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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

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Autocracies seem to be the most efficient form of governance. It's a shame that this also means that they can do evil things very efficiently, given no one can stop them.

"Democracies" are perfectly capable of doing evil things very efficiently as well. Lets not pretend the last 70 years have been all sunshine and roses with democracy being spread by force around the world.

Maybe evil to people who don't vote, that's true.

But being evil towards voters rarely makes sense in a democracy.

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

#272

The "iphone" of the electric car still isn't here. I've been saying it's coming soon for a while, cars that are so vastly superior to gas cars that it re-frames the gas car as being legacy technology just as the smartphone from apple finally got the consumer interested in smartphones and view flip-phones as inferior. I think however, it's going to come from left-field (not from Tesla) and for the first time I'm tossi…

For whatever it’s worth, everyone who has driven my model 3 immediately wants one and it has inspired 4 purchases so far. Even the most EV hating Porsche fan was converted. It has been described to me by those friends and family and by myself exactly as “an iPhone moment”. I know HN is usually quite hard on Tesla, but I do disagree - and it has nothing to do with autopilot. I feel like the sales numbers also make the case that the iPhone of electric cars absolutely is here: it’s the 3 and the Y.

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

#274
post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that very unlikely if you have any appliances at all. Multiple it by ten and I might start to believe you. For reference, right now we, granted in a four person household and electric heating in the coldest winter month, are using around 100 kWh per day. Even when the house is unoccupied in the summer the consumption is around 3.5 kWh per day. That is probably mostly just a fridge and two freezers.

100 kWh per day??? You're burning it like there's no tomorrow. Or somebody is stealing your electricity. My experience from 2-5 person households is that 20 kWh per day is a _very heavy_ consumption. I couldn't even imagine for what is 100 kWh per day needed.

Is that including hot water and heating? Because those are where most our electricity go. We burn no gas or oil.

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

#275
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electric car sales are up in Germany by similar amounts. Completely without any force applied. The same in many European countries.

Car companies must meet the EU fleet emissions standards and the only way most car companies will achieve that is by selling BEVs. Volkswagen and Renault are the top two BEV makers in Europe. Toyota is in a good position with their fleet emissions because they've been selling hybrids for so long. They're not under as much pressure to start selling BEVs in high volumes.

What is a BEV. Had a quick scan, but can’t see a definition.

(Edit) Battery Electric Vehicle

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

#276
post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or will democracy require something akin to "martial law" to quickly decide and act on urgent matters? After the pandemic hit the West - Europe started locking down mid-March, Trump banned EU flights on 12th - Germany (a democracy of 80 million people) passed a financial aid package on 23rd of March; US (a democracy of 300 million people) followed on the 25th. So it's quite clear that democracies can react quickly,…

If anything I think the pandemic shows that the 'free West' sucks at responding to such threats. We've done miserably compared to Singapore, China and Vietnam.

It's mixed. There are a (admittedly small) number of countries in the 'free West' that have had 0 or even negative excess mortality so far.

It's also difficult to compare because autocracies are less likely to release data that makes them look bad (they're too busy building a 'strong collective identity').

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

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the radio the other day there was a car show and they were talking about costs for battery replacements (and then it was advised to replace board computer, managing the batteries too) for a Tesla, I was shocked by the costs. I don't recall the exact but he was 30k+ euro lighter. I was interested in a electric car, but interest dropped significantly after hearing that. Maybe I don't know enough about cars to compar…

What does ut cost to replace an engine on a BMW? Thats probably thr closest equivalent

According to this internet anecdote, up to $10,000 or so for parts and labor which is about what I'd expect.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080401174600A...

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

#278
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the emission standards have forced the car manufacturers to offer electric cars. But how does it explain that customers are buying them? Even so much that there are long waiting times when you order an electric car. The answer is: there are enough customers interested in buying an electric cars but both the available product range and production count limited their ability to do so. With the offerings of electri…

The car makers are taking a loss/low margin on BEVs sales . Pricing is tuned such that they can sell enough BEVs to meet the regulated fleet efficiency, but no more than that.

I'm not sure that is the whole picture. VW in particular seems to be betting the company on electric.

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

#279

I’ll be interested to see the lifespan of EVs for “normal” people. I’ve got a 2012 Nissan LEAF we bought post-lease in 2015. I love it still, and don’t have any plans to replace it. The battery is not in great shape, but it gets me where I need to go. I am genuinely considering replacing the battery rather than buying another EV when the battery finally fails.

I suspect the bottom end of the market is going to disappear.

Right now I could buy a car for £1000. It won't be great but it would be good enough to get somebody too and from work and the shops. That won't be feasible when a new battery costs £5000 or more.

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

#280
post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not true. Even with coal, the end-to-end emissions are better with electric cars. Proof: Poland is 800gCO₂/kWh [1]. With an average electric car (i.e. my hyundai ioniq), you average 11kWh/100km, or .11kWh/km. Taking emissions into account, that gives us 88gCO₂/km. A VW golf is 120gCO₂/km [2] [1]: https://www.electricitymap.org/map [2]: https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/cars/Car-CO2-and-fuel-economy-mp...

You might have missed the production of EVs that causes more CO2 than that of diesel cars.

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