As a professional transportation planner, I think about sustainability a lot and and my own transportation carbon footprint even more. When I’m not cursing the smog-spewing system we’ve created, I’m obsessing over how my personal travel choices need to match up with my environmental values. So given my existential dread related to climate change, I guess it was inevitable that our household would get an electric vehicle (EV).
My last post was about the multi-step journey of getting air source heat pumps (minisplits) installed to reduce our use of natural gas for home heating. I thought I would take a different approach with this post and just spit out a bunch of random thoughts I’ve had about getting our EV.
Car resale values are stupid high right now
We owned a 2017 Toyota Rav4 and leased a 2019 Toyota Prius, and the sky-high resale values for used cars (plus our ability to downsize to 1 car) made the EV–buying process so much easier. We were already annoyed with those cars and looking to get something different; we had recently spent $1,000 to get the Check Engine light turned off on the Rav4, and mice kept nesting in our Prius. On top of that, I am generally disgusted with Toyota for its support of a Trump Administration effort to scale back California’s emissions standards – I don’t care if the Prius is the coastal elitist virtue-signaling car of choice, I still wanted to get rid of it ASAP.
So in January 2022, when my wife found a Hyundai Ioniq 5 for sale, we leaped on the opportunity to get it. Because I work from home, downsizing to one car made a ton of sense financially and dealers were more than happy to take our used cars off our hands.
Installing EV chargers is expensive
We knew that we would need to install a 240-volt (level 2) charger at our house. One thing that made purchasing the EV a lot easier was that Holyoke Gas & Electric provided a level 2 charger free of charge with proof of EV purchase (a value of about $700) and also provides $10 off our electric bill monthly if we charge off-peak.
However, electric cars are still probably out of reach for low-income households based on the charger installation cost alone. It cost over $800 to get the (free) charger installed, not counting the electric panel upgrade we already had to do for our minisplits. Meanwhile about 35% of US households aren’t able to cover a $400 expense. And low-income households are more likely to rent, which presents its own challenges – where would you even install a charger if you depend on street parking?
Range anxiety is real
The Ioniq has gotten roughly 250 miles per charge so far this winter, and I’m hopeful that will increase to 300 miles once it warms up. For longer trips, though, that isn’t enough. When my wife and I drove to Brooklyn for a weekend trip, we had to plan out where we were going to plug in since we couldn’t make the round trip on one charge. Fortunately, we can use level 3 chargers that take the car from 20% to 80% in 15 minutes, which meant that the mid-journey stop didn’t have to be very long.
But given the higher cost of an EV, how many people are going to pay a premium to have less long-range mobility? The Biden Administration providing $5 billion for charging infrastructure is a good step; once we get to the point that a person with an EV can go out for a long trip and not have to think about where they are going to charge, that’s when they will be truly competitive.
I don’t really think about gas prices anymore
Now, a couple of months after getting the EV, gas prices have shot through the roof, or so I have been told. Were it not for the constant news stories about it, I wouldn’t know that gas prices are high since I never buy gas. The stability of fuel (electricity) prices for our EV is a major perk, since electric rates are more stable compared to gas prices.
We’re never going to reach EV policy goals at this rate
The Massachusetts 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap notes that in order to make the Commonwealth’s climate goals, 100% of cars will need to be zero-emissions vehicles (primarily battery-electric vehicles) by 2050. I don’t see that happening, unless the cost to install charging infrastructure at home and the abundance of public level 3 chargers both significantly improve, in addition to the cost of the cars themselves coming way down.
E-bikes are still the best
After we downsized to one car, I installed an e-bike kit onto my city bicycle, and it’s the best. It has de facto become our second car, and I use it for any local trip under 25 miles (which is a lot of trips). I have biked up steep hills, up and down the valley – it’s extremely versatile and makes biking even in difficult conditions (cold, headwind, etc.) so much easier. We should be promoting e-bikes as an option, too!
Pioneer Valley Planner 