Technology

37711 readers

251 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

The march towards an all-EV future hit a major roadblock. What went wrong? (www.businessinsider.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

52 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago (16 children)

They completely whiffed on the most important and obvious part. That whole article could be replaced by the words "THEY'RE TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE".

[–] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago (14 children)

The article doesn't whiff on this, it lays out why it's too expensive.

The strategy was to replace gas cars with EV 1-to-1 to solve the climate crisis and save the car industry.
Gas cars have gotten bigger over the years because of marketing, bravado, "safety", and regulation-skirting.
EV-makers have largely bought into that and made all these huge EVs.
Huge EVs require bigger batteries which are more expensive in raw materials and manufacturing.
Huge batteries are heavy and dangerous.
Range anxiety has encouraged even more oversized batteries on already oversized cars.
Huge batteries are the main source of cost, meaning EVs end up being a luxury.

So, yes--they are too damn expensive, however a vehicle that meets our actual needs wouldn't be, if it existed in North America.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Bolt ev just got a price drop to 20k. It's not a nice looking car, but would fit 99% of most peoples driving

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I love my bolt, but most other EVs are not its size. Only the i3 and the Mini come to mind.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There is also the Fiat 500e. Not many of the original ones I think in the US but a new one is coming.

We have the i3. While we love it and it is by far the best car we have ever had, it is smaller, the looks are polarizing and the range is limited. So even among those it would be a good fit for, there is resistance. It was absurdly expensive new but used are reasonable'ish. And I mean the range is fine for probably almost everyone but you know people are always like, "but what if I want to spontaneously drive across the country?!" as if they will ever do that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Rental cars are still a thing. Plus they get regularly cleaned and you aren't responsible for their maintenance/depreciation.

If you live in a city -- and if you are getting municipal water/sewer, you definitely do -- there's a car rental place close enough that will doubtless be happy to do a same-day rental.

The car rental may be expensive, but you're comparing it to owning and maintaining that car year-round for those occasional trips. And if that car is anything bigger than a small suv, it doubtless costs more than the EV would've in real terms.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

Yeah, but I just mean in terms of a low cost option.

Most people don't need a big car for their around town driving. I have a kona ev and it's not much bigger.

Having said that, travelling as a family of 3+dog was tricky in the kona so we just upgraded my wife's ICE to an ioniq 5

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (10 replies)

load more comments (11 replies)