The reality of living with an EV that nobody talks about !!

Had an online discussion with someone who must have been in NYC or LA while I'm from a large city in the center of the U.S. I have never even SEEN a charging station, this guy said they're everywhere. I'm in an apartment with unassigned outdoor parking, he said every apartment has its own charger. He's one of those people that think, "The whole world is exactly like what I experience." Different worlds dude, different worlds.

Hi Pete, very informative video. My son recently purchased an EV as he lives on a small development with a wall charger. He discovered that the 7kw charger was only configured to 3.5kw. He challenged the developer who informed he that the Power supplier had requested this because if all the properties used an EV that the sub station would not be able to cope. We have a very long way to go before we are ready for EV’s.

In the Netherlands, you can go to the local government and apply to have a charger installed in the street where you live, close to your home. There are already over 140.000 public chargers and that number doubles every 2 years.

Instead of splurging $250,000+ on a Ferrari or an EV, why not invest in digital stocks and assets? With potential financial crises on the horizon, securing your financial future is smarter than ever. Turn that dream car money into a hedge against uncertainty and watch your wealth grow!

A point to consider for those of us living in older streets of terraced housing is that, even if we could have a charge point of our own, we don't have any more right than anyone else to park outside our own home - unless it's a private road, or we have resident parking spaces (which are usually quite expensive). This country is still a long way off being prepared for "enforcement by stealth" EV ownership - unless that's part of the agenda whereby motoring will soon revert to being a privilege for the wealthy.

The funny/ ironic thing about subsidies (tariffs) for "early adopters" is that they're just discounts for the wealthy. As prices become affordable for the middle class, the subsidies evaporate--and yet again, we collectively subsidize the wealth gap.

Great video, and you have raised some points that most people who own EVs seemingly do not want to discuss or debate. A couple in particular stand out: 1. the increased current that 'fast chargers' need so that EV users can be on their way in about 15 minutes causes a massive drain on the local electricity network, however most EV users either plainly ignore this fact or couldn't care less, and 2. the subsidies offered to people to encourage the uptake of EVs only benefits those that can already afford it. So essentially society is funding people who shouldn't be getting a subsidy in the first place. It's not too dissimilar to subsidies some governments provide for the uptake of solar panels. Most people either can't afford solar panels or live in a situation where they couldn't have them even if they wanted to, i.e. those who live in apartments. Again, it's the majority of society that has to pay so that a few can benefit.

Great video! This hits so many important issues on living with an EV. As Retiree in the US who enjoys exploring our vast country we opted for a hybrid SUV. We've taken several 1500 mile trips and it's practical and reasonably economical at 30-35 MPG.

At a dealership this summer in Canada, a Mach E in GT trim had a price tag of $CDN88k. The petrol version, 5.0l V8 in GT trim was $CDN52K. I can buy a lot of petrol for the difference!!

I can't charge at home and found your acknowledgement of the difficulties highly supportive. Thank you. If someone asked me to sum up my several years' EV driving experience in one word, I'd say 'unpredictable', and I'd also urge them not to become an EV driver unless they can charge at home. Thanks again.

I 100 % agree with everything you said !!! I live in the United States, and I have thought about all these issues also. I recently had to buy a new vehicle ( was in an accident and my truck was totalled ). I researched various models and decided that in my current driving universe, a good hybrid was the best choice. I purchased a 2023 Honda Accord Sport-L. 8 months into owning it and I loooooooove it !! Never needs charging. Has a 12 gallon gas tank that fuels the 4 cylinder engine that mainly charges the battery ( only when the regen braking is not enough ), which in turn powers the 2 electric motors. Everything works seamlessly. You don't do anything but just drive it. I'm getting 44-50 miles per gallon... 550 to 600 miles per tank. No power box or public charging to ever worry about. Now, I am not telling anyone to buy this car, but I am telling everyone that a 'Hybrid' vehicle is probably the best alternative at this time of our lives.... 👍

Hi Pete. Thanks for the video. Regarding taxation, I live in the state of Virginia in the US. Here when we register our EV, and we have 2, we pay a tax to the DMV to replace the fuel tax we are not paying. Works ok except you pay either a flat fee or based on actual mileage, but we pay for the whole year at once archer in little bits at each fill up.

You are absolutely freakin' RIGHT. It's absolutely amazing how greatly the motoring press have engaged EVs without scrutinizing the elephant in the room.

Been driving EVs since 2014 (BMW i3, Renault Zoe, Tesla Model 3, Volvo C40). Like you we are lucky enough to have a 7kW wall box. I completely agree with everything you said and honestly, I’ve made the same points to friends and colleagues if they ask me about EVs. The government is not governing this situation properly (mind you they are not really governing anything properly so what did we expect?!).

I recently joined the EV community almost a year ago. I do have a home charger and it has been wonderful. I often have discussions with people about my EV and it always starts with the topic of charging. My advice to those is if you won't have the ability to charge at home, I caution against and EV if it is your primary mode of transportation. Just the few times I have used the charging network I am not a fan. Although it is only a 15 minute stop for me it is a hassle due to the fact that near me there isn't much of an option without driving several miles. Luckily the option I do have is with the company that I have free charging with for a while from when I bought my car. The EV experience has been amazing for me. I don't think I would say the same if I had to rely on public charging.

My honest opinion is that the future will involve a lot less personal car ownership and a lot more shared / public transport use.

You are so correct with respect to the cost of a new EV being out of reach for many of us. Also, the fact that the number one issue with used EV's is the battery, and the batteries cost a fortune to replace. I see the total cost of ownership of a new EV to be a bit too high for many people. I know plenty of people who find it a struggle to purchase some used car at $10,000 - $15,000. Good luck finding a good EV with a battery that isn't getting ready to die for that kind of cash. In fact, the price of all cars, both used and new, has gone up so much this year that most people I know are just refurbishing their present older cars. The price of a new transmission or a good deal of engine work is not much more then the sales tax on a new car these days. They can push EV's till icebergs float in Tampa Bay and if people just don't have the cash for one they are not going to give up their old gas powered clunkers until they will no longer move and parts are totally unavailable.

Thanks Pete, great content as always. A few points (from an ex Mach-e ‘owner’). Resetting the range clock does absolutely nothing to impact the range, it just resets it to the theoretical range until you e done a few trips and then normal ‘range calculation’ is resumed (240 on warm days, 200 on cold days). I didn’t have a home box, used the public network. It was a complete ball ache with charge points out of order or full on about 30% of journeys. Travelling to and from Cornwall on holiday with the family was god awful with all the waiting around to charge. And the public charge points say 50kwh…complete tosh! lucky to get 40kwh out of most. After 9 months I gave up. Back to dinosaur juice I’m afraid and life is so much easier. I’ll see what EVs look like in another 10 years - maybe. Keep the content coming, great work

I really can’t see any future government 'getting away' with increasing electricity prices in order to recoup lost revenue from petrol and diesel, simply because tax on petrol and diesel only affects drivers but increased tax on electricity affects everyone, regardless of whether they have a vehicle or not. Why should people who don’t have a car pay extra for their electricity?

What scares me is, what if the average range calculation is becoming more accurate as the car is going through more cycles? When you reset it is using a preloaded range number.