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Volkswagen launches its first all-electric SUV, the ID.4

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Re: Volkswagen launches its first all-electric SUV, the ID.4

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then I guess you’re never buying any European car ever again because it has since come to light that they were all at it. A bit misplaced given the electric push anyhow surely?

Not just European; practically everyone who made diesel cars was at it.

I am curious. Do you happen to have a source for it?

Re: Volkswagen launches its first all-electric SUV, the ID.4

#22
post #4
post #2

What I’m really curious to see is whether or not “electric” is the single killer feature it is often positioned as. Semi-autonomous driving and overall UX are two places that Tesla is just so far ahead. I think other manufacturers will make progress, but they are likely to be slow. Electric is compelling but it’s only a small part of the overall value prop for a lot of buyers.

n=1 of course, but to me Teslas aren't compelling until they 1) are a company I want to support, 2) building a vehicle I want, at 3) a price I want to pay. They fail #1 in a bunch of entertaining ways, they don't make a vehicle that satisfies #2 either in features/size or in the absence of misfeatures like the center console or the quasi-automated car crasher, and they'd have to take a significant haircut to satisfy…

Your reasoning, in my head, lead me to buy a Renault Zoe, and I love it.

Electric cars cannot conjuring to be luxury items if we want to convert the fleet. This is something that Tesla gets distracted on and misses: the Model 3 should have cost 50% of what it does (with the compromises to get there). The 3 is like a slightly less ostentatious S, which is a total market miss for me

Re: Volkswagen launches its first all-electric SUV, the ID.4

#23
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if there was a perspective to upgrade to a more modern battery later on, that would make a huge difference for these decisions. I wonder how much the actual battery contributes to the production costs. It can't be trivial, right?

Absolutely. If the battery were easily swappable, either by me or a low cost service center, AND a promise of bigger batteries was made, I'd probably bite. But as it sits, it seems like batteries are very central to the car and rather cost prohibitive to swap out.

After swearing up and down that they would never do battery swaps, Tesla demonstrated a 90 second swap back in 2012. They held a few events in California to get enough swaps to meet ZEV benchmarks and get nearly $300mil. When they were called out they removed any reference to the program and pretended like it never happened.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140331102655/http://www.teslam...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc.#Controversies

Re: Volkswagen launches its first all-electric SUV, the ID.4

#24
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not informed but it seems all the high range cars are also the expensive ones. Mercedes EQS and Tesla Model S for example.

Don't forget the higher end monstrosity of a cybertruck. Looks aside, something like that would interest me but I don't need the extras. I don't need extra motors and 4wd. Why not just offer the base version with the bigger battery?

> Don't forget the higher end

Cybertruck will have 250+ miles of range for $39,900, which is the same as the ID.4 this article is about.

what about it is "higher end"?

Re: Volkswagen launches its first all-electric SUV, the ID.4

#25
post #18
post #5

I'm kicking around the idea of an electric car, but the ranges of these things just utterly disappoint me. With some companies offering, or planning to offer 500ish mile ranges, it would feel immediately outdated to me to throw 40k on something with a ~200 mile range. Is battery tech that different between companies, is it cost prohibitive?

How often do you drive that far? The farthest I drive in one go is 350 miles and I only make that trip once every other year because it's exhausting. (If I could fly there I probably would.) A vehicle with a 100 mile range would cover pretty much all the other driving I do regularly.

Funny. I would not fly for a trip of 350 miles. Being at the airport early, going through security, checking in luggage, all of those are unpredictable. Most of the time i leave home 3 hours before scheduled flight, it can take 1 hour to get to the airport (depending on traffic, usually 20 minutes), and then all of the above. 3 hours can get me almost 200 miles away, and then I'm left with 150 miles of driving.

Re: Volkswagen launches its first all-electric SUV, the ID.4

#26

I am never buying a Volkswagen after the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal in 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal

They've already paid over 30 billion to resolve the scandal, and they've pledged to invest 86 billion to develop electric vehicles. It's pointless to hold old grudges against companies when the people responsible for the scandal are gone and the company is now moving in the right direction.

Re: Volkswagen launches its first all-electric SUV, the ID.4

#27
post #24
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget the higher end monstrosity of a cybertruck. Looks aside, something like that would interest me but I don't need the extras. I don't need extra motors and 4wd. Why not just offer the base version with the bigger battery?

> Don't forget the higher end Cybertruck will have 250+ miles of range for $39,900, which is the same as the ID.4 this article is about. what about it is "higher end"?

There are three models of cybertruck. The most expensive, 70k version, has a 500 mi range. That's what I was referring to as higher end.

Re: Volkswagen launches its first all-electric SUV, the ID.4

#28
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not informed but it seems all the high range cars are also the expensive ones. Mercedes EQS and Tesla Model S for example.

Don't forget the higher end monstrosity of a cybertruck. Looks aside, something like that would interest me but I don't need the extras. I don't need extra motors and 4wd. Why not just offer the base version with the bigger battery?

I believe the additional motors actually contribute to the longer range. The motors can be individually optimized for different speeds, ie you can have one motor be optimized for the highway and the other for low speeds.

Re: Volkswagen launches its first all-electric SUV, the ID.4

#29
post #18
post #5

I'm kicking around the idea of an electric car, but the ranges of these things just utterly disappoint me. With some companies offering, or planning to offer 500ish mile ranges, it would feel immediately outdated to me to throw 40k on something with a ~200 mile range. Is battery tech that different between companies, is it cost prohibitive?

How often do you drive that far? The farthest I drive in one go is 350 miles and I only make that trip once every other year because it's exhausting. (If I could fly there I probably would.) A vehicle with a 100 mile range would cover pretty much all the other driving I do regularly.

I'm curious... are you in the US? 350 miles is definitely within the realm of reason here-- a couple friends and I made an impulsive 250-something mile trip a couple weeks ago, and my family took a road trip to Florida over the past summer (normally we'd fly, but COVID)-- that trip was actually in an electric car and ended up being about 4 hours longer than it would be in a gas car.

Depending on where you are, 350 miles might not even get you out of Texas!

Re: Volkswagen launches its first all-electric SUV, the ID.4

#30
post #5

I'm kicking around the idea of an electric car, but the ranges of these things just utterly disappoint me. With some companies offering, or planning to offer 500ish mile ranges, it would feel immediately outdated to me to throw 40k on something with a ~200 mile range. Is battery tech that different between companies, is it cost prohibitive?

A used Premier Bolt with DC quick charging is a good compromise here.

The car software is well done, and while it isn't updated often that just means you can expect less bugs than Tesla's constantly updated software.

Downsides to the Bolt include OnStar, 3rd party quick chargers are often broken, and their app is absolute garbage. Other than that I think ~$15k for 200+ miles is amazing.

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