this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2026
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With modern battery tech, that "waiting around for it to charge" would take 5-10 minutes. Let's assume that that 100 mile range car has a 30kWh battery (my 250 mile range car has 63ish I think). If it runs 800V architecture like Hyundai/Kia, it can charge at 350kW, but let's round down to 300 for easy math. Even if you got down to 0% as you got to the charger (which you wouldn't assume for a gas car getting to a gas pump, so that's a stretch), it'll be so fast to charge that it doesn't even make sense to walk away to buy a coffee.
30kWh/300kW=(1/10)h=6 minutes.
I rounded in unfavorable directions, which probably accounts for losses, more or less.
"Sounds expensive," you might be thinking. Nope. I've never seen it above $0.65/kWh, but again let's round for easier math and assuming bad luck. At $0.75/kWh, that 6 minute 0-100% 30kWh charge costs $22.50. Slightly more expensive than gas, but this is presumably for uncommon trips, so charging at home where your rate is probably closer to $0.15/kWh the vast majority of the time will more than offset those day trips since that refuel costs $4.50. Even if every other charge were at that high rate, that's still an average of $13.50 for a full tank. Assuming a gas car with 25mpg, that's like paying $3.38/gallon on average. Not great, but better than reality right now.
If it's more like every tenth charge is in the city at that high rate, then your average charge is $6.30, which is like paying an average of $1.58/gallon.
So it doesn't take longer to refuel this EV than a standard gas car, and it's cheaper than a standard gas car if you're refueling at home at least half the time. The only real variable here is whether there is a charging station at the optimal location for your journey, and those are popping up everywhere.
In reality, I agree with you, but for a different reason. For battery longevity, it's best to keep the state of charge at 20-80% most of the time. So I'd rather have a 200+ mile range to do my 100 mile trips. And that's what I did. I bought a used Bolt EUV with a range of about 240 miles (down from 250 when new) and I charge to about 75% for my daily 90ish mile commute, and I get home and plug in at like 30%.
I'm actually out of town with my EV right now. I charged to 100% at home the night before, drove a little over 2 hours to this hotel, a bit over an hour round trip for dinner last night, probably about 30 minutes round trip today, and I'll probably stop for a short charge on the way home tomorrow just for peace of mind. It's nowhere near as big a headache as most people make it out to be. For most people, if you need to buy a car and you have the ability to charge at home while you're sleeping, it doesn't make sense to not buy an EV. Used ones are still cheaper than they should be.
Well damn, that's a really compelling argument. I will say that I'll probably keep my gas car for most stuff long range, but when my partner and I eventually grab a second car for logistical reasons, maybe I'll look into EVs? Depending on how easy they are to work on. Honestly we were gonna seek out an old Tacoma since we are gonna need a truck for farm stuff soon. Idk, tough bid.
Thank you for taking the time to reply so thoroughly, genuinely.
I figure most families own 2 cars anyway; so if one was super cheap but had a 100mile limit; that would still sell well. Plus stopping to charge isn’t too big a deal
No problem. It's genuinely interesting to me, so I like helping curious, open-minded people to be exposed to how it really is. I had my doubts until I learned more, and now I know that a lot of us have been manipulated into keeping the status quo.
I'm not a farmer or anything, so I can't really endorse any EV to replace a farm truck. I'm not saying it can't work, just that I'm not knowledgeable enough to speak on that. I'm assuming you'll need good clearance and suspension, and that's well beyond what my little roller skate of a Bolt EUV specializes in lol. But it can't hurt to keep in the know because you'll need another car eventually anyway, even if your research points to another gas car now and today. For most people, plugging into a standard 120V outlet is enough (like 3 miles range per hour charge), but it's worth investigating whether you need to buy a level 2 charger and run a 240V charger (like 30 miles range per hour charge). Your driving habits will tell you what you need there, and it'd be a good idea to have that settled before buying just so you can charge at home from day one.
When it comes to how easy they are to work on, there's really not much of anything to work on. No oil so no oil changes, no radiator so no radiator work, no transmission so no transmission work, friction brakes don't wear nearly as much due to regen braking, there's no mixing of fuel and air, there's no compression or combustion, there are no spark plugs or gaskets or complications in translation. It's direct power from battery to motor(s) to wheels, with guilt-free torque, so maintenance is mostly just wipers, headlights, and tires. I reset my trip meter just to remind me to take it in for tire rotations, and the last time I did that, the guy at the desk couldn't be bothered to figure out how to charge me the $15-20 that costs so he was just like hey man, you're good, see you in a few months.
A lot of my reasoning for the switch was for convenience. No complicated maintenance schedule, and no going out of my way to stop somewhere to refuel (except for on road trips). Just plug in when I get home, then go drive when I need to. It's the most convenient way to own my transportation until we get real self driving or teleportation.