I have a vision for a small-budget life living in an EV, turning the back into a super-mini bed+desk setup. I don't know cars, but I just moved to the bay area for an internship and I need a car at least to not feel miserable and I heard from a friend that EVs are a much better solution if I want to live in a car. I can have the car on all night with the AC and have little noise and good ventilation. I can have good privacy using the blinds and shades. I can have a 24-hour gym membership for shower, or rent a kitchen/bathroom/storage/parking spot in a household in a good area. I can use a PO box/Commercial Mail Receiving Agency(CMRA) for mails, packages and to provide an address when needed. I can explore and find a dedicated place where I find safe, comfortable and convenient to park overnight.

I will be in the US for at least two more years, but I don’t know about a more distant future. I’m living in a 1k per month room and the shared bathroom in that household kind of sucks. It has bad sound insulation and privacy. There's noise from a fridge as the landlord insists that I can't access the main kitchen and should setup a mini kitchen inside the bedroom. There's no AC and as I either have the window closed to prevent the bugs, or use the curtain all the time to block the sun, the ventilation is bad. It's a guaranteed 24k that's thrown away. I will need a car anyway which will cost at least 5/6k for a proper used one. In the end, I don't mind using an EV solely for transportation purposes.

If I can sleep in a car cozily, I don't see the point of having a room. There are plenty of chargers in the company parking lot too. And after two years, I will still own the car. I can sell it or keep my lifestyle at a very low budget. And of course, I will stay in my current place until I have explored enough and found a solution that I'd already been comfortable with.

The problem I have now is picking a car and dealing with the financing. I slept in a friend’s Kia Niro EV for two nights and it felt great. His suggestion was to lease a new one for two years, and after the incentives it can be like 300 bucks a month with no initial payment(suppose I am eligible credit-wise), and after two years I can buy it with a cheaper price if I want to. I got some offers of used ones but they are almost as expensive as new ones minus the incentives. I've been in America for only a few months as a student and I have no credit history. I will have an SSN soon but I don't know if it will make much differences, though a Kia sales told me that he can help when I have an SSN and there will be international student discount.

My budget is very limited. I can only pay at most 5-6k initially as I'm prudent in managing my money.

What are your opinions and suggestions?

(After seeing your replies, I noticed that nobody mentioned the idea of renting a parking spot/kitchen/bathroom/storage in a good household. That seems to be a solution to a lot of the problems mentioned. A 24-hour gym can do a lot too.)

List of used EV offers from a Chinese dealer who's fine with a financing to up to 5 years at a rate of 12-15 for someone without a credit history. There's used clean vehicle tax credit of up to 30% of the sales price with a maximum of 4000. - 2018 Kia soul ev, 43000 miles, 15500 with 5000 initial payment. - 2022 Kia niro, 42300 miles, 24500 with 7000 initial payment. - 2018 Tesla model3 long range, 76000 miles, 24900.