EV Ownership - Would I do it Again?


I’ve had an electric car for about a year and a half, and here are some of the pluses and minuses:

 The short version is, I don't think I'd get an electric car again. The ownership experience has not been bad. Even the sales experience (I have a Kia) was leaning toward "pleasant." Still...

Kia's EV6 had a makeover in 2025. The new front-end treatment and Tesla-like NACS charging are two obvious updates. -photo by Brian Moody

First, if you don’t care about the experience of driving a car, the visceral feel and sound of piloting a mechanical thing, you will love an electric car. The controls offer almost no resistance, and everything is just easy. Some will read "easy" as an automotive heresey and others will think "That sounds delightful." Most will think it's delightful. 


Of course, there are high-performance electric cars. They’re very quick. They’re very fast, and some are quite impressive. The Kia EV6 GT and Porsche Taycan Turbo are two good examples. But at the end of the day, any of the sights or sounds you experience in an electric car are mostly artificial. There is some noise from the electric motors and the mechanics of the car, but if your passion is for driving cars where you can feel combustion and hear the roar of oxygen working its way through an intake and exhaust system, an electric car won’t be for you.


In my case, it's mainly my wife who drives the car, and she could not possibly care less about any of the things I just mentioned regarding the “experience” of driving a car. She likes the fact that it’s easy to drive. She's a Toyota Prius fan circa 2010. Why? Because the gear selector is "light and easy to use." 


Easy Re-Fueling

We charge our car up at home. We don’t even have a level two charger. We plug it into the wall because we don’t go on long trips (in this car) or drive very far. A 90% charge will last at least two weeks, maybe more. When it gets down to about 40 percent, I start charging it back up a little at a time, then don’t plug it in for another week or two. I have noticed that EV ownership is made dramatically easier if you have a gasoline-powered car as a backup. The irony. 


The electric car is not used for regular back-and-forth commuting over a long distance. I mainly work from home and have done so since 2019. My wife's commute is about 5 miles. Most of our lives are lived within a 25-mile radius. This is the perfect circumstance for an electric car owner. 


Pricey Price 


The specific car that I have is a Kia EV6. It’s good-looking and comfortable. Several people at a new car show commented on the EV6, saying, “Wow, that’s really sexy.” I agree. It’s reasonably fun to drive, it's a good size, it has compelling features like ambient interior lighting, a good-sized cargo area, and both heated and cooled seats. My only issue is the price. Because I benefited from the taxpayer-funded incentives plus manufacturer incentives, the price of the car (it’s a lease) was very attractive. But at the same time, the retail price of this car, a Kia EV6 GT line, was about $62,000. When I compare that to a $48,000 Kia Telluride, it’s the Telluride that is much, much nicer. I probably should’ve added three more “much”s, but Grammerly don’t like it. Thankfully, affordable electric cars are on the way - Kia's EV4 and the Rivian R2 are perfect examples.


But when we apply the "affordable" formula to gasoline-powered cars, we get something like the Kia K4, a car that starts below $25,000 tops out just over $30,000. Big difference. Food for thought - how much would the new Slate pickup be if the electric motor were replaced by a Honda 1.6-liter gas engine? I'm guessing $18,000, including a profit margin. 


Home Charging


Ultimately, there's nothing wrong with the electric car I have, but two things are clear. First, I am one of those people who find the sound and feel of a combustion engine very rewarding. Without it, I'd rather just have someone else drive me around. Before buying an electric car, ask yourself if you are one of those people, too. If you're not, you will be very happy with most any electric car. 


Second, charging is still an issue. For me, it's a minor issue, so I'm fortunate. If I had to commute to an office every day, I'd hate to worry about charging times and locations, or moving my car at lunch. At that point, I would likely have to pay for a level 2 charger at an approximate cost of $2,500 plus the cost of the actual charging unit. Some automakers offer a free charger and credit toward installation. That's a good deal, get it if you can. Ford has been offering free chargers in recent months. 


Time Anxiety 


I've also learned that range anxiety is misnamed. In the early days of modern electric cars, the range was an issue. It was not only the fact that early EVs often had less than 200 miles of range, but that the charge meter or fuel gauge was often wrong, or the charge level would fluctuate dramatically. 


That's been fixed. Today, if my Kia EV6 says I have 270 miles of driving range left, I'm confident the car will go that distance before needing to be charged - give or take a few miles. In other words, "range anxiety" has been solved whether customers know it or not. I think what most people call "range anxiety" is actually time anxiety. The car will go the distance the gauge says. My bigger concern is how much time I will need to spend charging the car once I find a charger, public or otherwise. Many new electric cars have the Tesla-style North American Charging Standards (NACS), which will help with charging time once you get to an open NACS charger. 



Many electric cars, like this Lexus, use the Tesla-style NACS charger



Americans like the idea of "just in case." How else can we explain the phenomenon of Jeep? Most people are not camping out every night after work. They probably aren't even camping out or fishing a super remote spot every weekend. They want a Wrangler because they imagine themselves doing those things. They imagine themselves being anywhere other than where they are right now, a cubicle fenced in by a dystopian RTO policy and an "amazing culture " - and the Jeep Wrangler is just the thing to get them there..., in theory. 


Now apply this theory to road trips and EVs, for many Americans, an EV is standing in the way of their hopes, dreams, and road trips..., theoretically. 


So while I do like the electric car I have, my next car will probably be a hybrid. The driving range alone (600+ miles for some) is enough to keep me interested, not just in theory, but in reality. 


-Brian Moody


I recently wrote a longer piece on EV ownership for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.


Here’s my take on the EV6 via TikTok:


https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP89cQucD/


















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