Drew Dowdell

There does need to be some equilibrium. Yes it hits poor people the most because they tend to drive older and less efficient cars. At the same time, it really needs to be indexed to inflation the next time they decide to adjust it. I don't think they should do it all at once to the 50c+ that is being discussed here.

That's exactly what it will do. Plus, the options that we do get will be more expensive.

The Feds cover a portion most interstates and some national highways. However, the funds are dispersed to the states to administer those highways within their boundaries. So, for example, I-80 across PA is maintained by PA, but paid for partially by the Feds. That's why when you cross the border on I-80 into Ohio, the quality of the road immediately improves. If you're seeing a lot of construction, it also could be the Biden Infrastructure plan. I love that they moved fast with funding these projects, but at least in my area, they seem to have started them all at once and made getting around very difficult.

I thought PA was second highest.

I think the 18.3c needs to increase too if we're already having to shift money around to cover things. And we're not even covering everything with that. The state of bridges here in PA is horrible. They just reduced traffic on a bridge here because they found serious defects. It's a major interstate artery through the city.

Tariff Tuesday is the day where we cover how President Trump’s tariffs, if fully enacted, will impact the auto industry, increase costs, and limit consumer choice. We started this series on April 15, Tax Day for those in the United States, because Trump’s tariffs amount to one of the largest single increases in taxes on the American People. The tariffs which, if fully implemented, will raise $1.4 trillion in revenue, and increase costs per household between $1,900 to $7,600 per year. Manufacturers are shuffling their decks Since the Trump tariffs have gone into place, automobile manufacturers have been rushing to shift production to avoid tariffs and reciprocal tariffs imposed by other countries. This has lead to some breathless and inaccurate or incomplete headlines like: Mazda set to stop U.S. production on this popular model. Here’s what that means for you - Daily Dot First major auto manufacturer (Mazda) pulls plug on US production due to tariffs - MSN Massive blow to Trump as Japanese car giant (Subaru) moves manufacturing OUT of US in tariff twist - Daily Mail Trump tariffs cost U.S. millions as Subaru shifts supply to Japan - MSN While some of the above articles explain the truth in the body of the stories, in these days of click-bait headlines, it is important that we don't bury the lead. For both Mazda and Subaru, the production shifts are for vehicles built in the U.S. and bound for Canada. Because of Trump's tariffs on imported vehicles, Canada placed a reciprocal tariff on vehicles imported from the U.S. Going forward, Subarus sold in Canada will have a "Made in Japan" sticker on them. Prior to Trump's election, the popular Forrester model was slated start production in Indiana taking over allocation from the outgoing Subaru Outback. The new Subaru Outback Crossover is slated to be built in Japan, however that may change with the tariffs in place. Unlike the domestic manufacturers, Subaru does not have multiple plants in the U.S. to move overseas production to their Lafayette, IN plant. The Subaru CrossTrek entered into production in the U.S. in 2023, only certain trimlines are made here with the base and premium trims still built in Japan. It is likely that Subaru will shift all US Crosstrek production to Indiana. Subaru's sports car, the Subaru BR-Z, is unlikely to survive the tariff regime as we explained in our Sports Cars are Dead piece. The Mazda CX-50 is the only Mazda model offered for sale in the U.S. that is built in the U.S in Huntsville, Alabama. The Huntsville plant is a joint venture with Toyota who builds the Corolla Cross there as well. Mazda announced a pause in production of the CX-50 after the tariffs went into affect to regroup. The plant had been supplying roughly 11,000 CX-50s to the Canadian market. It is likely that Canadian CX-50s will be imported from China in future, though there has been no official word on that from Mazda yet. In a statement, Mazda says that overall production of the CX-50 at Huntsville should remain the same, meaning that factory's output will be entirely for the U.S. market. It is likely that Mazda expects sales of the CX-5, a roughly similar sized crossover at a lower price and imported from Japan, will fall as the tariffs push the price above the CX-50's price. It's also possible that Mazda sees opportunity for increased sales of the CX-50 being one of the few small crossovers built in the US. Audi, which paused all imports in early April and has no production in the U.S., is looking to move production of certain models to Volkswagen's Chattanooga TN plant. The Audi Q4 eTron is built on the same platform as the Volkswagen ID.4 built in Chattanooga while the next version of the Audi Q8 eTron could join production of the new Scout truck and SUV at that brand's new plant in South Carolina. The larger brands like Toyota, GM, and Ford have more flexibility to move production around. GM in particular is looking to restructure its supply lines on trucks if the tariffs remain permanent, however, that does not necessarily mean a return to US production if they can prove enough of their sourced parts come from the U.S. Playing the cards in their hand Across the board, manufacturers are digging into their supply chains to tag parts made in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. In the new tariff requirements there is an exemption for raw materials and parts sourced from the U.S. in vehicles that have their final assembly in Mexico or Canada. Even with the supply-chain turmoil of the Covid-19 years, manufacturers do not have their parts content sourcing mapped to the raw material level. However, in order to qualify for that exemption, the vehicle must have 75-percent or more of its content sourced from North America. Calculating those savings correctly could make or break a model. According to The Peterson Institute for International Economics, Mexican built vehicles already have an average of 40-percent to as high as 50-percent U.S. content. (Automotive News - Subscription Required). Previously, an engine assembled in Mexico would be tariff free as long as some of the parts were made in the U.S. Now, manufacturers have to calculate which parts come from where, where were the raw materials sourced, and how much value was added in a particular country in order to calculate the tax. Unfortunately, even those calculations cost time and money manufacturers will pass an increase cost to consumers without an increase in value. Gotta know when to fold'em One of the many reasons cited by Trump for imposing these tariffs is to correct what he sees as an unfair trade imbalance between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Setting aside the fact that Canada has the same size population as the State of California and as such there would never be balanced trade between the U.S. and Canada, the unintended consequences are the reactions by auto manufacturers are making the trade imbalance worse with at least roughly 40,000 fewer U.S. built vehicles being exported to Canada and the remainder scrambling to prove their content sources to avoid the Trump tariffs and leave production in Mexico or Canada. Any trade imbalance is not going to be fixed by Audi moving a few low volume products to existing U.S. factories. This works out to a net loss for the American consumer. Read more Tariff Tuesday articles below: Tariff Tuesday - Big Trouble in Little Crossovers Tariff Tuesday - Buick Killing it in China; Killed in the U.S. Tariff Tuesday - Sports Cars are Dead View full article

@smk4565with all the good points lately! I also think that $50b over 10 years in new funding isn’t enough to cover the deficit the Highway dept is facing. If they’ve had to do $275b over 18 years, the math doesn’t add up.

It still could be. There is a lot more L2 charging than L3 charging and there’s a bunch of it that is discounted, free, or charges by the hour rather than kWH. So that can distort the average even though is isn’t inaccurate

Yeah I think the key there is that those are all level 2. These aren’t fast chargers you use on a road trip, and that’s okay.

His view is probably based on the places he goes, not an unreasonable way to view it. For me, I'd look around the offices I visit, the Costco I go to, the YMCA I use, etc. Because we got into this discussion, it made me look into it from a practical perspective on how it would fit into my life if I didn't bother to put a plug in at home, and yeah, I could still do it for cheap.

He's got lower electric rates than I do and I see a lot of 25c/kW around me. But also, look at the speeds. The higher the speed, the higher the price. The 60c/kW chargers near me are for the 350kw units. You only use them for 20-25 minutes max, and that's if you are totally empty and going to 80%. They're more suited for highway rest stops than grocery parking lots. Though there is one in the local Target that is an insane 66c for 100kw charging, but that Target is a madhouse anyway, so they're probably justified in keeping the prices high. There a certain demographic that uses that Target that doesn't care about money. The 25c/kW / L2 places are for places you'll spend an hour more at. A parking garage for the doctors office, the gym, the grocery store, at the office working. Going to an event next week to try out vehicles. Ford - Maverick Lobo, Bronco Raptor, Explorer Lincoln - Navigator Acura - ADX, ZDZX, Integra Honda - Prologue EV, Civic Hatch and CR-V Sport Touring hybrids Lucid - Gravity SUV and Air Genesis - 2026 GV70 Polaris - Slingshot Volvo - XC90, EX90 Toyota/Lexus - as many as five vehicles BMW/MINI - five or more vehicles Hyundai – Ioniq 5 N, Santa Fe HEV Kia Alfa Romeo – Tonale BMW MINI Anything that lights your fire?

A Deville Concours. These were rare when new and rarer now. These were the high end version that came with the more powerful northstar and magnaride. Concours got all the new suspension tech through this generation as it came out.

So you need to figure out what that would have cost you in the Trailblazer SS.

Absolutely, but I'm talking about like verse like. You're sorta in the same situation I am in. I have a nearly paid off Avalanche with only 63k miles on it, so buying a Silverado EV to save on gas doesn't math. It sounds like you're not putting a lot of miles on it then, which is also valid. Differing driving habits change the math. @G. David Felt sounds like he's on the road a lot. My mileage usage varies significantly each month so its difficult to make the case for an EV unless I bought one solely to put business miles on and save the Avalanche for personal driving. For April, I claimed over $1600 in mileage. May will probably be around $400. As I said... it depends. In this image, the chart is set to 15,000 miles a year, $3.50/g for gas, and 25c/kW for electricity.

Eh, as with all things, it depends. If you live in an apartment and your goal is simply the lowest cost per mile, buy a Pruis and we'll see you again in 250k miles. But comparing the most popular EV sedans today to a Pruis isn't really a fair comparison. The EVs have more features, tech, and performance. A Model-3 or Ioniq 6 will vastly out perform a Pruis, and the Ioniq 6, especially after the update, has a nicer interior and more compliant ride. Both of those EVs are more comparable in performance to something like an Acura TLX 3.0 Turbo or BMW M340i, both of which prefer premium. Now, if you're in an area with few chargers, then you'll need to do research. In my area, there are lots of chargers and they all have different rates, often at different times of the day. One advantage that charger operators have is that they can vary their rates based on time of day. So if everything in my life were the same except I was living in an apartment instead of a house, I would look at which chargers had the lowest rates. The slow-ish 6KW chargers across from the office I'm in today are 11/c/kWh right now. That's cheaper than I can get at home. A lot of the mid-speed chargers around me are 25/c/kWh, still quite reasonable and would make a Model-3 about the same cost per mile as a Pruis. The other thing to consider is vehicle size. Because of the non-liner way we calculate fuel economy in this country, bigger gas vehicles do worse than their numbers seem. A Tesla Model-3 will cost between 8c and 13c per mile to fuel at normal Supercharger rates. Fuel Cost $3.50 MPG Cost Per Mile Cost per 100 miles 15 $0.23 $23.33 20 $0.18 $17.50 25 $0.14 $14.00 30 $0.12 $11.67 35 $0.10 $10.00 40 $0.09 $8.75 45 $0.08 $7.78 You can see why I picked the Pruis as the comparison model. At 45 mpg, it's the only vehicle that comes close to the cost per mile of a Tesla at cheap supercharging. Now, comparing your Navigator to David's EV9, the savings start to stack up. The EV9 does 99 MPGe City and 88 MPGe highway, burning on average 46kw per 100 miles. Even at 60c/kw charging which is the most expensive I can find in my area, David is looking at $24.60 to go 100 miles, basically the same you and I would pay to fill our trucks. But David can almost certainly find cheaper charging than that. If he charged at the building across from where I am today for 11c/kw, he'd pay $4.51/100 miles. At a more common 25c/kW, he'd pay $10.25/100 miles. If he charges at the 25c place and commutes 300 miles a week, he's looking at $30.75 a week. You in your Navigator and me in my Avalanche aren't getting anywhere for $30.75 a week. The efficiency king (in affordable EVs) right now by a long way is the Ioniq 6 with 135 MPGe, large battery, and some of the fastest charging. Except for the Lexus RZ which has a low range, all the rest of the top MPGe players are around 115MPGe or less.