You Need A New Car? Go Electric! It’s Superior Technology! Part 1

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Your car is getting “long in tooth,” or maybe your daughter is going away to college and you are giving her your car. Whatever the reason, you are looking for another car. It could be new, it could be used: don’t even look at gas cars, electric cars are superior technology!

The wheels on every railroad locomotive in the world are driven by electric motors. All the busiest rail routes in Europe and China are pure electric, including high-speed rail. 98% of new cars in Norway are electric, over 80% of new cars in Denmark are electric. In China, the country with the largest sales of new cars in the world, the percentage of new electric cars in September 2026 was 67%. 82% of the operating bus fleet in China is electric. Even ships and airplanes are going electric. The data is unequivocal: electric propulsion is superior to internal combustion propulsion. Only the huge political contributions to Trump by the fossil fuel industry and his resulting anti-EV policies have slowed down adoption in this country.

In places we’ve been like California; Portland, Oregon; and northern Utah, you are seeing a lot of Teslas, so you know that electric cars are working for a lot of people these days. It’s time for you to do some research on electric cars.

You do pay a premium for new electric cars, because the batteries are still quite expensive. If price is the driving factor for you, buy a used electric car. Hardly any used EVs are high mileage, and EV batteries still have plenty of life even after they go off warranty at 8 years and 120,000 miles. There are thousands of lightly used EVs sitting at used car lots at reasonable prices all over the country these days. Some used car dealers will give you an estimate of the battery life. If not, get a friend who is an experienced EV driver to help you evaluate the battery life of the EV you are considering.

If you just do local driving or have two cars and have a garage or off-street parking, an EV is a no brainer. EVs are hands-down more convenient than gas cars for local driving. Your EV will have plenty of range for local driving, it will get a complete charge overnight in your home garage refueling station and it will never need an oil change.

EVs are as quiet as mice, as smooth as kittens, and as quick as jackrabbits. They have simple electric motors, not complex internal combustion engines. They have simple one-speed transmissions, not complex 7-speed automatic transmissions. They don’t have exhaust systems with mufflers that will rust and need replacement. They don’t have emission control systems with limited life. They don’t have complex cooling systems with big radiators. You seldom use your brakes with an EV, so your brakes may last the life of the car. They don’t have a big lead-acid battery for starting, with a maximum life of 5 years. New EVs have only a small lithium-ion battery, which lasts 10+ years. Bottom line: Routine maintenance for EVs is almost nil. I think the only real maintenance item on a Tesla over the first 3 years is the cabin air filter. You can expect an EV to go 500,000 miles without major repair or replacement in most cases.

Perhaps you can stomach buying a car from Tesla whose CEO has become one of the most despicable persons on the planet lately. (Example: Musk recently suspended access to his Starlink communications system to the Ukrainians who are valiantly defending their country from the Russian aggressors.) However, Tesla has sold almost 10 million automobiles worldwide that don’t emit CO2 and particulate pollution while operating. Tesla also has by far the most ubiquitous charging system, which allows cross-country driving on major US roads with little planning. Consider buying a Tesla.

So, what about cross-country trips? Everyone knows that long-distance trips in an electric car are inconvenient or even impossible, because there aren’t enough charging stations and it takes an hour if you can find one. Wrong: Every 100 miles along all the major Interstate highways, Tesla has built Superchargers with 8 to 32 and a few with over 100 charging stalls. By the time you have gone to the bathroom, walked the dog, and chatted with a fellow EV owner for a few minutes, you probably have more than enough charge to continue your journey. Usually, charging takes about 20 minutes. If you need a longer charge, you may need to watch a bit of Octopus Teacher or Back to the Future II on the big screen in the car for another 10 minutes.

News flash! Since February 28, 2023, most Tesla Superchargers (now North American Charging Standard/NACS chargers) are usable by all EV brands. Unfortunately, older Tesla Superchargers can’t be used by other brands, so I would still advise buying a Tesla if you want carefree cross-country driving. CCS chargers which are native to most other brands have sprung up by the thousands in the US, which together with the newer Tesla Superchargers make it possible to travel cross-country with non-Teslas on many routes with some planning. Also, Teslas can use non-Tesla chargers. Non-Tesla chargers often come with Tesla cables now, so Tesla owners don’t even need an adapter in most cases. However, even Teslas require careful planning if you are driving far from major highways.

My wife and I have done cross-country trips from Utah to Wisconsin for 7 years, on to North Carolina (once), and back to Utah. We have also traveled from Utah to Southern California at the same 500 miles per day rate that we used to do with our gas cars … and with no worries, mate.

I’m going to try to pass on some things I’ve learned from driving five different electric vehicles over 12 years and some 200,000 miles. See part two, coming soon.

If you find any of my articles helpful to you, please use my referral link when buying a new Tesla: https://ts.la/arthur73734 (Be sure to use it when you make your order). Tesla keeps changing the program, but here’s the latest: If you are buying a new Tesla Model 3 or Y and use my link, you will get two months of free Full Self Driving (a ~$200 value) on top of the one month that comes free with every new Model Y right now. This will get you a total of 3 months free Full Self Driving. It will be $99/month after that. For a Cybertruck, you will get $1000 off your purchase price. At this moment, Tesla is offering a year of free Supercharging with the purchase of a new Model 3 Premium or Performance.