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Volkswagen unveils the ID.3, its first affordable long-range electric car

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Re: Volkswagen unveils the ID.3, its first affordable long-range electric car

#171
post #104
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They will come. In a the world of music equipment (synths in particular), it went like this: --70s: twisty knobs and flicky switches. --80s: We got CPU's now! Forget knobs, we got button arrays now. --90s: We got LCDs now! Forget buttons, here's one rotary control and menus on menus. --00s: If you pay us a lot, your menus will be on a touchscreen ! Neat? No? .....No? :( --10's: twisty knobs and flicky switches. Walk…

If cars are to follow synthesizers, the next step is a Eurorack-style modular dashboard where you can fit instruments and controls from a wide variety of vendors that adhere to some basic standards and interact mostly via analog voltages. Re-patching your dash while you're driving is probably taking the metaphor a bit too far, though.

This sounds awfully lot like the car stereos from the 90 that you can change with aftermarket ones, and you can remove the front part so nobody steals it from you.

Re: Volkswagen unveils the ID.3, its first affordable long-range electric car

#172
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the i3, which they are discontinuing. Most of their lineup is hybrids and ICE vehicles. They do have an electric mini which they recently announced as well as a few more models that they announced. Lets just say they are moving but slowly and rather late.

Yes, they're quite late to the show. Probably because their customers want muscle cars: hooligan M2s, hideous oversized fastback SUVs or luxury sedans. Most of their customer base wants cars with at least 250 mile range to be able to commute with on the autobahn, which they are unable to offer yet. Not EV minis. BMW blamed 20% revenue losses on EV R&D and emissions compiance. Daimler, a company with similar clientell…

Both are getting a lot of competition from Tesla currently. Apparently some of their former customers want fast electrical vehicles. Also, trucks are going electric. So, Daimler might have a fight on their hand there as well.

Re: Volkswagen unveils the ID.3, its first affordable long-range electric car

#173
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so if tesla wanted to they could make a tesla that uses cheap materials and doesn’t ship with special sensors. Call it the model 1. Could they? So why don't they? The 35k Model 3 didn't go too well. Why will this Model 1 do better for Tesla? It's difficult to target multiple segments simultaneously. You need the scale of a company like Volkswagen to do it successfully. Tesla is headed for a decision point on the ki…

The reason why is because they were not targeting creating a low end bog standard plastic cheap car that the kona represents for the model 3. The cabin differences would have to be too big to deliver it as a trim. Technologically I would see the model 1 being mostly the same platform as the model 3 with a cabin expressly designed for cheapness everywhere. So standard handles, standard ac, a 2 din stereo, everything p…

> The cabin differences would have to be too big to deliver it as a trim.

So it's too difficult for Tesla to deliver. You agree with me: Hyundai's got Tesla beat on range at the price point.

> That would make it bridge the gap and probably beat the kona price wise

"Probably" is not a practical reality. The car you're talking about doesn't exist. The Kona EV, the Niro EV, and the Soul EV do exist. Hyundai is ahead here.

Re: Volkswagen unveils the ID.3, its first affordable long-range electric car

#174
post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

254 vs 240mi for SR+ but 348 vs 310mi for the LR.

Tesla M3 SR+ is advertised as 240mi (386Km) EPA in the US vs. 409Km WLTP in the EU, a 6% difference. The LR is 310mi (~500Km) EPA vs. 560Km WLTP, a 12% difference. Assuming the tests are designed in such a way that for some reason they start to diverge massively the longer the range (6% at 240mi but 12% at 310mi) then for an ID.3 with a 210mi range there is no reason at this point to assume 15% difference but rather…

You can’t extrapolate like that. 15% is just a rule of thumb. I had to lookup the numbers to provide the reply, I didn’t know them off hand.

Some shorter range cars (e.g. BMW i3) have larger drops (19%).

I just found a spreadsheet on Reddit which shows the average for all cars OP could find is a drop of 11.5%

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BvlOf89ebiT0n16ma1V2...

Re: Volkswagen unveils the ID.3, its first affordable long-range electric car

#175

As much as I can welcome more options for EVs, I just can't trust VW with electronics and software. It's catch-22, traditional automakers sucks at electronics and software, but tesla sucks at making cars.

I just had my Tesla Model 3 serviced. A rear window needed replacing due to a rock chip. Mobile service came out, two bolts to remove the door panel, two for the glass. He was done in 20min. Whatever they’re designing for, it was obvious that Tesla is 1000x better than GM when it comes to rear windows. I recently replaced the rear window regulators on a GM Pickup. What a nightmare compared to the Tesla. They might suck short term, but their designs for trivial things like windows are amazing.

Re: Volkswagen unveils the ID.3, its first affordable long-range electric car

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course they are constrained by battery supply as a primary reason. The second reason is EVERY SINGLE EV hurts their dealers, because the maintenance is so much less. No spark plugs, mufflers, less use of brakes because of regen, no tune ups. They can still go wrong but so much is not needed in evs. Dealers make most of their profits from maintenance, and thus - they don't want them.

No, maintenance is generally done by separate auto shops. These do sometimes license the brand to become "authorized" but they definitely have nothing to do with car dealership.

Sorry but i disagree, this is widely known. A neutral article says half of dealer profit comes from maintenance. It doesn't matter that a lot of maintenance comes from outside shops. At the dealer, lots of profit comes from maintenance and that's drastically reduced with evs.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/where-does-the-car-dealer... "So where does the majority of a dealership's profit come from? It's not from car sales, at least not directly. It's from the service and parts department, which accounts for the other 49.6% of the dealership's gross profits, according to NADA."

Re: Volkswagen unveils the ID.3, its first affordable long-range electric car

#177
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those don't work if it's especially cold. Even if cold-weather mitts had capacitive ability, they don't allow enough dexterity to do anything other than mash your hands all over a screen. I wear these mitts in the winter: https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_CA/mens-gloves/merc...

You drive a car with boxing gloves on?

If you're calling the mitts I linked boxing gloves, then yes. They work just fine for turning the car on/off, steering, shifting, operating the stalk instruments and adjusting all the knob-based controls. I've got Raynaud syndrome (as do a number of my family members), and the alternative to wearing "boxing gloves" in the winter is very uncomfortable.

Re: Volkswagen unveils the ID.3, its first affordable long-range electric car

#179

> The central focus is a new 10-inch touchscreen that sits in the middle of the ID.3’s dashboard. But VW has also opted to rely on touch-sensitive buttons throughout the cabin. In fact, the only things that are controlled through physical buttons, VW says, are the windows and the hazard lights. I don't understand why big touch screens in cars are seen as a step forward. To me, they raise safety issues, and they lack…

The touch screens are there for the same reason that software is filled with user-hostile animations and contrast trade-offs: they look cool (aka they demo well) which leads to more sales.

Re: Volkswagen unveils the ID.3, its first affordable long-range electric car

#180

On a side note: German government just announced tax incentives for business-registered EVs, but only for those with a sales price less than 40.000€ [0]. This seems like a tailored offer to exclude the Tesla Model 3 in favour of Volkswagens ID.3. This is a big deal as 2/3s of all newly registered cars are registered by businesses [1] (German). [0]: https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/germany-offer-higher-... [1]:…

Similarly in Poland, current proposed plan is 30% value of a car, but with absolute max price limit of ... ~28K Euro, meaning only Opel Corsa-E qualifies. Why?!?
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