Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

751–760 of 1001 posts

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#751

Post by bufferoverflow »

ac29 wrote: post #553
bufferoverflow wrote: post #341

150 mile range makes it close to useless. As soon as you take it on a highway, the range will likely drop by half. Which means you can only do a round trip of 37 miles before you have to charge. Even a very aerodynamic Model 3 loses half of range at highway speeds. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/vkz0SOnR45Gved9B-q9n...

EVs dont lose 50% of their range at highway speeds. Even if they did, I'm not sure why you think you could only go 37 miles between charges (I think you meant 75 mi?).

> EVs dont lose 50% of their range at highway speeds.

Yes, they do, compared to 25 mph. I even gave you the chart.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#752

Post by aurareturn »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #646
resters wrote: post #632

This is extremely refreshing. I think that it would be possible to make something like this in the US for under $15K even. Cars and trucks are so over-engineered and come with tons of low value options intended to drive up the price. For a case in point, consider that headlights that turn on and off automatically in response to darkness (or rain) are not a standard feature on many cars, yet they include a manual swit…

BYD could totally avoid the tariffs by making in the USA (well, they were planning a factory in Mexico, and tariffs on car parts will kill that if something doesn’t change). They already set up a bus factory in SoCal. My guess is that Chinese automakers are still hesitant about introducing their brands to Americans given politics (Volvo and Polestar are Chinese owned but I think the design is still mainly done in Swe…

  BYD could totally avoid the tariffs by making in the USA (well, they were planning a factory in Mexico, and tariffs on car parts will kill that if something doesn’t change). They already set up a bus factory in SoCal. My guess is that Chinese automakers are still hesitant about introducing their brands to Americans given politics (Volvo and Polestar are Chinese owned but I think the design is still mainly done in Sweden?).
Yea you nailed it in the end. No way BYD would invest in a factory when the entire government and media are anti-China and could expel you out of the country any moment. The US is not predictable for businesses and investments right now.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#753

Post by throwaway382948 »

foxyv wrote: post #288
PaulHoule wrote: post #14

I like it. My wife runs a riding academy and we use a Honda Fit the way some people would use a pickup truck: we can fit 10 bales of wood shavings in the back. [1] We’re dreading when it fails because they don’t make the fit anymore and compact hatchbacks seem to be on the way out. Recent experiences have made me a bit of a Buick enthusiast and I can see driving a 2005-ish sedan except that I won’t get those sawdust…

I am going to drive my Honda Fit until the wheels fall off, then I'm going to put new wheels on and drive it some more. Best car in the world IMO.

The rear seat legroom is absurdly good for a car that size. It's been our only car for the past 10 years for a family of 2 adults and 2 kids. Zero issues outside of regular maintenance. Bought for $18k new in 2014 (2015 model). Good times.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#755

Post by newuser94303 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #646
resters wrote: post #632

This is extremely refreshing. I think that it would be possible to make something like this in the US for under $15K even. Cars and trucks are so over-engineered and come with tons of low value options intended to drive up the price. For a case in point, consider that headlights that turn on and off automatically in response to darkness (or rain) are not a standard feature on many cars, yet they include a manual swit…

BYD could totally avoid the tariffs by making in the USA (well, they were planning a factory in Mexico, and tariffs on car parts will kill that if something doesn’t change). They already set up a bus factory in SoCal. My guess is that Chinese automakers are still hesitant about introducing their brands to Americans given politics (Volvo and Polestar are Chinese owned but I think the design is still mainly done in Swe…

Chinese investment in the US is inherently risky. For example TikTok. BYD would be stomping GM and Ford. The next thing you know, they would need to sell their factory.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#756

Post by acdha »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #751
ac29 wrote: post #553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EVs dont lose 50% of their range at highway speeds. Even if they did, I'm not sure why you think you could only go 37 miles between charges (I think you meant 75 mi?).

> EVs dont lose 50% of their range at highway speeds. Yes, they do, compared to 25 mph. I even gave you the chart.

Tesla does not quote a 550 mile range for the Model 3, any more than an ICE car’s range is stated as what a hypermiler could get.

As the chart shows, the reverse would be true: if they’re advertising a 150 mile range you would be able to beat that considerably if you drove at 30mph.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#757

Post by neRok »

taylodl wrote: post #43

I LOVE it! THIS is the kind of truck I'd be looking at to replace my 1998 Ford Ranger. Here is what could be potential deal-breakers: - Lack of a mobile app. Minimalist design is great, but I still want an app to manage charging and be alerted to any vehicle issues. - Lack of good charge management and battery conditioning. Either that, or a cheap and easy to replace battery pack. I'd really like both! - Comparable h…

> I occasionally need the hauling capacity [of a] 1998 Ford Ranger

Then rent a suitable vehicle for the occasion.

- Your example Ford Ranger[1] seems to have towing capacity of 6,000lbs (~2700kg), and a payload capacity of 1,260lbs (~570kg).

- Compare that to the worst model Toyota Hilux[2], which has a payload of up to 1240kg, and can tow 2500kg. These can be rented for like $65 AUD per day (~$40 USD).

[1] https://www.kbb.com/ford/ranger/1998/specs/ [2] https://www.redbook.com.au/cars/details/2019-toyota-hilux-wo...

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#758

Post by throw10920 »

mft_ wrote: post #665
zx10rse wrote: post #622

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Automotive industry is one of the biggest scams on planet earth. One of my favorite cases recently is how Suzuki Jimny is banned in Europe and US because of emission standards allegedly, so the little Jimny is emitting 146g/km but somehow there is no problem to buy a G-Class that is emitting 358g/km oh and surprise surprise Mercedes are going to release a smaller more affordable G-Class [1]. [1] - https://www.motortr…

Manufacturers must hit a level of CO2 emissions on average across their whole fleet. As such, Suzuki is choosing to discontinue the Jimny because of the tougher fleet average targets starting in 2025. Overall you’re right that it’s a bit of a fix; Mercedes ‘pools’ its emissions with other manufacturers/brands. It currently pools with Smart, but may also pool with Volvo/Polestar? [0] It’s such an obvious approach to ‘…

This is why its so important to be super careful with how you write regulation - because even if the intent was good, it's so hard to both anticipate unintended second- and third-order effects, and it's so difficult to update after you've pushed to production.

Just like code, regulation isn't intrinsically valuable - it's a means to an end, and piling lots of poorly-written stuff on top of each other has disasterous consequences for society. We have to make sure that the code and law that we write is carefully thought out and crafted to achieve its desired effect with minimal complexity, and formally verify and test it when possible.

(an example of testing law may be to get a few clever people into a room and red-team possible exploits in the proposed bill or regulation)

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#759

Post by mulmen »

thekevan wrote: post #571

>The rather extreme omission of any kind of media system in the car is jarring, but it, too, has secondary benefits. >“Seventy percent of repeat warranty claims are based on infotainment currently because there’s so much tech in the car that it’s created a very unstable environment in the vehicle,” Snyder says. I'm totally cool with them not having an infotainment screen or even a stereo itself. But speaker managemen…

Looks like the dash and door cards are pretty much just flat plas- er, reinforced polymer. Aftermarket stereos and speakers come with mounting brackets and bezels to cover the holes you’ll need to cut.
Post reply on HN