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Mexican government unveils a prototype for a new homegrown, ultra-affordable EV

gizmodo.com

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Re: Mexican government unveils a prototype for a new homegrown, ultra-affordable EV

#21

Post by alemanek »

friarpuck wrote: post #10
gwbas1c wrote: post #3

> It remains to be seen whether the Olinia One will face similar pushback from the U.S. once it goes on sale. > can travel up to 125 kilometers (77 miles) on a single charge The US market generally rejects small-range EVs, except in very niche markets. In order to succeed in the US, it will need roughly 3-4x the range. In order for this to succeed in Mexico, their market will need different driving habits than the ty…

I was thinking it would make a good candidate for city taxis and other such urban uses

Yeah taxis in the capital and small people movers to go from hotel to beach is where these will shine. EVs are especially well suited to stop and go traffic as well.

People are so caught up trying to solve every use case at once. Dropping pollution caused by old taxis in city centers will be a big win for Mexico if they can hit their price point. At the price they are quoting fleet operators can buy 2 and have their drivers swap out mid-day during their lunch.

Re: Mexican government unveils a prototype for a new homegrown, ultra-affordable EV

#23

Post by [deleted] »

bruce511 wrote: post #15

The Ford CEO is not wrong. Allowing foreign imports into the country at prices far below what US producers are able to make will decimate the local car industry in the US. There are 4 possible solutions to this problem; a) convince Americans that it's worth paying more for a locally built product. This is the simplest approach, but there's only so much margin here that the consumer will tolerate. At the moment this g…

[deleted]

Re: Mexican government unveils a prototype for a new homegrown, ultra-affordable EV

#24

Post by mekdoonggi »

marinhero wrote: post #7

Hoping this brings EV infrastructure up in the country. A road trip is still quite an ordeal due to the lack of fast chargers in highways and maybe that's why the range on the first version of Olena is low, as it's aimed to provide "ultra mobility" within cities and not outside of it but still, glad to see the MX government invest into renewable technology.

Would this be enough range for a typical bit of driving in CDMX? Seems like a painful road trip car, but you don't need so much range for a city car.

Re: Mexican government unveils a prototype for a new homegrown, ultra-affordable EV

#25

Post by dieselgate »

CalRobert wrote: post #5
gwbas1c wrote: post #3

> It remains to be seen whether the Olinia One will face similar pushback from the U.S. once it goes on sale. > can travel up to 125 kilometers (77 miles) on a single charge The US market generally rejects small-range EVs, except in very niche markets. In order to succeed in the US, it will need roughly 3-4x the range. In order for this to succeed in Mexico, their market will need different driving habits than the ty…

"The car is designed for urban settings and has a top speed of 50 kilometers (31 miles) per hour." I don't think range will be an issue at that speed tbh. Cool little transport but not really a "car" in the way we think of them.

> The car is designed for urban settings

Huh, the speed limit is odd because in my urban/city driving in the western US (San Diego, LA, SF, Portland and Seattle) all major cities still basically necessitate non-zero highway driving. Even mopeds (and bicycles) can pretty easily exceed 31 mph.

I've spent about 2 months total in Mexico City and there are still in-city areas where it'd be common to exceed 31 mph. The main rate limiter being traffic...

Anyway not to pooh-pooh the idea too much, I am sure there are plenty of use cases but maybe enabling a top speed of 55 mph would increase utility IMO

Re: Mexican government unveils a prototype for a new homegrown, ultra-affordable EV

#26

Post by floxy »

Rotdhizon wrote: post #9
gwbas1c wrote: post #3

> It remains to be seen whether the Olinia One will face similar pushback from the U.S. once it goes on sale. > can travel up to 125 kilometers (77 miles) on a single charge The US market generally rejects small-range EVs, except in very niche markets. In order to succeed in the US, it will need roughly 3-4x the range. In order for this to succeed in Mexico, their market will need different driving habits than the ty…

I know absolutely nothing about Mexico in terms of geography or driving so I wonder how feasible an EV that you presumably constantly have to charge is going to fare. In the US, a range of 77 miles is a complete non starter. You'd have to charge it every single day. If not multiple times a day in some peoples cases. It's interesting that info about the car is only half the article. The other half is a commentary on h…

>charge it every single day.

That's pretty much standard operating procedure for any EV. That's one of the perks of owning an EV. Plug it in when you get home from work, and have a full "tank" every morning. Plus you get the cabin preheating using the wall electricity.

Re: Mexican government unveils a prototype for a new homegrown, ultra-affordable EV

#28

Post by degenerate »

apparent wrote: post #19
Rotdhizon wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know absolutely nothing about Mexico in terms of geography or driving so I wonder how feasible an EV that you presumably constantly have to charge is going to fare. In the US, a range of 77 miles is a complete non starter. You'd have to charge it every single day. If not multiple times a day in some peoples cases. It's interesting that info about the car is only half the article. The other half is a commentary on h…

> In the US, a range of 77 miles is a complete non starter. You'd have to charge it every single day. If not multiple times a day in some peoples cases. It's true that some people drive more than 77 miles per day. But a pretty big chunk of people never do, except road trips/vacations. It could easily be worth it to buy a cheap EV for everyday use and then rent a vehicle for long trips.

exactly - the rejection of short range EVs was when they cost as much as a normal car

if the short range EV is now much cheaper, people will adapt to the restriction because it's an affordable option

Re: Mexican government unveils a prototype for a new homegrown, ultra-affordable EV

#29

Post by SoftTalker »

degenerate wrote: post #28
apparent wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the US, a range of 77 miles is a complete non starter. You'd have to charge it every single day. If not multiple times a day in some peoples cases. It's true that some people drive more than 77 miles per day. But a pretty big chunk of people never do, except road trips/vacations. It could easily be worth it to buy a cheap EV for everyday use and then rent a vehicle for long trips.

exactly - the rejection of short range EVs was when they cost as much as a normal car if the short range EV is now much cheaper, people will adapt to the restriction because it's an affordable option

Would have to be very affordable. Like well under $10K. Otherwise I'll just buy a used ICE vehicle and have a lot more flexibility in how I use it.

Re: Mexican government unveils a prototype for a new homegrown, ultra-affordable EV

#30

Post by floxy »

apparent wrote: post #19
Rotdhizon wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know absolutely nothing about Mexico in terms of geography or driving so I wonder how feasible an EV that you presumably constantly have to charge is going to fare. In the US, a range of 77 miles is a complete non starter. You'd have to charge it every single day. If not multiple times a day in some peoples cases. It's interesting that info about the car is only half the article. The other half is a commentary on h…

> In the US, a range of 77 miles is a complete non starter. You'd have to charge it every single day. If not multiple times a day in some peoples cases. It's true that some people drive more than 77 miles per day. But a pretty big chunk of people never do, except road trips/vacations. It could easily be worth it to buy a cheap EV for everyday use and then rent a vehicle for long trips.

Or you own more than vehicle. Plenty of families own multiple vehicles, and they don't all need to have tons of range.
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