Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

businessinsider.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

411–420 of 1001 posts

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#411

Post by gibolt »

JacobThreeThree wrote: post #302
jillesvangurp wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct. Tesla just closed another record quarter. And BYD just surpassed them as the largest EV producer in the world. Both of those things are true because the overall market keeps on growing very rapidly. Which means Tesla can break it's own records and yet not be the largest anymore because another company is growing even faster. We're in a major economic down turn because of things like global pandemics and othe…

>Tesla, BYD, and others don't have these issues because they built their EV manufacturing from scratch and have been optimizing how that works for the last ten years. The fact that Tesla and BYD don't have large, entrenched, auto unions to deal with is the biggest factor in keeping costs low.

GM produced the first modern EV, then recalled and scrapped them all. Nissan was far ahead of Tesla (on sales) with the Leaf.

Both could have easily won the race if they had tried, with the massive financial instruments they had availability, compared to tiny Tesla. Instead, they kept them as compliance cars because they 'had' to and continued to push for larger gas guzzling models with more profit.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#412

Post by XorNot »

lukas099 wrote: post #78
rappatic wrote: post #60

The article talks about range concerns as if they're simply incorrect or ill-founded: > Niedermeyer said that while an electric car can meet most people's driving needs, it struggles with edge cases like road trips because of the need to recharge. Since Americans have been promised a one-to-one substitute for their gas cars, this seems like a failure; an EV should be able to do everything a gas car can. This idea per…

People focus too much on edge cases when making life decisions, imo. > We need a dining room for when we have parties (has a party once every 2 years; room sits empty 99% of the time) > We need a guest bedroom (guests could stay at the hotel down the street) > I need a pickup truck (driver is an accountant who maybe picks up a couple bags of mulch from Lowes twice a year) I'm glad I live in a prosperous society where…

A guest bedroom isn't so guests can stay at a hotel. A guest bedroom is so I have a room I can offer people unconditionally if they need it due to a crisis. The situations in which this happens are hopefully never but they do arise, and the value of it is that it is in my house, with me and not at a hotel where I am not.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#413

Post by yurishimo »

unglaublich wrote: post #343
gamepsys wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last time I bought a personal vehicle (2022) I did some math. I drive X miles a year, I pay Y for gas, I pay Z for electricity. I then compared some vehicles in the segment that fits my needs and found the ICE options to have a significantly lower cost of ownership for the 8-10 years I expect to operate the vehicle. So I left the extra 15 grand in stock, which will see a much higher rate of return than an EV woul…

The motivation behind choosing an EV is not because it's cheaper. People like the features, low pollution, low noise, the imagine, etc. Buying a car is very often not about making the best financial decision. E.g. in Europe, SUVs are now the most popular car model, even though they are more expensive, use more fuel, are more dangerous, noisy, polluting, etc.

Which I find crazy tbh (that they are so popular). Especially in Western Europe where vehicle taxes are crazy (imo). Here in the Netherlands, you could be paying €100/mo for a "midsize" SUV just in taxes. That's nothing to say about the cost of fuel, insurance, and maintenance.

I understand why they are priced that way, and perhaps it is my expat bubble in NL specifically, but with the cost of public transportation the way that it is, I'm not sure how they expect to keep raising vehicle taxes without also making public transportation more affordable.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#414

Post by tibbydudeza »

lukas099 wrote: post #78
rappatic wrote: post #60

The article talks about range concerns as if they're simply incorrect or ill-founded: > Niedermeyer said that while an electric car can meet most people's driving needs, it struggles with edge cases like road trips because of the need to recharge. Since Americans have been promised a one-to-one substitute for their gas cars, this seems like a failure; an EV should be able to do everything a gas car can. This idea per…

People focus too much on edge cases when making life decisions, imo. > We need a dining room for when we have parties (has a party once every 2 years; room sits empty 99% of the time) > We need a guest bedroom (guests could stay at the hotel down the street) > I need a pickup truck (driver is an accountant who maybe picks up a couple bags of mulch from Lowes twice a year) I'm glad I live in a prosperous society where…

My wife loves to craft and to stich and make clothes - the dining room gets used as a cutting, crafting table as the porch room where she sits during winter is too hot during summer.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#415

Post by yitchelle »

fny wrote: post #148
rappatic wrote: post #60

The article talks about range concerns as if they're simply incorrect or ill-founded: > Niedermeyer said that while an electric car can meet most people's driving needs, it struggles with edge cases like road trips because of the need to recharge. Since Americans have been promised a one-to-one substitute for their gas cars, this seems like a failure; an EV should be able to do everything a gas car can. This idea per…

Forget range, you can’t even reliably charge non-Tesla EVs without having to drive 20 min to find a working charging station. This is a problem I’ve had in a densely populated NY suburb when I was given an electric Genesis as a loaner car. The car was incredible to drive, and I was sold on the idea that my next vehicle would be an EV until I had 3 miles of charge left after leaving my fourth broken charging station.

Can roadside assist help if your batteries are exhausted?

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#416

Post by bocytron »

rappatic wrote: post #60

The article talks about range concerns as if they're simply incorrect or ill-founded: > Niedermeyer said that while an electric car can meet most people's driving needs, it struggles with edge cases like road trips because of the need to recharge. Since Americans have been promised a one-to-one substitute for their gas cars, this seems like a failure; an EV should be able to do everything a gas car can. This idea per…

You are correct, and this highlights the biggest challenge of our time (in my opinion): people are not ready to make compromises on their lifestyle, even if it is proven that this lifestyle is unsustainable and threatens the future of humanity.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#417

Post by Vespasian »

bob1029 wrote: post #379

I think the central problem for me boils down to some fairly essential math. When you are fueling up a gasoline vehicle, you are drawing something like 10-20 megawatts of effective power for the duration. And remember, this is pretty much any gas station. Now, what kind of power output can I expect at the highest end supercharging station under the best possible circumstances? The solution seems to be hybrid where yo…

I now know a few people who own an EV without the ability to charge at home.

For what I hear that is a non issue. Most of them need to charge 1-2 times a week and do that during their grocery shopping or sport activity at public charge points. Non of them complained about that even during longer trips.

So if the infrastructure is there (it is where I live) this doesn't really seem like a big issue if you drive ~50km/day with current gen models.

I agree most people don't care about carbon emission. EVs (even mid-range ones) are fun, powerful and silent cars.

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#418

Post by oblio »

midasuni wrote: post #383
epolanski wrote: post #381

Unsurprisingly, more cars, even if electric, are not a solution. Yet again, the answer is better public transport.

How do you provide better transport to a village with 30 houses in and services in 4 different directions? There is literally demand for no more than 30 journeys a day in each direction. An hourly bus service would have more drivers than passengers even if it captured 100% of passenger journeys.

> How do you provide better transport to a village with 30 houses in and services in 4 different directions?

What percentage of the population lives in these kinds of hamlets? (probably 0.1%)

What percentage of the population does live in places where public transport is feasible? (probably 80% of the population)

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#419

Post by [deleted] »

mvdtnz wrote: post #161
lukas099 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People focus too much on edge cases when making life decisions, imo. > We need a dining room for when we have parties (has a party once every 2 years; room sits empty 99% of the time) > We need a guest bedroom (guests could stay at the hotel down the street) > I need a pickup truck (driver is an accountant who maybe picks up a couple bags of mulch from Lowes twice a year) I'm glad I live in a prosperous society where…

The edge cases are the important cases though. Those parties I throw are the highlight of my year. My parents staying here with me is important to me, I wouldn't have it any other way. Yeah I have a desk job but that landscaping work I do in my weekend is one of my favourite hobbies. I refuse to live my life as if these things aren't important to me. I refuse to average my entire life style down to my median day. My…

[deleted]

Re: Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

#420

Post by chakintosh »

screye wrote: post #242
rappatic wrote: post #60

The article talks about range concerns as if they're simply incorrect or ill-founded: > Niedermeyer said that while an electric car can meet most people's driving needs, it struggles with edge cases like road trips because of the need to recharge. Since Americans have been promised a one-to-one substitute for their gas cars, this seems like a failure; an EV should be able to do everything a gas car can. This idea per…

I disagree. The sustainable alternative to EVs is hybrids, not gas guzzlers. Hybrids can be smaller, cheaper, lighter and gentler on the grid. Each of these matter. Heavier cars cause significantly higher road wear [1], particulate pollution [2] and occupy more space. EVs by necessity, are heavier. This is especially evident in America's favorite product categories : SUVs and Trucks. The Ford- F150 lightning is 1.5x…

Totally agree. Hybrid still make a lot of sense and It's a real shame most brands released half-baked hybrids and jumped straight to EVs, other brands never even bothered with hybrids. I drive a Volvo XC40 PHEV and I can go a whole month without running the engine, I only do so on long trips or idle it for fluids to run through it. And it only added $20 to my electricity bill (not living in the US).
Post reply on HN