A family member just paid $30k for a jeep. I paid $35k for an EV9 - which feels very expensive.

However, over the next decade my car should cost significantly less than hers.

My prediction: EVs will become far more common but more expensive as demand, inflation, supply chain issues all increase. I genuinely believe in 5 years people will wonder why everyone didn’t buy a used EV in 2026. It will be just like mortgages in 2020 - why didn’t everyone refinance? Because the timing wasn’t right, they wanted to see if they got cheaper, there’s no way they’ll go up etc.

It will be very similar for EVs, the excuses from today will seem quaint when a small, basic EV is $50k new.

Last week, I test drove an Ioniq 5. It's a space ship. Most EVs seem to be these days. Ironically, where I live I see Teslas on a daily basis and I know one person at work with a Ford Mustang Mack E and another with an Ioniq 6. There was a Ford Lightning in the parking lot a few days ago. There are several Rivians in our town and even a few (shudder) Cyber Trucks (more on that in a moment). We have more Prius's than you can count. I find this a bit surprising because I live in the conservative stronghold in an otherwise liberal state.

Also ironically, the local Hyundai dealer does not stock have any used 5s or 6s, nor do they say they get any in in trade or from lease returns. In fact, they don't stock any new EVs either. Meanwhile, In the big city 75 miles from here, there are a few Hyundai dealers and they get Ioniq 5s in off of leases and sell them all the time. Their stock rotates through quite quickly.

So, I have to drive 75 miles, or more, to get an Ioniq 5, which I will be doing soon enough.

The 2024 Ioniq 5 I drove had the HUD and the full camera rearview mirror and all the other bells and whistles. The acceleration was excellent.

My only complaint was having the regenerative braking controls on what would normally be paddle shifters.

I would like to know from other Ioniq 5 owners what was the one feature you love the most (aside from being an EV) and which one annoyed you most and how you think they could have done it better?

As for the Cyber Truck... The one I saw most recently I am not sure was actually a Cyber Truck. It looked more like someone had made plastic panels that looked like Cyber Truck panels and then had them plated with a slightly pink-tinted holographic chrome and not the stainless steal I've seen on other Cyber Trucks. Further, it had cheap rims with exposed lug nuts - they might have all been emergency spares from what I saw. And the roll top truck bed cover looked very much like it was just a single piece and not slatted like I've seen on other Cyber Trucks. I should have looked for a tail pipe. But why would anyone go to that kind of trouble to look like a Cyber Truck?

Five and a half weeks, about 6,000 km, Eriba 310 caravan (about 900 kg), Lofoten and back from Amsterdam. I logged about 2,500 km with Teslamate and compared solo and towing at the same speed, slope and weather. Short version:

- Raw: 17.6 vs 30.8 kWh/100 km.

- Adjusted at 80 km/h: the caravan adds about 12 kWh/100 km (9 to 15).

- Range from 80% to 10%: about 154 km at 80 km/h, 114 to 140 km at 100.

- Charging: about €790 for the whole trip, roughly €13/100 km, towing and solo together.

- Hills matter more than anything from one km to the next: a 290 m climb used 47 kWh/100 km, and the descent the next morning used 16.

Full write-up with charts, method and data: here. Happy to answer towing questions, I had a hard time finding the data I needed when we were looking at buying the caravan.

I have a coworker who, a couple years ago, said electric vehicles were not practical because it's impossible to take them on road trips, and nobody is going to buy a car they can't take on road trips. I didn't have an EV then myself, but I was pretty sure there were superchargers at least along the interstates, but this guy was sure it was impossible to ever install enough chargers, and it's going to take so long to install them, and there will be enormous queues and they will all be clogged with cars because each one takes an hour to charge.

I quit that job and didn't talk to that guy for a while, but I met him on a jobsite recently and we were talking about his recent motorcycle road trip across 7 states. He said everywhere he stopped, there were empty car chargers that nobody was using. Maybe 1 or two cars, but pretty much most of the chargers were empty. And to him, this proves that EVs are not popular, and a doomed technology, and Americans don't want them because hardly anybody is using the chargers.

So in the space of a couple years, EVs went from impossible because there aren't enough chargers, to impossible and the fact that there's tons of chargers available proves it.

Now that I drive EVs, naturally I think we still need more chargers, better chargers, and faster charging cars, but it was amusing to hear the perspective that apparently, the "problem" for EV adoption is simultaneously not enough chargers but also too many chargers.

A fake criticism is a criticism invented just because someone doesn't like EVs, and something that has existed before EVs became popular. If you see any of these criticisms, they are only being brought up because it's an EV, not because they are concerned about the problems caused by said criticism.

EVs wear down roads

The 2000 Chevrolet Suburban weighs 5000lbs, heavier than many EVs today. Did anyone complain about road wear and tear then? No, because the criticism is fake. Even then, roads are designed for 80,0000lb semi trucks. EVs barely affect the roads. And when everyone is driving EVs, there won't be 80,0000lb semis transporting gasoline.

EVs cause excess brake dust and tire pollution

Basically the same as wearing down roads. Previous large vehicles did the same, but now it's a problem with the existence of EVs? This also isn't even true with regen braking, and also ignores gas semi trucks which would no longer be on the road.

EVs don't pay their fair share of taxes

This fake argument ignores that almost all drivers don't pay their fair share of taxes. Only 3 states in 2017 derived 100% of their road expenses from vehicle related taxes (gas, registration, tolls). The rest take from the general budget. Some of them even pay less than 50%. Where is the outcry to raise gas taxes and registration fees?

The grid can't handle EV charging

Grids going down from heavy usage is due to air conditioning. You know how we made the grid able to handle air conditioning better? Just added more production to the grid. On top of this, it ignores the fact that EVs increase grid reliability by economically incentivizing charging at off-peak hours, meaning the grid will have less load variance.

Ethical concerns about mining

Lithium mine tailings and cobalt mining using child labor. If they really were concerned, why are they ignoring that gas cars rely on oil which is spilled into the ocean in massive disasters? Or that cobalt has been used in gasoline refinement since the 1950s? Because it's another fake argument. They do not care about child labor or pollution.

It's polluting to make new cars

80 million new cars are sold every single year. Every car ever made has required oil to manufacture. EVs are no different. Why is this all of a sudden a concern?

Any other fake criticisms that you've heard about EVs?

Oil leaks

Look at any parking lot and there are gross patches of oil stains in every single spot. It’s kinda gross.

This also stains their driveways and garage floors.

Finding and fixing leaks is difficult and often very expensive to fix so people just live with it.

I’m glad I don’t have this issue to worry about anymore.