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Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

reuters.com

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Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#171

Post by jimmydddd »

SoftTalker wrote: post #107
moffkalast wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised Mercedes was ever price competitive for taxis even in Germany, I mean the average VW would do the job just as well at half the cost. These days they're both priced like they're selling Ferraris anyway so yeah. The ID Buzz starting at 70k EUR is such a joke.

Mercedes taxis in Europe are not appointed like the cars they sell in North America. They are just normal cars there.

I remember being in a Mercedes in France in the 80's and noticing it had manual crank windows. My dad in the US (even then!) hated added electronics in cars so he went to a Mercedes dealer and they explained that in the US we could only get fully loaded models.

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#172

Post by thijson »

prmph wrote: post #74
mtrovo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what makes the innovator's dilemma repeat itself so many times in so many industries. It's not that the incumbent companies don't see the new technology; it's that they're so entrenched in what they know how to do that pivoting to the new technology is basically a Hail Mary no matter how you do it. Do it too early and your shareholders are going to think you're crazy. Do it too late, and you're risking enteri…

Exactly, usually the companies know what's coming up, like you said. But, properly shifting gears to play a new game requires that you act like a startup again. It likely requires foregoing the fat margins you were used to. And it likely requires going back to the drawing board and actually learning from the market. And this is what companies find it hard to do. To be fair, I think that is not so bad a things. Compan…

Kodak knew digital cameras were coming, my first digital camera was a Kodak from the late 90's. I guess it wasn't in their DNA to innovate and compete in this new medium.

I feel like being a publicly traded company prevents pivoting because of the focus on short term results.

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#173

Post by jimmydddd »

AngryData wrote: post #114
rr808 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the issue is to create an ICE is a very complicated process requiring lots of specialist knowledge, skills and technologies. An EV is just much simpler, comes down to who has the cheapest batteries. Europe and Japan are great at the former, the latter no chance.

Im sure some of it is personal bias from experience with them but I don't think ICE are as complicated as some people think. 90% of the extra shit on them are unnecessary for it to work but what those things are and what they do and why it broke or failed or how important they are is essentially obfuscated from the general public so they seem like overly complicated magic. The vast majority of cars I see do not fail…

My grandfather was a mechanic and told me how replacing a dashboard light in some models required removing large portions of the engine to access the socket.

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#174

Post by prmoustache »

EliteGadget wrote: post #89
jeltz wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure they confused Daewoo with Jaecoo. But as far as I know Daewoo does not exist anymore.

I confused Jae-woo (a Korean name) with Jaecoo. I think I must have mis-spelled the name when googling them after seeing the Dealership near me. However I do remember Daewoo, I don't think there many left on UK roads. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jae-woo

GM bought Daewoo. The factories still exist but what used to be Daewoo are sold under the Chevrolet brand nowadays.

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#175

Post by surgical_fire »

cmxch wrote: post #155
surgical_fire wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In South America there's also no anxiety over China becoming a superpower, which may be an argument against Chinese products in the US. In fact, China has pretty good relations with most South American countries. Likely better than the US. I wouldn't be surprised if many people view China more favorably.

That won’t stop the US from practicing Monroe Doctrine to limit Chinese influence.

Good luck. China is the most prominent trade partner for some South American companies.

It would be easier to drop the US instead.

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#176

Post by thijson »

pixl97 wrote: post #119
Marsymars wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, F150 lightening is such a failure. There was a recent video of it trying to haul very minimal load and it pretty much drained the battery in less than 100 miles. Was that due to something specific with the Lightning, or was it just due to the intrinsic energy requirements of hauling loads? (Or in other words, does an EV even exist that's notably better at hauling loads?)

I want an electric drive train with the engine that works like a generator at a fixed speed. Don't think anyone offers something like this.

That's the BMW i3 with range extender. It works pretty good for long trips. Probably 95% of my miles are electric though.

I think Dodge is planning a serial hybrid truck called RAM charger.

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#177

Post by mechagodzilla »

thijson wrote: post #172
prmph wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, usually the companies know what's coming up, like you said. But, properly shifting gears to play a new game requires that you act like a startup again. It likely requires foregoing the fat margins you were used to. And it likely requires going back to the drawing board and actually learning from the market. And this is what companies find it hard to do. To be fair, I think that is not so bad a things. Compan…

Kodak knew digital cameras were coming, my first digital camera was a Kodak from the late 90's. I guess it wasn't in their DNA to innovate and compete in this new medium. I feel like being a publicly traded company prevents pivoting because of the focus on short term results.

Kodak didn't really have the option to compete. Their business was largely film, which just disappeared completely, and even digital cameras got replaced pretty quickly with phones. There was nothing to pivot too for Kodak.

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#178

Post by drivingmenuts »

dzonga wrote: post #108
weinzierl wrote: post #18

When I grew up in Germany it always made me proud that 100% of taxis were Mercedes Benz. If a car can withstand the rough demands of taxi service, it has to be good. And even in South America back then German cares were ubiquitous, especially Volkswagen. When I was in Brazil this spring[*] I rode a lot of Uber and they were 100% BYD - 100%, no exception. It's not that my head hadn't known that German auto was dead bu…

Tesla has no moat 1. Batteries - BYD has them beat 2. Self Driving tech - other players are better 3. Luxury brands already provide the luxury aspect & even better built cars 4. in the US they're being saved by US protectionism. in Europe etc - we already see the chinese brands making inroads for EV sales

I live in the US and I would happily buy a Chinese EV if the price was right. However, there is no price for which I will buy a Tesla, ever.

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#179

Post by amanaplanacanal »

pmg101 wrote: post #30
noosphr wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think we've seen the end game yet. I have an electric cargo bike. During a kids party yesterday I ran 5 different errands with it while someone with a car managed to get stuck in traffic, not find a parking spot, and miss the whole thing. The only reason why cars are the size and shape they are is because ICE engines couldn't be made smaller. Electric engines on the other hand are small enough that I can have…

Your first three paragraphs are sound. But surely the problem with the final paragraph is the transition? Assuming the old style of vehicle remains on the road, then my lightweight one is at risk of being crushed. Only a niche minority would choose that (as a cargo bike owner, I'm also one, but I recognise most are not, with good reason.) Unless we built a whole separate infrastructure.... We already see a lot of ele…

Yes. More separated lanes leads to increased usage. We need to do this anyway.

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#180

Post by pancakemouse »

Animats wrote: post #14
juujian wrote: post #2

Not just Tesla, all established brands we know are left behind. I never understood Volkswagen's pivot from 'wait and See's to 'were inversing billions' to 'we were too late, abort'. Largest brands n terms of units, completely left behind in an emerging segment that's already dominating it's largest market (China). So many executives in the industry just didn't see the writing on the wall. I don't what GM was thinking…

Although Ford's CEO now gets it, Ford's product line doesn't reflect it yet. Farley has been bringing a few sample BYD cars to the US, for Ford people to drive around and to take apart. Farley dragged his executive team to China to see a BYD plant. They came back scared. But what Ford actually sells is 1) an F-150 converted to electric, 2) a Ford Mustang converted to electric, and 3) a Ford Transit converted to elect…

> resulting in 3-ton vehicles

And a surge in road deaths.

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