Toyota to invest $1.3B in Kentucky factory to build battery packs and new EV

Yes, their bus and ICE lines long predated, and they had hybrids built out of forced technology transfers from Toyota. But their EV lines that are so popular didn’t start until after Tesla acquired their corporate license and rights to build their gigafactory. If you’ve done business in China you know forced technology transfers and training of competitive local workforces is contingent on those stages. The factory itself and its parts supply chain would also have required transfer of technical knowledge, skill, and local supplier ability without exclusivity.

It’s not a knock on Chinese people to say the Chinese government is intertwined in Chinese industry (it is communist after all and ultimately the means of production is a public trust), or that there is no “fairness” by western standards in Chinese industry and governmental influence. But it’s also disingenuous to believe BYD pivoted to a full on global Tesla competitor in 4 years from being a low end hybrid and bus manufacturer based purely on their tenacity and innovation, neither of which is BYD known for in its history (having been propped up as a money loser for decades by the government and facing a lot of intellectual property lawsuits from Toyota, Mercedes, Renault, and others throughout its history). It’s too implausible to take seriously and there’s no reason to be credulous.

- the used car industry is just barren post-pandemic. Prices are up and inventory is super low [1]

- EVs are generally not that old! Why put a BEV up as a used car when it's just a few years old? The average age of a used car is 6.1 years (according to CBC in Sep-2023) [2]. Further, that 'used car' age is up from 4 years, which further indicates the first point that the used car market is very short on supply. Most of Tesla's sales have been in just the last 4 years [3], Tesla represents a lot of BEV car sales in the US (going from memory, it was about 75% and is down to around 55%). In such a short amount of time, most BEVs are essentially still brand new. Thus, BEVs not being in the 'used' market is somewhat expected since they are half the age of the average used car, most of them are under 4 years old.

Thus, their lack of presence in the used car market could easily be more a function of their age (relatively brand new) compared to: "don't often go through the traditional used market because they don't need as much maintenance."

[1] https://www.cbtnews.com/the-state-of-used-car-prices-why-are...

[2] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/26/3-things-to-consider-when-bu...

[3] https://cleantechnica.com/2023/04/22/tesla-just-passed-4-mil...

Sorry, but to be frank, you just don't know what you're talking about.

I did a co-op at TMMK in Georgetown, KY many moons ago and it was a short drive from Lexington where I was studying for my mech engineering degree at UK. It is a massive university with a solid engineering school, for the uninitiated. The metro also has an excellent network of technical colleges and during my various other stints over those years, I was always impressed with the quality of the workforce on the factory floors.

As someone born in the coalfields of Appalachia, I'll admit that the ignorant hillbilly stereotype has some merit, but that's two hours of interstate driving east of where this is happening and the cultures have almost nothing in common. Hill people don't really leave the hills and Lexington is quite the "big city" for where I come from, full of hifalutin Whole Foods shoppers. I think the series "Justified" does a good job of describing this phenomenon.

There is a lot more I could address about your thoughts on labor and poverty, but it's hard to move past your premise and I don't have time to write a treatise... but JD Vance did and it's pretty good.

If the electricity is from coal, the break-even is after 5 years; even then, the lifetime emission of the EV is not even 10% less than that of the conventional gas car.

If the electricity is from hydro and other 100% non-fossil fuel renewables, than the break-even is even shorter, under a year, and over the lifetime the emissions are about 70%~80% less overall (and the longer the car is driven compared to a conventional gas car, more than 13 years, the greater the reduction in lifetime emissions)

All data from this source:

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/ELECTRIC-VEHICLES/EMISSIONS...

(Full webpage, for context: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/when-d...)

The OP drew a direct comparison from what Tesla spent on a plant, to what Toyota is spending on a factory. How can you draw a different conclusion? What makes Tesla "right" and Toyota "wrong"?

>They are saying for a car company they are (1) way behind and (2) any investments they are making won't reach fruition for years, nor likely make a dent in the industry.

Way behind what? The RAV4 sold more units than the Model Y last year, and that's just one model. Again, people have this weird way of extrapolating what Tesla is doing in the EV market (dominating) to the overall car market (rounding error).