Recently, the owner of a new Hummer electric truck experienced some sticker shock when they had to replace a tail light.
The owner wrote on Facebook:
“Had a shocker today. A new passenger rear light for the Hummer EV; $4,040 just to buy it.”
It’s important to note, that’s just the price to purchase a single headlight. That doesn’t factor in the cost of labor a mechanic would include for installing it.
According to automobile website, Car and Driver, General Motors lists the price of a single tail light at $3,045.48. Once taxes, labor, and other fees are included, you may find yourself paying well over $7,000 in some locations to replace two tail lights.
Let’s compare this to the average cost of replacing tail lights for normal vehicles. According to Mycarmakesnoise.com:
“If your tail light bulb gets broken, it generally costs between $20-$100 for the repair.”
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“If it’s the lens, the wiring, or a new tail light assembly altogether, the new price range for 2022 is between $200-$2000. The labor cost and the type of parts and equipment used ultimately determine the final price.”
It would be safe to say the average car will fall on the lower end of that spectrum.
General Motors explained to Car and Driver the reasoning for the exorbitantly high price of the tail lights:
“Each light has a microconductor in the housing that allows the individual lights to perform their respective animations.”
That’s a lot of money just for a cool animation. Tail lights aside, the MSRP for the EV Hummer is outrageous to begin with. The vehicle starts at $86,645, however, the only available model is the Edition 1 which costs over $110,000.
Due to limited availability, many of the EV Hummers are selling for over $250,000 online and at auctions. I suppose if you can afford the car to begin with, $4,000 tail lights aren’t a big deal.
Although, the issue of expensive EV repairs is not just limited to this higher-end electric Hummer. Rather, all EV’s tend to be more expensive to service than the average gasoline-powered car.
Forbes found that the average cost to repair small, non-luxury-brand cars with front end damage was $4,041, which is 27% more than comparable non-EV cars.
For mid-size, luxury-brand EV SUV’s, the average was $8,037, which is 53% higher than non-EV counterparts.
One owner of the Chevrolet Volt, which is by no means a high-end luxury vehicle, needed to replace the electric battery after just 70,000 miles. The dealership gave a quote of nearly $30,000.
This only addresses the issue of how much more expensive EV’s are to buy and maintain than regular gasoline-based cars.
There are a slew of other problems related to EV practicality, such as the time it takes to charge the battery and the distance you can travel on a single charge.
On top of this, there is an undeniable agenda to coerce American drivers to ditch their normal cars and buy EV’s to combat climate change.
For example, New York and California have banned the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035.
It’s the clear the EV market is young and immature as it does not provide a more affordable or practical car for consumers. You could be forced to drive one anyway depending on where you live.
-Macro Conservative