Which EV to Buy - Budget $60,000

Lozburgin on 03/08/2024 - 13:51
Last edited 03/08/2024 - 14:05 by 1 other user

Wanting to get an EV, about to get solar panels installed, so just think it makes a lot more sense than getting a new ICE vehicle.

Wanting a medium-sized SUV, space for kids' car seats and plenty of storage for trips away.

Planning to do some test drives shortly, at the moment just thinking either a Tesla Model Y, or BYD Atto. Keen to know what the OzBargainers think about these options, or if there are other EVs out there that are also worthy of consideration.

Budget is around the $50k-$60k mark, planning to buy it outright.

Automotive Electric Vehicle

Comments

  • boomramada on 03/08/2024 - 13:54
    +2

    Have you test drive any of them? Or go by the someone on the internet?

  • brendanm on 03/08/2024 - 13:56
    +6

    Buy a used one, prices seem to plummet, much better bang for buck.

    • HeWhoKnows on 03/08/2024 - 16:04
      -2

      For OPs information the price of EVs is crashing, both new and used.

      They are a really bad investment right now due the huge discounting price wars going on between new EV cars due to all the new entrants/competition coming into our marketplace.
      Particularly with 12 new Cheap Chinese EVs coming into our little market shortly !

      See here:
      https://www.carsales.com.au/editorial/details/12-new-chinese…

      This is affecting used EV resale really badly.
      Particularly Teslas !!!
      Depreciation on used cars has never been worse.
      If you think your 2 year old smartphone loses a lot of its value quickly, you aint seen nothing compared with EV used car values
      And we are talking about BIG DOLLAR LOSES on EV depreciation

      Then you have to accept an EV purchase is just another 'technology" purchase and we all know that technology products depreciate hugely with every new model release which comes with the latest new "ground breaking" technology.
      Old Evs start looking outdated very quickly, let alone the worry about battery issues and the unmeasurable degradation.

      WARNING: Anyone buying an EV right now - new or used - will see enormous depreciation almost immediately and ongoing.

      But with this knowledge at least OP will be the wiser about what will happen with thier EV used car value and its not going to be good news either,.
      Any savings you might make on fuel (maybe) will be overtaken by the rapid decline in use car value.
      And that depends on how much city vs country driving OP and his wife will do in the EV which will huigely affect the "refueling" time and cost.

      I suggest OP reads this article abiut EV prices crashing, which was published in Yahoo Finance this week:
      https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/electric-car-drops-below-3…

      And OP should consider that charging an EV might not be a good option any time
      Because energy companies are starting to push back with feed in from homes.
      They want people now to have solar batteries installed at huge cost and have those batteries charging during the day so you draw the power from their batteries at night, hence reducing power strain on the "weakening" grid.

      With this in mid has OP considered if and when might be a good time to change their new EV?
      I dont know the answer but its a new variable that must be factored in.

      • netjock on 03/08/2024 - 16:39
        +4

        People love bad investments. It is hard wired in.

        • freefall101 on 03/08/2024 - 17:06
          +19

          Not everything in life needs to be considered an investment. The meal I'm head out for tonight is going to return $0, potentially a plumbing bill on top of it. I still consider it money well spent.

          • Nugs on 03/08/2024 - 18:55
            +3

            @freefall101: "potentially a plumbing bill"
            Start using public toilets?
            .

            • freefall101 on 03/08/2024 - 21:32
              +1

              @Nugs: Dunno, the spice level of the thai duck I had might count as attempted arson when it exits me again.

              At least it might have a return in that my heating bill will go down, pretty sure I'm a one man furnace right now.

            • boretentsu on 04/08/2024 - 08:22

              @Nugs: Save it for a weeknight then use the work toilets

          • netjock on 03/08/2024 - 20:04
            +1

            @freefall101:

            The meal I'm head out for tonight is going to return $0

            I'd suggest you skip it and bank the saving.

            You are paying for calories you otherwise would have eaten another way. It is just a substitute. Eating to be able to go and make money I don't think is a return of $0.

            • thrillhouse on 04/08/2024 - 09:57
              +1

              @netjock: This is an incredibly boring take. Learn to enjoy life some. At least a little. They just want a nice meal, not everything needs to make dollars and sense.

              • netjock on 04/08/2024 - 10:13

                @thrillhouse: Ask those pensioners who have jack all money in retirement and surviving on hand outs.

                It is an optimistic take. You can afford good food as sustenance to make a good income. To think it as $0 value is the incredibly bad take. Nothing is zero value how do you put value on it.

                I was talking to a Pizza shop owner who has an enterprise value of $2m+ and he basically said. Yeah I could make more with more people but I don't want the stress, pay the gov 47% tax, rather spend more time with the kids.

                • freefall101 on 04/08/2024 - 14:21

                  @netjock: Did you explain to him that spending time with the kids is a bad investment?

                  • netjock on 04/08/2024 - 19:42

                    @freefall101: I was the one who added "spending time with your kids is 100% where as making the extra $1 you pay 47c to the government" but you know geniuses like you know the value of everything but know the value of nothing.

          • oscargamer on 03/08/2024 - 23:21

            @freefall101: Nice curry?

            • freefall101 on 04/08/2024 - 19:57

              @oscargamer: Yeah, it really was. Weirdly, one of my favourite parts of the meal was the coleslaw though, super finely cut, heavy on citrus and green apple, I dunno how they made coleslaw actually taste good.

              12 hour confit duck salad though was chefs kiss. +1 would sacrifice investing the money and eating soylent again.

      • King Tightarse on 03/08/2024 - 17:09
        +1

        I think this is the link https://www.carsales.com.au/editorial/details/12-new-chinese…

      • Euphemistic on 03/08/2024 - 17:22
        +3

        WARNING: Anyone buying an EV right now - new or used - will see enormous depreciation almost immediately and ongoing.

        Maybe now, but we are a few years behind Europe in EVs and their 2nd hand market is on the improve. It wont be long until buyer find out that used EVs are actually a pretty good deal.

        • Ade99 on 04/08/2024 - 09:33
          -1

          At present EV's have a life of 8 years (or what ever battery warranty is supplied by the manufacturer) . Beyond that, with battery pack replacement being more then the EV's value their value will fall to junk status.

          • Euphemistic on 04/08/2024 - 12:58
            +1

            @Ade99: That is not true. The warranty is 8 to 10 years. That doesnt mean they fail immediately the warranty expires, it just means it is out of warranty. Batteries are still having very usable capacity after 10 years. Nissan isnt getting enough material to run its battery recycling plant becauss batteries ade lasting much longer than expected.

          • LFO on 04/08/2024 - 19:40

            @Ade99:

            At present EV's have a life of 8 years (or what ever battery warranty is supplied by the manufacturer)

            Batteries don't just vanish in thin air at the end of the 8th year … battery capacity will perhaps be reduced but will still hold charge and drive around.

            An old ICE will still run, even out of warranty and needing oil every 1,000Km.

            That 8 years sound like FUD, really.

      • changyang1230 on 03/08/2024 - 18:17
        +4

        While the EV depreciation that had taken place in the last 12-24 months were definitely financially detrimental for people who bought earlier (call it the early adopter premium if you would), I disagree with your conclusion that the depreciation is an ongoing phenomenon and will affect buyer today as much as buyers who bought in say Jan 2022.

        What evidence do you have that EV's price drop (result of competition and scale of economy) will continue, and when do you think they will stop doing so? Or are you just extrapolating from the last 12 months into the next 12, 24, 36 months etc, even when EV price reaches parity with ICE price, and even when EV battery performance is proving to be much better than what the FUD suggests?

        There's also phenomenon behind the EV price drop namely the novated lease discount effect. People who get new (or new new i.e. after July 2022) can fund it with pretax money which makes their effective cost much lower, this is thought to be another driver behind the supposed rapid depreciation. Therefore people would rather pay just a touch more effectively to get a newer car than to get a car from Jan 2022. This phenomenon however will slowly dilute as more used EVs are available for novated lease, therefore reducing the comparative advantage of getting a new EV.

  • oscargamer on 03/08/2024 - 14:24

    Given you have car seats, you MUST physically for with them and try them in any car you are seriously looking at. And if you use a lean 8, you need to test the boot also for size.

  • changyang1230 on 03/08/2024 - 14:40

    Any particular reason that novated lease is not part of your consideration?

    When considered with the “cost of cash” ie how much interest you save by not spending cash from home loan offset account (or other income generating cash account), for many the NL option will come out cheaper than buying outright.

    If employment stability is a concern; even one year of novated lease (that reduces the risk of financial loss in case of redundancy) would still save some thousands.

  • jay889344 on 03/08/2024 - 15:04
    +2

    As someone above suggested, test drive.

    I have a Tesla and have been open to various EVs. However, when I had an accident and it went into repairs, I was given a Polestar as a hire car. Hated it. That was just my personal preference though as I preferred the handling, internal and external look/feel and zippiness of the Tesla but you might feel differently. My boss has the same Tesla I do and when he had his in the body shop for repairs after an accident too, he said he was given a Polestar too and liked it actually more than the Tesla.

    Each to their own so I'd suggest you get out and do some test drives

    • boomramada on 04/08/2024 - 13:58
      +1

      It is a personal thing, I preferred Volvo compared to Tesla, which is almos similar to Polestar.

  • Nugs on 03/08/2024 - 15:57
    +2

    "about to get solar panels installed, so just think it makes a lot more sense"
    what size system?
    .

  • Brick Tamland on 03/08/2024 - 17:36
    +1

    Renault Megane E-tech $60K drive away.

  • pegaxs on 03/08/2024 - 21:31
    +2

    “No one wants EV’s…. Demand is falling…” meanwhile, every second post here seems to be “what EV should I buy.”

    • boomramada on 03/08/2024 - 22:19
      +1

      Imagine asking, should I buy a Ford Ranger or Toyota Hilux in this (Camry/Tesla/BYD) forum? 😅 This forum doesn't represent actual market.

      But according to read data, EV down across the range. Ford Ranger, Hilux and Rav4 up 20%+.

      • Brick Tamland on 04/08/2024 - 09:35
        +1

        They're probably intelligent enough to do their own research and buy what suits them. I imagine the typical SUV buyer doesn't even know what SUV stands for.

  • WhyAmICommenting on 03/08/2024 - 21:34
    -1

    Byd seal

  • billdsl on 04/08/2024 - 07:57

    As someone mentioned, check out novated lease if thats an option and depending on your tax bracket, makes it a much better financial choice with the current no FBT leases.

    I have 3 late teen children and we didnt actually see many alternatives to the Model Y for size, I would have been happy with a BYD Seal but they arent exactly family friendly and that was really all that was around

    Recently bought a Tesla myself and enjoy it a lot, my Ford Ranger was just out of warranty and looked like it was going to be an unreliable huge problem so glad i made the switch

    The back seat in the Model Y has more space than the ranger FYI so they arent a small car

    With the current EV electricity plans it costs about $5 a week to charge depending on how many k's you do, so solar panels are great but unless you are home during the day and its a large system they may not actually help to charge much

  • Geoffreys on 04/08/2024 - 09:04
    +3

    Great time to buy, lots more choice than a few years back.

    I would still buy the Tesla Y over BYD Atto3. They’re both good cars but the overall experience with Tesla is still better. You also have access to the whole Tesla supercharger network, plus all public EV chargers. Trust me it matters. Maybe in a few more years teslas will be 100% public but for now it’s only a reduced set.

    The driving experience is better in the Y as well. Especially the driver assistance things like auto-driving, safety systems. The Atto3 has this annoying issue where its collision alert sensors often go off for no reason on corners. Not that Tesla’s never do that but it’s much less.

    And sorry last thing, Tesla really do keep adding features by software to the car for free. Stuff they added since we bought that just “appears” wirelessly are matrix headlights, Apple/youtube/spotify, vision-based 3d model of stuff around you when parking, auto park, etc etc.

  • Rally Dave on 04/08/2024 - 09:07

    2024 Hyundai Kona is nice and a lot roomier than the 23 model. More aligned as a conventional car such as if you like buttons and not relying on a screen and menus. If you could find a second hand Kia Niro would be a reasonable option. Both comparable in size with the Atto with better range, features and quality. Also not Chinese if that is a factor to you.

  • archmage on 04/08/2024 - 09:49

    There are 3 choices for SUV EVs:
    - xpeng g6
    - Byd sea lion 07
    - Tesla model y juniper
    - zeekr X (compact suv)
    These new EVs should be launching this year.

    • th123 on 04/08/2024 - 14:03

      weird for them to take pre-orders but have no price for the g6

  • James tee on 04/08/2024 - 17:05
    -1

    I just bought a V8 :)

    • Nugs on 04/08/2024 - 17:14

      One of life's simple pleasures
      Might have to change username to James vee
      .

  • infringement payer on 04/08/2024 - 20:57

    EV5 if you can wait, though unsure of pricing.

  • ncm on 04/08/2024 - 22:39
    +1

    Tesla Model Y

  • CommuterPolluter on 04/08/2024 - 23:06

    I was recently wondering what the break-even point is for an EV? Seems to me that their massive cost necessitates some pretty high mileage before you break even, and then some to beat what that money could have gotten you in the bank. Even if you save $2k a year, it’s going to take a decade to reach $20k. Surely you can just get a decent diesel for $40k and laugh your way to the bank?

    Or am I missing the point and this is just a rich person “I’m buying a luxury vehicle anyway, might as well get an EV” kind of deal?

    • dogzilla on 04/08/2024 - 23:55

      No different to buying a Ford Ranger when a Hilux will do the same thing at significantly lower cost….just without the w*nk factor of a Ford Ranger.

      In reality, there isn't much difference in what they do in the field, but some people feel they need suburban road warrior status.

      • dogzilla on 04/08/2024 - 23:56

        Also BYD's are similar price point to many mid-range cars these days now anyway.

  • superuser on 04/08/2024 - 23:06

    Test drive once more.

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