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Sales of electric cars up by 43% in 2020

theguardian.com

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Re: Sales of electric cars up by 43% in 2020

#81

Post by godmode2019 »

'Global sales' I hope everyone understands in China it is very hard to get a licence plate, the government allows you to get a licence plate if you buy a heavily subsidised electric car. The aim is to stimulate demand to develop an industry. Large cities also banned motorbikes and scooters, with the same aim.

This is no way market driven demand, BYD is a very interesting company to look into. It is my understanding that Warren buffet has a large share in this company.

My believe is China sees oil dependence as a long term strategic weakness. In the event of a navel blockade it will be much harder for them to get the oil they need to run the economy. If a large part of the consumer sector is driven by electric powered by local sources (coal, hydro, nuclear) they can keep the logistic channels open. As a side benefit they get to fund a sector hoping to have the same success as they did with solar panels.

The article might have pointed this out but it was paid past a certain point on my device.

Re: Sales of electric cars up by 43% in 2020

#82

Post by sub7 »

If you're the kind of person whose phone frequently runs out of battery or someone who moves around in harsh climates, I'd skip the EV for now.

It's great that cleaner cars are getting adopted faster. The absolute number gap is still very big, the infrastructure challenges are also very big (remember BetterPlace?) and current optimism is very irrational.

Re: Sales of electric cars up by 43% in 2020

#84

Post by speedgoose »

paul7986 wrote: post #70
gonehome wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Central PA to northern New York is no big deal with the super charger network, I’ve done drives of that length. Tesla has offered access to their superchargers, but legacy car companies haven’t taken them up on the offer. Day to day, Tesla’s are better than gas - you don’t have to deal with filling up ever or oil changes etc. Mid range road trips like you describe are also easy. Super long cross country trips are doa…

So my point is it's not the same UX and convenience that a gas car offers present day and for a few years or so. When it is then it makes sense for me to buy one. I'm happy to be driving a 2015 Nissan Sentra that is paid for.

It depends. If you can charge at home or work it has been more convenient for many years.

Re: Sales of electric cars up by 43% in 2020

#85

Post by gonehome »

paul7986 wrote: post #70
gonehome wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Central PA to northern New York is no big deal with the super charger network, I’ve done drives of that length. Tesla has offered access to their superchargers, but legacy car companies haven’t taken them up on the offer. Day to day, Tesla’s are better than gas - you don’t have to deal with filling up ever or oil changes etc. Mid range road trips like you describe are also easy. Super long cross country trips are doa…

So my point is it's not the same UX and convenience that a gas car offers present day and for a few years or so. When it is then it makes sense for me to buy one. I'm happy to be driving a 2015 Nissan Sentra that is paid for.

I think it’s better UX and convenience on net today than a gas car and has been since the supercharger network was put in place.

Daily driving and charging at home is much better than filling up and paying for gas.

Trip supercharging adds 45min on a 300mi trip which is worth the trade off today for many.

If you’re making really long trips all the time, your trade off calculation will vary. Most are not.

Re: Sales of electric cars up by 43% in 2020

#86

Post by 01100011 »

millstone wrote: post #41
anonuser123456 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have lived in SoCal for 22 adult years. I’ve lost power maybe 3 times, and for at most 6 hours. A Tesla should have enough range for a few days commute w/out recharge. I don’t think power reliability should be a concern... except for when the big one strikes. But in that case all the freeway overpasses will collapse, so an ICE car won’t help you anyway.

Wait really? I live in NorCal, I lost power twice last week. That was unusual, but PG&E's safety outages are a fact of life of living in California. That said I also remember a hurricane (Harvey?) which shut down refineries, making gasoline scarce. So it's pick your poison.

I don't agree with OP in that I think power reliability is a concern with EVs. However PGE does not handle power for SoCal. In SoCal you have San Diego Gas and Electric(SDGE), LA Dept. of Water and Power, Southern California Edison, and maybe others. PG&E, along with its numerous problems, is NorCal.

I lived in SoCal for 24 years and the only major(>3 hours) power outage I remember was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Southwest_blackout and IIRC it lasted less than a day. That said, a major seismic event could occur anywhere in CA and cause outages for much longer than that.

Re: Sales of electric cars up by 43% in 2020

#87

Post by erik_seaberg »

sveingjoby wrote: post #83
danielheath wrote: post #11

Up 43% is great news. To put it in context: There were 91 million cars produced last year (per wikipedia) and 3 million electric cars sold.

The majority of sold cars are electric in Norway. Above 60 in October

82% of Norwegians are homeowners. Garage orphans will hold back some other countries.

Re: Sales of electric cars up by 43% in 2020

#88

Post by gonehome »

foepys wrote: post #79
gonehome wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Central PA to northern New York is no big deal with the super charger network, I’ve done drives of that length. Tesla has offered access to their superchargers, but legacy car companies haven’t taken them up on the offer. Day to day, Tesla’s are better than gas - you don’t have to deal with filling up ever or oil changes etc. Mid range road trips like you describe are also easy. Super long cross country trips are doa…

> Tesla has offered access to their superchargers, but legacy car companies haven’t taken them up on the offer Probably because Tesla demanded something that they knew other manufacturers won't give them. They pulled the same PR stunt when they offered their pretty limited patent pool in exchange for all patents of the partaking manufacturers. Nobody wanted to take part because as a result Tesla would have had access…

I’m not sure how bad a deal that would have been for the legacy companies - I’d guess most of their patents are worthless (maybe good for defense).

The legacy car companies are held back by the dealer model and failing to execute for ten years giving tesla a massive head start.

I’m not sure they’ll be able to survive the transition. Refusing to support superchargers just makes whatever EVs they do come up with a non-starter. The Electrify America network sucks.

Re: Sales of electric cars up by 43% in 2020

#89

Post by Barrin92 »

godmode2019 wrote: post #81

'Global sales' I hope everyone understands in China it is very hard to get a licence plate, the government allows you to get a licence plate if you buy a heavily subsidised electric car. The aim is to stimulate demand to develop an industry. Large cities also banned motorbikes and scooters, with the same aim. This is no way market driven demand, BYD is a very interesting company to look into. It is my understanding t…

it's also a plain environmental issue given how populated Chinese cities are. For the air quality alone electric transport is worth it, the damage done by bad air is immeasurable already.

Re: Sales of electric cars up by 43% in 2020

#90

Post by natch »

bradlys wrote: post #44
Server6 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is unnecessary though. You just plug your car in every night like a cell phone and you have full charge every day. Tesla's supercharger network is plenty fast for long trips and adds a nominal amount of extra time.

> This is unnecessary though. This is presuming you can charge at home. Many of us cannot. Many of us cannot charge at work. Many of us have to rely on gas station like infrastructure for getting any kind of range. (2-3 minute pit-stops to get full range back)

Free chargers are scattered around in a lot of places.

We have three Teslas out of six parking spots in our apartment building with no charging on site and we do fine.

I rarely use superchargers because the free options are so good, and free. And most of my supercharger visits are around 5-10 minutes which is not bad.

To be fair this is in a big city with a lot of resources.

I’d be the first to agree that not every place is like this, but it’s worth doing a careful check of your area because there are sometimes better options than you think.

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