While I will personally be buying an ev and most likely multiple evs. I can see they are a bit of an elitist wankfest at the moment.
Poor routinely buy cars for $600 - $1000. Unless we see huge battery changes that won't happen with evs.
Petrol heads (and I don't mean the rich wankerss buying Ferraris) tend to like to work on their cars. I'll do maintenance on mine. Literally will get fried if you play around with electric. I understand the upgrades that you can do, but hardly satisfying. Also understand electric won't need as much servicing.
These things will be great for me because I have money. Not so great for everyone else at the early stages.
And I could rattle off a list of reasons why. Especially with poorer, large families. I've been dirt poor and these things would be a pipe dream.
Lithium batteries are never going to cut it in the long run for mass adoption. These things are outright dangerous when damaged or faulty.
Current EV production and pricing is about where ICE vehicles were in the early 1900's; only high wage earners could afford a new one. Until Henry Ford came along with the Model T.
Tesla is attempting the same feat that the Model T Ford did; bring the cost down for the masses. The Tesla M3 was introduced as an affordable mid-luxury model. There have been a couple of price drops by Tesla over the past couple of years, and next year there will be a smaller budget model.
I am a member of a couple of Tesla Facebook sites, most of the owners in those groups are average middle income earners.
The cost of purchase is on the higher side compared to your Camry's and Mazda's, and on par or lower than a comparable BMW 3 series or Mercedes C series.
Add the savings of not having to replace engine oil and filters, spark plugs and belts, brake pads and disc rotors, the savings continue.
If you like to do your own maintenance, that is still possible and safe. There will be no maintenance required on the electrical system, other than the conventional lead acid 12V battery (soon to be replaced with a Lithium), so no risk of electrocution.
You will be able to change your own Cabin filter and brake fluid and windscreen washer fluid. That's all there is to maintain.
As for battery fires, well that is always a possibility, just like a petrol fire. though it is very rare. I'd be more concerned about hybrids, which use fuel and lithium.
"Every year, car fires cause over a billion dollars of property damage losses and kill hundreds of people, with collisions causing the majority of fatal vehicle fires. Hybrid vehicles have the most vehicle fires per 100K vehicle sales, followed by gas vehicles. Despite the recent concern about electric vehicle fires, they have the fewest fires per 100K vehicle sales and had only two model recalls for fire risks in the past year."
Auto fires result in hundreds of fatalities every year and millions of car recalls. Click here to see hybrid, gas, and electric car fire statistics.