I never considered buying an EV....Until now

[SparkyJJO]

My sympathies. No man should be forced to give up his truck and do that. I got a little bit sick to my stomach when I read it. There should be a law, or UN article, or something that prohibits it. You gotta push back, man.

To be fair, I really don't know how much life the truck had left in it, and my direct family needs come first. We kicked the idea around of keeping it and trading the Civic instead (it mostly just sits anyway), but, at the age, miles, and rust that old truck was just going to fall apart one of these days.

Also, I was fully on board with another kid so I knew what that meant.

I still want to get another one but gotta pay the van off first.

I still have my other (summer only!) toy to play with.

 

[Crowz]

Its surprising how much the lack of salted roads effects how vehicles are dealt with from region to region.

Here in the south we have a tendency to keep vehicles forever. I have some Ive owned for over 40 years and they still look like new for the most part. Its hard to imagine what it would be like to watch them just waste away from road salts.

 

[SparkyJJO]

No kidding. The Camaro behind it has never seen salt, 25 years old, and rust free. That truck was getting crusty in places at 10 years and by 15 years was quite chewed up.

 

[JBoffgrid2022]

Its surprising how much the lack of salted roads effects how vehicles are dealt with from region to region.

Here in the south we have a tendency to keep vehicles forever. I have some Ive owned for over 40 years and they still look like new for the most part. Its hard to imagine what it would be like to watch them just waste away from road salts.

It's bad. For an anniversary gift to my wife a few years back, I splurged and bought her a 1985 Volvo 240 from Oregon. It was in very good shape for its' age, 145,000 original miles on it with no rust. I had it shipped across the country to Maine, home of the salted road hahaha. The guy that I bought it from said he'd sell it to me if I promised to not use it during the winter months!

 

[JBoffgrid2022]

No kidding. The Camaro behind it has never seen salt, 25 years old, and rust free. That truck was getting crusty in places at 10 years and by 15 years was quite chewed up.

I got behind the wheel of a 2001 camaro SS years ago, those are fun to drive!

 

[PVGeezer]

All you ICE drivers should try look at things from the EV driver's point of view for just a minute.

Say I drive my Lightning down to the Ford dealership and ask the sales guy to show me a new F150 3.5 Ecoboost truck. Here's how that conversation would go.

Me: so this is the new F150 3.5 Ecoboost truck. How many miles does it get per KWh?

Sales guy: Well, it doesn't run on electricity it uses this liquid stuff called gasoline.

Me: Really? Can I make that at home like I do my electricity?

Sales guy: Nope, ya gotta go to something called a gas station and get it there. And you really wouldn't want to keep a big tank of it at home because it's explosive.

My: Yikes. How often do I have to go to one of those gas stations and how much does it cost?

Sales guy: about every 600 miles and it costs about $3 a gallon so around $80 to completely fill the 26 gallon tank.

Me: And how many miles per gallon does the truck get?

Sales guy: bout 25 on the highway.

Me: Ok, that works out to about 12 cents per mile. But I only pay about 6 cents per mile now, and that's only if I'm not making enough electricity at home from my solar array. And my current truck is always ready to go every morning. But youre telling me i'll have to go to one of these gas stations every week or so to power up your truck. Hmmm.

Me: Next question. How much HP and torque does it have?

Sales guy: bout 400hp and 570 ft-lbs

Me: but I have 580hp and 770 ft-lbs in my truck. hmmm.

Me: what's the maintenance like?

Sales guy: Well you have to change the oil every few months, among other things.

Me: Whats involved with that?

Sales guy: you have to go under the truck and drain this hot liquid out, take off a filter and replace it, and then fill it back up with new oil.

Me: sounds messy. hmmm. How long will it run my house if I have a power failure? My current truck puts out 240V and runs my house for about 3 or 4 days.

Sales guy: This truck cant do that.

Me: hmmm. How big is the frunk? I like to keep a lot of tools up there.

Sales guy: This truck doesn't have a frunk.

Me: Hmmm. Let's go for a test drive.

On test drive....

Me: Boy this thing is gutless especially off the line. Whats all that noise and vibration coming from?

Sales guy: The engine and drive train.

Me: My drivetrain is really smooth and you can hardly hear it. Hmmm. How come this thing doesnt slow down when I lift off the accelerator pedal?

Sales guy: You have to push that left pedal to enhage the friction brakes to slow down.

Me: On my truck I hardly ever use that pedal. It wastes energy and wears out the friction brakes. You mean this truck doesn't regenerate energy when it slows down?

Sales guy: right.

Me: Hmmm.

Back at the dealership.

Sales guy; Well, what do you think?

Me: Well so far your ICE truck costs double to run, I can't charge it up at home, it's got way less power and torque, it's noisy, can't regenerate energy, has way more maintenance, can't run my house, and doesnt even have a frunk. What does it cost?

Sales guy: bout the same as your truck, maybe a little less.

Me..Hmmm. Does it do anything that my truck cant do?

Sales guy: Yeah, it does. If you're going on a long trip you can recharge it in 5 minutes at one of those gas stations but with your truck you'll need to spend 45 minutes at a charging station.

Me: If I travel on a long trip I usually go by air. Maybe once or twice a year I'll drive. I save so much time and money the rest of the time that I'll happily spend the extra 40 minutes, no problem.

No sale.

 

[Quattrohead]

A tiny little part of me may have just died, reading that. But enjoy, my friend. To each their own. I like my Tundra way more than most people I know. Right up their with my dog and cheesy nachos.

Have you actually lived with one for any time? It has so much room inside, so much visibility, the Toyota V6 goes like shit off a shovel and it did a perfectly fine job of handling and breaking etc. Did I mention the room inside that is also covered ? Fold down the third row seating, take out the second row seats and you can pile in many sheets of 8x4 material and they won't get wet.
Hopefully cheese curls/balls are to your liking otherwise I'm afraid I'm going to have to unfriend you LOL

 

[Danke]

All you ICE drivers should try look at things from the EV driver's point of view for just a minute.

Say I drive my Lightning down to the Ford dealership and ask the sales guy to show me a new F150 3.5 Ecoboost truck. Here's how that conversation would go.

Me: so this is the new F150 3.5 Ecoboost truck. How many miles does it get per KWh?

Sales guy: Well, it doesn't run on electricity it uses this liquid stuff called gasoline.

Me: Really? Can I make that at home like I do my electricity?

Sales guy: Nope, ya gotta go to something called a gas station and get it there. And you really wouldn't want to keep a big tank of it at home because it's explosive.

My: Yikes. How often do I have to go to one of those gas stations and how much does it cost?

Sales guy: about every 600 miles and it costs about $3 a gallon so around $80 to completely fill the 26 gallon tank.

Me: And how many miles per gallon does the truck get?

Sales guy: bout 25 on the highway.

Me: Ok, that works out to about 12 cents per mile. But I only pay about 6 cents per mile now, and that's only if I'm not making enough electricity at home from my solar array. And my current truck is always ready to go every morning. But youre telling me i'll have to go to one of these gas stations every week or so to power up your truck. Hmmm.

Me: Next question. How much HP and torque does it have?

Sales guy: bout 400hp and 570 ft-lbs

Me: but I have 580hp and 770 ft-lbs in my truck. hmmm.

Me: what's the maintenance like?

Sales guy: Well you have to change the oil every few months, among other things.

Me: Whats involved with that?

Sales guy: you have to go under the truck and drain this hot liquid out, take off a filter and replace it, and then fill it back up with new oil.

Me: sounds messy. hmmm. How long will it run my house if I have a power failure? My current truck puts out 240V and runs my house for about 3 or 4 days.

Sales guy: This truck cant do that.

Me: hmmm. How big is the frunk? I like to keep a lot of tools up there.

Sales guy: This truck doesn't have a frunk.

Me: Hmmm. Let's go for a test drive.

On test drive....

Me: Boy this thing is gutless especially off the line. Whats all that noise and vibration coming from?

Sales guy: The engine and drive train.

Me: My drivetrain is really smooth and you can hardly hear it. Hmmm. How come this thing doesnt slow down when I lift off the accelerator pedal?

Sales guy: You have to push that left pedal to enhage the friction brakes to slow down.

Me: On my truck I hardly ever use that pedal. It wastes energy and wears out the friction brakes. You mean this truck doesn't regenerate energy when it slows down?

Sales guy: right.

Me: Hmmm.

Back at the dealership.

Sales guy; Well, what do you think?

Me: Well so far your ICE truck costs double to run, I can't charge it up at home, it's got way less power and torque, it's noisy, can't regenerate energy, has way more maintenance, can't run my house, and doesnt even have a frunk. What does it cost?

Sales guy: bout the same as your truck, maybe a little less.

Me..Hmmm. Does it do anything that my truck cant do?

Sales guy: Yeah, it does. If you're going on a long trip you can recharge it in 5 minutes at one of those gas stations but with your truck you'll need to spend 45 minutes at a charging station.

Me: If I travel on a long trip I usually go by air. Maybe once or twice a year I'll drive. I save so much time and money the rest of the time that I'll happily spend the extra 40 minutes, no problem.

No sale.

And everyone's situation is exactly like yours...

People just aren't as clever as you.

 

[PVGeezer]

And everyone's situation is exactly like yours...

People just aren't as clever as you.

Not suggesting that everyone is the same. Quite the opposite. It's the ICE drivers that generally think that way.

My point is that if you've never experienced owning a EV it's hard to understand what the benefits really are. If you take a lot of long trips , get an ICE vehicle. If not, give the advantages the EV brings a chance.

 

[JBoffgrid2022]

All you ICE drivers should try look at things from the EV driver's point of view for just a minute.

Say I drive my Lightning down to the Ford dealership and ask the sales guy to show me a new F150 3.5 Ecoboost truck. Here's how that conversation would go.

Me: so this is the new F150 3.5 Ecoboost truck. How many miles does it get per KWh?

Sales guy: Well, it doesn't run on electricity it uses this liquid stuff called gasoline.

Me: Really? Can I make that at home like I do my electricity?

Sales guy: Nope, ya gotta go to something called a gas station and get it there. And you really wouldn't want to keep a big tank of it at home because it's explosive.

My: Yikes. How often do I have to go to one of those gas stations and how much does it cost?

Sales guy: about every 600 miles and it costs about $3 a gallon so around $80 to completely fill the 26 gallon tank.

Me: And how many miles per gallon does the truck get?

Sales guy: bout 25 on the highway.

Me: Ok, that works out to about 12 cents per mile. But I only pay about 6 cents per mile now, and that's only if I'm not making enough electricity at home from my solar array. And my current truck is always ready to go every morning. But youre telling me i'll have to go to one of these gas stations every week or so to power up your truck. Hmmm.

Me: Next question. How much HP and torque does it have?

Sales guy: bout 400hp and 570 ft-lbs

Me: but I have 580hp and 770 ft-lbs in my truck. hmmm.

Me: what's the maintenance like?

Sales guy: Well you have to change the oil every few months, among other things.

Me: Whats involved with that?

Sales guy: you have to go under the truck and drain this hot liquid out, take off a filter and replace it, and then fill it back up with new oil.

Me: sounds messy. hmmm. How long will it run my house if I have a power failure? My current truck puts out 240V and runs my house for about 3 or 4 days.

Sales guy: This truck cant do that.

Me: hmmm. How big is the frunk? I like to keep a lot of tools up there.

Sales guy: This truck doesn't have a frunk.

Me: Hmmm. Let's go for a test drive.

On test drive....

Me: Boy this thing is gutless especially off the line. Whats all that noise and vibration coming from?

Sales guy: The engine and drive train.

Me: My drivetrain is really smooth and you can hardly hear it. Hmmm. How come this thing doesnt slow down when I lift off the accelerator pedal?

Sales guy: You have to push that left pedal to enhage the friction brakes to slow down.

Me: On my truck I hardly ever use that pedal. It wastes energy and wears out the friction brakes. You mean this truck doesn't regenerate energy when it slows down?

Sales guy: right.

Me: Hmmm.

Back at the dealership.

Sales guy; Well, what do you think?

Me: Well so far your ICE truck costs double to run, I can't charge it up at home, it's got way less power and torque, it's noisy, can't regenerate energy, has way more maintenance, can't run my house, and doesnt even have a frunk. What does it cost?

Sales guy: bout the same as your truck, maybe a little less.

Me..Hmmm. Does it do anything that my truck cant do?

Sales guy: Yeah, it does. If you're going on a long trip you can recharge it in 5 minutes at one of those gas stations but with your truck you'll need to spend 45 minutes at a charging station.

Me: If I travel on a long trip I usually go by air. Maybe once or twice a year I'll drive. I save so much time and money the rest of the time that I'll happily spend the extra 40 minutes, no problem.

No sale.

Well when you put it like that....

Ok ok. From you perspective it totally makes sense. But there is one fatal flaw in your theory/viewpoint. You skipped over maintenance comparisons a little. For the most part, maintenance on ICE vehicles can be done by yourself, maybe not the newer ones that require expensive computers for diagnostics, etc. But the technology is relatively the same as it has been for years. For electric vehicles, I'm pretty sure you can't maintain them yourself. What about battery replacement? How long do you have before you need that replaced?? 10 years? ICE vehicles last longer than that.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Have you actually lived with one for any time? It has so much room inside, so much visibility, the Toyota V6 goes like shit off a shovel and it did a perfectly fine job of handling and breaking etc. Did I mention the room inside that is also covered ? Fold down the third row seating, take out the second row seats and you can pile in many sheets of 8x4 material and they won't get wet.
Hopefully cheese curls/balls are to your liking otherwise I'm afraid I'm going to have to unfriend you LOL

I think the current sienna can't have the middle row seats removed for some stupid reason though.

I can get a lot in our Odyssey so I make do. But it was nice to just chuck all that stuff in the truck and not have to yank seats, or worry about scratching up the interior panels, or the dirt from concrete bags, or....

Ideally we'd have a van (for kids and stuff) and a truck.

 

[JBoffgrid2022]

Again, I see logic in both sides of the coin. My original thought for posting this thread stays the same...
I want to get to the bottom of why I personally don't want to buy an EV vehicle. Is it because its a new thing that I can't wrap my head around? Or is the look of the majority of the vehicles on the market and how I can't stand to even see them?? (Tesla Truck)
Every time I see that truck it reminds of a 1980's sci-fi film, Judge Dredd?

 

[SparkyJJO]

1) I don't want a huge hunk of NMC around
2) It costs way too much
3) It would not do the job I'd need it to do even if I could afford it

Easy for me to justify not wanting one lol

 

[PVGeezer]

Well when you put it like that....

Ok ok. From you perspective it totally makes sense. But there is one fatal flaw in your theory/viewpoint. You skipped over maintenance comparisons a little. For the most part, maintenance on ICE vehicles can be done by yourself, maybe not the newer ones that require expensive computers for diagnostics, etc. But the technology is relatively the same as it has been for years. For electric vehicles, I'm pretty sure you can't maintain them yourself. What about battery replacement? How long do you have before you need that replaced?? 10 years? ICE vehicles last longer than that.

If you're comparing older ICE vehicles to EVs sure. I too miss the old pre-ECU gassers where you can fix everything yourself. (Actually I still have one of those 1960s era engines in my airplane and enjoy tinkering with it).

But I'm comparing new to new here. A modern ICE vehicle isn't any more accessible to the home mechanic than an EV would be, maybe less so because theres so many more moving parts that could go wrong.

As for battery life it for sure remains to be seen but so far it looks like the batteries are going to last as long as the cars if you're not treating them severely. By that I mean keeping them between around 20 to 80 % SOC for normal day to day driving and avoiding lots of DC fast charging. That's what I and most EV drivers do, saving the 100% charges and DC fast charging for those few long trips.

Another reason to stick with an ICE vehicle if youre use case is long distance road trips, which I fully understand and agree with.

 

[PVGeezer]

Again, I see logic in both sides of the coin. My original thought for posting this thread stays the same...
I want to get to the bottom of why I personally don't want to buy an EV vehicle. Is it because its a new thing that I can't wrap my head around? Or is the look of the majority of the vehicles on the market and how I can't stand to even see them?? (Tesla Truck)
Every time I see that truck it reminds of a 1980's sci-fi film, Judge Dredd?

I hate the CyberTruck looks too. Most folks do I think. The Lightning looks like any other F150 except for the blanked off front grill.

Have you actually driven any EVs? If not, go on a few nice long test drives in a couple good ones, like say the Ioniq 5 or the Lightning depending on what you're looking for . Either the way they do what they do will grow on you or it won't.

 

[Danke]

No one seems to be adding insurance and tire cost into the equation.

 

[time2roll]

My sympathies. No man should be forced to give up his truck and do that. I got a little bit sick to my stomach when I read it. There should be a law, or UN article, or something that prohibits it. You gotta push back, man.

This seems to be an economics reality more than goverment overreach. Need to increase revenue more than cut expenses.

 

[JBoffgrid2022]

I hate the CyberTruck looks too. Most folks do I think. The Lightning looks like any other F150 except for the blanked off front grill.

Have you actually driven any EVs? If not, go on a few nice long test drives in a couple good ones, like say the Ioniq 5 or the Lightning depending on what you're looking for . Either the way they do what they do will grow on you or it won't.

I haven't stepped foot inside one yet. None of my friends own one and it is unlikely I will test drive one unless I'm actually going to buy one. But I might test drive the F150 lightening next I'm at the dealership waiting for an oil change, that is if they have one in stock.

 

[PVGeezer]

No one seems to be adding insurance and tire cost into the equation.

Valid points.

Cost of pickup truck tires in the US averages about 3.8 cents per mile. An EV truck will be worse because it's heavier. How much worse depends on how you drive it of course. The things have so much torque that if you're a leadfoot I'm sure you can chew up a set of tires pretty fast.

If we assume it's tires wear 50% faster then the cost difference would be about 2 cents a mile. A midsized car would be roughly half that difference. Im still on the original tires on my EVs so I can't say from personal experience but I think the 50% for me is very conservative just by looking at my pretty minimal tire wear so far. I try to not be a leadfoot but sometimes I can't help myself. Maybe someone else who has owned EVs longer can comment.

Re insurance that is so dependent on the person and your location that I don't think its going to be easy to make a comparison. Id guess that it's not much different from comparably priced ICE vehicles. We pay annually $693 for our Lighting and $403 for the Bolt if that's of any use to anyone.

The other cost to consider is that many states now charge a road tax for EVs because they don't pay gas tax.

 

[PVGeezer]

I haven't stepped foot inside one yet. None of my friends own one and it is unlikely I will test drive one unless I'm actually going to buy one. But I might test drive the F150 lightening next I'm at the dealership waiting for an oil change, that is if they have one in stock.

I think from the fact that you started this thread that you have an open mind on the subject. The only way to learn is to have an open mind and use it to have new experiences. Try out the Lightning (or a Mach E if thats your thing) at the Ford place and see if you like it.

 

[chill633]

No one seems to be adding insurance and tire cost into the equation.

My insurance cost for my Hyundai Ioniq 6 was no more or less than for a comparable new ICE vehicle at the time. I couldn't get a quote on a Rivian R1T at the time, so there was no way I was going into that blind.

Tires aren't really any different on an EV, other than you buy the high load rated variants -- XL not SL. Once you get over the whole "I can do 0-60 in 4.5 seconds" and stop driving it like you stole it, the tires wear like any other tires. Buy the wrong tires and you'll chew thru them, yes. My new tires are rated for 45,000 miles. My last ones, the ones that came with the vehicle, were rated for... nothing. Pirelli doesn't offer mileage warranties on their P Zero line. I had two fail to road hazards at 30,000 and 31,000 miles, so ended up replacing all four. Discount Tire said "yeah, they were due".

 

[chill633]

Well when you put it like that....

Ok ok. From you perspective it totally makes sense. But there is one fatal flaw in your theory/viewpoint. You skipped over maintenance comparisons a little. For the most part, maintenance on ICE vehicles can be done by yourself, maybe not the newer ones that require expensive computers for diagnostics, etc. But the technology is relatively the same as it has been for years. For electric vehicles, I'm pretty sure you can't maintain them yourself. What about battery replacement? How long do you have before you need that replaced?? 10 years? ICE vehicles last longer than that.

He didn't skip over it, 95% of it just doesn't exist in comparison to an ICE vehicle. There is no transmission, no belts, no timing chains, no exhaust system, no spark plugs, no engine, no oil to change, none of it. Brakes last 2-3x longer because they're used so much less due to regen.

The recommended services on my Ioniq 6, for the first 50,000 miles consist of rotating the tires and replacing the cabin air filter every 10,000, topping off the windshield wiper fluid, and checking the brake fluid. That's it. At 50,000 I'm supposed to have the brakes inspected. At 75,000 check the battery coolant.

If you can do ICE brakes, you can do EV brakes. If you can do engine coolant, you can do battery system coolant.

Statistically, less than 2 in 100 EVs have had their traction batteries replaced in under 10 years. Most of those are under warranty, and if you subtract out Nissan Leaf's, the number drops even more. (The Leaf is unique in that it is an air cooled battery, not actively liquid cooled. Like the original VW Beetles were air cooled.) Tesla's statistics, and I use them because they and the Leaf have been around a decade plus so there are actual real-world numbers, show the average battery life of 300,000+ miles while still retaining 75+% of the original range. There are the outlier anecdote cars with 1,000,000+ miles on them.

Considering replacing an EV battery is a lot of "plug and play", yes, a moderately skilled DIY shade-tree mechanic can do it themselves. There are several YouTube channels showing people doing just this.

 

[JBoffgrid2022]

He didn't skip over it, 95% of it just doesn't exist in comparison to an ICE vehicle. There is no transmission, no belts, no timing chains, no exhaust system, no spark plugs, no engine, no oil to change, none of it. Brakes last 2-3x longer because they're used so much less due to regen.

The recommended services on my Ioniq 6, for the first 50,000 miles consist of rotating the tires and replacing the cabin air filter every 10,000, topping off the windshield wiper fluid, and checking the brake fluid. That's it. At 50,000 I'm supposed to have the brakes inspected. At 75,000 check the battery coolant.

If you can do ICE brakes, you can do EV brakes. If you can do engine coolant, you can do battery system coolant.

Statistically, less than 2 in 100 EVs have had their traction batteries replaced in under 10 years. Most of those are under warranty, and if you subtract out Nissan Leaf's, the number drops even more. (The Leaf is unique in that it is an air cooled battery, not actively liquid cooled. Like the original VW Beetles were air cooled.) Tesla's statistics, and I use them because they and the Leaf have been around a decade plus so there are actual real-world numbers, show the average battery life of 300,000+ miles while still retaining 75+% of the original range. There are the outlier anecdote cars with 1,000,000+ miles on them.

Considering replacing an EV battery is a lot of "plug and play", yes, a moderately skilled DIY shade-tree mechanic can do it themselves. There are several YouTube channels showing people doing just this.

It makes sense. Thank you for clarifying that!

I guess when I'm thinking maintenance I'm thinking more breakdowns or something has broken and isn't working. Again, maybe this doesn't happen often enough for it to be an issue. But in my head I tent to think of a worse case scenario. For instance, what happens if you breakdown on the side of the road? (Aside from needing a charge obviously, a legit breakdown) In my state, AAA probably wouldn't tow it to a repair facility because they are a long distance away, in a few states over I believe.

 

[chill633]

It makes sense. Thank you for clarifying that!

I guess when I'm thinking maintenance I'm thinking more breakdowns or something has broken and isn't working. Again, maybe this doesn't happen often enough for it to be an issue. But in my head I tent to think of a worse case scenario. For instance, what happens if you breakdown on the side of the road? (Aside from needing a charge obviously, a legit breakdown) In my state, AAA probably wouldn't tow it to a repair facility because they are a long distance away, in a few states over I believe.

When my 12v battery died, I used a booster on it to get the car started and drive home. I ordered a new battery (yes, I could have gotten one at Walmart, Autozone, Home Depot, etc. -- I wanted something special) and replaced it myself. The 12V, normal car battery, runs the radio, on-board electronics, etc. The computer needs power so the car can turn on. Once on, the big battery helps charge the little battery. Hyundai just uses el cheapo PoS 1-year warranty 12V in their cars. Unlike jumping an ICE car, there is no cold cranking amps requirement because there is nothing to crank. The smallest, cheapest "booster" does great. All it needs to be is 12V with the clips. Essentially a glorified USB charger. (I now have an Ohmmu Li-On 12V, 4-year warranty in there.)

When I blew out one of the tires on road hazard, it was a sidewall puncture, so the repair goo didn't work. Hyundai comes with 3-years of Roadside Assistance, which they subcontract to AAA. Flatbed tow because my car is AWD, to the nearest stealership. My insurance, Liberty Mutual, also offers roadside assistance and towing to the nearest dealership. I have since purchased a compact spare which I keep in my trunk.

 

[time2roll]

It makes sense. Thank you for clarifying that!

I guess when I'm thinking maintenance I'm thinking more breakdowns or something has broken and isn't working. Again, maybe this doesn't happen often enough for it to be an issue. But in my head I tent to think of a worse case scenario. For instance, what happens if you breakdown on the side of the road? (Aside from needing a charge obviously, a legit breakdown) In my state, AAA probably wouldn't tow it to a repair facility because they are a long distance away, in a few states over I believe.

I assume most unscheduled breakdowns will be close to home and close to service. For a long journey the new car may come with factory included tow service as part of the warranty. A towing rider on the insurance policy is generally a good value and will give peace of mind if you are staring at a $600+ tow from the middle of nowhere.

Never a good day for vehicle problems no matter what you drive.