China's EVs are fueling a big oil demand slowdown
Oil demand in China has slowed markedly this year amid the countrys shift to electric vehicles and natural gas, Goldman Sachs analysts said
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I need a car because I live in a semi-rural area outside city limits the nearest public transportation would be a 2-mile walk including crossing a four-lane highway. I'm under no illusions that driving an EV will solve climate change, but boy would I like to never have to fill my car up in the middle of an Indiana February again.
I had coworkers that had all electric EVs (both had nissan leafs) 5 years ago and they both said it was like 7 dollars a month as a daily 60 mile per day commuter.
Aside from Teslas (which are afaik impossible to repair) the estimate is that due to fewer moving parts the lifetime maintenance costs are 2/3 the cost of gas vehicles AND the vehicles are expected to last longer in general (no giant gas engine that needs to be rebuilt every 200,000 miles)
This is one place where like gas car companies see this and keep trying to kick the can down the road
Today I sold my beloved 2008 Mini, partly because, while the engine was still completely sound at 130k miles (barring the turbo that blew up three years ago), the rest of the car was beginning to fall apart. One of the rear light clusters kept shorting, interior panels worked themselves loose, the AC stopped working, the self leveling mechanism in one of the headlights broke. And so on, and so on.
I’m genuinely sad that I had to let it go, but it was on the cusp of being a massive pain in the ass to sort out.
But that engine was still solid.
I had a Lexus ES350 that had a melting dash, and the recall for it has ended a year prior to me having the issue. Essentially the dash was engineered to be easier to recycle/break down - but inadvertently had a lifetime limitation to it. The rest of the car was in decent enough shape and didn't give me any real problems. There were alternate solutions to fixing the dash, but once you start talking 200000 miles on a chassis - you're gonna start replacing things. Touched surfaces start breaking down; things with less robust parts (cd player) start having issues etc. Overall the entire package just starts looking tired, and replacing the whole thing looks more attractive than trying to find parts for a fifteen year old car. Perhaps modularization in the future can help. For instance I wouldn't have minded replacing the audio system in the car - but it was very much a specialized installation that wasn't a standardized "double din" setup. Also trying to find basic comforts like replacement seat cushions or leather to match gets tricky after the manufacturer stops keeping stock.