gregj410 wrote:Other than a person that drives infrequently what is the real upside to owning an EV?
As I said earlier, if you can charge at home the EV at home then it's incredibly convenient to fuel and cheap to operate.
Driving is a different than a gas car. Since there's no gas engine, there is no engine noise or vibration, which is something I like. Other people like the sound of performance engines in muscle cars which I can appreciate, but I now enjoy hearing those muscle car engines behind me as I out accelerate them.
Many EVs have front trunks ("frunks") where the engine would be; Ford and Tesla have started putting drain plugs in their frunks so you can fill them with ice and use them as a big cooler, which is probably great for tailgating. The no gas engine also means that there is no waste heat from the internal combustion process, which is nice in the summertime but bad for the EV's range in winter - the EV has to run an electric heater to keep the windows defrosted and cabin warm while the gas car can just use the waste heat from the engine for defrosting and warming the cabin. For me, the diminished range in winter would only be an issue on out-of-town roadtrips because I charge at home and so I'm starting each day with the equivalent of a full fuel tank.
EVs use regenerative braking which captures the kinetic energy and uses it to recharge the batteries, so EVs don't need their brake pads changed as frequently as on a gas car. On the other hand, EV tires do supposedly wear out faster because EVs are generally heavier than similar gas cars.
My understanding is that most of the EV trucks can be optionally equipped so that their battery packs can serve as big generators putting out 220 volts. Ford has a proprietary charger that lets their electric F150 power a house when the electrical power to the house goes out - it the truck is plugged into the charger when the house loses power the system instantly switches the house over to the truck. Apparently Ford's extended range battery pack in the pickup is big enough to run a typical house, with air conditioning, for 2 or 3 weeks. I think you can also use the Rivians, GMs and Cybertrucks to power your house if you have a generator plug and switch - you just have to plug the truck into the house's generator plug.
Several weeks after Hurricane Helene hit Georgia, I stopped to charge my EV at a charging station at a Walmart near Augusta. Although it was several weeks after the Hurricane, electrical power was still out to most residences. The electrical power had been restored to the Walmart and charging station because they are critical infrastructure - part of the parking lot was setup as a relief center and there was a line of porta potties out in front of the store. I also remember that most people coming out of the store had carts full of bottled water. Some of the other drivers at the charging station told me they were sleeping in their EVs at night because they could run the A/C on their EV 24 hours a day for multiple days before they had to return to recharge.
