It’s 2024 and the automotive industry is in a weird place. The car-buying public finds itself at a moment of uncertainty, wondering if it should buy electric cars or gas cars or plug-in hybrids or regular hybrids or…hydrogen? When people ask me what they should buy, here’s what I tell them: If you plug in at home, consider a PHEV. If you can’t, buy a regular hybrid. Here, allow me to explain.
As a car journalist, I get asked the “What Car Should I Buy?” question all the time, and what I’ve come to learn is that oftentimes someone has a car in mind already, and they should probably just buy that. My brother, for example, kept asking me for car advice, and I gave him lots of options better than a white, rental-spec 2017 Hyundai Elantra, but he chose that anyway. He liked it. He thought it looked “sporty.” I respect that; if you have a car you like, you should probably buy that.
But some people don’t have a car in mind; they think with their brains, not their hearts. And many of those people are wondering: Should I buy an EV or a gas car? The answer that I’ve been giving lately? Neither.
Why I Wouldn’t Buy A Gas Car Today
My parents just bought a BMW X3 after their 2011 Equinox lost its timing chain and burned an entire tanker full of oil. The X3 is a great car by almost all measures, and yet, I did wince a little when they told me they bought it. It wasn’t a bad call, but I’d have gone with something electrified; I’d have hedged my bets.
My parents live in Germany, where fuel prices are absurdly high and volatile. Right now, the average gasoline price in Germany is $7.22 a gallon, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that figure climbs as the government pushes EVs into the market. Europe has been especially aggressive in pushing its transition towards electrification, and it makes sense. It’s a densely-populated continent that could see major health benefits for its citizens by moving pollution away from cities and towards rural powerplants. (Europe has been pushing solar and wind energy, too, which is great). A number of European cities have banned diesel cars and many have put tariffs on gas cars or outright banned them.
To drive a 24 MPG car like the BMW X3 for the next 13 years in Europe seems…difficult.
My parents are paying U.S. gas prices since my dad is a government employee (Uncle Sam subsidizes his gas while he lives abroad), and they will likely be moving back to the U.S. soon. Still, I’m not sure I’d want to buy a brand new 2024 car that only gets 24 MPG; maybe in certain states it’ll work out for 13 years, but fuel in California is already well over $5 a gallon, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that figure got jacked up in a push to electrify America’s fleet.
Plus, from an environmental standpoint, driving a 24 MPG car in 2024 all the way out to 2037 seems silly. We have the technology to move you much more efficiently.
Luckily, my parents don’t drive much, so this isn’t as big of a deal, but I’d just never buy a gas guzzler as a daily driver in 2024 when there are so many better options, not just for the environment, but for my pocketbook.
Why I Wouldn’t Buy An EV Today
With that said, I often find myself unable to recommend a new EV purchase, either, especially to those who cannot charge at home. My friend Jeb lives in Washington DC. He’s a true environmentalist who thinks gas cars are dumb in 2024. And yet he drives a gas Mini Cooper. Why? Because he can’t charge at home, and plugging in his EV at a charging station when so many of them are broken is just going to be stressful.
I know this because I tried charging my i3 yesterday, and received this fun error:
If this weren’t the 9 millionth time I’ve had such BS happen at a charging station then this wouldn’t be worth sharing. But EV chargers are notoriously unreliable, and if you rely on public chargers to get to work, since you don’t have a place to charge at home, then this will drive you nuts.
The bigger reason why I can’t recommend EVs is depreciation. My partner, Elise (not her real name), has been eyeing a Lexus RZ for a while. The thing MSRP’d at $54,000, but the one she likes costs around $60 grand.
You can find these things lightly — and I mean lightly — used for just $39 grand. That’s $21,000 in depreciation over, in the case of the Carmax car below, just 5,000 miles of driving!
Could you imagine how silly you’d feel if you’d bought this car for $60 grand and paid $21,000 to drive it for only 5,000 miles?
The Lexus RZ is a bit of an extreme case of New EV Depreciation, but it’s happening across brands and models. From Polestars to Hyundai Ioniq 5s to Volkswagen ID.4s — EVs are depreciating at alarming rates. To buy one new seems like a bad move right now.
You should, however, look into leasing one. I hate the idea of leasing, as you’re just borrowing a car and not building equity in it. But if you value newness, paying a little to borrow a car for two years isn’t bad, as you could just buy a severely-depreciated version of that car after those two years are over; you might end up paying less than if you bought the car outright. A lease should cost enough to cover that crazy depreciation, but there are deals to be had out there.
Why I Wouldn’t Buy A Plug-In Hybrid Today (If You Can’t Charge At Home)
As many of you likely know, I love plug-in hybrids, but recently I bought a second BMW i3S, booting my daily-driven regular-i3 from the garage (as you can see above, the two don’t fit back-to-back) where I used to charge it. Now I have no at-home charging for my daily-driven PHEV.
So you know what I do instead? I drive it on gasoline power only unless I can find charging at work. How do I feel when I’m driving this PHEV on gas power? Like a chump. Particularly because I’d be getting better fuel economy if I just bought…
… A Regular Hybrid
Seriously, the only smart new car purchase in 2024 if you don’t have at-home charging (if you have at-home charging, a plug-in hybrid is a good option, too) is a regular hybrid. My D.C.-based friend, Jeb, who has no at-home charging should buy a hybrid. If I didn’t plan to use my new BMW i3S as my daily commuter, I myself would be smart to replace my now-gas-propelled i3 with a regular hybrid.
You don’t have to worry about bullshit infrastructure issues like the bad EVgo charger I showed earlier or the malfunctioning Chargie app that left me in a bind yesterday (see above). You just park wherever you normally park, you get 40-50 MPG, and you don’t have to worry about serious depreciation. Heck, in some cases, your car might actually appreciate over the next year or so, as demand for certain hybrids has been through the roof.
Did I ever think that I’d only be able to recommend hybrids to people asking for car advice? Nope. But again, it’s a weird time in the auto industry.
I drove a Chevy Volt for 7 years, and fully expected its replacement to be an EV. Instead, it’s an Accord Hybrid.
Why? I needed something bigger for work, and I don’t like crossovers. There is no affordable PHEV that meets those criteria. There are a couple of EVs that fit the bill, like the Ioniq 6, but the charging infrastructure is not nearly as far along as I had hoped it would be by now when I bought that Volt in 2017.
I have to drive to smallish industrial towns for work on a semi-regular basis. The nearest Level 2 charger is 20 mi away from one I was just at, and I’d have to sit at it for hours. It’s just not practical. There needs to be destination charging at pretty much all hotels, and DCFC at places other than major interstates.
On the plus side, the EX-L trim of the Accord Hybrid is getting over 50 MPG combined, which pleasantly surprised me compared to the EPA ratings. The Volt only got 42 MPG on gas, so for long enough trips where the EV range of the Volt wasn’t a significant percentage of the total miles this Accord is an improvement.
Hybrids are a compromise, and an unnecessary one as long as you could charge a fully electric (BEV) at home.
Stop worrying so much about depreciation. If you don’t like it, a) don’t buy luxury brands and/or b) buy used.
It’s entirely reasonable that the value of an EV that has had rebates taken advantage of has that factored into the used value. Is that Lucid example extreme? Sure, but they’re an unproven company selling a halo product. If you’re buying a new model from a new company with the expectation of flipping it (or it appreciating), you’re delusional. If, however, you pay a price you can afford for a car you like, *it’s fine.*
Cars are by their nature depreciating assets. Everyone here knows that a car that is driven regularly will eventually need expensive repairs and non-mechanical parts like seats or trim pieces will age and wear. Cars that don’t get driven will still eventually need expensive repairs due to entropy.
If you’re treating your vehicle as an investment, that’s dumb and you shouldn’t. If depreciation means you can’t buy new cars frequently, that’s OK. Buy a car you like, enjoy the value that you consume, and then move it on when it’s at the end of it’s useful life, comforted in the knowledge that you got your money’s worth.
Has this question been answered:
Why are used EVs priced so much lower than new ones?
I’ll try to help:
I.e., most of us do not want to pay 10% off new for a used EV. We (the market) prefer a 40% drop just to think about buying.
Also, are those prices post-rebate? Asking for a friend.
And the $7,500 tax credit…
I mean, you are writing an opinion piece, so by definition you can’t be incorrect.
But arguing PHEV’s are a bad option because you actually do have room to charge one in your garage and just choose not to do so?
I don’t comment much, but I’ll bite this time.
I am skeptical about the whole banning ice cars thing. Even Europeans*, bleeding hearts one and all, have just voted in people who will most likely stop or delay the green agenda.
It’s all fun and games in theory, but people need cars and the ‘government’ can try to take them away, or force them to buy EVs, but I wouldn’t be so sure of that governments ability to stay in power after basically screwing its constituents over.
‘The planet’, 2050 goals and everything else sound really nice, until you’ve priced most of your constituents out of a vehicle.
EV mandates are taxes on poor people.
*written by a European
As an EVangelist, I don’t agree with governments forcing decisions on people. EVs are great for most people, but it shouldn’t be a requirement. And certainly not until they’re much cheaper.
This is the same argument I have made for years now. Especially in a state that has relatively average gasoline prices (87 at $3.29/gallon – $4.40 of 93 ouch) and high electric rates ($0.31/kwh). I have priced out and forecasted fuel use vs my roughly 28 mpg in my 87 octane fed Sonata N Line. I would save a few hundred dollars per year with my type of commute, and the environment I drive in vs a Tesla Model Y or Blazer EV, EV6, etc.
I drove a Sonata PHEV Limited for 4+ years before realizing there wasn’t a huge hit to the wallet to go to the more powerful and fun N Line. I know what the hit is in various weather and driving conditions, enough to extrapolate out the range hit to the average EV these days. I also know that given how expensive it is to fuel up with electrons, the cost savings just can’t justify the purchase alone.
As boring as it is, and they are less boring now than ever, the hybrid is the best – if you are looking at a commuter appliance or don’t want one of the other attributes offered by another type of vehicle available today. The Accord hybrid which does well on mpgs and can hit 60 in 6.5 seconds, and still has decent human space, is probably the best car for most. I almost went hybrid when I bought the PHEV, but the PHEV had a bigger discount at the time, plus federal tax credits available, that made it too hard to ignore. Now I don’t qualify for any rebates so unfortunately EVs are not my primary target anymore and leasing for me while driving ~ 23k miles per year is not an option.
2022 Escape PHEV. Have a 5 mile round trip commute, but live in a city the size of a small country and a state that requires 2 days to cross through. This, I wanted better cost per mile without sacrificing my flexibility to jump in and drive 180 miles to my brother’s house without looking for a ‘working’ charging station
One of the best purchases I have made because it fits so well as a commuter car and as a long distance hauler with the adaptive cruise it comes with.
Doesn’t mean I’m giving up my gasser 2012 5.0 F150 (weighing in at a tick over 3 tons) or my two project SUVs that see the fuel light after 200 miles.
However I firmly believe hybrid engine technology is at a point where, for most commuters, it should be in the running for your next DD.
“ But EV chargers are notoriously unreliable, and if you rely on public chargers to get to work, since you don’t have a place to charge at home, then this will drive you nuts.”
Well EV chargers that are NOT Tesla chargers are. And that’s why if I go with a BEV, it’s Tesla or nothing right now.
I was recently thinking of buying a Teslas as the price of used Model S vehicles are not much more than used Prii… but are so much cooler and have much better performance. What stopped me was when I got the insurance quotes… CAD$125/month for a 2021 Prius Prime vs CAD$300/month for a 2018 Tesla Model S.
With a cost difference of over CAD$2000/year, I decided I’m gonna hold off… get the plug-in hybrid now and then probably my next car is likely to be a BEV.
Also note that I CAN charge at home and if I limit my charging to 11pm and 7am, my electricity rate is 2.8 cents per kwh… and that’s 2.8 cents in Canadian funds. So home charging for me is just a sneeze away from being free.
“My partner, Elise (not her real name),”
OBVIOUSLY her real name is Esprit
I find it hilarious that 24 mpg is considered a “gas guzzler“ today!
More funny that the guy saying this used to daily a Jeep J10 Pick-up and Lexus LX 460 before drinking the California Kool-Aid. Not to mention, just wrote about how he was parking the i3s for the summer to enjoy the polluters while he can.
I did not have a commute in Michigan.
And yes, I’m enjoying my stickshift cars this summer…
Oh man, it’s hard when people change. Allowing them to grow and change means letting go of our expectations for them.
I loved the old David. I love the new Daivd too.
24 mpg has been considered a gas guzzler for quite a while now in places like the EU.
24mpg in 2024 is almost immoral given modern technology. Demand better
I just picked up a 3 year old F150 Hybrid. Coming from a 2010 F150 V8. I tossed and turned over Lightning, Hybrid, Gas for many months. What I came up with was, I am an EV fan. It has its place but is not practical for my current needs. The hybrid gives me better fuel mileage without the penalty of trucks guzzling fuel. Why don’t I get a sedan? I’m 6’4” and nothing is comfortable but a full size truck or SUV. We have plenty of options (and opinions). Find what fits your needs.
New cars. LOL!
Here is why I disagree. I drive my commuter car for a long time. My current is a 2011 Toyota Camry with 178,000 miles. I bought it in 2015 with 30K miles on it. There is no way I would spend 5K to replace the hybrid battery on car this old. If someone is the buy a new car every 5 years and only puts a modest amount of miles on it, sure, buy a hybrid. Most people should not be spending that much on transportation.
We bought a ’23 Sorento HEV last June – three rows, seats 6. We’re averaging 36.5mpg over that year. That’s compared to the 17.9 mpg we got in the 2011 Kia Sorento it replaced. My wife Elise (not her real name) didn’t want to deal with a PHEV and the price difference between the HEV and PHEV didn’t work out in favor of the fuel savings. So, HEV it was.
Two weeks ago, I leased a ’24 Kia EV6 GT. 24 months, 10K/year with zero down. Payment is just under 350/month. Residual is 40K (for a 64K car!) and my total payments are $8300-ish. I sold my ’13 FOST for $8K, which means I’m essentially paying $300 for the lease. I charge at home, and electric rates in SW Ohio are cheap. The FOST was averaging 22mpg. I was spending $175/month on gas.
So, yeah, in our case a HEV and leasing a BEV made sense.
How do you like the Sorento? They seem like a REALLY good deal for a 3 row hybrid.
It’s great, honestly. Kids love the captain chairs in the second row and the third row is usable for short humans. The only negative is the 200/year subscription for Kia Connect that gets you all the neat remote features.
The 1.6T coupled with the EV makes it pretty quick to.
I don’t really care for the telluride refresh they did on it this year though.
I wasn’t aware of the subscription, that’s kind of a negative.
I don’t care for the new telluride refresh, I think the Sorento is better looking, but it is smaller correct?
It depends, maybe with California gas prices the point of break-even is less total miles. If you drive a lot and want to keep to car for a long time it makes sense.
But for most of the country it’s 70-100k+ miles to get there between the typical price difference between the non-hybrid base model vs. the hybrid trim.
Although you also get more equipment in most hybrid trims than in the base model.
We were recently in this situation when my wife’s 2019 Civic 1.5-Turbo started with carbon buildup and major oil-dilution issues. We dumped it, and looked at either the prime, hybrid, or non-hybrid rav4. We ended up purchasing the non-hybrid. Why? She commutes 90miles/day, and 85 of them are at highway speeds of 70mph. The hybrid or non-gas portion of the drivetrain would simply never get used.
If it was for me, it would have been the prime (if I could track one down) or the hybrid. We have a garage with a 100amp service inside, and I drive mostly in town.
I guess here in the USA, ones usage case can vary greatly. It’s about the right tool for the job.
You can buy a Jeep 4xe that will always be fully charged since it will be sitting at the dealer awaiting repairs to cooling systems, PHEV software and hardware issues, etc.
Let the record state that I only designed the cooling system for the mild hybrid, not the PHEV!
“…if that figure climbs as the government pushes EVs into the market.”
Well, the hypocrisy is that German coalition government allows the electricity generated by the coal and nuclear power plants in Poland and France respectively to be imported into German grid as to “compensate” for the shutdown of German coal and nuclear power plants. The production from solar panels and wind turbines aren’t enough to meet the demand and aren’t widely distributed (due to the angry citizens not wanting the massive power towers and wires behind their backyards or across the bubonic landscapes). And importing the natural gas from Qatar with its atrocious human rights records and its penchant for sponsoring the terrorist groups. Shipping the natural gas long way from Qatar to Germany contributes more pollution than piping the natural gas from Russia. Netherlands had shut down its natural gas refinery in Groningen so Germany cannot obtain it from North Sea. I don’t think German electricity infrastructure can cope with the demand unless the current coalition government stops wasting our tax money on useless projects and starts reinvesting in Germany (which is “fool’s errand” given the Green penchant for deindustralising the German economy.
I am not sure whether David has been following the news lately. The EV market here in Europe is slowing down so much lately (not only in Europe but in many international markets). Many manufacturers, including Audi and Cadillac, have delayed their plans to be full EV by 2030 or whatever year. Mercedes-Benz cancelled the development for the next generation EVA platform for EQE and EQS, for instance. The first-time EV owners in Germany were surveyed recently about their experience. Almost a majority of them would switch back to the petrol or diesel vehicles.
Now, we have seen how frustrated and incensed the Europeans in regard to the “green agenda” and other issues. “When the push comes to shove” is apt statement in explaining the expected shift to the centre-right and populist-right for the recent European Parliament election and leading to the dissolution of parliament and resignation of certain politicians. It remains to see whether the new European Parliament will dismantle the “green agenda” and come up with more realistic ones.
EV depreciation is a real thing right now. I’ve mentioned it before, but we were offered $5000 for a 2016 EV with a new warrantied $14,000 battery. That was the offer from the dealer that had replaced the battery. We got $6900 from another dealership. A 2016 vehicle with 55k miles and it only netted $6900. We have never leased because renting things keeps you poor. Apparently so does EV depreciation.
What was the vehicle? If this was a $100k MSRP Model S, that’s one thing, but if it was a Nissan Leaf, that’s another thing entirely. Both would be cases of bad depreciation, but they aren’t even in the same league.
Soul EV. Kia’s first trial of full BEV. Bought it used.
Was there a reason why you replaced the vehicle, or was it just because you wanted to? No judgement either way, I’ve been in both situations. If you replaced it because you wanted to though, it was your choice to eat the depreciation and take the loss. If you held onto the car, it was only a paper loss. But I do understand the emotional toll depreciation can take either way.
We inherited a car due to a parent passing away. Both kids are drivers with cars. We had too many to register and insure. The EV was starting to have intermittent climate control issues. Deciding if it wanted to pump heat out or not. We cut our losses and need to pay other bills.
“EV depreciation is a
realGREAT thing right now”There… fixed it… at least for those of us who buy our cars used.
I LOVE that BEVs are depreciating nicely. I was getting ready to buy one soon… however the insurance companies are still quoting insane rates for them… as if their cost is still at pandemic levels. So I personally am getting a plug in hybrid this next car buying round and then gonna get a BEV after that.
“I’ve mentioned it before, but we were offered $5000 for a 2016 EV with a new warrantied $14,000 battery. ”
In cases like that, you might as well hang onto the car and get full use out of that new $14,000 battery.
Depreciation of any kind is just a type of renting. As is financing. They are amounts one pays for the privilege of using something, an expense.
It’s just that depreciation has to be estimated at the time of purchase, and people are not good at this.
My method is to take the price of the vehicle, divide it by the number of years I expect to own it, and voila, the depreciation cost per year to own the vehicle.
My goal is $1,000 per year. That is a nearly impossible goal nowadays.
Oh I understand depreciation in general. Cars are a liability, not an investment. The used car prices dropped steeply right before we had some major life and family changes. We just like to not have monthly payments so that we can have wiggle room in our tiny budget. I don’t mind driving a “beater with a heater” and selling it for what I paid a few years later. The EV was getting some ghosts in the machine that made it seem like a larger liability and headache.
I personally think that the sweetspot size of EV is Golf -class hatch. Then larger car plugin hybrid to have the cake and eat it too. Combined with home charging cheap and convenient.
I kinda hope that the upcoming ID2 will cover this (and they finally ditch the silly ID naming policy) while not being silly money like the ID3 is currently.
Had VW just made a new EV-Golf that was intended to be EV from day one, it would have been so much better than any of their ID offerings. None of the ID’s seem appealing to me at all; the Buzz being the closest but not quite there.
ID3 is not bad on paper, shame that it’s got so shitty interior. And it was originelly meant to be sub 30k car. Now it’s over 40. I think Enyaq is very good (I’ve got one), but large EV:s are just bad formfactor.
I think if BMW had not made the I3 so weird and gotten the composite game properly running, it would have been game changer. 300-400kg lighter cars would have been mega for both current sporty gas powered cars and EV:s.
David, there is no such thing as “building equity” in a normal car. Cars are not an investment, they depreciate every day of the week. Yes you can pay them off quicker than they depreciate, but that is just an overly forced savings plan. As long as the OEM has a decent leasing program, you are usually break-even or better unless you keep your cars more than about 5 years. I have only had one leased car that was worth more than the residual – and I have leased lots of cars. The one area where you may be better off is if you keep your car for 4 or 5 years and you would otherwise lease for only 3 years – and this assumes you are in a state that annually taxes your car (on a formula) that is based on the value of the car..
It’s not really built equity. But both my vehicle and my wife’s vehicles are worth significantly more (Owe $0 in my wife’s case) than we owe on them. I can see how someone could consider that to be equity.
I used to think that leasing was for chumps. Then I sat down and did the math and with cheap lease deals, if you are not the type to drive an individual car for many years, it’s pretty much a wash with buying used, especially if you would be financing the used vehicle. For relatively new used cars, 3-4 years is usually the point where buying is better than leasing.
I used to point it out on a personal finance site. People would be asking about the best car they can buy for $5-6k because that was their budget.
Back in the day you could lease an unloved Chevy Equinox or whatever the Buick small SUV was for next to nothing. Like $5k total over 36 months. So instead of buying something with 100k miles that might break down 2 months after you buy it, lease a new car, don’t worry about repair bills and save up for something else in 3 years.
Leasing a popular model? Maybe not a great idea financially. But some of these EV models are being incentivized like crazy. Under $200, even under $100/month with nothing down. Tough to have a lower cost of ownership on a new car.
Agreed, the whole “leasing is bad, full stop” logic is dumb, since it doesn’t account for the terms of the lease.
If they were generally “always bad” terms, then sure.
A lease at $450/month sounds bad to me, but that same car at $100/month? Now we are talking sense.
> My parents just bought a BMW X3 after their 2011 Equinox lost its timing chain
Is this you?
https://www.theautopian.com/if-your-car-has-a-timing-belt-its-not-really-reliable/
Burn!
Lol. I admit in that that some cars have bad timing chain designs!
But others don’t, and those are the cars I consider “reliable” over timing-belt equipped machines!
😉
Lots of people live in apartments. Not having an outlet next to where you park your car is pretty common, especially in the sort of urban areas where a PHEV/BEV is otherwise highly beneficial. It’s kind of a fundamental issue with EV adoption in my opinion.
The Prime is quite a bit more expensive than the regular hybrid. Even at $5/gal gas, you need to drive a lot to make it “worth it” from a pure dollars and cents perspective.
For Toyotas anyway, the regular hybrids are usually only $1k or so more, so it really is a no brainer to get a Highlander hybrid and get 35 mpg versus the gas model getting 23.
Another argument is the battery in a regular hybrid is significantly cheaper than a PHEV battery, which may make the PHEV valueless in 10-15 years if the battery dies, while the regular hybrid may be worth fixing.
Maybe not an electric car on 110V. Tesla says 3-4 miles per hour. So if you can charge for 14 hours a day, that only 56 miles per day at 110V.
Also, please consider big fat 15-inch wheels and tires on your SUV. Narrow sleek 17″+ tires look nice but suck in real life in most of the US.