EV-101: The Cons / Challenges of Owning And Driving An Electric Vehicle 

I have a 2023 Model 3 and don’t have any negative things to say. No smog checks , no oil changes, no tune ups, don’t have to worry about gas prices. It’s very quick and instant power, charge at home and Fed tax credit. It’s all good to me.

In this EV-103 tutorial, I must amplify one of Dave’s great points. If your EV is not a Tesla, there’s great “charger-anxiety” and not really range anxiety. Last week leaving Marco, FL , I stopped at the EA charger at Walmart in Naples. Only 2 of 4 stalls were operating and I had to wait 20 minutes for a stall. Ugg ! When rude people don’t return to their vehicle after charge complete, press release button at door to remove charging handle so you can use it.

I like you guys talking about charging time. That is one area I TOTALLY APPRECIATE having an EV for actually. I see it as a POSITIVE not a negative! Before long, these things will be non issues, as longer range batteries become standard, and technology makes it so you can charge in 5 mins like a gas car. But now with an EV especially a tesla, you plug in which takes 5 seconds and you sit back in your car.. or walk around etc as you said... but this gives you QUALITY time. Like Kathy said, you can do emails and texts at thee stops.... which is SAFER. No typing and driving. You can relax! I never realized until I had my EV how on long road trips I was pummeling down the road not thinking about stops until I had to use a restroom... This gives you natural stops. Not only that.. if you're tired you can take a quick power nap. It forces you to be a better driver and have a more quality trip. And new EV owners think charging has to be an hour ordeal. It's usually max 20 maybe 25 mins in a Tesla and usually. less as we know. Unless you have a Bolt or car charging at 50kw you only need a few mins at a fast charger. Sorry for the long post.. I just REALLY feel the charging stops are a BENEFIT... As Ferris once said, ""Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Thanks Dave & Kathy, these are all great "con" points to consider. It's good to take a realistic view as you say. Today's EV owners are kind of taking the challenge of working with these EVs because eventually if enough owners go with an EV, we will see as is already happening that the price of gas will go up. When fewer drivers stop at gas stations that changes the business calculation since fewer buyers of gas means each barrel of oil brings in less revenue making the job of finding oil, pumping and refining it, transporting it to gas stations more expensive. I applaud the early adopters who are willing to be the guinea pigs in this EV experiment.

I’m loving having Kathy on these videos!!!

Kathy really adds alot to your content.

Yea these are all valid concerns. In my experience, the pros outweighs them greatly however. I was without my EV for a couple of months and immediately wanted it back. 😅 nothing beats these things

Thanks, Dave & Kathy, this episode was excellent. I’ll recommend it to friends when they consider buying an EV

It’s funny that all these cons only feel like they are for other cars other than teslas. Teslas supercharging network makes it easy.

I had a friend who complained about the gas that was in ID4. To be fair my mother had made Ranch style beans the night before.

Another awesome video. Thanks Dave, thanks Kathy. I think if someone really wants to try an EV, they should do some research, then rent one for a week or longer. It’s the easiest way to decide if an EV is right for you.

I just picked up a new Model Y Long Range for $37,000 after tax credits. Just last year it was out of my price range at around $60,000. On top of the prices getting lower, seeing the entire industry switch to NACS is amazing. Range anxiety for so many people will be going away here soon. It’s going to be an amazing next 10 years as a huge swath of the US converts over.

I think watching RU-vid videos is great for people to learn, but Facebook groups is where it's at because those are real people who own the cars talking about the good, the bad and the ugly. The downside of YT is that most content creators are looking for the monetization aspect and won't talk much about the bad and the ugly. So point is, look at all sources, YT is fantastic, FB groups are great, talk to your friends, coworkers, or family that own EV's - get their unbiased opinions too. Just educate yourself BEFORE taking the plunge. These videos you guys are doing are great! Keep it up.

Great video as always. It's so useful when talking about a car as just a car. Not all whistle and bells, range tests, charging speed, maximising range and so on.. But talking about a car as a thing you actually transport yourself in. It's useful for those who are thinking of EV buying. I have looked at so many videos from the Out of Spec with all of you running around US and even Norway, Finland and Sweden (where I come from). And seeing how effortless it's done really convinced me that EV is a no brainer... I ordered my Model 3 Highland LR September 27 and now I can't wait to start driving EV. Thanks to you guys and girls on the Out of Spec channels for all info and great stuff.

There is an ongoing theme in these videos about " a debate needs to be had on whether EV's from inception throughout life including charging on the grid, are actually cleaner" , that in itself is FUD and needs to stop, as this has been proven a million times over.

I appreciate these episodes. I am just starting to look into my first EV and this offers much clarity.

Great informative video with you both. Kathy makes it fun. Thanks 😊

Great content as always. On the environmental impact, Engineering Explained has a great video that talks through how long it takes for an EV to overcome the emissions of an ICE car taking into account the minerals and it’s fairly low in most cases. Basically he shows how unless you are in a place where all of your electricity comes from coal (e.g. WV), even if you are primarily natural gas it’s still better for the most part. In the long term it will be better as the grids get cleaner. For me getting an EV wasn’t primarily about green, more about the cost savings and tech but I do think even now in most grids it’s overall better and provide the option and of course provides the possibility for improvement in the future. I agree I don’t think EVs are for everyone right now. Good things for people considering to think about.

Love the series

Great video. Learned a lot. Waiting until 2025 to buy my first electric car. Trying to learn as much as I can. Really enjoy your sons and your videos . By the way your wife is gorgeous.

the tax credit does not lower the price of the car it lowers your tax liability up to 7500

ICE cars never measure the environment or anything like wind and uphill and downhill are calculated but I love that Tesla gives you more readings and understanding. ICE cars are so inefficient sucking money right out of your pockets and buying more gas. EVs give you a better understanding. Awesome video!

No cons here. We have a model Y performance and love it. We would buy another Tesla in a heartbeat. I don’t miss pumping gas or oil changes at all 😀

install the Tesla charger at home if you can afford it (for 40+ miles)

“Time can be an issue” If you can charge at home, the flip side to 20-40 minute charge breaks when road tripping is never having to spend time planning stops at, driving to, waiting in line at, and filling up the car at, a gas station. The car is effectively magically “full” every time you wake up, and unless where you need to go that day exceeds your range you don’t have to worry about arriving home nearly ‘empty’. That’s a lot of time Back for a lot of us. Heck if your daily drive is 30-40 miles you can recover that overnight off a 110v charger. Even more if you work from home or can charge at work. (Figure on average about 3 miles of range per hour charging on a standard 110v outlet)

Another great video production. Good to see seat belt use for safety too.

EV charging at home often costs far less than gas. So while you might not save much money on road trips, you surely will save a lot on your daily driving. I did the math, and I'm saving $900 on gas costs just for my 5000 miles a year of local driving: • I pay 8¢ a kWh which gets me 4 miles, so that's $100 total cost • A similar gas car does 25 miles on a $5 gallon of premium, so that's $1000 total cost

Coal is a thing of the past in much of the country, for example there are no coal plants in New England. Coal plants are being shutdown because they are much more expensive to run than other forms of energy. But even if you live in a place that has coal EVs are still cleaner. The reason is that power plants are at least twice as efficient as internal combustion engines plus your grid will have a lot of other sources besides the coal plants. On the coasts a Model 3 emits less than half of the carbon as a Prius and 1/4th the carbon of a non hybrid. Even in places where the grid is the worst an EV is cleaner than a gas car, it might not be by much but it's always cleaner.

Good video, Dave & Kathy. Agree with the range and charger anxiety cons. Tesla is the clear winner by a long shot. On long distance trips, it just takes a different mindset (than that of ICE vehicles) to plan. Just have to combine restroom and meal breaks and it all goes very well (that is, if you have a Tesla.) Other EVs, it’s a crapshoot every time, especially as Kathy said, “if during a holiday weekend…” personally, I wouldn’t risk it with another EV make with wife/family. On battery safety, I’ve had Tesla EVs since 2018 and never had a safety incident, never had a major maintenance issue, but had some minor “headaches” which you touched on, but they are minor. The biggest is remembering to adjust when you have both EV and ICE vehicles in your house-but that alternating adjustment becomes reflexive over time (one pedal driving vs. two can be problematic for some ppl.) There’s more, but your vid touched most of the cons or contrasts.

With Cathy on charging anxiety but big changes ahead with Tesla chargers opening up to others. Even though I plan to use primarily locally.

Great review as usual. Love my Ioniq 5 but road trips are iffy due to poor charging options. Things no doubt will be better in a year or so when we can use Tesla locations.

Great video! These are good topics for anyone considering buying an EV. One suggestion I have, which may not be practical, is to provide actual data comparing EVs to ICE cars. For example EV fires vs ICE fires and EV tire failures vs ICE failures. I think we hear a lot about EV fires and tire failure in social media but fewer ICE fires and tire failures not because EVs have these in greater numbers, but rather because no one is interested in videos or social media posts about ICE vehicle fires and/or ICE tire failures. This gives us biased view on how much this affects EVs vs ICE vehicles. Anyway, keep up the good work.

As for car wash mode.. you mentioned, you mentioned to use it in the TOUCH car washes to make sure the charge port doesn't open.. Just to let people know, even in the "touch free" car washes where they spray high pressure water on your car, you sill need car wash mode to prevent charge port from opening.... the pressure can do it. Also car wash mode seems to make sure the charge port door is snug. You can hear it when you go to that mode. I use it all the time, and like Kathy said it can be hard to find because its in the service menu. I really love the car but there is tons it can do to even be smarter moving forward... such as prompt you when it sees you are near a car wash and say "Do you want to enter car wash mode"... I know privacy is an issue with some people, but using location data it can do so much more... and location data doesnt even have to leave the vehicle to do it... Juist thoughts... they do so much to get you to a non busy working supercharger, imagine if they did more with things like that...

Good video. One thing you mention is the energy creation being not "green". Well, one thing about using oil, natural gas, or coal to generate electricity. It is MUCH more clean to make the energy using that than burning diesel or petrol in an ICE.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the grid to reach overwhelm with this new demand emerging. I say get rid of Bitcoin mining for a little extra grid capacity. The record of expanding the grid (in terms of time) equates to a very slow expansion. At today's buildout rate I've seen estimates of 70-90 years to accommodate anticipated demand.

Insurance runs higher on Teslas vs. gas cars of similar price. In my case 25% more. Don’t know about other EV makes.

Good info for EV newbies! Like you say, there are "cons" for anything in life. None of them have been a challenge for me over the last 13 years with my two EVs, although my first one, a Nissan LEAF, had pitiful range. BTW, I was thrilled yesterday to hear that Hyundai Motors has officially jumped on the NACS bandwagon, even stating that they'll be installing those ports in their vehicles in Q4 2024! Golly gee… Kathy could have kept her GV60, grit her teeth with CCS charging for a year… and then be able to use Superchargers!

I have been driving Teslas since 2013. So, I have a bit of experience… wow, you make it sound MUCH more complicated than it actually is! In my 10 years, I have NEVER blown out a tire on a pothole! That said, I don’t use the large rims, I use the “base” rims. It makes for a more comfortable ride, and you get better range. About road trips: You never said that Tesla makes it easy with the Trip Planner on the main screen. Enter in your destination, and the car will figure out in advance where you need to stop, and how long you need to stay. That relieves a lot of the anxiety. You can also see the other Superchargers nearby, and maybe you might want to use another one instead of the ones that Tesla chose, and that’s ok. Maybe a different one has better restaurants. The car will recalculate the trip if you do. Also know the car charges faster if the battery is low, below 20%. If you want to minimize your charge time, try to arrive at the SuperCharger with about 10% battery, and then plan to charge to about 50, maybe 60%. Then go on to the next one. Charging to full or nearly full is what takes a lot of time. It’s actually faster to stop 3 times to charge from 10 to 50 percent, than stop once and fully charge! Also, when road tripping, try to take advantage of hotels that offer EV charging. That can save you the cost of a charge and time at a SuperCharger. You make it sound so complicated! The cars are smart! They are connected to the Internet, and can find chargers. Let the technology in the cars do the difficult part! Pop it in AutoPilot on the highway, and enjoy the drive!

Dave and Kathi, let me ask you one question: Do you have an ICE vehicle in your garage? My wife and I each have an EV (she has a ‘21 VW ID.4 PRO, I have a ‘21 Tesla M3 SR+). They’re the only vehicles we have for our family (2 adults, 2 teenage boys, 2 dogs). We use them just like we used to use our Toyotas: daily commutes, day trips, and long (1,000-5,500 miles) vacation trips. Yes, there are differences and considerations when going from an ICE vehicle to an EV. My wife was very hesitant about getting an EV for her car until she saw just how easy it was to live with when I got my M3 (I got it in March, she bought her VW in July). Our EVs do not restrict or hamper us, our lives, or our lifestyle. They have liberated us. Good video. Important information.

love your OUT OF SPEC hoodie, do you have a store???

A couple of points to add about charging time: 1) For local driving you can just drive all day, then spend 5 seconds to plug in when you are home for the night. No need to spend time stopping at a gas station on the way. Charging is always complete before you leave in the morning. EV>Gas. 2) For road trips you can plan your bathroom breaks and meal breaks to be at Superchargers. Our car is always sufficiently charged to continue before we are ready to move on, so no extra time needed. EV>Gas, if you plan ahead. If you cannot charge at home it can be possible to make an EV work, if you want to work at it. Perhaps by DC fast charging while you do your grocery shopping. However gas cars are more convenient for most people who can't charge at home. Personally, if I were in this situation, I would try to get EV charging installed where I live, or move to someplace that had EV charging.

Wonderful job kids. Dave please consult "Fully charged show-biggest electric car bull shattered" for your concerns about tire wear, driving green, and the battery

This series is great content! All of your videos are great but I really think this type of informational content is needed more and more as the EV market ramps up! Keep up the great work, and I love when you have Kathy with you!

There’s far too much FUD on EV fires. Clearly, if your EV had a history of battery fires like the Chevy Bolt, don’t park it near the house. Also, if your EV could be in a flood, get it to higher ground immediately to avoid a fire. Frankly, I’m stunned so many EV owners ignored this rule recently during Hurricane Ian. I witnessed it. Other than these cases, it’s much more likely to have an ICE car fire than EV fire. How much? NTSB data claims a 42X greater chance of a fire in a gas car. Per 100,000 vehicles, there have been only 25 fires for EVs vs 1530 for ICE vehicles. Looking at one-billion miles driven, NTSB says 5 fires for EVs and 55 for ICE, or 11X difference. EVs have far fewer fires. But they are much harder to put out. Fortunately, fire possibility is very low. EV fires release more toxic gases. Why do we hear more about EV fires? Remember, rule #1 of journalism, “if it blends, it reads”. Relative to fires and other factors, I feel much safer in an EV. Tom Moloughney deserves all credit for NTSB data and concepts.

What I do on road trips is drive until I’m at 5-10% then stop at the Supercharger. Once the speed drops to under 100kw I get back on the road.

I wonder how many future house fires will happen when many people start charging from a 220v outlet that was installed 20 to 30 years ago, and a DIY guy assumes all the connections are still good? The car is not the only thing that could catch fire. My brother is doing this in Sun City and he's aware his house has aluminum wiring.

For long trips where you keep to interstates, there is absolutely no charger anxiety for Teslas. However if you get off the interstates, it’s murky. We are looking at a trip to Vermont and traveling along the interstates isn’t a problem. Scenic drives in the interior are a charging desert.

All the Teslas are the best deal in the EV market right now, and lower priced than ever. No better time than right now to get one.

The GOMs on EV are worse on EVs than ICE, so, when switching to an EV, you have to learn how to compute what your actual range is. (Road Trips)

Great Video Dave and Mom... A few thoughts.... Although fires burn hotter, and they are still learning about the best ways to extinguish, there are still way less EV fires than road car fires. The battery pack on Teslas is protected by a Titanium frame and a lot of people are afraid of fires... but this just doesn't normally happen. I'd hate for new buyers to be scared about fires as it is such a rarity.

"I am so green" I have solar panels on my roof. I can't do anything about the grid. I recycle too, but none of my relatives do. Should I just give up and trash everything. If only 1 person of one hundred do the responsible thing...that makes a positive impact. Not a pass for the other 99 to polute but maybe I convince a 2nd person

Regarding fires, the last stats I saw indicate that car fires are 3X more common with gas cars than EV’s. So risk wise we are far more likely to lose a gas car to fire than an EV, because pretty much any fire is gonna total a car.

A lot of FUD regarding BEV (battery electric vehicles) catching fire. The actual statistics as reported by Kelly Blue Book from a detailed study done by AutoinsuranceEZ from data collected from the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) had the following findings based on latest available data. Rank and Fuel Type Fires per 100,000 sales Total Fires Electric 25.1 52 Gas 1,529.9 199,533 Hybrid 3,474.5 16,051

It’s not a lot of people but there is enough who pay with cash. That’s another concern as we get closer to 2030-35. I’m sure used ICE will be around a very long time.

I think once all these manufacturers go to Teslas connector, things will be much smoother. The lithium ion fires are a problem but hopefully that will be solved one day. We are still in the very early stages of EVs. And solar is getting more efficient every year, so the dirty electricity will start to go away.

One comment. That kknow your EV charging station chart’ is wacky. It states 60 to 80 miles gained in 20 minutes on a DC charger. My Ioniq 5 can gain more like 180 miles in 20 minutes.

this is why i only do leases, you dont lose

If you can use a smart phone, you can use EV control. If you have range anxiety, buy a Tesla for its wonderful charging infrastructure.

Hi Dave, may i know who is liable if there tesla catches fire in the parking of an apartment ?

Thanks for the videos as always. Just a couple of thoughts... 1. energy sources. Although nuclear is not a "renewable" energy source, it is considered a "clean" energy source as 1kg of Uranium produces as much energy as 2.7 Million kg of Coal. Using Renewables and nuclear alone puts that total of clean energy at 39.7% slightly behind natural gas and far ahead of coal. So no, charging your EV is mostly not a dirty endeavor at DC fast chargers as much more of that energy that is being put in your vehicle is coming from clean and renewable sources rather than coal. If you include natural gas in that as well, which is not totally clean but is again significantly cleaner than coal, that percentage jumps up to almost 80% of all electricity generated in the US is clean/renewable or almost clean. it takes a typical EV about a year or 15,000 miles of usage to get to CO2 parity compared to an ICE equivalent. If you live in a "coal state" it could take up to 5 years. But as we have seen, pure coal usage for electric generation is not the norm and it is also falling. Here is a cool calculator by state you can see that breaks down electricity generation and how much CO2 is generated by vehicle type. widgets.nrel.gov/afdc/electricity-sources-and-emissions/#/ The second thing is that for EV fires. As you stated, when an EV catches fire, it is often in the news because of whatever sensationalist reason, thermal runaway or the amount of water it takes. But, per the latest data, there were 1,529 ICE fires per every 100,000 miles driven. Whereas, there were only 25 EV fires per 100,000 miles putting ICE fires as 60 times more likely than an EV fire. Battery technology and makeup continues to improve as well and in the future with the different battery makeups, even the 25 number should improve. ICE however, doesn't change. Hopefully this additional information will help anyone who has questions regarding these 2 things. Thanks again for everything you and Kathy do.

I would like to know do you recommend when charging your ev inside of a garage or outside

Eventually, lawmakers and other greedy people will turn Evs from an advantage to a costly disadvantage. Between the cost of repairs and insurance, they will keep adding laws that will cost you more in the long run. I still like my Tesla but the infrastructure needs to be better.

Another con: Higher costs of insurance and annual license tab

Charging speed, infrastructure, cost for fuel and maintenance all set aside, driving an EV is a much better driving experience period, drive one for half an hour and you will throw rocks at your ice vehicle.

Gee, I guess we wouldn’t have power plants if we didn ‘t have EVs? Come on. Plus, factor in getting oil out of the ground, the refining process, transportation of gas, discharge at gas stations, leakage into ground water and I could go on.

Have frequently rented EVs through Hertz and Turo for more than a year. Pros and Cons: I won’t buy a CCS car yet due to the unreliable charging network. I like the Model Y, but each one rented has a quality issue. The latest was a very noisy front gearbox whine, the rest of the car was great quality. Most Model 3 & Y’s I rent have poor quality interiors. Thinking of buying a used Model S, but need to more closely look into interior quality. I’ve also rented Polestars and they’ve all been perfect, European quality, but finding a reliable CCS charger is a problem. I wish Tesla would apply the same quality and materials to Model 3 & Y as Polestar.

If you place an order and then the price drops before your delivery date doesn't Tesla honor the price drop?

I think this one is EV-103, but I have some constructive criticism on the gas fill up vs. charge time discussion. It started to get a bit complicated about how the car charging works technically without ever actually summarizing for the beginner audience what they can expect for time to charge. Of course, this can vary by charge speed, amount of electricity needed, and the actual car you own. It would be helpful to explain destination charging vs. on the road charging and the philosophy difference there. But, in summary, 10-90 minutes of charging is the range you can expect based on a wide number of factors.

I agree with most of your cons however I do want to pushback in one aspect of your charging con & worrying about range. Whine you said nothing that was incorrect about long road trips & the ability to charge on CCS that actually only covers a very small percentage of people. The average distance that the overwhelming majority of Americans drive on a roadtrip is 284 miles. Anecdotally, I live in the DC area & the furthest I’d drive no matter what time he engine is Philly to the north & Durham NC to the south however for the majority of people anything more than 300 miles they are likely to fly. The biggest negative with EVs & the charging infrastructure are people who cannot charge at home. There are over 50 million people who live in apartments or condos & at least here in the Northeast corridor finding affordable homes or townhomes that have garages isn’t that easy. The town I live in outside DC only has one Tesla & one EA fast charger so if I didn’t have a garage where I could charge an EV wouldn’t be feasible mostly because I’d first have to make sure I never got so low that I couldn’t make it to the chargers that are about 6 & 8 miles away but I’d also have to carve out a big chunk of time to do it. Also, just for you know what & giggles I looked up chargers for the neighborhood I grew up in & on the entire south side of Chicago there aren’t any CCS chargers. The south side is the largest part of the city & the closest CCS charger was an EA almost 20 miles away from the house I grew up in. Plus the traditional Chicago brick bungalows that are common there have detached garages which means running electric lines to install chargers can be several thousand dollars. While I benefit from getting a tax credit I feel like most of that money would be better spent in giving credits to have more home charging in apartments, condos & homes that the cost rises above a reasonable amount.

EV's are too inconvenient. Just gas and go.

We took our friends Tesla from Miami to Atlanta. What should have been a 9 hour trip. It took 17 hours of anxiety. It was horrible.