I bought a cheap electric pickup truck from Alibaba (2021) • Hacker News Board

Re: I bought a cheap electric pickup truck from Alibaba (2021)

#11

Post by exar0815 » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 10:30 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #9

> glass has to come from DOT-registered glass factories, the backup camera has to come from DOT-registered backup camera factories, etc. It’s not enough to simply go 25 mph and have seat belts and blinkers... Even if the cars had all the necessary DOT parts, the factory that produces them in China also has to be registered with the NHTSA to allow the cars to be street legal in the US. Some of this makes sense. Much o…

Well, obviously everything makes sense! Atleast when knowing the reason for that is simply very successful lobbying by established companies to prevent anyone from entering any vehicle or vehicle supplying market without enormous upfront costs .

Re: I bought a cheap electric pickup truck from Alibaba (2021)

#12

Post by motohagiography » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 10:31 PM UTC

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #2

Honestly, I think $7,000 delivered for this is a pretty good price. It would make a nice farm vehicle, especially with that dump bed. It's in the same price range as a lower end UTV and looks like it would be far more comfortable doing, e.g., snow clearing duty. Swap in a set of BFG Mud Terrain tires and you're all set. Some feedback on reliability, the rust issues, etc. would be nice but I'd seriously think about ge…

These could be competitive with a Kioti for golf courses, fairgrounds, and horse farms. If they there were a utv track kit option, doubly so in places with winters.

Re: I bought a cheap electric pickup truck from Alibaba (2021)

#13

Post by bobsmooth » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 10:31 PM UTC

What a cute little truck. It's crazy the stuff you can import from China.

Re: I bought a cheap electric pickup truck from Alibaba (2021)

#14

Post by beebeepka » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 10:31 PM UTC

glogla wrote: post #5

hotpotamus wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://insideevs.com/news/502536/wuling-hongguang-mini-ev-c... That's the actual car I think I want most in the world. It's so cheap and fun, and possibly even practical for me, but I don't think there's any way I could drive it in my city sadly.

Yeah, the "larger cars are safer for people inside the car but more likely to kill people outside the car" red queen race made roads even more terrible. In car like that, you would get ran over by a lifted truck or mama-SUV pretty quickly.

If things continue this way, our current end game is tanks with machine guns and stuff. I feel safer already.

Re: I bought a cheap electric pickup truck from Alibaba (2021)

#15

Post by Glyptodon » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 10:34 PM UTC

I'm confused by street legal thing. How do people register cars they make themselves if there are all these requirements?

Re: I bought a cheap electric pickup truck from Alibaba (2021)

#16

Post by WebbWeaver » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 10:34 PM UTC

It does not look like it would outperform UTVs at similar or lower price points.

Re: I bought a cheap electric pickup truck from Alibaba (2021)

#17

Post by pedrocr » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 10:36 PM UTC

We have a Toro Workman electric cart on our small farm. It's extremely useful even while being quite basic and powered by lead-acid batteries. We bought it used a while ago but a new one would cost 15k€. The new ones are a little nicer but still mostly unchanged over the years. John Deere sells a Gator that's almost the same thing. I'm definitely hoping some of these manufacturers shake up this market. Hopefully the small tractor and skid steer markets as well although that's quite a bit more complex because of managing the attachments. Battery weight is irrelevant and so is range for most people, so lead-acid is fine for all these applications. LFP can be a bonus though. A few things have started popping up but nothing really good. A lot of the time it's people attaching an electric motor to an overly complicated transmission designed for the shortcomings of gas/diesel motors.

Re: I bought a cheap electric pickup truck from Alibaba (2021)

#18

Post by brianwawok » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 10:37 PM UTC

Glyptodon wrote: post #15

I'm confused by street legal thing. How do people register cars they make themselves if there are all these requirements?

You are paying for a 1 off inspection. If you go buy a Honda Civic you can skip the inspection, because it follows the street legal requirements.

Re: I bought a cheap electric pickup truck from Alibaba (2021)

#19

Post by happytoexplain » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 10:37 PM UTC

OrangeMonkey wrote: post #7

Impressive. At this price point they had to cut some features. I wonder if one of those features is "Safety" and another one is "The front won't fall off".

Alternatively (or in addition), one of the most effective knobs you can turn to increase the efficiency of delivering products/services is the human suffering knob.

Re: I bought a cheap electric pickup truck from Alibaba (2021)

#20

Post by Arrath » Mon, Jul 25, 2022, 10:38 PM UTC

OrangeMonkey wrote: post #7

Impressive. At this price point they had to cut some features. I wonder if one of those features is "Safety" and another one is "The front won't fall off".

See the points in the article about various items having to come from DoT registered factories to make a street legal vehicle. Compliance with those regulations comes with costs, so there is one avenue of cost saving. Edit: As other posters are pointing out that 'DoT Factories' thing is incorrect. Welp that's what I get for trusting the source.

Not that I am saying it appears to be replete with crumple zones or ride-over protection or side curtain airbags or other safety features we would appreciate. But then I wouldn't expect to get T-Boned by an inattentive driver in a lifted F-550 when I'm tooting around my own property clearing fallen branches after a windstorm.