EVs Don’t Run on Electricity

Guest Post by Eric Peters

They run on lies.

Half-truths. What the liars routinely style “misinformation”  . . . about the truth.

For example, the following lying headline: Tesla Model 3 is Now Cheaper Than the Average New Car. The story goes on to state – as if it were true – “that the Tesla Model 3 is now “$5,000 cheaper than the average new car.”

No, it isn’t.

The Tesla 3’s price has indeed come down. But that is not the same thing as saying it is now  “cheaper than the average new car.”

The misinformation is as follows: Last year, new car transaction prices – the average price paid for a car – approached $50,000. A record high. Last year, a Tesla Model 3 stickered for about the same. As of right now, a Tesla 3 stickers for about $5,000 less, for $44,380.

See the trick? Did you watch the hands?

The headline – and the story – attempt to persuade you that a Tesla 3 costs less than the average car because it now stickers for about the same as the average transaction price of a new car. It leaves out the critical piece of information that “average cars” can still be bought for about half what a Tesla 3 costs.

A 2023 Honda Civic hatchback sedan is a very average sedan. It stickers for $24,450. Other than it not being electric, it is very similar to the Model 3. Both are compact-sized, five door hatchbacks and nearly identical in length (184 inches long for the Civic, 184.8 for the Tesla 3). The Civic actually has more cargo capacity (24.5 cubic feet vs. 22.9 for the Tesla) and significantly more back seat legroom (37.4 inches) than the Tesla does (35.2 inches). The Civic also comes standard with more than 300 miles of range vs. the standard Tesla’s 272 miles of range. Another nugget of truth left out of the lie.

With EVs you pay extra to get range that comes standard in non-EVs.

Anyhow, the point here is that the lowest-priced Tesla still costs 40-plus percent more than an “average” and very similar-to-it small car like the Civic. And that’s without taking into account the not-mentioned-cost of the extra-cost longer range battery that adds about – wait for it! – Ten thousand dollars to the price. That’s the cost – $53,990 – of the “Performance” version of the 2023 Model 3, which can go just about as far on a charge as a $24k Civic can on a tank.

Assuming it’s not too cold – or hot. If it is the Tesla won’t go as far as advertised, which is something else these misinformationists almost never mention. It is an omission akin to not conveying to people that a given make/model of gas-engined car comes standard with a hole in the gas tank just above the three-quarters full level, that results in about a quarter of what you fill-up with dripping out as you drive.

2023 Camry Range

The Tesla 3 is also – like the Civic – a small car and so not comparable to the average family-sized car. You can buy the best-selling example of that – a 2023 Toyota Camry – for $26,220 or (once again) about $20,000 less than the base price of the least-expensive Tesla Model 3, the one that has a best-case advertised range of 272 miles. The $26k Camry comes standard with more than 440 miles of range – in “city” driving. On the highway, it can go more than 600 miles. It also has about three inches more rearseat legroom than the Civic-sized Model 3, which is why it’s more suitable for family car duties.

You could also buy any of several compact-sized crossovers for less than half the cost of a compact-sized Model 3 sedan. Examples include the $22,950 Mazda CX3, the $22,140 Hyundai Kona and the $23,650 Honda HR-V. These are not low-volume sellers, either. Probably because they don’t cost $40,000-plus (or charge $10k more for about the same – or less – range that comes standard for half as much in other stuff).

There’s more not coming from the misinformationists, who seem almost as if they’re being paid to not tell people the truth about EVs.

For example, the cost you’ll pay to rig up your home to be capable of “Level 2” charging. The term refers to having a dedicated 240V place to plug in that’s close enough to wherever you park the EV to be able to plug it in. Most homes do not have a 240V outlet in the garage and the cost to have one wired up by an electrician – which you’ll want to do if you don’t want to risk your homeowner’s insurance not covering it in the event there’s a fire – will cost you several hundred if not a thousand bucks or more. Which you’ll have to pay – if your house is not so equipped already – if you want to be able to recharge your EV in less than 12-plus hours, which is the “fastest” you can charge it using

a regular 120V household outlet.

The misinformationists also don’t factor into their cost-lies about EVs the more you’ll be  paying for tires, which wear about 20 percent faster because EVs are about 30 percent heavier than non-electric equivalents and because their electric motors apply so much torque so immediately to the tires.

There are so many lies – and half-lies – that it is hard to know what’s true. Other than that you’re being lied to.

The irony is that, in this instance, it’s coming from a place that ought to know better. Car journalist used to know cars – and also bullshit.

It’s a shame that so many of them no longer do.

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lamont cranston
lamont cranston

Spot on. Eric, I deserted WNC (Blowing Rock) for the SC Lowcountry in 2018. You need to do the same. Chucktown is too high $500-1,000 sq/ft+, but areas around Beaufort (pronounced View-FERT here) are workable. Plus, Walterboro is really affordable, as the Murdaughs are out of power. Plus, it’s a charming county seat with a fab self-serve buffet with great fried chikin (The Long House). And Beaufort is an hour south.

Great analysis as always.

Iska Waran
Iska Waran

A 2023 Honda Civic hatchback has a 12.5 gallon tank and is rated 39 mpg on the highway, with a 486 highway mile range. So Eric is underselling the advantages of a gas car. Electric cars – being heavier – do more damage to the roads, requiring more frequent replacement, which takes energy and more extractive mining. Remind the greenies of that.

Winchester
Winchester

Yes my Civic “beater” at a full tank has a range of over 400 miles and averages 35mpg. Those are real numbers from my own experience, not marketting. I work with a lot of urban dweebs that embrace the EVs and their range numbers are 20% below what they state. Most likely because they test them on flat roads in SoCal where the temperature is always 75.

Svarga Loka
Svarga Loka

Yup. I love my 2014 Honda Civic with just 60K miles on it that I bought off of craigslist for $10K in 2021 from a nice older couple that was not afraid to shake ungloved hands to seal the deal. Fits family of 5 including ski or camping gear, if you set your mind to it, still has a CD player (dealbreaker) and has manual transmission. I recently found out that the Honda Civic Sedan is not available with manual transmission any more. I guess I will drive this one until it falls apart.

Anthony Aaron
Anthony Aaron

Cars available with a manual transmission for 2023 … this list says there are 30 from 17 manufacturers …

https://www.motortrend.com/features/every-manual-transmission-car-for-sale?slide=30

Walt
Walt

An electric bus being charged by a diesel generator. This is the ‘green’ hoax…

boron
boron

This is the REAL green hoax

Arthur
Arthur

The biggest lie used to sell EVs is that the sky is falling.

Anthony Aaron
Anthony Aaron

Which is really no longer convincing since Chicken Little died of H1N1 bird flu in 2015 …

Visayas Outpost
Visayas Outpost

Add of course, very little of the available electric power coming from non ‘fuel’ sources.

Anonymous
Anonymous

NO, don’t you know, there are elves in those canister looking things on power poles and a treadmill that the elves run on real fast and that is how electricity is generated. Kind of like the elves in hollow trees that make those cookies. There is green electricity too where those cans attract lightening which strikes the can and then directs the lightening down the wire to only plugged in EV’s. That way you have no carbon footprint. It is so nice to be a delusional greenie weenie.

Ray Jason

I’m not convinced. I have been told that those treadmills are powered by gerbils that the Secty of Trans is inserting far and wide. 🙂 Perhaps I have been misinformed.

anon a moos
anon a moos

You have both been deceived. The govt psyonce people developed perpetual motion machines 60 years ago.

In those cans are small machines the size of a baseball that produce two things in abundance, electricity and light. The wires distribute the electricity to your homes and the light is distributed to the street lamps. Its psyonce not magic.

Besides, its not possible to get a unicorn into those cans mounted on the poles, they tried this already and it failed. Where the elves and gerbils narratives really fail is who’s feeding them? Elves have special diets too.
Trust the psyonce

Anonymous
Anonymous

The car test publications are paid to paint pretty picture ! You can bet there is a big government thumb on the scale like everything about going green the real nitty gritty facts are left out or just flat out lied regarding the cost benefit !
Electric cars , windmills and solar panels work but nowhere near the savings propagandized especially when that debt loaded government subsidy is piled on to the rest of the BS

Anonymous
Anonymous

No thanks to ev shitboxes..I’ll drive my one ton diesel 4×4 until the wheels fall off. 21 mpg too when not towing.

Winchester
Winchester

I do love my diesel. I “chipped” mine but have it on an economy tune for mileage. I want to find a situation where there will be a lot of EVs in one place. I will crank her up to performance and throw some soot on those bastards.

The Central Scrutinizer
The Central Scrutinizer

You want to solve the energy crisis? Learn to make cars that run on stupidity! Problem solved forever!

The Central Scrutinizer
The Central Scrutinizer

…although, that couldn’t be good for the economy. Don’t want to fall into the same trap Not Sure did!

Anonymous
Anonymous

Wait wait wait the worst part wasn’t even mentioned. The batteries in all electric cars need to be replaced every 7 to 10 years at a whopping cost of $16,500. So imagine this scenario: you buy a car for $56K and 5 years later you want to sell it for, say, between 20K and 25 K. Who will buy it knowing they will have to drop another another $16.5k in to the now POS. One of the big metrics for any new car is the resale value. It’s a no brainer to see how bad the resale value of this now three thousand pound paper weight is.

anon a moos
anon a moos

Wrecking yards are going to be the new billionaire producing ventures soon.

Tex
Tex

A local bought a new Toyota Hybrid. I asked I thought he was against electric vehicles? He said yes, against, this Toyota is a hybrid ( not a Prius hybrid, still the “same”) and not an electric.

Researching batteries used in both full EV and those in hybrids evidently creation of the carbons from fossil fuel combustion both in mining the resources and manufacturing the batteries does not quite fit the climate control aspirations. He said the hybrid gets 43MPG. I say because it does have a battery it falls in the same “environmental” hypocrisy as the EVs.

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