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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

#51

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

phildenhoff wrote: post #13
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…

If you have a charger at home, or at work, why does it matter if you have to charge it daily or weekly? Yes, for some lifestyles, range matters. For others, a 125 km range is perfectly acceptable

For a significant segment of the US population, that thing wouldn't get them to work and back, so they'd have to charge it both at home and at work. And in many cases, forget running any errands, picking up kids from daycare, etc.

And minimum speed on US interstates is typically 40mph, so that reduces its usability even more.

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

#52

Post by loloquwowndueo »

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…

> 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.

Hey at least you admitted that upfront. Average driving speed in Mexico City is 15 km/h so one would have to spend 8h driving to deplete the battery in a day. Typical commutes are perhaps 1h one-way but again, distance wise probably only about 40 km both ways. So this 125km range easily covers it for most people.

I think energy cost is more of an issue for most. electricity is expensive in Mexico City especially compared to base salaries. And electrical infrastructure was never built to handle high power consumption. Most apartments have a single 30A breaker for the entire house. Most heating is done by gas and air conditioning is not widely used. For most people charging speed will likely be limited to about 10A at 120V.

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

#53

Post by loloquwowndueo »

petcat wrote: post #32

31 MPH and needs to be re-charged after only 77 miles. This thing is not a car. It's usefulness in USA would be like shuttling around a mall parking lot or between airport terminals. Even the $8,500 pricetag seems crazy for something with very little actual utility.

Luckily it was not designed to be used in the US.

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

#54

Post by cucumber3732842 »

jshier wrote: post #39
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…

Like many things, it seems like a combination of all of those would work better than any single one, depending on the actual goal. If the goal is to help drive EV adoption, tariffs that raise foreign prices to the desired price point, rather than simply being more expensive, would provide competition to the America companies, perhaps driving improvements. Subsidies would help with labor and ensure the company keeps d…

Part of the point of historical import taxes/tariffs was to get them to build it here, invest in facilities, train the local workforce, etc.

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

#55

Post by hmm37 »

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…

The tariff route is what happened in the 1970s under the "chicken tax", which still exists today to protect the US light truck industry, and is pretty much the reason why SUVs reign supreme in the US market. SUVs are classified as "light trucks", which has caused a Galapagozation of the US car industry/market.

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

#56

Post by triceratops »

cucumber3732842 wrote: post #42
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…

>This is one of those "the internet is a fad, it'll never catch on" moments. EV's are here to stay. Not saying you're one of them (there are other people here who fit the bill much better) but like with anything else the people on the internet peddling grand narratives lacking of nuance are delusional fanboys, malevolent liars or some combination of the two. EVs are absolutely going to win certain market segments and…

> there will likely be a whole bunch of heavier use cases where [EVs] just can't pencil out

Do the big Detroit automakers also build a lot of semis, garbage trucks, snow plows, and fire engines? I can see those types of vehicles being ICE holdouts. But certainly not anything you can drive with a regular driver license.

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

#58

Post by cucumber3732842 »

triceratops wrote: post #56
cucumber3732842 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This is one of those "the internet is a fad, it'll never catch on" moments. EV's are here to stay. Not saying you're one of them (there are other people here who fit the bill much better) but like with anything else the people on the internet peddling grand narratives lacking of nuance are delusional fanboys, malevolent liars or some combination of the two. EVs are absolutely going to win certain market segments and…

> there will likely be a whole bunch of heavier use cases where [EVs] just can't pencil out Do the big Detroit automakers also build a lot of semis, garbage trucks, snow plows, and fire engines? I can see those types of vehicles being ICE holdouts. But certainly not anything you can drive with a regular driver license.

I meant more like bog standard 1500-5500 sized trucks and vans. Depending upon the actual fine details of the use case it's gonna be hard to make the math math.

Your local DPW with a lot of money for new over spec'd trucks, friendly permitting office approving their permit for charging infra, strict 9-5, etc might make it pencil out for their facility maintenance. But a landscaper who's engaged in fundamentally the same work but out of rented space, a landlord that won't get preferential treatment on the install of charging infra, won't qualify for the same fleet discount, works way harder than 9-5, etc, etc. might not make it pencil out.

Local delivery can potentially make great use of EVs, but if you turn up the operational tempo or the range and have drivers slip seating or really racking up the miles it can be a non-starter vs just buying the same thing in non-ev. And of course the fixed infrastructure cost questions still apply.

You might get hybrids but you also have to remember weight matters in a lot of these applications. Can't be rolling around over weight as part of normal business. And a lot of these applications are trying to stay under 10k while still having as much cargo capacity as possible.

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

#59

Post by petcat »

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #53
petcat wrote: post #32

31 MPH and needs to be re-charged after only 77 miles. This thing is not a car. It's usefulness in USA would be like shuttling around a mall parking lot or between airport terminals. Even the $8,500 pricetag seems crazy for something with very little actual utility.

Luckily it was not designed to be used in the US.

Well I'll be surprised if it's ever actually used anywhere.

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

#60

Post by 1234letshaveatw »

Animats wrote: post #33
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…

This seems to fill a useful niche, but may be too downscale. Remember the Tata Nano.[1] Tata built a basic car with a price below 1 lahk, but it didn't sell. In the US, there's Slate, which claims to be making a small electric pickup truck. "Preorders will start on June 24, 2026. First deliveries are slated for late 2026." [2] Price in the US$20K range, they claim. Claimed range is 150m with the base model battery. A…

Are we just ignoring data now? Giant pickups have silly sales- silly in the crazy high sense of the word. I love my EV but I have never wished for less range. The Slate is a toy for the wealthy, like kitted up Jeeps that have snorkels
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