Demand. Total cost of ownership can’t be too much lower than ICE vehicles. As EVs TCO goes down the price has to go up to keep demand in check.
Ask HN: Why are EVs significantly more expensive than Gasoline Vehicles?
11–20 of 21 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why are EVs significantly more expensive than Gasoline Vehicles?
#12Price is not set based on cost. It’s based on willingness to pay. If a car company can charge more, they will.
Re: Ask HN: Why are EVs significantly more expensive than Gasoline Vehicles?
#13Price is not set based on cost. It’s based on willingness to pay. If a car company can charge more, they will.
No, it's based on a combination of production cost and willingness to pay. Supply and demand.
Re: Ask HN: Why are EVs significantly more expensive than Gasoline Vehicles?
#14Batteries are still really expensive.
Re: Ask HN: Why are EVs significantly more expensive than Gasoline Vehicles?
#15EVs, while often talked about, are a very small percentage of the market so they have nowhere near the economies of scale of IC engine cars. With a smaller market, they need to spread R&D costs across fewer vehicles. A lot of companies are also adopting the Tesla model of starting at the high end and working down. It's a lot easier to build in margin on higher end products. If companies start at the low end with a ch…
What you're describing is the situation in the West. In China there are hundreds or thousands of startups making cheap city EVs, most of them under $10K.
They would be also classified as micro cars or straight out electric bikes with a roof. So it really depends what you define as a car.
I.e. A tent can be house too, but I don't think that most of people want to buy a place for tent when they are talking about buying a house.
Re: Ask HN: Why are EVs significantly more expensive than Gasoline Vehicles?
#16Expensive raw materials which are raking up prices as demand grows and supply can't. It is like a reverse economy of scale - the more OEMs do, the more expensive end product will become because more entities will be competing for limited supply of current mining output of lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper.
Re: Ask HN: Why are EVs significantly more expensive than Gasoline Vehicles?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
What you're describing is the situation in the West. In China there are hundreds or thousands of startups making cheap city EVs, most of them under $10K.
They would be also classified as micro cars or straight out electric bikes with a roof. So it really depends what you define as a car. I.e. A tent can be house too, but I don't think that most of people want to buy a place for tent when they are talking about buying a house.
No, they are real cars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkOqIEUAlw4
Re: Ask HN: Why are EVs significantly more expensive than Gasoline Vehicles?
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
They would be also classified as micro cars or straight out electric bikes with a roof. So it really depends what you define as a car. I.e. A tent can be house too, but I don't think that most of people want to buy a place for tent when they are talking about buying a house.
No, they are real cars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkOqIEUAlw4
They max out at 62mph, which would make them not legal to drive on most highways in the US. Saw some reviews from people who actually got it in the US, and they mentioned that they cannot go on any roads that have a speed limit above 45mph.
At this point, might as well buy a motorcycle and actually stay highway legal.
Re: Ask HN: Why are EVs significantly more expensive than Gasoline Vehicles?
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
They would be also classified as micro cars or straight out electric bikes with a roof. So it really depends what you define as a car. I.e. A tent can be house too, but I don't think that most of people want to buy a place for tent when they are talking about buying a house.
No, they are real cars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkOqIEUAlw4
Pretty damn cool, but won’t come close to passing and NHTSA safety test in the USA.
Re: Ask HN: Why are EVs significantly more expensive than Gasoline Vehicles?
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, they are real cars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkOqIEUAlw4
Pretty damn cool, but won’t come close to passing and NHTSA safety test in the USA.
I guess the "NHTSA safety test" is about high speed highway collisions. IHMO there should be a separate test for purely city cars, that move a lot slower.