I also will keep my ICV until it catastrophically fails because there's far more repairs one can do on the cheap with one than with an EV, I speculate. Besides anything involving the clutch packs in the transmission or critical components internal to the actual engine, there's a lot you can do to maintain your vehicle if you own a floor jack and stands. One of the things I like about owning a decade-old 4 cylinder, as opposed to a bigger engine or an EV, is how relatively straight forward the entire drive-train is. Get your hands on the mechanic shop manual for your model, and often times it's clear that a trip to O'Reilly and an an hour underneath the vehicle is all you need, and no labor cost required.

For example, my Hyundai Elantra kept showing the engine light, and I don't remember the exact OBD-II code, but I think it was something like "too lean on bank 2" or something like that. Didn't really make sense because the engine was performing just fine and the injectors weren't clogged. So I went down to the auto parts store, got a new oxygen sensor for $130, replaced the old downstream one, and that code never came back. I'd have paid way more taking that into even a good shop.

I'm not saying that there's no good reason to get an EV because they're less repairable, but I'm the type who doesn't want to give up the kind of independence my current car gives me. I like that I have far more options for replacing the head unit in my car. I like that I can do wacky and kind of pointless things to it like converting it to being flex-fuel and running it on moonshine. But most people aren't like that. It's nevertheless a bummer that we are trading freedom for something that, hopefully, will be more convenient in the future – I'm not exactly sure how an EV is actually more convenient today besides being able to charge it at home.