At $2.25 / Gallon, 80 Years To Recover Premium Paid For EVs -- Wired -- April 27, 2020

Before we get started, Gas Buddy:

• Wisconsin: 89 cents/gallon
• Louisiana: $1.07
• Oklahoma City: 99 cents/gallon
• Dallas, TX: $1.07

Earlier it was announced that Daimler's Mercedes-Benz was getting out of the hydrogen fuel cell business after 30 years of research. The company said the concept worked but it was too costly, and it was not scalable. Automobile companies need sales, not politically-correct glossy PR ads.

But that company statement about hydrogen being too costly and not scalable, that raises the question about EVs.

From wired, March 19, 2020:

Electric vehicles, which are more expensive than their gas-powered and hybrid counterparts, also could suffer if consumers become more tight-fisted. “There remains a significant price premium for an EV compared to an internal-combustion vehicle, and cheap gas only extends the payback time,” Abuelsamid says.

The hybrid Kia Niro, he notes, starts at $23,000 for the base model and gets 50 mpg.

The 240-mile range Niro electric costs $31,000 after the federal tax credit. At the current national average gas price of $2.25 gallon (and given the electricity costs of powering the electric Niro), he says, it would take 80 years to recover the $8,000 premium from energy savings alone.

I don't know anyone paying $2.25 / gallon of gasoline in my neck of the woods, closer to $1.09/gallon. 

By the way, I don't know if folks are watching but subscription rates for magazines across the board seem to be plummeting.

Wired on line just went from a ridiculously low $10 annual subscription to an even-more ridiculously low $5 annual subscription.

Rates are so low for New York Review of Books I went back and subscribed again. My first issue arrived yesterday; now I know why I canceled it in the first place, but having said that, there were a couple of essays that were passable.

In the stack of "stuff to do" on the Stickley end table is an offer to subscribe to London Review of Books, also at a ridiculously low price.

But no, I will never, never, ever subscribe to The New Yorker again -- I would love access to the archives, but the current editorial staff has lost its way.

****************************************

Back To EVs

What a great blog! LOL.

The other day I noted that the number of EV charging units nationwide (US) had gone flat / stale.

Now, today -- well, yesterday, to be technically correct -- InsideEVs posted this story: the lack of urban charging points must be addressed more quickly; not everyone can charge their cars at home.

LOL.

I've said that for years. Forty percent of Americans do not own their own home. Among the sixty percent that do own their own home, a huge number must park curbside for some reason or another. Maybe as many as 60% of the American driving population cannot charge their automobiles at home.

Let's see what the linked article has to say:

Things are gradually looking up for these folks: a growing number of apartment complexes are installing EV chargers, and various states and municipalities are updating laws and building codes to make it easier for tenants to get chargers installed. Companies like EVmatch are developing solutions that help landlords and employers provide charging to tenants and employees.

However, there many souls who are still out of luck, as they lack not only driveways or garages, but any assigned parking spaces at all. In cities from New York to London to Beijing, many car owners have to take whatever parking they can find on the street each day, and regular charging options for them are few or non-existent.

This dilemma has been discussed in the EV press for some time, and it’s starting to make its way into the mainstream media. A recent article in the New York Times describes the “charging deserts” that have replaced range anxiety as the main deal-killer that dissuades city slickers from going electric.