The challenge of making people buy EV's

One hour driving on empty roads in Alaska definitely beats half that in Atlanta traffic!

I know, but really this is why I'd never live in a city larger than 1M or 2M people at the most unless it was truly the only way I could get a job. I've lived in crowded, and in uncrowded and there is just no comparison to me.

 

*points to earlier statement of Santa Barbara*

Population in the U.S. - Google Public Data Explorer

Population - 88410 - Not in the millions.

Distance from Santa Barbara to Oxnard - I was off - 37.7 miles, approximately 45min drive. I live in Goleta, takes me 15 minutes to get to my place of work, so that would be about an hour to get to Oxnard. But to suffice it to say, the job market and where to live sometimes will not allow 'short commutes'. Population also not withstanding.

 

Another take on the cost of commuting, this time from a $$$ perspective.

For each mile you drive across two times on your round trip to work
daily, it multiplies to 500 miles per year, or a $170 annual fee
For each of these miles, you waste about 6 minutes in the round trip,
adding to 25 hours per year ($625 of your time).

So each mile you live from work steals $795 per year from you in
commuting costs.

$795 per year will pay the interest on $15,900 of house borrowed at a
5% interest rate.

In other words, a logical person should be willing to pay about $15,900
more for a house that is one mile closer to work, and $477,000 more
for a house that is 30 miles closer to work. For a double-commuting
couple, these numbers are $31,800 and $954,000.

Of course, YMMV

Read more: The True Cost of Commuting

 

oooooooo, you're making my head hurt. I can't be that logical.

 

another thing to consider is the status quo of the area. relatively speaking, your commute is really not that far.

i know a guy in AK who also commutes but his is 250 miles ONE WAY...he does own his own plane like all his neighbors but does it twice a week and has been doing for about 15-20 years or so.

 

This is interesting but his argument incredibly fallacious. How many people do you know who are paid not only by the hour, but by the minute, and who have complete flexibility in that time to dictate it on their whim? Are you paid 1/4 hour of work if you arrive 15 minutes early? Two hours of driving is a waste of time, but a co-worker who has only 30 minutes isn't going to be able to bill for the 90 minute difference.

The argument about using the IRS rate on mileage is not bad, though. I have a co-worker who recently moved very far away and I still cannot imagine he actually ran the numbers on it properly. His money went further on the house this far out of town, but now he's grinding out 25,000 miles/year on a newish car, losing its value, paying for maintenance, and gas.

 

I have a 17 mile rural commute each way. For me, the 25 minute drive is relaxing. It is a nice way to wind down before reaching home. I get to catch up on some news or listen to a bit of an audio book. I would really hate to give up this portion of my workday and I look forward to the drive time.