[quote=AN]Back to the Model 3, I don’t understand why you would say the owner of a Model 3 would be immune to fuel costs. Have you checked your SDG&E bill lately? If you don’t have solar, I wouldn’t say you’re immune to fuel costs.
I would say autonomous cars would affect the commute more than an EV. With autonomous car, you can actually work while you’re “commuting”. Then, essentially, you’re no longer “commuting”, since you can start working as soon as you get into the car.
As for road noise, I think tire noise is much louder than the noise the engine make at ~2k RPM driving down the freeway. So, I don’t think EV would make that big of a difference.
You also have to keep in mind that EV today is only viable for a small group of people. It’s not suitable for 18-wheelers, worker trucks, poor people, people who live in older areas in a condo/apartment, etc. I think EV has a long long way to go to be suitable to replace majority of vehicles on the road. Unless there’s a breakthrough that would drastically decrease the cost of producing batteries and drastically increase the density of the battery and drastically reduce the charge time of the battery (20-30 min down to 2-3 minutes).[/quote]
I do agree there are still limitations and much needed progress is still necessary to bring the technology to the broader public.
However, with TOU rates, the charging can be exceptionally affordable. And certainly used LEAFs out there are dirt cheap to afford.
Assuming a 30 mile each way commute, that translates to 1200 miles per month, or $100 gas bill at 30 mile/gal and $2.5 per gal.
Even without solar, TOU rates at night are at 18 cents per kwh. at 4 miles per kwh, that 1200 miles would yield a cost of $54.
And this comparison is with gasoline at its lowest cost in some time.
If we are looking at folks with solar like you and I, it becomes an absolute no-brainer. I just had my yearly SDGE bill coming in. $150 for my yearly electric bill when my electric bill was previously $1800 and my gasoline bill was previously $2200. So essentially $4000 bill reduced to $150 after spending $10k for the solar panels. Which means a ROI rate of less than 3 years.
