Hey Scotty,
I've been thinking and brainstorming, I saw your video on the phasing out of gasoline cars, I live in Rhode Island, thought about getting a conventional gas powered Toyota Camry, but I wanted something more like a Toyota Prius Lift back 2018 model off lease, a local Toyota dealer here in Warwick is selling the 3 year old versions for $18K with a battery warranty on it as well for the electric motor. Regarding electric cars, over here in Rhode Island we have very strict emissions standards here and the weather gets from very cold in the Winter to very warm and humid in the Summer, rust is very common here as well, I don't like anything electric because areas like this may be a big mistake. Now, the regenerative braking on the Prius I actually like them, a friend of mine has a 2012 Prius and she likes hers, I did see a video that the hybrid batteries are getting cheaper and cheaper I don't know how true it is, but this new administration wants to phase out gasoline all together, but the way I look at this and I think that I'm echoing what the head of Toyota motor corporation is saying, electric vehicles will tax the power grids, now the rapid charging and you did say this will actually melt the batteries down faster. Yes, more people are buying hybrids but you still need the gas to charge the electric and battery motor, we can't phase out gasoline or stop it all entirely it just does not make any sense to me, I'd like to see your thoughts on this.
I think this is solved, I say let's put it this way, New England climate I'm from Rhode Island cold winters and live where it's really cold in Winters and really humid in Simmers, I think in a way running heat and AC constantly during those seasons uses electric power so we rely heavily on power grid, I'd say a used Prius from a Toyota dealer with a good warranty is better, we can't just cut gas out, actually we can't as a nation or a world to cut out all fossil fuel. Instead of doing more research on electric, I'd say do more research on hybrid vehicles and make more hybrids.
For the area you are in, the electric cars are not wfficient since you need to use both heat and AC all year around and besides that the freezing cold weather is a number one enemy for electric cars.
Regarding the Prius you consider, how many miles are on the car? They are usually trouble free up to 120k miles. Although I don’t recommend buying them since it was off lease car, unless you get the battery checked out and see in what shape it is. Another thing besides the battery is generator on those cars and they are expensive to replace/repair. You should consider these points and see what the dealer offer you in terms of warranty on those.
Off lease could have less then 40K miles on it. But with Biden and the politicians cutting gasoline out all together, we can't just do that because we need a fuel source, I live in an apartment, we can't just plug our cars in.
In your case, I would not buy that car.
Then hybrid is a better choice, but from a Toyota dealer, get a good warranty, it's a lot better then electric all together.
All automakers will offer more electrified vehicles in their portfolio as time marches on. They were already committed to that before this new administration. Nevertheless, there will still be plenty of gas-powered cars on the road for a long time, esp. if you buy used and keep the car for a long time. I would not lose sleep over it.
Scotty usually recommends to buy hybrids new.
I disagree with him on that, some deals can be found on used hybrids IF you know what to look for and know what to expect, and take those into account when purchasing.
I have to agree on the used off lease hybrid thing, AS LONG AS the battery and electric motor have some sort of warranty, yes they are made better today but, total electric for the income strapped American citizen or any citizen on this planet that's income strapped I don't know if that's realistic because you need a port to charge the battery.