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Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

nytimes.com

31–40 of 53 posts

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#31

I'm aware that car prices are falling across the board, but I see EVs being hit harder than ICEs. I've heard from some local dealerships I visited recently that new EVs are sitting on the lot for longer too. My I-PACE cost me over $80k when it was a one-of-a-kind vehicle, an EV from a mature car manufacturer with a luxury interior, sporty performance, hatchback, AWD, and heat pump. It won the 2019 World Car of the Ye…

Same experience here in the UK. My 2016 Model S P90D that I’ve had since new is now valued at ~$30k. 12 months ago it was ~$55k. It has lifetime free supercharging, free premium LTE connectivity (maps, spotify etc) and £0 annual taxes (due to tax laws here, a newer equivalent EV would now be due ~$500 a year). It’s done 50k miles and charges at 130-150kW, range is 180/220 miles in winter/summer.

Whoever buys it when I sell it later this year will get an amazing car.

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#35

They might be more affordable now but accessibility I think is still low because of charging infrastructure. I live around a bunch of apartment complexes, probably 1,200 units between 3-4 properties, and none of them have charges available. I always say the issue is not getting homeowners to adopt electric cars because they largely have garage spaces where they can install chargers, the issue will be getting adoption…

I own an electric car and no home charger. I charge at work, mostly. It works well for me. The solution will involve a range of options for a range of circumstances- what I do wouldn’t work for everyone but that’s ok.

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#36

They might be more affordable now but accessibility I think is still low because of charging infrastructure. I live around a bunch of apartment complexes, probably 1,200 units between 3-4 properties, and none of them have charges available. I always say the issue is not getting homeowners to adopt electric cars because they largely have garage spaces where they can install chargers, the issue will be getting adoption…

I own an electric car and no home charger. I charge at work, mostly. It works well for me. The solution will involve a range of options for a range of circumstances- what I do wouldn’t work for everyone but that’s ok.

What would you do if you had to change jobs to a company that didn’t have a charger?

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#37
post #24

They might be more affordable now but accessibility I think is still low because of charging infrastructure. I live around a bunch of apartment complexes, probably 1,200 units between 3-4 properties, and none of them have charges available. I always say the issue is not getting homeowners to adopt electric cars because they largely have garage spaces where they can install chargers, the issue will be getting adoption…

My condo (sort of) complex installed charges for all indoor parking places two years ago. It is pretty easy if you want to.

[deleted]

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#38

They might be more affordable now but accessibility I think is still low because of charging infrastructure. I live around a bunch of apartment complexes, probably 1,200 units between 3-4 properties, and none of them have charges available. I always say the issue is not getting homeowners to adopt electric cars because they largely have garage spaces where they can install chargers, the issue will be getting adoption…

Charging at home is cheap and convenient, but entirely optional. We don't fill our gas tanks at home. For most people's usage, you can get by with visiting a charger once or twice a week.

The supercharger experience is actually quite pleasant, and I expect it'll get even better with time as businesses realize that having a constant stream of customers with 30m to kill is a lucrative market.

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The opposite. Chinese EVs are dumping because China's economy is collapsing, forcing them to dump prices because there's not enough Chinese demand. China is now exporting all of their excess inventory to Europe and beginning to make plans to export all this inventory to the USA. And USA is rejecting it. China has overbuilt their EV market, and continues to over-invest and builld too many EVs. USA is already pissed of…

So China, the world's biggest exporter of goods since 2009, accidentally built too many EVs and was forced to sell them overseas?

Yes and no.

China obviously has policies that benefit exports. But I think they're going to far with this EV thing, and they might be realizing that they've gone too far with their policies... But too late. Their industry and internal politics are designed to reward this overproduction.

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The real issue is internal Chinese demand has dropped off a cliff since COVID-19 and Evergrande issues combined in a terrible storm the past few years. Chinas internal economy has never recovered so they only have Exports now to rely on.

But now they're hammering exports to the point of causing geopolitical issues.

China does not want to be so reliant on foreign markets either. They're a proud nation that wants to stand by itself. But they have nothing but exports holding them up right now.

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China's economy isn't collapsing, but it is contracting, and it is simply smart economic policy to stoke production vs unnecessary consumer demand domestically. Global light vehicle market is almost 90 million units/pa. Ship every unit you can to every market that will accept those units (Tesla does this today, recalibrating exports as demand and incentives change; China built units are currently being offloaded in C…

Canada / USA / Mexico moves mostly in lockstep thanks to NAFTA. I don't think Canada or Mexico are looking to accept these dumped Chinese vehicles. > Central and South America, parts of Asia Brazil is all into Ethanol and is the largest economy of South America IIRC. India is highly protectionist, so good luck selling things there. Once we knock out the obvious contenders, its not very clear who will buy this massive…

> Who will build all the power-plants so that EVs become feasible there?

China, probably. It's kinda their thing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_and_Road_Initiative

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