FirstGenFixer

Been filling up on electrons since 2013. Watched gas prices spike and crash three times since then. Each time, a different friend decides now is the moment to look at an EV. What I tell them: don't buy it because of the gas price. Buy it because of what it's actually like to own one. The gas price reason doesn't survive the first time prices drop again.

The brake pad point surprised me too when I finally understood why. My 2013 Leaf has 62,000 miles on it and I'm still on the factory pads. One set of wiper blades. One cabin filter. That's the complete maintenance list for eleven years of ownership. The savings are real and they almost never show up in the comparison articles.

Gen 1 Volt modules occasionally surface and they're consistently left off lists like this. Lower density than Gen 2 but the thermal stability is excellent and the DIY documentation from early builds is thorough. If Gen 2 supply ever tightens, they're worth a look before you go hunting elsewhere.

The defect rate section is what I needed to read before I did something dumb. I was tempted by eBay listings at $28/cell — clearly not Grade A. The guidance to stick with vetted importers even at a slight premium is right. I've been watching the r/diysolar megathread on Alibaba supplier reputation and the variance in cell quality is wild. Spending an extra $200 on 16 cells from a trusted source is obviously correct once you actually think it through.

Eleven years in with my 2013 Leaf and the TCO numbers track with this breakdown — with one wildcard the article underestimates for older EVs: battery replacement. I'm at 78% SOH after 62k miles, still fine for my 14-mile commute, but the writing is on the wall. A reconditioned pack from Greentec runs $3,000–4,500 installed, which changes the 10-year TCO picture meaningfully compared to a newer car still under warranty.