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Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

nytimes.com

41–50 of 53 posts

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#41
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

i've driven electric (bmw) since 2014; charging at home at 120v overnight was always adequate if driving less than about 70 miles the following day.

if i had to drive more, an hour on a 240v L2 charger would cover it.

there's a HUGE amount of fear-uncertainty-doubt in the news which looks conspicuously like propaganda, and one can guess where it originates. it sure doesn't originate in those of us nerds who are 10 years into pure electric, and absolutely not for those with 240v at home.

btw in just shy of 80,000 miles, the maintenance costs on the first ev was all of about 200 dollars, and that's a bmw. had to buy tires too, so not counting that, since everyone buys tires.

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I was under the impression that Belt and Road initiative was rails, trucks and ports / shipping / docking. Not so much power plants or EVs.

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

I was under the impression that Belt and Road initiative was rails, trucks and ports / shipping / docking. Not so much power plants or EVs.

They do energy sector stuff as well. They've invested in several big hydropower projects over the years and a number of fossil fuel plants. I believe in the past year or two there's been an effort to refocus the projects towards clean energy as well, calling it the "Green Silk Road."

Of course, it appears somewhat controversial how successful these projects have been.

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#44

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 live in an apartment and around many others, all of which have chargers. YMMV.

Also, the number of level 2 chargers is massive. Download PlugShare and look around. And Superchargers and Electrify America chargers are common. It's really not hard any more.

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#45
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

kind of goes against having Ford F-150 be the highest selling vehicle in the US

No, its not even close. They claim the whole "F" group is the best selling, not the F150 alone. With that said, the Tesla Y and 3 are the best selling cars in the US. Please check your 5 year old info before posting.

Fwiw I can't find any data to back up your claim. Looks like in 2023 numerous models outsold Tesla Y and 3 (CRV/Rav4/Ram/Silverado). While Ford doesn't seem to release individual F-150/250/350/450 data, given the huge lead I'd bet the F-150 would still beat model Y even if split out.

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#46

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? Especially if we assume the richer parts of Africa (ex: Egypt and South Africa) moving with Britain like they tend to do.

https://electrek.co/2024/06/03/global-pledge-triple-renewabl...

https://www.iea.org/reports/cop28-tripling-renewable-capacit...

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#47
post #14

About as affordable as living in new york. Reminder that your taxes pay for the subsidies that make the prices on EVs even anywhere near that "affordable" range.

Reminder that oil is heavily subsidised too.

Maybe that's the US thing? In my country I'm not aware of any subsidies towards oil companies, on the contrary, more than a half of retail gas price is taxes.

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#48
post #6

They should really define "affordable".

It depends on where you live. Where I live on the west coast, you can find lots of used Nissan Leafs on craigslist for less than 6-7k. That's actually affordable. And there are some for under 4k, junk car territory.

Granted, they're 10+ year old cars and can only go ~50 miles on a charge (originally 80 miles but the battery degrades). But if you want a cheap car and live in a city or a close suburb, especially if you can charge your car at work, it's a doable option. These fully electric cars require less maintenance so they actually are cheap to run.

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#49
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminder that oil is heavily subsidised too.

Maybe that's the US thing? In my country I'm not aware of any subsidies towards oil companies, on the contrary, more than a half of retail gas price is taxes.

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

Re: Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

#50
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminder that oil is heavily subsidised too.

So is medicine, so is air travel, so is farming...

Sure, everyone loves

1. to have stabilized supply and prices

2. be the first to ramp up the production of new tech and reap benefits of scale

3. to complain about taxes used as above :)

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