THE HOUSE THAT FORGOT HOW TO LAUGH

 There was no love missing in our house, because there was no love left to miss.That was our secret. We were not sad. Sad would have been easier.In House 24, 2nd Street, Germiston - the Molefes were perfect.6:00 AM - Alarm. 6:15 AM - Mom in the kitchen. The sound of the spoon against the pot. Same pot. Same porridge. Every day for 7 years. 6:30 AM - Dad at the table. Phone brightness on his face. He nods at Mom. Mom nods back. That's their good morning. 6:45 AM - Me and Junior. We eat with the TV on mute. Mom says TV at breakfast rots your brain, so we watch the pictures move with no sound.No one shouts. No one throws plates. Our neighbors who scream at each other at night - they have more life than us.We just... live. We pay. We eat. We sleep. We repeat.Then Mrs. Khumalo gave us the project."Grade 4s, for Life Skills this week: Record 10 moments your family laughed together."I took my pink notebook home like it was gold.DAY 1 - Monday I wrote the date and waited. Dinner....

A new study breaks down vehicle ownership cost. Here’s how EVs fared


A new study from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory offers the most comprehensive results yet of the costs of owning and operating different types of vehicles and how costs vary by powertrain.

The study is titled “Comprehensive Total Cost of Ownership Quantification for Vehicles with Different Size Classes and Powertrains.”

Argonne, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories collaborated on the study. 

Factors considered

The researchers considered the following in order to calculate the total cost of ownership:

  • Vehicle purchase cost
  • Depreciation
  • Financing and fuel costs
  • Costs related to insurance (new)
  • Maintenance and repair (new)
  • Taxes and fees (new)
Los Angeles garbage trucks
Mack electric garbage truck

The report covers the following vehicles:

  • Light-duty passenger vehicles: compact and midsize sedans, small and large sport utility vehicles, and pickup trucks
  • Medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles: semi-tractors; medium-duty vans and pickups; transit buses; box, utility aerial, and dump trucks; garbage trucks. 

It also looked at the following powertrains:

  • Internal combustion engine
  • Hybrid electric vehicle
  • Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
  • Fuel cell electric vehicle
  • Battery electric vehicle

Study findings (electric vehicles in bold)

The study found that the maintenance costs of battery electric vehicles are 40% lower than ICE vehicles.

Overall, hybrid electric vehicles currently tend to be the lowest-cost powertrain. However, battery electric vehicles will reach cost parity as battery prices drop, and hydrogen-powered fuel-cell electric vehicles will reach cost parity with conventional vehicles as the price of hydrogen drops.

David Gohlke, an energy and environmental analyst at Argonne and coauthor of the study, said:

There is uncertainty with how quickly these costs will drop, but the technology is trending in the right direction.

Other findings of note include the following, according to the Argonne National Laboratory (and electric vehicle findings are in bold):

Other findings of note include that cars depreciate faster than light trucks, and that older electric vehicles have a greater depreciation rate than newer electric vehicles.

Light-duty vehicle insurance costs are comparable for different powertrains, and vehicle size and vocation both affect incurred costs for medium/heavy-duty commercial vehicle insurance.

Light-duty vehicle taxes and fees are comparable across powertrain types and size classes, though marginally higher registration fees exist for alternative fuel vehicles in many states.

Many electric tractor trailers would be affected by additional battery weight, reducing the available payload capacity, and this cost can be substantial.

Electric vehicle charging for commercial vehicles can be time-consuming; if this charging is paid at an hourly rate, labor can cause this cost to dominate total cost of ownership.

Long-haul battery electric vehicle semi-tractors, which are the most expensive today due to their large batteries, will become the least expensive powertrain in 2035 as battery prices continue to drop.

For local delivery vehicles such as the Class 4 truck, the battery electric vehicle is the lowest cost option in 2025, the baseline year for the study’s modeling. 

Read more: Longest-range electric vehicles (EVs) you can buy in 2021

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