Well, here it is! The world has committed to creating zero emissions. But just because the world has, does that mean we have? Does that mean we the people are committing to buy, with our hard-earned money … an electric car? It’s not exactly that simple and let me tell you why.
A dear friend of mine mentioned to me that she thinks the price of electric cars is well above what it should be. The price of a lot of things is well above what they should be these days, let’s be honest. She got me thinking about the state were in here.
There are three sectors of the car market for consumers. There’s a) people who are just “into” cars; b) people who are obsessed with cars, and c) those people at the bottom of the shaft who only own a car because they need to get to work.
Electric cars are not indicative of whether people who like cars will buy them, it’s the people who need cars. That’s the market, the golden ticket if you will.
The car companies in Canada who currently have electric cars in their line up are as follows: Mercedes, Polestar, Tesla, Hyundai, Ford, Mazda, and the list goes on.
We definitely see a trend here. The biggest in the business are moving to electric and the average price? $41,000. Yes, it’s true, electric cars are more expensive than gasoline vehicles but what we need to understand here is that electric vehicles, although they come with a larger price tag (not a much larger one, I will say), have lower running costs involved. People seem to not like the massive upfront price tag but, when you break it down, you pay more for a gasoline vehicle.
I’m sure you don’t want an economics lesson, so I’ll spare you the burden. Long story short, you pay for gasoline, repairs, and maintenance with a gas vehicle. In an electric? None of that. There are fewer moving parts, which means lower chance something goes wrong. There are no engine fluids, so no cost to change any – well, I guess with the exception of washer fluid.
This does mean well for your wallet, but maybe not your sanity. In an electric world you can’t go out in the garage and tinker with the car. Unless you want to just clean the brakes and change the tires every day, there’s not much that needs to actually be done.
If you’re looking for something cheap, don’t buy a car. You’ll like a bicycle much better. But if you’re looking for, convenience, comfort, expression, or style, than an electric car is that way to go. The cost may fluctuate slightly if the price of nickel, steel, or aluminium goes down but for the most part you’ll pay $41,000 to $70,000.
Everyone complains about the price of luxuries when the truth is you should just work harder! Let’s welcome the new era of motor vehicles with open arms. It could even be seen as a potential investment, especially if you’re thinking about buying a Tesla.
A recent transplant to Thompson, Jay Hurley is a freelance columnist with a focus on cars, lifestyle and culinary arts. He is from Ontario and studied broadcast and contemporary media.
