Had my Leaf for 4 years, it's time to buy some new windscreen wipers. Apart from tyres, that's been it.

Rotate tires and refill the washer fluid. Done! I've had a Nissan Leaf since 2014, and that's all I have ever done.

And eventually replace the battery which is expensive and wipes out all the previous savings. EV batteries still need to become more durable and more repairable.

And sometimes EV manufacturers don't try very hard to do right by their customers:

https://www.thedrive.com/news/41493/teslas-16000-quote-for-a...

Assume $100/kWh, and a 50kWh battery, that's $5000 to replace it, after, let's say 100,000 miles. You've saved, let's say, 10 cents per mile on fuel, so that's $10,000 saved.

Battery should last about a million miles though, with proper temperature and charge management.

Once your battery has degraded to, say, 75%, now you have a free 35kWh battery to store power in your house, that's worth $3500

> Assume $100/kWh

Batteries are not that cheap in 50kWh quantities.

They should be by the time you need a replacement in 10 years

You usually don't replace the battery of an EV. It's like replacing the engine of an ICE car, it can be done but it's usually not worth it.

An old leaf with a bad battery should simply be sold for cheap to someone who needs less range.

Halving the utility of the vehicle relative to an ICE car. Being able to repair the battery at a reasonable cost is a more eco-friendly option than having to get a new car:

https://www.thedrive.com/tech/39687/teslas-early-vehicles-ar...

Throwaway cars aren't good for anyone.

That's an argument against ICEs because of their non continuous failure. An old car with a 66% degraded battery can still be used. An old car with a busted engine is scrap.

Yup, my Leaf gets only about 40 miles of range on a good day :) But it still works for errands around town.

It would not make financial sense to ever replace the battery. It is better to just get another EV when I can no longer get out of my driveway :)

Buying a new EV is the same as replacing the battery and spending extra on top. It still wipes out the previous savings and increases your carbon footprint because another complete car was manufactured.

The used EV can replace another dirtier car.

No, it can't. Its range is now so low it's no longer practical. Expecting people to accept a lot less is not realistic.

I see tons of first gen Nissan leafs with shitty range every day. And they still have some value on the used market.

No, you don't. What you see are the few people who are willing to make compromises to practicality that the majority of people are not. I would not buy a first gen Nissan Leaf with shitty range and neither would most people.

I'm quite sure I do. The Leaf is the best seller where I live and a lot of them are getting old : https://elbilstatistikk.no/

People don't drive that many km everyday and an old Leaf is an okay second car to quite a lot of people. Anyway, it's just an example because the first gen Leaf is an old car with a low range and a battery with a high degradation. If you think about newer leafs and other cars with more range, it's not really a huge difference if the car has lost some range over time.

I'm quite sure you don't. There are 2.8 million registered private cars in Norway. 68,873 Leafs doesn't equal "tons" in comparison:

https://www.ssb.no/en/transport-og-reiseliv/landtransport/st...

> It's like replacing the engine of an ICE car

I downvoted you because that's not true. It's far easier to replace batteries than an engine. It requires minimal skill.

If they start building them into the body that may change though.

It's not the same kind of skills for sure. Some cars are easy to replace the battery, but you still need to deal with high voltage procedures. I wouldn't trust myself with an e-golf, but I wouldn't mind replacing the ice engine of a Twingo with the right tooling.

Yup, Tesla is shitty when it comes to things like repairs. They are like Apple, they want you to get a new car vs repair your old.

I suggest you avoid Tesla if you are the type of person to drive a car until the wheels fall off.

More of a right to repair issue than an EV issue.