this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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I could see battery packs and motors being financable at a sensible interest rate being a good thing for people who can't afford such expenses out of pocket - it would make it possible for slightly less well off people to buy used EVs instead of used ICE cars.
This though? Fuck everything about this.
tl;dr: financing regular maintenance parts for any vehicle is a bad idea. Avoid money pits.
Car depreciation is a thing and those prices are insane to finance. It doesn't make sense to buy a part that's worth more than the entire vehicle. This was an issue with Prius's when they first rolled out. When the battery pack died, the car still ran, but it was in the range of 10k to the battery replaced. It did not make sense to replace it on a vehicle that was probably well into 5 or 6 years. You could also sell the Prius because it was still held value as a running vehicle. Thankfully, aftermarket products have been created to significantly reduce the cost to make it reasonable to replace a battery on a Prius; somewhere between $2k to $3k with DIY kit.
It's a stupid idea to finance parts for a vehicle when the value exceeds financing a whole new / used vehicle. If you end up totaling your vehicle, you're still out the cost for just the financed parts. You've essentially put yourself way upside down on a depreciating asset. Pretty sure insurance isn't going to cover the financed parts when they total a vehicle out. Tesla should have allowed right to repair and manuals to fix their wastes of space like Toyota did for the Prius. I know it's a hybrid, but hybrids are looking to be less of a hassle to maintain and best of both worlds. It's a trend to keep milking people for every last penny with financing every damn thing.
I just went through this type of situation. My son bought a 2013 Ford C Max PHEV and after less than 2 years, battery released the magic smoke. Since it wasn’t a popular model, there aren’t many options on replacement batteries. Green Bean Bat company said they won’t even try to fix it and Ford wants $12k! We have no choice but to donate the car and eat any value it once had. No one would even take it as a trade in just to dispose of it.
Until the cost of replacement batteries is sorted out, I will never buy an EV again and I was a strong advocate for them until I experienced the real cost.
yeah I'm not sold on EVs. you want to save the world? encourage automakers to make small vehicles. why does everything need to be a 3800 lb vehicle with at least 250 horsepower. bring back compact economical vehicles. raise the cost of fuel by taxation enough to actually pay for a fair chunk of the road maintenance. drive less.
EVs are fantastic for dense areas compared to ICE vehicles. they're still a vehicle, and they're still just a way to get you to consume.