Ask Lemmy

When it costs the costs are high. Electric vehicles still have coolant (2 different coolant systems, one for the battery pack and one for the electric motor), a hydraulic braking system and tires that will need to be replaced. But one of the best electric cars on the market was the electric ford focus, and they were really reliable. Except when the coolant system leaked onto the high voltage battery connections. When that happens it fries the battery and requires both battery packs to be replaced. To the tune of something like $20K each (from ford). This cars MSRP was something like $30K. The cost is so exorbitant that there are a few companies that will rebuild the cells rather than replace the battery packs themselves. I don't know for sure whether that would work in the case of the focus, but even then the Labor involved would still also be expensive.

The lifetime of the car may be how long those battery packs are meant to last. But what happens when they don't get the same range they had when you bought them? Battery tech gets better every single year. We make new strides in longevity, rechargeability, and sustainability. Each year the cost to manufacture them decreases as the process is further dialled in and streamlined. But the cost of cars continues to go up and tax credits for electric vehicles will probably not be the norm once they reach wide scale adoption.

On top of that, Tesla's in particular have some significant build quality issues recently.

I brought up the focus because they're out of factory warranty by now and likely to have at least one costly repair in their lifetime. People here are attesting to their own personal experiences with electric vehicles. But there are people out there who don't have the same experience.