jpadc said:
abasile said:
What about all of the cheap, used LEAFs on the market? Many lower-income people have two or more cars and could buy a used LEAF next time they have to replace one.
Seriously? The cheapest Leaf within 100 miles of 92382 (your zipcode) is listed at $7500. Tell me ANYONE who is making a rate of even an aspirational $15 an hour who could possibly hope to afford a car anywhere near that price. Again the AVERAGE car on the road in the US is more than 11 years old because most people can't afford to do otherwise. In your area there are plenty of cars that are under $2000 that would be a financial stretch but stilll way more doable than a used LEAF. Do you think there will be a LEAF (or any other electric vehicle) on the road that when its 11+ years old will be able to meet the needs of someone who has to drive 30 minutes or more to work because they can't afford to live in your neighborhood where they might work as say a server in a fast food restaurant?
So just push for that raise in the gas tax as a "pollution fee" and and fight road use fees on EVs and feel like your doing good for the world, just don't look too closely at who is really paying the cost for that.
While the particular characteristics of where I live are mostly off topic, I'll have to say that it makes no sense for someone who makes $15/hour to live up here in the San Bernardino Mountains unless their job is local (typically a resort job, one of a limited number of retail jobs, or maybe handyman work) or they don't have to commute. Housing can be very cheap here, but daily commuting down/up the mountain (4k - 6k feet elevation change) will eat a beater car alive. I wouldn't recommend it in a LEAF, either, due to the rapid degradation of the battery pack from the resulting heat. Another short-range EV with thermal management should fare better.
Anyway, from a financial perspective, someone making $15/hour or less really should try to avoid car ownership if at all possible, and ride the bus, cycle, walk, and maybe use car sharing. If that's not possible, then I agree that a cheap, comparatively fuel-efficient gas car is probably the best option.
That said, many low to medium income people, like North Americans in general, eschew smaller cars and spend way too much money on gas guzzlers. I've seen people with low-paying jobs at mountain camps (likely under $15/hour) buy brand new trucks, even with high gas prices.
What I'd like to see is a revenue-neutral carbon tax that's mostly refunded back to everyone evenly, sort of like the annual "dividend" that Alaskans receive as a share of the state's oil income. Then I'd be fine with eliminating EV subsidies (as well as subsidies on fossil fuels, of course).