RustyWrench

I used to commute same route each morning before sunrise. On morning a guy was waiting for someone, and he complained about the brightness of my headlight. So the next morning I had two headlights, and again he complained. The next morning I had three, and he was actually amused!
One December my wife pondered what I might want for Christmas, so I said headlights. My young son looked quite confused and asked, "Daddy, why would you want head lice?". It's truly amazing the lights available even compared to 20 years ago.

Jay Turberville

Ages ago in the early '90s and before the advent of high power LED lamps, I was dismayed at the low power of most bike headlights. So I got a 7 AH 12v lead acid gel cell battery and modified a headlight to accept a 20 or 25 watt 12v halogen spotlight. It worked well and I could see down the road at night even when traveling at a good clip near 20 mph. I was pleased when occasionally oncoming traffic would flash their brights at me. Of course, I didn't want to annoy drivers and I'd tweak the headlight aim a bit in response. But it was good to know I was being seen just the same.

ScottCommutes

This perspective is so true! I commute 16 miles to work and coworkers ask how I could possibly do this. My honest reply is that everything in cycling (and roads, and clothing, and cars, and Amazon, etc.) is so much better than it was 20 years ago when I last tried commuting to work. They think cycling nowadays is crazy hard I think it is crazy easy.

PeteHski

driveway and garage charging - yes
Long road trips - yes occasionally, up to around 800 miles, no issues. Annual mileage around 15k miles
2 electric cars - yes, my wife has one too.
£10k for battery replacement - not an issue for me, I don't run them out of warranty (8 years, 120k miles)

Electric doesn't work for everyone, but hardly a select few.

Jay Turberville

I'd say it's probably not a majority, but it might be close to 50% who would benefit long term financially by buying an electric. But my experience with talking with people about their car purchases is that most don't do a good job of calculating true operating costs over time. Their car purchase are typically more emotion driven than financial. So their perceptions may not reflect reality. That goes both for people who buy electric and for those who do not.

PeteHski

The biggest cost of car ownership is usually depreciation and almost certainly so if buying a new car. As it happens my electric cars have had the lowest depreciation of any new car I’ve ever owned. Daily running costs have also been far lower.

jon c. 

The move to electric vehicles has been a bit slower than I would have imagined, but it seems clear that they will comprise the majority of vehicles in another decade or so.

I have no plans to buy one, but probably will at some point if I live long enough.

PeteHski

I think the speed of transition to electric depends a lot on where you live. Here in the UK there has been a large increase in the number of EVs over the last couple of years. The overall percentage of new car EV sales is still quite low (I think around 15-20%) but is growing rapidly. I’m 100% sure my kids will never consider owning an ICE car.

Leisesturm

Sorry, gonna call you out a little bit, you just in the other thread criticized those who post off-topic. What does this have to do with cycling? I wouldn't normally be annoyed, because I don't personally think going off topic is the worst thing a person can do. But to expect other people to take on the heavy lift of going to an all EV world is just too much. How are EV's going to "comprise the majority of vehicles in another decade", if people like you don't have any plans to buy one? Most cars built in the last 20 years can easily last two, three and much more decades. I see 50 year old cars everyday, and I don't mean fanatically well maintained examples at a Classic Car Show. There may come a time when people are forced to buy an EV even though their ICE car has plenty of life left. Life, but not necessarily a dollar value that can be used to leverage the purchase.

jon c. 

Not exactly. Was a bit more specific than that. And given your response that does seem to be the basis of your objection.

But point taken. I was indeed engaging in a continuing conversation that is at best only tangentially related to cycling.

SpedFast

A lot of the people that I know in the UK don't 'need' to own a vehicle at all. In fact, most of them don't. Your public transpo is so much more available than here in the states. I use my truck once a week if at all, but I need it for what I do. The alternative is much more cost prohibitive. I will probably never own an EV or Ebike. Just don't see that being an option for me.

Alan K

Yes, I have done that many times over the years.

Alan K

Why do I feel that “invention” of fire may have elicited very similar responses.

JoeyBike

The jury is still out on the fire discovery thingy.

Alan K

I bet problems with credible eye witnesses.

Jay Turberville

Right. And that's something many people forget to factor in. Also insurance and registration/vehicle license tax tend to be greater costs with new cars and buyers will often pay more in interest over the years as well. This is one reason I just don't buy new cars. OK. One exception. we bought my wife a new 350z on her retirement.

For people who buy new cars and who do the vast majority of driving in the city, I'd expect the right electric car to give them net saving over time. Especially if they are inclined to own the car for at least a moderately long time and have a situation where they can effectively charge at home.

Jay Turberville

My plan is that my current 2006 350z with about 100,000 miles on it will be the last car I own. I think I can do that if it doesn't get wrecked. Part of that is because I don't drive it a lot, using my ebike instead. I hope that mention doesn't take this even further off-topic. :^)

john m flores 

And reflective ankle bands.

Alan K

You may want to check on the prices of batteries, you may be off by 50-80%.
When Tesla came out with their wonder machines, a friend bought one with higher capacity battery to increase the range by additional 75-100 miles for about $10 surcharge (don’t remember the exact figure now). He tried to convince me to get one too, one of his supporting argument was that I’ll never have to buy gasoline. My immediate response was that you have already paid upfront for all the gasoline I might ever buy.

There are a few other reasons that make me less than enthusiastic about purchasing a Tesla, including the quality of how it is put together… which will probably improve with time. Last year a friend’s son’s Tesla’s front wheel took off on own accord on the highway, leaving the car and driver behind - a little too automagicy for my comfort!

SpedFast

They were probably blinded by the light....

Alan K

Yes, my package has included four things, a front LED light, a rear light that can be seen from the side as well, a pair of reflective bands and 3M adhesive backed tape that cab glued on the helmet and fenders etc.

I highly recommend wearing screamingly loud shiny yellow or orange outer layer with reflective strips while riding a bicycle, which I always do. Don’t want give an excuse for anyone that they couldn’t see me.

Alan K

Most Japanese cars last 200,000 miles with routine nominal maintenance work. Toyota among them seem exceptionally good.
We have had a couple of Honda (Accura) over the years, they weren’t bad but not quite as good as the ones made by Tiyota. Our Accura started having problems with engine mounts - something to do with the type of synthetic material they used for dampening vibrations. We were told by our mechanic that it’s a common problem with them. It already had about 180,000 miles so we decided to donate it.

Jay Turberville

Yes. Toyota and Honda seem the best. Unfortunately, the one Toyota I owned was stolen and both Hondas were destroyed via rear end collision at a stop light. Yes, the universe has a sense of humor.

Alan K

But this the kosher narrative so it’s ok. The only thing I didn’t like about it that my infrequent consumption of yummy cows and milk is implicated as a bad thing. A ver unholy thing to do!

Alan K

That’s unfortunate!

One of our children’s Honda Accord was recycled by the Nature last year.

We had quite a few rains during the week or two and the ground was already saturated. One morning I went to get some half & half for our coffee/tea, and less than 20 minutes later came back to see the car completely destroyed.

Now those of you who may be under the impression that corporations do not believe in God, you would be very mistaken. Insurances are firm believers in God, at least when it helps them getting out of making payments for damages by labeling such events as an “Act of God”!

The car looked like new before the Nature decided to recycle it, we even had a new set of tires installed a month earlier. It did have about 146,000 miles. Some times things just happen over which we have no control.