I am not entirely opposed to the prospect of an EV, however I don't think the technology and infrastructure is mature enough for me at this point. Given my daily commute is 12 miles round trip, on paper an EV I sound like a prime candidate. The problem is I own a condo in a brownstone building in a city and have garaged parking. The problem would be installing 240v charging in garage that I don't independently own, which would likely end up being horrifically expensive if it's even really practically feasible at all due to the way things are arranged. It would likely cost many many thousands and it's just not worth it to me to spend many thousands of dollars that will never be recouped. For this to happen at a sensible cost would likely require everyone in my HOA to agree make the investment together, which is unlikely to happen anytime soon- especially as some of the units are rented and adding EV charging likely won't command a higher rent.
My workplace does not have charging stations either at the moment. Driving to the nearest fast charger and waiting to charge my car is not something I want to deal with... plus the fast charing (supercharging) is not the ideal way to charge a battery if you're looking for longevity. Once more charging stations are available and better, faster technology exists, this will be less of a problem.
As for the cars themselves, I'm not in love with most of the options out there. Tesla makes the most sense due their charging infrastructure and generally more advanced technology. That said, I don't find their cars to be that nice, the quality appears to be questionable, and the service/support seems to be quite underwhelming. It's one thing for a car to have problems, it's another to have problems getting the support you need, especially in a timely manner. And this is the biggest complaint I hear from Tesla owners. Their insurance costs are also quite ridiculous. According to Car and Driver the average Tesla annual insurance rate is over $4500. Presumably this may come down with Tesla's in-house insurance (allegedly 20-30%), but that's only available in CA at the moment.
Frankly, I don't find most the EV's on the market compelling- either way too expensive, not aesthetically appealing, or lacking sufficient range. They often, regardless of price, seem to cut corners on the interior to make the car more affordable or to balance the high cost of the drivetrain technology. I expect this will change in time. While I only drive 12 miles a day, I do take occasional extended trips. I would want at least 300- ideally 400 miles of actual, real world range to minimize the need to stop and charge.
Plus, considering the current price of gas (excluding the current blip due to the oil pipeline hack) and what I pay for basic electricity here (almost $0.30/kWh!), for the amount of driving I do the financial incentive is not that great.... especially when you factor in the cost of adding a home charger, the potential premium you pay for EV versus comparable ICE vehicle, and in the case of Tesla, likely higher insurance and potentially higher repair costs depending on how reliable the car is.
Presumably EV's should be more reliable due to less complex mechanical drivetrain systems. In the case of Tesla, based on the anecdotal experience of people I know and research from Consumer Reports, this is not the case. Even Elon Musk has admitted recently Tesla has quality issues. China has put a lot of pressure on Tesla regarding their poor quality out of the factory. At best, quality/reliability is highly inconsistent and unfortunately Tesla does not have the best access to service and parts supply.
For example, my fiancee's father has (IRRC) a 2016 Model S 90D... which cost well over $100k brand new. Despite the model S being released in 2012, this thing had multiple drive motor replacements, multiple power door handle replacements, the power mirror failed, the touchscreen hand to be replaced, etc, etc etc. Getting service appointments is a hassle, getting a loaner is near impossible, parts can take forever to get. As a loyal Lexus owner since Lexus' inception, he suspected Tesla would not have Lexus reliability, but "could not have predicted" just how bad it would be (worse than his 1995 Land Rover Defender, which says a lot). That said, he loves the car otherwise and it's unreliability is less of an issue for a guy in retirement with 3 other cars in his garage.
In the meantime, I'm still driving my 2009 BMW 535i xDrive with 150k+. It's not the most efficient car by any means, but in the time I've owned this I could have bought 3-4 new cars as some people do, which would have a far greater detrimental impact on the environment. Plus, I occasionally bike to work. During the peak pandemic this was a nice because there was so little traffic. Now that the traffic is back unfortunately this can be a little bit sketchy.
In 5-10 years it very well might be something worth considering when the technology and infrastructure is in place to make owning an EV in my situation just as convenient as owning a ICE vehicle. I'm not a big fan of the hybrids/plug-in hybrids... I'd rather have full ICE or full EV. Having two systems powering the car just seems like an inevitable reliability and cost of ownership issue... especially since if one system is broken the car won't function at all.
It would also nice for car/battery manufactures to make an effort to ethically source their lithium, cobalt, and other battery elements that tend to be sourced in poor, African nations by child and slave labor, amongst other human rights abuses. Little concern is given to preventing environmental damage in the mining or refining process (refining mainly occurs in China, where environmental regulations tend to be nonexistent or not enforced). While everything has an environmental impact, if we're going to call these vehicle's "green", we should really start off on the right foot by ensuring such detrimental impacts are avoided as best as possible from the start. Admittedly oil companies, especially in the past and in poorer places of the world, have ruined ecosystems and communities due to intentional environmentally unfriendly practices (I'm not talking about accidents) just to save a buck- and rightfully so there has been backlash against this. The same standards should be applied here.
