You must be mistaken. Most leases are for under 10k a year. 12.5k a year will a] cost you significantly more on a lease (you won't qualify for the cheapo $99/mo leases) and b] will impact your insurance.

25k over 2 years is over-average at least. I did 15k/year but I drove 75mi/day back then (pre-COVID).

New ICE cars are lower maintenance, for sure. But they're nowhere near 0-maintenance like an EV. I've spent like $250 on maintenance activities on my EV over 4 years.

Not having to visit a dirty gas station or repair shop (the than tires) is quite liberating.

Even old ICE cars can do 25k miles no problem. I've taken my '04 4Runner from 170k to 200k over the past 2 years, only major servicing was the timing belt replacement (scheduled for every 90k miles, ~$2k).

I had to replace the O2 sensor too, but that was about $50 IIRC, and it took me 15 minutes in my driveway after O'Reilly diagnosed it for free using OBD2. No $3k/yr "Toolbox" sub required.

A 10k lease lets you drive upwards of 200 miles a week. That is doable if you have a short commute and / or never use it for day trips or vacations.

Live outside of a small bubble, and it adds up pretty quick... then again, leases aren't very popular around here.

Certainly an EV will have less maintenance, but even ICE cars have practically zero maintenance outside of the occasional 15 minutes at a quick lube oil change place before they hit 50k miles. Not having to fill the truck up with gas would be nice, if it could last a day logging in the forest on a single charge.

Found the HN user that lives in a flyover state. :)

Average yearly mileage is greatly affected by where you live. Someone who lives in a rural area is almost guaranteed to put far more miles on a vehicle than a person who lives in the city. It's the difference between a 15 mile trip to the nearest grocery store and a 45 minute commute on open roads to taking the bus to work and only using the car on some weekends.

It's almost double the average distance driven in the UK [0].

[0] https://www.thinkmoney.co.uk/blog/what-is-the-average-miles-...