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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

#531

Post by mavhc »

agloeregrets wrote: post #95
foepys wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only that, there are entire continents where electric vehicles are simply not feasible. You cannot drive an EV 100km through mud and forests to get to a town just to charge it. Those EVs are not only very heavy and will sink in mud, they turn into bricks when empty. Have fun getting electricity into the jungle. A gas canister can be brought by anybody and filling the car up is quick. So most likely you will be ha…

Yup! Plus in the US the majority of all cars are not parked in a garage or driveway. How do those charge?

Charging points installed on lamp posts, due to lamp posts switching to LED lights there's lots of spare power capacity.

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

#532

Post by panabee »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #297
Someone1234 wrote: post #62

I feel like the prices on electric vehicles are starting to become their biggest hurdle (instead of range, availability, or charging which are solved enough). If you're from California or New York, I'm sure $40K starting for this or a Model Y seems complexly within your means, but there's a large chunk of the US (by population AND land) where People love to spam $40K US "average" while entirely ignoring that the aver…

> From what I understand batteries remain the lion's share of an electric vehicle's total production cost (I've heard as much as $16K/vehicle). I've seen this same figure for current EVs. But it's important to look at the trend. Lithium-ion battery prices have decreased by 97% since their introduction in 1991. The price decrease curve is amazing [0]. Teslas were at least $80K in 2015; today a Tesla with similar range…

thanks for sharing. what sources do you find reliable for breaking down EV production costs and forecasted breakdowns for the next few years?

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

#533

Post by rswail »

macintux wrote: post #359
hourislate wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in DFW also and you are correct. I'd take a guess that 80% of F150 owners live in a quiet suburban neighborhood and have never used the truck bed. What really is insane is the folks like a neighbor down the street who has an F250 Diesel Monster truck that has never seen any off road action except the time he drove on his grass backing out of the driveway. Same with all the Jeeps with oversized tires and 12k in…

> driven by soccer moms I’d really like to get away from this phrase. Some of the most avid off-roading Jeepers I know are women. And mothers. And for all I know they take their kids to soccer. “Soccer moms” is a terrible phrase.

"Suburban parent" doesn't have the same ring to it. I've also heard the term "Mum's taxi" in Australia.

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

#534

Post by ganafagol »

hourislate wrote: post #259
jackson1442 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who's driven on a highway in Texas knows this is likely untrue, at least for most F150 owners. I see a shocking number of pristine, washed and waxed F150s every single day when I'm driving. Those and Ram 1500s dominate the roads here. I don't even live in a rural area. I live in DFW.

I live in DFW also and you are correct. I'd take a guess that 80% of F150 owners live in a quiet suburban neighborhood and have never used the truck bed. What really is insane is the folks like a neighbor down the street who has an F250 Diesel Monster truck that has never seen any off road action except the time he drove on his grass backing out of the driveway. Same with all the Jeeps with oversized tires and 12k in…

Isn't that insanely inconvenient? It takes so much more space, needs so much more fuel, is so much more bulky to drive .. is that bit of "status" actually worth it?

Besides, even if you haul sth bigger 2x a year, renting a little trailer of the right size is really a no-brainer. That's what I do.

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

#535

Post by rswail »

jacquesm wrote: post #284
hourislate wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in DFW also and you are correct. I'd take a guess that 80% of F150 owners live in a quiet suburban neighborhood and have never used the truck bed. What really is insane is the folks like a neighbor down the street who has an F250 Diesel Monster truck that has never seen any off road action except the time he drove on his grass backing out of the driveway. Same with all the Jeeps with oversized tires and 12k in…

> like all the old farts buying Harley's and pretending they are some kind of bikers...shame they destroyed the brand Actually, they kept the brand alive by buying the product. Without those people they'd have died long ago.

Producing crappy, noisy, stupidly big, and overpriced products is what destroyed the brand.

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

#536

Post by WanderPanda »

rnikander wrote: post #402

I do not understand why Chevy dropped the Volt. It seemed ideal to me. Run on electric mostly, but have a little gas generator on board so don't get stuck anywhere.

My parents had it, branded as the Opel Ampera and it was a great car. But I think carrying all this additional complexity around with you is looking less appealing with the ever growing charging rates and battery sizes

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

#537

Post by rswail »

akomtu wrote: post #281
nawitus wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Poorer countries in Europe tax fuel more. If you raise fuel tax, people will find ways to buy less fuel. Generally this means more efficient (often smaller) cars, and perhaps prioritizing living more near to jobs etc. The main problem is that fuel tax should be increased slowly so people can change their consumption accordingly.

That's like reducing the oxygen level for lab rats to see how they would adapt. These people have 500 bucks in savings and no health insurance.

Get rid of the need for health insurance. That'll save them the worry and they'll end up healthier.

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

#538

Post by rswail »

akomtu wrote: post #209
wayanon wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s weird because I associate car ownership with wealth! I’m in my 40s in London in the UK earning an ok salary and neither me nor many of many friends have a car.

I don't know much about London, but in the US the arrangement is that expensive cities provide work and hoards of minimum wage workers live in exurbs 1-2 hours away from those cities. They have to wake up at 6 am, spend an hour or more in atrocious traffic on a highway with other minimum wage workers, then do the same in the reverse at the end of the day. On a bus it would take 2x longer. They don't have a choice. No…

Maybe provide a fleet of clean, well run, electric, regular scheduled, buses and they won't have to sit in the traffic in their individual cars.

Provide bus depots with car parking in the exurbs so that there is the possibility of short driving commutes to/from the depot.

Use smaller, much more frequent, shuttle buses to pickup/drop off "on demand" between houses and those hub depots, then they don't need the car to get there.

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

#539

Post by rswail »

foepys wrote: post #68
Someone1234 wrote: post #62

I feel like the prices on electric vehicles are starting to become their biggest hurdle (instead of range, availability, or charging which are solved enough). If you're from California or New York, I'm sure $40K starting for this or a Model Y seems complexly within your means, but there's a large chunk of the US (by population AND land) where People love to spam $40K US "average" while entirely ignoring that the aver…

Not only that, there are entire continents where electric vehicles are simply not feasible. You cannot drive an EV 100km through mud and forests to get to a town just to charge it. Those EVs are not only very heavy and will sink in mud, they turn into bricks when empty. Have fun getting electricity into the jungle. A gas canister can be brought by anybody and filling the car up is quick. So most likely you will be ha…

>Have fun getting electricity into the jungle.

There is already generators there, solar power and batteries will replace that. But people in the jungle either don't drive, or there is a river with boats. Is a small electric motor boat that much different to one running on petrol?

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

#540

Post by vladvasiliu »

ganafagol wrote: post #534
hourislate wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in DFW also and you are correct. I'd take a guess that 80% of F150 owners live in a quiet suburban neighborhood and have never used the truck bed. What really is insane is the folks like a neighbor down the street who has an F250 Diesel Monster truck that has never seen any off road action except the time he drove on his grass backing out of the driveway. Same with all the Jeeps with oversized tires and 12k in…

Isn't that insanely inconvenient? It takes so much more space, needs so much more fuel, is so much more bulky to drive .. is that bit of "status" actually worth it? Besides, even if you haul sth bigger 2x a year, renting a little trailer of the right size is really a no-brainer. That's what I do.

> Isn't that insanely inconvenient? It takes so much more space, needs so much more fuel, is so much more bulky to drive .. is that bit of "status" actually worth it?

I'm wondering the same thing, especially since I see more and more of those trucks in Paris, France. Now I've never been to the US, but one thing with European cities is that there are a lot of old, small streets. We also never really had big cars like in the US, so parking spots, etc, are tiny for those cars. Hell, I have an older C-class coupé and it barely fits in street parking spots.

We also have our share of off-road vehicles that have probably never left Paris, seeing how they have huge rims with low tires. But I guess since the streets are in a horrible shape and getting worse, an off-road vehicle may make some sense.

However, I guess that's the whole point of "status". Something that's practical and affordable (financially or otherwise) for everyone can't confer status.

So when it comes to status-seeking, those metrics being outrageous is actually a feature, not a bug.

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