The ICE versus electric car debate is driving me crazy. The debate is intensifying with gas prices soaring and Rivian just announcing it’s new, smaller, “more affordable” R2. The Model Y killer.

The mistake seemingly everyone is making is a tree-forest error. More specifically, all anyone can see is one tree, gas prices versus the price of electricity. The oft stated factoid is that if you drive 12,000 miles a year you can save about $1,200 annually switching to an electric car. To which I say, big whoop.

The electric car I recently sold depreciated close to $1,200 a month! Meanwhile, you’d have to use a magnifying glass to properly assess my new Honda Passport’s rate of depreciation.

Plus, states aren’t stupid, they’ve jacked up registration costs for electric cars since their owners completely sidestep gas taxes.

Repairing electric cars is way more expensive; as a result, insurance rates are considerably higher.

If you use a wide-angle lens and take the whole forest in, electric car ownership prob doesn’t even come close to penciling out. Put differently, what I spend at the pump in the Passport is inconsequential in the larger equation of car ownership.

The forest formula is as follows. Electric car depreciation + registration + repairs + insurance rates > Electric car gas savings + electric car reduced maintenance costs.

Or to borrow one of my favorite phrases from a friend, the cost of gas doesn’t move the needle. And yet, it’s all anyone talks about.

There’s still one good reason to go electric. To bolster your environmental bonafides, and thereby, get DanDantheTransportationMan off your back.

And so, as if you didn’t know it already, further evidence I am a knucklehead.