With regards to my OP, I posted the article because it seemed pretty balanced. The person giving their account is a professor, so you'd certainly presume her judgement with regards to cost and other things to be at least on par with the average person.
My take on it is she is actually overrating her EV purchase. I believe this for many reasons but one of the most obvious ones is if she keeps the vehicle for a lengthy period, it will likely develop problems. There's many reasons for this, but perhaps the most obvious one is we know these batteries are vulnerable by default. They degrade from the word go - in some circumstances this can be quite dramatic.
The emerging problem that is firmly on the horizon is the lack of materials used to make these batteries. Tesla are already starting to use cheaper batteries which have less energy density and less range due to material shortage. You'll often hear about technology, but in this case Tesla are actually going backwards. As detailed in the article underneath.
Tesla Inc. said it’s shifting to cheaper lithium-iron-phosphate batteries globally, a move away from the chemistry used to power most electric cars as prices for key materials soar.
www.bloomberg.com
We also know there is a big supply problem in the EV industry, especially with Tesla. Some people have had to wait up to 6 months to get their cars repaired. This surely has got to push up insurance premiums, but I guess the nature of EVs makes insurance higher anyway. You've got to buy a new one for a stack of money or buy a used one without knowing how long the battery will have left and a potential humongous bill served up if a replacement is needed.
As far as this TCO goes, it's all spin. If it looks expensive - it is expensive, for me. Your pocket will tell you anyway. In fact, studies have shown that a petrol car that only averages 33mpg is still cheaper to run than an EV. In California data illustrated that it cost $12.95 to go 100 miles on electric and only $8.58 on petrol.
In a study of some gas cars released by Anderson Economic Group, it can cost considerably more to drive an EV — until infrastructure improves.
amp.freep.com
Those with common sense know about technology and cars and how it breaks. Just look at those Tesla owners who were locked out of their vehicles because the internet went down. They needed to use an app to get into their vehicles but couldn't access it
Whatever happened to that good old technology called a key?