VW’s $50B Bet on an Electric Hatchback • Hacker News Board

Re: VW’s $50B Bet on an Electric Hatchback

#111

Post by jonfw » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 7:59 PM UTC

natch wrote: post #47

Kutta wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only feasible way to have cars and trucks in a zero-net-emission economy is to make them electric. Unless you want to scrap all cars and trucks, the electric versions must eventually be developed and mass-produced.

Yep and that is why used gas car prices are going to be in a free fall very soon.

Used car prices are practically always in freefall. You can expect a car to depreciate by over 60% in a decade, even more if it's driven often. I don't expect this to radically change. As demand for gassers lowers, so will the rate of new gassers being purchased, and equilibrium will be kept. As for the really old gas cars on the road- those will maintain their value because we are a long way away from electric cars being competitive on a sub $5000 price point.

Re: VW’s $50B Bet on an Electric Hatchback

#112

Post by viburnum » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 7:59 PM UTC

blhack wrote: post #59

WHY do these vehicles always have to look so freaking dorky? This is one of the things that Tesla nailed. Their vehicles are beautiful, and look like first-class products. This, the "ID-3" looks like a prius. I'm sure it's a fine car, and I really do love EVs, but man oh man I wish the designers would take a page from Tesla's book. edit: to be clear, my current car (that my wife and I share) is a chrysler pacifica mi…

They do try to make them weird-looking. The BMW i3 was bonkers. All I want is a regular Golf or Golf wagon that can go 160 miles or so on a charge.

It’s not just electrics. Honda used to make sleek cars but now they have weird shapes and curves for no reason. Comes off as desperate.

Re: VW’s $50B Bet on an Electric Hatchback

#113

Post by RegBarclay » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 7:59 PM UTC

krn wrote: post #25

VW's electrification efforts are primarily not about competing with Tesla in the US, but about not losing its 24% market share in Europe, where it has multiple non-premium brands, such as Seat and Škoda.

A lot of their electrification efforts are penance for dieselgate.

Re: VW’s $50B Bet on an Electric Hatchback

#114

Post by brailsafe » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 8:00 PM UTC

AgloeDreams wrote: post #105

blhack wrote: post #59

WHY do these vehicles always have to look so freaking dorky? This is one of the things that Tesla nailed. Their vehicles are beautiful, and look like first-class products. This, the "ID-3" looks like a prius. I'm sure it's a fine car, and I really do love EVs, but man oh man I wish the designers would take a page from Tesla's book. edit: to be clear, my current car (that my wife and I share) is a chrysler pacifica mi…

I mean, on the other hand, it is kinda like the iphone effect, Apple realized that new colors sell because people want others to know their choices and that they have the new thing. People who want an electric car so far have shown that they want that fact to be obvious. That said, have you seen the new Honda city car? It's beautiful.

Looks like kind of a standard boring Honda to me. What sets it apart for you?

Re: VW’s $50B Bet on an Electric Hatchback

#115

Post by muzika » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 8:00 PM UTC

unlinked_dll wrote: post #80

blhack wrote: post #59

WHY do these vehicles always have to look so freaking dorky? This is one of the things that Tesla nailed. Their vehicles are beautiful, and look like first-class products. This, the "ID-3" looks like a prius. I'm sure it's a fine car, and I really do love EVs, but man oh man I wish the designers would take a page from Tesla's book. edit: to be clear, my current car (that my wife and I share) is a chrysler pacifica mi…

>WHY do these vehicles always have to look so freaking dorky? Someone once explained to me that it was because EVs try and minimize the weight of the chassis to extend the range of the vehicle, and it's difficult to get more traditional curvatures in the chassis while doing that and balancing with safety/cost. No idea how accurate that is.

This can’t be true, because most of the dorky features of these cars are definitely not affecting structure/auerodymanics etc.

Re: VW’s $50B Bet on an Electric Hatchback

#116

Post by agumonkey » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 8:00 PM UTC

blhack wrote: post #59

WHY do these vehicles always have to look so freaking dorky? This is one of the things that Tesla nailed. Their vehicles are beautiful, and look like first-class products. This, the "ID-3" looks like a prius. I'm sure it's a fine car, and I really do love EVs, but man oh man I wish the designers would take a page from Tesla's book. edit: to be clear, my current car (that my wife and I share) is a chrysler pacifica mi…

I can't say but I think a lot of people want cars like the id3.

Re: VW’s $50B Bet on an Electric Hatchback

#117

Post by OnlineGladiator » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 8:01 PM UTC

richardw wrote: post #91

OnlineGladiator wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - new cars now come with 6 years warranty which is more than anything anywhere in that price range As someone who took advantage of this deal, this no longer applies starting in 2020. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2019/08/01/volkswa... Also it's fairly well known that 2019 GTIs (a pretty popular car) has a serious defect that has already started the process to begin a formal recall. It's believed that V…

I just paid around $3000 to replace pistons on a golf 7 with 73000km. Supposedly they know it's a fault but no local support aside from reducing the parts price. Initial quote was around $4000. Not loving VW. Never buying another until it's electric.

Was it under warranty? Old cars being unreliable may make VW a questionable choice for some, but what I'm talking about are brand new cars with a factory defect that makes them unsafe to drive. It's roughly equivalent to the ignition key fiasco GM faced a few years ago (or at least that is my take based on the limited information I have).

Re: VW’s $50B Bet on an Electric Hatchback

#118

Post by viburnum » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 8:01 PM UTC

rb808 wrote: post #70

blhack wrote: post #59

WHY do these vehicles always have to look so freaking dorky? This is one of the things that Tesla nailed. Their vehicles are beautiful, and look like first-class products. This, the "ID-3" looks like a prius. I'm sure it's a fine car, and I really do love EVs, but man oh man I wish the designers would take a page from Tesla's book. edit: to be clear, my current car (that my wife and I share) is a chrysler pacifica mi…

I agree a normal looking car is better, but the Audi e-tron is very pretty.

The Honda E is quirky without being try hard. Kind of like a Nissan Figaro.

Re: VW’s $50B Bet on an Electric Hatchback

#119

Post by dv_dt » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 8:03 PM UTC

beat wrote: post #26

I'm planning to buy a new car in two years, and I'm really excited about the possibilities of electric cars then. What I really want is a mid-sized hatchback, with interior form similar to my current Subaru Forester (and a zillion other similar light-duty quasi-SUVs). It's such a popular form factor, and Tesla isn't there on it.

I recently moved from a Subaru Forester to a Kia Niro plug-in and they’ve since offered a Niro EV too. It’s been surprisingly nice. Right now they’re obviously offering them at low volume to dip their toes in the water, but in two years I think it will be a one of many good options.

Re: VW’s $50B Bet on an Electric Hatchback

#120

Post by CalChris » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 8:04 PM UTC

blhack wrote: post #59

WHY do these vehicles always have to look so freaking dorky? This is one of the things that Tesla nailed. Their vehicles are beautiful, and look like first-class products. This, the "ID-3" looks like a prius. I'm sure it's a fine car, and I really do love EVs, but man oh man I wish the designers would take a page from Tesla's book. edit: to be clear, my current car (that my wife and I share) is a chrysler pacifica mi…

I get a sense that the auto executives at these non EV companies do not want their EVs to succeed. Of course that started with the EV1 but the CEO of Fiat begged customers not to buy the 500e.