact cars continue to be the price leaders among EVs.
In the following sections, we'll look at the pros and cons of buying an EV in 2022 from a general consumer standpoint. Up until this point, many EV buyers have been early technology adopters or EV enthusiasts who might be willing to put up with some challenges to be the first on their block to drive an electric car.
Because of the way electric motors work, electric cars, trucks and SUVs offer excellent acceleration. Even the cheapest EVs, including the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Nissan Leaf, move away from stoplights with enthusiasm.
It's true, electric cars cost more than similarly featured gas vehicles with internal combustion engines. While the gap is narrowing, it's still there. A Hyundai Kona, for example, has a base price of $21,990, while a Hyundai Kona EV is priced from $34,000.
Recent legislation changing the federal electric car tax credit, which we'll talk about more in a moment, has dramatically clouded the electric car price picture by removing the federal incentive on many new EVs, including the Kona.
Due to parts shortages and other supply chain issues, the price of both new and used cars are artificially high. Dealers don't have any incentive to give you a deal, and many are charging more than sticker price for new vehicles. That's especially true for hard-to-find new electric cars.
Buying a battery-electric car or a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle may qualify you for substantial federal, state, local and utility incentives, including the Federal Electric Car Tax Credit, which may put as much as $7,500 back in your pocket.
In general, tax credits are only available to buyers of electric cars, not lessees. When you lease an EV, the leasing company usually takes the credits, which they may pass on to you in the form of lower lease payments.
In many cases, you can receive tax credits or utility buying incentives when you install a Level 2 electric vehicle charging station at your home. In some cases, the incentives will cover most of a charging station's cost.
You can now purchase a wide variety of electric vehicles in the U.S., ranging from affordable compact cars such as the Nissan Leaf to the Ford F-150 Lightning full-size pickup. There are mainstream crossovers, such as the Volkswagen ID.4 and extreme-performance SUVs, including the GMC Hummer EV Pickup.
BMW and Mercedes-Benz are continuing to roll out new vehicles with impressive performance and excellent range. The new Mercedes-Benz EQS brings an all-electric drivetrain to an S-Class-quality sedan, while the BMW iX M40 offers stellar performance for an SUV.
The number of electric cars, trucks and SUVs you can buy will boom in 2023. We'll get a look at the first models from Honda and Acura, for example, while Chevrolet has multiple EVs set to join its lineup. The long-delayed Nissan Ariya is set to arrive by 2023, as is the Rivian R1S SUV.
2023 will also see performance-oriented trims of the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5, along with the first electric vehicle from Genesis. Audi will continue to expand its EV footprint with new electric crossovers due to arrive.
Even with the explosion of new EV models, there still isn't an electric vehicle for every budget, need or lifestyle. Other than used EVs, for example, there's no electric car that can match the price of a Kia Forte or Nissan Versa.
The cheapest and easiest way to charge an electric car is with a 240-volt home charging station. When you get home, you simply plug the charging station's cable into your vehicle's charge port. Most EVs can charge from empty to full in the middle of the night, when electricity costs are at their lowest.
There are many ways to install an electric vehicle charging station (EVSE in electric-car lingo) in your home. You can work with your dealership, an EV charging advisor such as Qmerit, or a local electrical contractor to install the proper circuit and charging station. You can also just have an electrician wire an appropriate outlet, then buy your own charging station from an online retailer, a warehouse club or a home improvement store.
Unfortunately, installing a home charging station isn't always easy or cheap. If you're living in an older home, your electrical service panel or the service to your home might need upgrading before it can support a 240-volt charging station.
Let's face it, going to a gas station in some areas isn't the safest (or cleanest) thing you can do. Buying an electric car and installing a home charging station lets you skip the gas station and its dirty fuel nozzles.
One of the greatest challenges to the wide adoption of electric vehicles is how to make recharging easy for residents of multi-family housing, such as apartment buildings. Without a dedicated parking spot or garage, owning or leasing an EV can be quite challenging.
While the charging networks are growing, there still aren't enough fast-charging ports along the nation's highways to support the broad adoption of electric vehicles. That's especially true in rural areas and states where there is an anti-EV political climate.
Unfortunately, that's the scenario faced by today's electric vehicle drivers. "Will the charger work today? Will my app connect? What kind of charging speed can I get?" are all questions EV drivers face every time they use a public charging station. While the Tesla Supercharger network tends to be highly reliable, the charging networks available to non-Tesla drivers tend to be less reliable.
That has been the reality for Tesla Supercharger users for years. Fortunately, the same functionality is coming to the rest of the EV world, with an increasing number of electric vehicles and charging networks supporting the Plug & Charge standard. The car and the charging station communicate with each other, and you're billed by the appropriate charging network.
Faster charging technologies are becoming more common, with cars including the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 supporting quick 350 kW DC fast-charging stations. However, recharging an electric vehicle still takes far longer than the five minutes or so it takes to fill the tank of a gas-powered car.
While early EVs and a few sold today only have a range of around 100 miles on a single charge, most sold today can go much further between charges. Most recently introduced electric vehicles can be driven between 200 and 300 miles on a charge.
On the other hand, electric cars can see significant swings in their ranges due to the weather. According to a 2019 study by AAA, when the mercury drops to 20 degrees and an EV's climate control system is used, you can expect an average 41% decrease in range. For every 100 miles of range your EV has in normal weather, you'll only be able to drive 59 miles when the temperature plummets.
The vast majority of American round-trip commutes are far shorter than the range of even the shortest-range EVs in the marketplace, like the Mini Cooper Electric Hardtop. The average commute can even be covered by a used electric vehicle with significantly degraded battery capacity.
If you have a home charging station, charge overnight and take advantage of your utility's cheaper time-of-use rates, you can potentially save a significant amount of money by driving an electric car.
As we've discussed in previous sections, the spacing, reliability and time involved in using public DC fast-chargers can still make long-distance electric vehicle travel a challenge. Your "refueling" stops will need to be more frequent and lengthy than they would be on a gas-powered road trip.
There is a bridge to going electric that avoids many of the pitfalls of a fully-electric vehicle. A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, or PHEV, has a larger battery pack than a typical hybrid and can be charged by an external charging station. That allows it to be driven by electricity alone until the battery is depleted. At that point, it automatically transitions to fuel-efficient gasoline-electric hybrid driving. 041b061a72