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A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
971–980 of 1001 posts
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#972Earlier quoted context omitted.
BYD's allowed to sell in Europe. They're not crushing the market here. They're not substantially cheaper, or better for what they offer for the price compared to other manufacturers.
Within only a few months I see more Chinese Electric cars than Tesla (or us cars generally) on swiss streets. Depending on what you are looking for they are WAY cheaper than comparable cars.
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Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#973For anyone curious, if you made a similarly sized gas-powered pickup with an i4 engine, it would be penalized more than a full-sized pickup for being too fuel inefficient, despite likely getting much better mileage than an F-150 because, since 2011, bigger cars are held to a lesser standard by CAFE[1]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy...
It's worth noting that CAFE standards have been in effect since the 70's, and disincentivized small vehicles since long before the 2011 updates.
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#974And the worst thing is that Elon could've been a living legend by building/funding colleges and schools focused on the tech his companies need, software development, robotics etc. Or even given out million dollar scholarships for the very top students. And he still would've been worth over 250 billion easily. Instead he chose to buy the president and start "optimising" the government with AI.
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43801711 and marked it offtopic (because it turned into a generic thread that has nothing to do with the topic that was being discussed in the parent comments).
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#975Earlier quoted context omitted.
> - 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. Noooooooooo! No apps, please ! Finally a car not tethered to and dependent on your phone, and we already have our first request to app-ify it! EDIT: Ughhh, according to the video that another user posted, it looks like there's an app, and yes, "updates" go through it :( > - Lack of go…
> Noooooooooo! No apps, please! I wish devices could have web servers and web-based UI rather than thick "apps" that end up rotting when device manufacturers arbitrarily decide that old software won't work anymore (cough, cough-- Apple-- cough, cough). I know we can't because "security", no end-to-end over the Internet anymore, etc. >sigh It seems like we've engineered the networking and software ecosystem to promote…
A locally-hosted web interface would likely be easier to reach a given level of security than a centrally hosted interface, but obtaining and renewing SSL/TLS certificates is a requirement for HTTPS interfaces, and are designed around centralized and frequently updated centrally hosted systems, so it's only really doable with a different protocol.
It would still be easy to have a locally-hosted interface, over any other protocol, with an open-source client that could easily be ported to any future hardware and operating system.
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#976I 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…
1. Even though they aren't required to have OBDII, every electric vehicle has some kind of management interface, although manufacturers do often lock out users and third-party mechanics. Slate seems to show an interest in allowing third-part modifications and repairs, so I doubt that will be an issue. No matter what they do, I sure hope it doesn't require me to install their software on my phone or computer to access it, although I have no problem with them providing it.
2. Only very early first-gen electric cars, like the Nissan Leaf and Smart Fortwoo, were shipped without effective battery management. There's no reason any manufacturer would do that now, and I doubt any battery supplier would want to work with them, if they tried.
3. The Slate truck will be more capable. It has 201 hp and 195 lb-ft of torque, significantly outperforming the 117 hp and 149 lb-ft of torque in the standard-model 1998 Ranger. How they quantify hauling and towing capacity may have changed since the 90's, but you can rest assured that it is more powerful.
4. Designing an optional bench seat would be easy, but getting approval to sell them would be expensive, due to current safety regulations. This could likely only happen once sales volume is large enough to justify the long approval process for that variation.
Number four is likely the only holdup. If the SUV accessories are easy to install, it may still be worth considering, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a long process for their first generation. Most auto manufacturers can't design an easy-to-install hard-top, on their first try.
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#977Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think one of the biggest problems in the United States is the misallocation of ambitious people. The highly educated and ambitious people see finance, government, tech, and corporate executive tracks, as the way to convert their energies into social status. Even startups these days seem to be a case of too many chiefs, not enough Indians.
Well the problem is US wants to be the world's managers. And all we cared about is writing messenger apps. Totally missed the boat on building things, like houses, boats, and most of all new weird things we don't even have a concept for.
>we
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#978I 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…
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Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#979Earlier quoted context omitted.
Please no apps. Please no smart phone garbage.
I'm kind of excited by their App idea. They don't have an infotainment, speakers, etc. You can just use your phone + their app + bluetooth speaker.
It really depends. The model for a smartphone app is that the app is eventually abandoned, leaves behind old platforms, or just drops previously-owned functionality when the business needs to make a few more dollars. If you can do EVERYTHING outside of the app I suppose it's not so bad, but if you rely on the app for basic functionality you're absolutely setting yourself up for failure in the future.
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#980For anyone curious, if you made a similarly sized gas-powered pickup with an i4 engine, it would be penalized more than a full-sized pickup for being too fuel inefficient, despite likely getting much better mileage than an F-150 because, since 2011, bigger cars are held to a lesser standard by CAFE[1]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy...
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…
Is it really banned in Europe? I've seen quite a few of them in Germany