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

How Olinia Turns Mexico's EV Ambition into Reality

spectrum.ieee.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 58 posts

Re: How Olinia Turns Mexico's EV Ambition into Reality

#21

Post by eduardosalaz »

culi wrote: post #15
blovescoffee wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a left leaning guy, none of these actions are inherently not-left-leaning which seems to be your assertion. Left and right and middle can all capture institutions if left unchecked which is the case in Mexico.

I mean she passed a plan for universal basic healthcare. I'd say that's clearly left-leaning (even if a bit milquetoast). Her Abrazos, no balazos approach to crime and anti-war stances are also pretty left-leaning. I think she's clearly a left-wing figure but is moderated by trying to toe the line between US foreign policy and leftwing populism

I will preface my comment by saying I'm in no way trying to attack you personally or discredit your opinion based on your foreigner status, but she is not left-leaning. The plan for universal basic healthcare is a rehash of a program that already existed and was cancelled by her antecesor (and mentor). Abrazos, no balazos is also a policy from her ancestor which has resulted (to no avail) in the highest numbers of killings and missing people. Paradoxically, the country has become more militarized, with the Army taking many more responsibilities such as managing borders, trains and airports. The Federal Police got abolished by a National Guard that has since integrated into the Army command structure, no longer a civil force. Previous administration was also against renewables and the trend is still there. It's all populism and propaganda. The judicial power was captured and dismantled along with all serious institutions, and yes, even right wing governments can do it, typically one associates left leaning governments towards separation of powers.

Re: How Olinia Turns Mexico's EV Ambition into Reality

#22

Post by cineticdaffodil »

culi wrote: post #17
blovescoffee wrote: post #12

This is going to go absolutely nowhere. There's really no market for these and the govt. would rather focus on something flashy like a new car instead of infrastructure or anything that could threaten Pemex (god forbid...)

Famously, she's focused a lot of her infrastructure work on expansion of rail. Including the 5.6 trillion peso Plan México and 3,000 new km of passenger train lines. She's also remodeling the Mexico City airport, modernizing and repairing 4,000 km of roads, and pushed the National Hospital Infrastructure Plan that will fund massive expansions of three major hospital systems. Also half of the infrastructure budget is…

Something that fits to a poor struggling country, not some upper crust infra renewal.

Poor people need rail, busses, cars and the cheapest possible power. If the government does not provide the cartels are more then ready to do its job to placate the citizens.

Re: How Olinia Turns Mexico's EV Ambition into Reality

#23

Post by eduardosalaz »

culi wrote: post #17
blovescoffee wrote: post #12

This is going to go absolutely nowhere. There's really no market for these and the govt. would rather focus on something flashy like a new car instead of infrastructure or anything that could threaten Pemex (god forbid...)

Famously, she's focused a lot of her infrastructure work on expansion of rail. Including the 5.6 trillion peso Plan México and 3,000 new km of passenger train lines. She's also remodeling the Mexico City airport, modernizing and repairing 4,000 km of roads, and pushed the National Hospital Infrastructure Plan that will fund massive expansions of three major hospital systems. Also half of the infrastructure budget is…

Once more, the "remodeling" of the Mexico City airport is a historic failure by the previous and current administration. A new airport was being built, funded solely by private money and the previous administration made a non-binding public poll on whether to cancel it because of baseless corruption accusations. That was 8 years ago, and as it turns out, Mexico City desperately needed a new airport anyways. So the Army took a military base and expanded it to build a toy airport far away, which no one uses, so they had to pour money into the old, aging airport. Renewables is also a smoke screen, last administration spent 0 on the energy infra and now that's why we face blackouts every other day.

Re: How Olinia Turns Mexico's EV Ambition into Reality

#24

Post by porphyra »

The article talks a lot about how China makes most of the electric cars and Mexico wants to "capture a piece of the action", but the Olinia has substantial amounts of its engineering and parts from China [1]. And instead of learning from a nice actual roadgoing car, they based it on a golf cart-like mini vehicle from a little-known Chinese motorcycle manufacturer.

[1] https://elceo.com/investigaciones-especiales/olinia-el-vincu...

Re: How Olinia Turns Mexico's EV Ambition into Reality

#25

Post by culi »

cineticdaffodil wrote: post #22
culi wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Famously, she's focused a lot of her infrastructure work on expansion of rail. Including the 5.6 trillion peso Plan México and 3,000 new km of passenger train lines. She's also remodeling the Mexico City airport, modernizing and repairing 4,000 km of roads, and pushed the National Hospital Infrastructure Plan that will fund massive expansions of three major hospital systems. Also half of the infrastructure budget is…

Something that fits to a poor struggling country, not some upper crust infra renewal. Poor people need rail, busses, cars and the cheapest possible power. If the government does not provide the cartels are more then ready to do its job to placate the citizens.

Did you even read my comment? Rail, roads, and hospitals are not "upper crust" infrastructure

Re: How Olinia Turns Mexico's EV Ambition into Reality

#26

Post by MyHonestOpinon »

culi wrote: post #15
blovescoffee wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a left leaning guy, none of these actions are inherently not-left-leaning which seems to be your assertion. Left and right and middle can all capture institutions if left unchecked which is the case in Mexico.

I mean she passed a plan for universal basic healthcare. I'd say that's clearly left-leaning (even if a bit milquetoast). Her Abrazos, no balazos approach to crime and anti-war stances are also pretty left-leaning. I think she's clearly a left-wing figure but is moderated by trying to toe the line between US foreign policy and leftwing populism

Those are left-leaning only if you do not the details. Please consider that this government has a fantastic propaganda machine.

For example, We already had a Universal Basic Healthcare called Seguro Popular. Which was destroyed in 2018 by this regime on a tantrum which left millions without coverage. We went from 9% uncovered to 26% uncovered. They are still trying to figure out how to fix that.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12639676/

The "Abrazos, no balazos" approach turned out to be the party colluding with organized crime to win elections.

Re: How Olinia Turns Mexico's EV Ambition into Reality

#28

Post by alephnerd »

Animats wrote: post #27

This is much like the Tata Nano, the one-lakh car.[1] Although very cheap, it did not sell. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano

The Olina isn't targeting the same market as the Nano.

The Nano tried to be a household car but failed because a 6 person household (2 parents, 2 grandparents, 2 kids) would also need trunk space.

On the other hand, the Olina is trying to replace mototaxis and three-wheelers.

Re: How Olinia Turns Mexico's EV Ambition into Reality

#29

Post by hn_submit »

How much is this car merely a rabble of Chinese parts made to look like an indigenous Mexican car? I see this as a Chinese ploy to work around the American import tariffs by praying on Mexican national pride for a so-called "national car industry."

If this ploy works you'll see larger versions of this car hitting the roads which look suspiciously like Chinese BYD and SAIC EVs. All these will of course be exported North of the Border, courtesy of NAFTA.

I hope the government stops this attempt dead in its tracks before it starts to hurt our car industry.

Re: How Olinia Turns Mexico's EV Ambition into Reality

#30

Post by toomuchtodo »

hn_submit wrote: post #29

How much is this car merely a rabble of Chinese parts made to look like an indigenous Mexican car? I see this as a Chinese ploy to work around the American import tariffs by praying on Mexican national pride for a so-called "national car industry." If this ploy works you'll see larger versions of this car hitting the roads which look suspiciously like Chinese BYD and SAIC EVs. All these will of course be exported Nor…

Canada and Mexico are both allowing Chinese EVs in. US automaker export TAM will only decrease over time, and eventually, they will be boutique automakers serving only the US market. BYD intends to be the world's largest automaker in five years, and China currently has the capacity to produce ~25M EVs per year (~25% of global annual light vehicle sales, as of this comment). The US built ~1M EVs last year, for comparison.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/10/china-byd-c...

> I hope the government stops this attempt dead in its tracks before it starts to hurt our car industry.

There is literally nothing the US gov can do to stop this. On the contrary, their actions have accelerated this. Masterful gambit.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/seekin...

https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/electric-vehicl...

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-07-15/china-... | https://archive.today/CXhGr

The US killed its own auto industry by shielding it from Chinese competition and rolling back EV incentive policy, to protect its profits of large combustion SUVs and trucks.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/magazine/electric-cars-am... | https://archive.today/sENe1

> “We’ve reached a genuinely existential moment,” Ezell told me. In a best-case scenario, Detroit manages to meet it by crafting a viable, long-term E.V. strategy while also servicing the still dependably lucrative existing market for ICE trucks. In the worst, it retreats onto what the economist Susan Helper calls a “shrinking island of ICE,” churning out outlandishly large trucks and not much else. At which point, the obsolescence of the mighty U.S. automobile industry — a sector once inextricably associated with American know-how and economic might — would be all but guaranteed. As Ford’s chief executive, Jim Farley, recently acknowledged in a statement that could apply to any member of the Big Three, “If we don’t put our chips on the right number and the right color, Ford could maybe not exist.”

Post reply on HN