I'd recommend an electric car for avoiding oil changes, but I think we still have a few more years until cheap second hand electric cars become available.
No, a electric car is twice the price of an ICE car. It's not an oil change per year that will break the deal.
Also don't believe the 3000 miles oil change, it's a scam. I change my oil every 8000 miles, there's zero problem with that, especially if you put synthetic, but dino works the same.
Yeah most* engines can fairly easily do 7500mi changes on good synthetic. Even my 30 year old Honda expects 7500mi changes from the factory.
*I say "most" because a lot of modern direct injected turbocharged engines (designed for efficiency) have issues with fuel washdown due to DI cold starts and high turbo bearing heat cooking the oil to death. Those actually do need 5000mi oil changes typically, especially since 0w20 and 0w16 has real low film strength to start with.
To be sure of any OCI do an oil analysis from a lab like Blackstone at the end of your extended interval to make sure it's still in acceptable shape.
You can find what the manufacturer recommends for your make and model in your owners manual or you can look it up online. It's never 3k miles and is almost always something like 6-8k miles, with increased frequency as the vehicle ages. Older vehicles frequently burn more oil so you might want to check your levels more often if you use one as a daily driver.
I've had an electric car since 2011. The battery looks like it will last another 10 years.
Early Nissan Leaf batteries degraded relatively quickly (8-10 years) due to poor battery chemistry and no thermal management. Both of these issues have been fixed in all new electric cars (except the new Nissan Leaf which still doesn't have battery cooling).
Even the old degraded batteries are valuable as static energy storage, and several people are using them as house batteries.
Most of the cost of a battery replacement is the manufacturer markup. There is at least one company making replacement Nissan Leaf batteries for significantly less than Nissan, and they include the latest chemistry and liquid cooling (unlike Nissan who just give you a second hand battery).
Most electric cars today have a 10 year warranty on the battery. Manufacturers wouldn't be offering that if there was a reasonable chance you would need to replace the battery in that time.
Hydrogen is only 30% efficient compared to 90-95% for batteries. Most hydrogen is currently made from fossil fuels, and contains less energy than the fossil fuels used to make it.
Twice as expensive to fill as a gas car and more expensive than a battery EV to buy, all while still producing tons of CO2 by steam reforming methane to make the hydrogen? Wow, sign me up!
Hydrogen is the answer, but the question is "How can fossil fuel companies keep making money while pretending to be green?"
Hydrogen trades volumetric energy density for gravimetric energy density. It is too difficult to build a car that can safely hold a reasonable amount of hydrogen without making it bigger or sacrificing cargo space, and building a distribution network on the same scale as gasoline is a problem we still have no idea how to solve.
I think hydrogen will be much more viable in shipping, where these problems are much less pronounced. Big trucks and container ships are less concerned with volume (weight is more important). And they move along common and predictable routes meaning you don’t need quite so many hydrogen gas stations. You distribution just needs to cover truck stops and ports.
Probably could do some of this stuff yourself. It might seem intimidating at first but it could save you money and save you from mechanics overselling their labour.
Yes and no. Getting all the tools you need can be a significant expense for someone poor, and you gotta have somewhere to keep it all (such as a garage). Unfortunately one of those "gotta have money to save money" type of situations. DIY undoubtedly is cheaper though (and sort of fun).
You can get some decent stuff for not much. Unfortunately harbor freight isn't what it used to be but its still OK for basic hand tools. Major stuff I'd rent. I threw all my stuff in a duffel bag when I lived in an apartment and it worked decent but digging for tools sucked lol.
Would be cool if there were groups for it to get people started off and save a little money without buying anything
Oil changes dont require a lot of tools. Most cars you'd get away with just a socket, a drain pan and a filter wrench. I'd be suprised if it took two oil changes to pay back what you spent on tools through the savings of doing it yourself.
If you can afford to drop a hundred bucks on a decent socket and spanner set, then there's even more savings to be had from doing your own brakes and basic part replacements
"We discovered that your brake lines were cut and we found a bomb fused to the manifold."
"I had to use a coupon just to get the oil change. What makes you think I can afford fixing major safety issues like that? Now push me back home before the bomb detonates."