Modern batteries last a lot better, and there's a huge difference between an 80 mile EV that's lost a third of its range and a 300 mile EV that's lost a third of its range anyway.

The batteries on modern EVs doesn’t wear anywhere near the rate that people think they do. A properly cared for battery (which doesn’t require much care other than keeping it charged properly) will easily last 15+ years — and likely beyond the lifetime of the car they were installed into. Manufacturers already offer 8+ year battery warranties on new EVs, because they know they can easily beat that (barring a manufacturing defect of some kind).

(In Japan, Nissan has been taking cells out of old Leafs that have at least 80% remaining capacity and are making them into home power packs. The Nissan Leaf was one of the first EVs and used an older battery chemistry — and even there, the batteries are typically outliving the cars they were originally installed into).

It’s a little difficult to say with certainty what the lifetime of an EV battery is going to be like right now, as EVs with modern chemistries aren’t yet 15 years old (they’re more like 5 to 7 years old at most). Anecdotally, those I know with EVs in that age range typically have less than 1% capacity loss (and ODB-II reader can typically check this for you, so it’s not difficult to determine).

Now of course it’s possible that someone has abused the hell out of their vehicle in ways that reduce the battery life (like routinely driving it to completely pull-over-to-the-side-of-the-road empty before recharging) — but as mentioned above an ODB-II reader will quickly show what the battery capacity is like. Hopefully used car sellers would check this themselves and provide it to buyers — but if not, ODB-II readers on Amazon aren’t terribly expensive to buy to check for oneself.

Battery wear concerns are going to be more for “classic” EV collectors in 30+ years time, and won’t be for your typical EV driver.

Batteries can be fixed, they're made of cells and they don't all die at once. You don't have to replace the whole battery and there's already shops who will refurb them. Hoovie on YouTube got hia Tesla S battery fixed for 2500 bucks.

Edit: Also, there's secondary uses for cells. You can use EV battery cells in all kinds of applications from grid storage to RC cars. Again, there's companies repurposing them already. You can buy second hand cells from a bunch of places.

A big reason for that programme was to try to take some of the most polluting vehicles off the road (either due to age or being in poor repair). There is no need for such a programme in a world of electric vehicles, so I doubt there would be any incentive for a government to run some a programme again.

If the 24k difference is a problem for you financially, you probably shouldn't be buying a new vehicle at all.

Like I said, the price difference per month is not that big, If you drive 20,000km a year, gas works out to $315 a month in that Forte, and the car payment is $433 before financing. The EV would be $833 before financing and $43 in electricity . If you're financing at 7%, the totals come out to $151 extra for the ICE and $291 for the EV in the first year, dropping each year for both of them. Assuming 5 years for both.

Totals are then $900 vs $1167 per month for the two vehicles, a difference of $267 now, in order to end up saving $300 a month in gas once the car is paid off after 5 years. In addition to the cheaper maintenance, and the fact that you aren't fucking the environment quite as badly, and the fact that if gas prices go up (which is likely) you save even more.

If that doesn't work for you, buy used. Nothing wrong with buying used ICE vehicles, those owners can then shell out to to buy new EVs that will then be sold used in a few years at prices you can afford. Or you can buy a used EV, just don't go for one of the older leafs.

You can buy a used '20 Niro EV with 90,000km on it for $27,000 right now listed at Kia in Vancouver. $450 monthly, plus $157 in financing, plus $43 in electricity. Total monthly cost is now $650. You'd have to buy a used ICE below $15,000 to get that monthly payment with the gas costs. Based on current stock, that's about a 2016-2018 Forte equivalent.

Nah, other people ARE dumber than me. You know this, I know this, everyone knows this.

We both know how many idiots there are driving around stupid impractical vehicles, trucks that have never been off asphalt or ever carried more than a hockey bag in the bed and 8 seat SUVs that have never had more than 4 people in them.

If someone is buying a NEW vehicle today, and they're choosing an ICE, they're clearly not making the best financial decision. The only good financial options are used ICE vehicles, used EVs, and New EVs. The only exception to this may be a mini-van simply due to a lack of EV options in this category.

If people want to make poor financial decisions that will end up costing them more money, they can go right ahead, but we shouldn't call them smart for doing so.

And fixing that is likely to do a lot more for the environment and people's health than just converting from ICE to EVs and investing in more highways.

additionally, there are very few months it isn't goddamn miserable cold to commute by bike