Brief Rundown on EVs, etc. v Gasoline Powered Vehicles
Nothing too technical, just some conversation and points.
It has been found or reported, hybrid vehicles incur fewer issues and problems than gasoline vehicles. On the other side of the spectrum, fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) can have more issues. Let’s face it, the technology is still new and manufacturing and research in the US are working the bugs out of the available models. Whenever a new vehicle came out in the past, there were issues with them to be solved.
My neighbor has a Jeep Electric vehicle of sorts which is on recall (NHTSA). She is afraid to drive it due to the issues. So, it sits.
Some Myths, Facts, and issues can be found here: “Electric Vehicle Myths,” US EPA and also on other links I have included.
It appears the major automotive brands have more reliable models. However, it is important to do your research first before committing to an EV. One major manufacturer. “(Chrysler) is aware of one injury potentially related to a defect. The affected vehicles may have a battery pack with cells that have separator damage, which can lead to a vehicle fire.”
Others are experiencing recalls. Much of the time they are software issues, battery issues, or componentry such as parking. My view being, defects are not limited to lesser brands as the Ford F150 Lighting had an issue also.
AP reports (October 2025), “Earlier this month, federal regulators opened yet another investigation into Tesla’s self-driving feature after dozens of incidents in which the cars ran red lights or drove on the wrong side of the road, sometimes crashing into other vehicles and causing injuries.”
Usually when new brands appear in the market place, it was thought it was wise to wait a year or so until the bugs were worked out. Or let the initial buyers be the guinea pigs in testing new models. With the new technology comes issues.
Issues with battery usage is problematic. The US Department of Energy does give a run-down of potential issues. Factors important to know where the battery power in your electric car is going. Knowing such allows you to minimize the drain on your EV battery. Also, some EV, etc. vehicles can be more efficient than others. Some factors:
Driving an electric car will drain the battery. The EV battery exists to provide power to propel the car. Higher speeds use more energy than lower speeds. Usage will drain the battery also dependent upon the energy used to power other items in the vehicle.
Steady driving at highway speed drains the battery much faster than driving in stop-and-go traffic.
Acceleration or how hard you accelerate impacts your battery range. Faster acceleration uses more energy. The surge is more noticeable in vehicles with a boost button or quick-power features. Smooth acceleration supports a longer battery range.
Environmental conditions can cause battery range to fluctuate. Cabin and battery temperature is the biggest power drain and second to driving the vehicle.
Heat and Air Conditioning. Today’s gasoline powered vehicles can use the heat from engines to keep the car cabin warm or power air conditioning. However in EV, etc.
Controlling the cabin and battery temperature is the biggest power drain and second to driving the vehicle. Turning up the heat for comfort requires more energy from the battery during periods of extreme cold. Similarly, blasting the air conditioner when it’s hot outside cuts the battery range.
Weight and the size of a car, total passenger load, and how much is being hauled plays a role in fuel economy for gas-powered vehicles. The same is true for vehicle range and draining the EV batteries. Minimizing load extends battery lide and distance before a recharge.
There is more to this report by the Department of Energy. Just knowing what drains battery energy is the major factor. Following vehicle gauges on usage will help you gain you greater distance before requiring a recharge.
Thanks. For me, a major range “concern” is the battery capacity as it ages. With my gas cars, a 16 gallon fill-up provides the same motive energy that it did 9 years ago. The article correctly identifies things that will impact specific range out of those 17 gallons, but I don’t worry that a fill-up today gives me the energy that maybe 14 gallons provided 4 years ago. But I am not sure if this applies to “100% charge”. In fact, I’ve read that it doesn’t but how fast and how much does it decline? If it’s 10% after 500 charges, well not so bad. But it could be a concern.
good news, is that a lot of recent EVs are showing very little battery degradation util the vehicle has been in use for over a decade or more. and even vehicles from the 1990s have shown pretty good resilience some still with the original batteries showing %90 or better of battery still available. course that depends how you drive it (drive like its a race car wont be good for the vehicle, course the same is true of driving an ice vehicle that way isnt good it either). and cold hurt range of an EV, but guess what? it hurts an ICE just as badly, since both have one thing in common, propulsion of both are hurt, course most EVs have heated seats since that is more efficient for it. that does help the ICE vehicle too, since ICE vehicles tend to take time to warm up to get any heat in the cabin. and EVs do tend to be heavier, but oddly enough so do almost all trucks and SUVs, as they have been a high growth diet. while time to charge has been going down for a decade or more, filling a fuel takes just as long as it did decades ago. and range has gone up too. I would think I would be worried about paying for $17 of fuel and only really getting $14 of use out of it.
The Prius was available as a plug in hybrid back in the early 2000s. It had limited battery range, but you could recharge from a home power circuit overnight. A friend of mine special ordered one and was very pleased with it since most of his driving was local. Electrical power here is relatively cheap with all the local hydro. Plug hybrid technology has been around at least 20 years.
you can still use the 110-volt standard plugins to charge an EV, as we do charge our EV that way (its the only vehicle we have today), have rarely used 220-volt plugins though they are much quicker to charge
My 2017 Honda had a recall for a problem with the oxygen sensor. There was another recall, but that was just a new manual page. Still, my local service center made a point of it.
Three years driving an eMini with no problems. No recalls, no … anything. All of the above is all valid. Range is an issue but not a problem
Peoples’ panties got twisted by horseless carriages. Airplanes. Telephones. TV. Hot water. No doubt someone’s knickers knotted the day we discovered fire
@Ten,
Mazel tov!
I take a back seat to nobody in my embrace of new technology (cloning, PCR, personal genomics, mRNA vaccines).
We have a hybrid. I’ll consider an EV when I don’t have to drive it using natural gas.
technically you aret using natural gas to drive an EV, the utility is. some today have solar farms and some have access to geothermal, and some use wind, and some natural gas or coal. which of course you will use to cool or warm your home, or have light in it. or power your computers
@david,
If >90% of the electricity the utility generates is generated by natural gas (as is the case here in Rhode Island), then technically an EV that charges in RI is running mostly on natural gas. The fact that less than 10% of the electricity comes from renewables doesn’t change the fact that >90% comes from natural gas.
and my first hybrid was a Volt, basically the engine only ran if the battery was to depleted (this wasn’t from degradation, the battery was tiny, was good for maybe 40 miles, but the engine would generate electricity or EV motor to propel the vehicle, since then i have had 2 EVs, and been very happy with the vehicles. i was leasing them since just about every year there is a big update to the vehicles, and that has been going on for about a decade or moe
“Usually when new brands appear in the market place, it was thought it was wise to wait a year or so until the bugs were worked out.”
For the decades of the mid-late 20thC when there were no new brands (or rarely a new brand) this was true of new models as well.