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Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked

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Re: Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked

#191

Post by potato3732842 »

unwind wrote: post #124
Deprogrammer9 wrote: post #41

This things is amazing. https://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/en/models/urban_mobility/ce04...

The caption says: European Model Shown. U.S. model only available with clear windscreen. Is that the piece of orange plastic in front of the handlebar base, that they are calling a "windscreen"?

Yes. And it works (well enough) because at speed the chunk of air it forces up mixes with the air above the bike (that the rider would otherwise hit with their face) and disturbs it so the rider experiences something more a akin to riding in a pickup bed than to sticking their head out a sunroof.

Re: Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked

#192

Post by tonyhart7 »

ehnto wrote: post #164
edwcross wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most countries still do not mandate that new apartments include charging ports for parking spots. So densely-populated areas will still be plagued with non-EC compatible buildings for decades to come. That's what "city life" mean in several countries.

Cities shouldn't have to mandate carparks, let alone charging in them. Having no car at all should be viable and we should build toward that. Pre-empting, obviously many places still require cars, but we shouldn't codify cars into the building code. It makes everything that bit more expensive, and it's a waste of valuable city real estate. At the moment the cost per square meter in Melbourne and my city means a singl…

"Having no car at all should be viable and we should build toward that."

Yeah its sounds great until you need mass transport system to support this idea which means only mega cities can benefit the most when tier 2 and tier 3 cities is having a hard time investment

see: japan

Re: Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked

#193

Post by rsynnott »

rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #169
rsynnott wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of those plugins will almost never use their combustion engine. Particularly in western Europe where most of these are selling, the average person doesn’t drive far enough per day to exhaust the battery. So it’s not just feel-good, it’s a real impact. That said, I don’t think that’s what this report is doing?

This contradicts your assertion: https://www.transportenvironment.org/articles/plug-hybrids-n...

Those are massive SUV-type things with apparently rather weak engines (ie almost light hybrids, but with a plug); the typical plugin hybrid is a fair bit smaller. And has a bigger battery; the Mitsubishi Outlander mentioned had a 12kWh battery, vs, say, a plug-in Prius, a much smaller car with a 14kWh battery,

Many plugin hybrids only need to use their petrol engine when they actually run out of power. I would wonder if whoever came up with the above study was deliberately looking for a worst case scenario, tbh; they didn't include any small/normal-sized cars at all (everything they mention is over two tonnes), even though the _average_/most typical plugin hybrid car is probably some sort of smallish hatchback.

(Even then, though, I'm curious what conditions they're testing under. I know someone who has a BMW 5-series plugin hybrid saloon, which is a close relative of the X5 mentioned, albeit a bit lighter and more aerodynamic, and it operates pretty much entirely on battery when charged.)

Re: Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked

#194

Post by hnaccount_rng »

bArray wrote: post #166

I think that combustion engines will make a come back, and we're at a false peak. I believe that due to a poor economic outlook, we see more people purchasing from the used-car market than new vehicles. I personally have seen a recent boom in the UK for road-worthy vehicles under £5k. On the other hand, I have seen used EVs completely unsellable, to the point where forecourts refuse to accept them as part-exchange. I…

As the sibling comment says: Ability to resell EVs is a problem. But that's mostly because you can get a new car today (i.e. deliverable and everything) for the same price as an older EV and likely the new car is even better (larger battery, faster charging). That's unfortunate for first adopters and is a significant problem for adaption in lower-income circles (those typically buying second hand), but not a reason for going back to gasoline cars.

At least here in Germany we are rapidly approaching the point where we will require power sinks in order to absorb solar around noon. And EVs are extremely well-positioned for that. Typically the charging time can be shifted around a bit and charging stations will come with their own buffer stage. That means that most people won't pay anywhere near the normal sticker price for electricity for their cars.

All that being said: I agree that "green agenda items" will decrease in popularity (or really: they weren't that popular to begin with). But EVs in particular are just straight up cheaper. If not by construction, then definitely by the air pollution reduction interest of the Chinese government. I'd be highly surprised if incentive reduction has more than a delaying effect, if even that

Re: Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked

#195

Post by potato3732842 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #49
myroon5 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you figure out importing BYD vehicles? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39992428

I terminated my in process application to import the vehicle from my property outside of the US for two reasons: I no longer intend to maintain majority residency in the US for the foreseeable future (obvious reasons), and the US government is effectively banning Chinese EVs in the US [1]. Was fun to make the attempt, but sometimes city hall wins. It turns out it is easier to expat than to import a Chinese car. [1] h…

> I no longer intend to maintain majority residency in the US for the foreseeable future

I suddenly just became a proponent of in-person voting.

Re: Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked

#196

Post by michaelt »

moffkalast wrote: post #151
devnullbrain wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is also a big problem for multi-modal commuting. Do I really want to lock up my bike in a location that screams 'the owner won't be back for 9 hours', knowing police won't investigate bike theft?

If all those e-scooter rental startups can have remote GPS tracking and theft alarms then it really shouldn't take much to implement that into personal ones too. I mean people leave those things absolutely everywhere and they never get rightfully stolen. A 4G modem would probably be overkill, but one might be able to do it for free with lorawan. Or alternatively a big label saying "this bike is GPS tracked" with abso…

Rental bikes use heavy, incompatible components so it’s pointless to steal them for resale, or to strip for parts. And they have a tracker.

My bike, on the other hand? A thief could just find and remove the tracker - or strip the bike for parts.

Re: Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked

#197

Post by forgetfreeman »

LoganDark wrote: post #170
xnx wrote: post #23

Even in cities that are pretty hostile to bikes, electric bikes/scooters are an amazing middle point between walking and all the expense of a car (purchase, loans, fuel, maintenance, insurance, registration, tickets, etc.).

Note that electric bikes/scooters get approximately zero consideration from cars. I was traveling in a bike lane last year and a truck just turned right into me. I easily could have died if not for my helmet. (Which received a glowing 5-star review for that performance, btw.)

The tech itself is sound but there appears to be some unresolved issues around sound ridership practices that could be addressed. E-scooters were introduced locally a few years ago by a couple of rental ap companies and attitudes of local drivers have shifted to naked hostility in response to users flagrant disregard for both traffic laws and common sense. Understand I make no effort to excuse the behavior of motorists which varies on a spectrum from negligent to actively homicidal depending on how badly traffic is being impeded. The reality of the situation is pretty resistant to high-minded ideals however and choosing these modes of transportation in many metro areas is intentionally putting yourself at risk.

Re: Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked

#198

Post by jonasdegendt »

conductr wrote: post #130
VladStanimir wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with electric cars is charging infrastructure in cites. An electric bike or scooter can be brought indoors to charge.

It’s not so much of a problem due to the average daily drive being a fraction of range. So long as you can charge at home, city life is fine for electric cars.

Heck I can't plug my car in at home and it's still fine. I simply plan for the fact that I might spend 20 minutes here or there at the charger, at most once a week. Best case I do some grocery shopping, worst case I just sit in the car watching YouTube, either way is fine.

Re: Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked

#199

Post by FirmwareBurner »

NewJazz wrote: post #189
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It is the 1% or 10% case. Not based on where I live. Many people I know routinely drive hundreds of KM on a weekly basis to their families and renting a car for that doesn't makes sense.

The Hyundai Ioniq 6 has a range of over 500 km, and typical 20-80% charging times are around 20 minutes. Where in Europe can you drive 350 km and not pass a single charger?

Where did I say there are no chargers? Charging on long trips increases the time of the journey by a lot. And many EU drivers don't have money for a new Ioniq 6.

Re: Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked

#200

Post by jonasdegendt »

idontwantthis wrote: post #30
xnx wrote: post #23

Even in cities that are pretty hostile to bikes, electric bikes/scooters are an amazing middle point between walking and all the expense of a car (purchase, loans, fuel, maintenance, insurance, registration, tickets, etc.).

I want an electric bike but I want to go places with it and I’m worried about it getting stolen when I lock it up outside a shop. Do you have one?

Insurance on a 2000 EUR bike runs 10 bucks a month at the most.
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