This is statistics, people are quite satisfied with the car in general although they have these build problems if you ask them. The interesting thing about tesla is the technology, I am following the FSD beta program and are amazed by the technology they will reach level 4 capacity quite soon with the speed they improve. Also it is evident that they will produce a car that is much safer than a normal driver in the end. The new battery technology is really cool as we are within a couple of years to cut the cost of batteries per kWh by around 50% also less energy to produce the batteries and much cleaner, if that happens you EV's will take over as they are then much more cost effective and clean than ICE cars.
LENR vs Solar/Wind, and emerging Green Technologies.
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This is statistics, people are quite satisfied with the car in general although they have these build problems if you ask them. The interesting thing about tesla is the technology, I am following the FSD beta program and are amazed by the technology they will reach level 4 capacity quite soon with the speed they improve. Also it is evident that they will produce a car that is much safer than a normal driver in the end. The new battery technology is really cool as we are within a couple of years to cut the cost of batteries per kWh by around 50% also less energy to produce the batteries and much cleaner, if that happens you EV's will take over as they are then much more cost effective and clean than ICE cars.
Just bought a new car with my insurance settlement, after my last was totaled. Looked at hybrids, and EV's, but settled instead on a 39 MPG ICE. The way I drive, I am getting 42, so that is as efficient as the lower end hybrids...without the hassle/worry about battery life.
EV's to me, are just not practical yet because I like to take long road trips without having to plan my trip to accomadate charging stations.
For my type driving, ICE's are still best, and probably easier on the planet's resources. Not knocking this transition period to fully EV, but right now high MPG ICE is better.
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EV's to me, are just not practical yet because I like to take long road trips without having to plan my trip to accomadate charging stations.
That is because the USA like much of Europe has a geographical problem called 'space'. Everything (including charging points) is a long way away. Yet it's hard to drive more than a few hundred miles in England without ending up in the sea, so EV's are much more useful and practical
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Just bought a new car with my insurance settlement, after my last was totaled. Looked at hybrids, and EV's, but settled instead on a 39 MPG ICE. The way I drive, I am getting 42, so that is as efficient as the lower end hybrids...without the hassle/worry about battery life.
EV's to me, are just not practical yet because I like to take long road trips without having to plan my trip to accomadate charging stations.
For my type driving, ICE's are still best, and probably easier on the planet's resources. Not knocking this transition period to fully EV, but right now high MPG ICE is better.
Agreed on ICE vehicles can be efficient. I think the breakeven point for a Sedan being more environmentally friendly is around 60,000miles+. So you have to keep your car for a while to make the EV better -- and have clean electricity in your area. Of course, if you like the outdoors big vehicles are much cheaper and probably cleaner still (big batteries)
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For my type driving, ICE's are still best, and probably easier on the planet's resources. Not knocking this transition period to fully EV, but right now high MPG ICE is better.
I believe somewhere around 20,000 miles per year, a hybrid ICE would be the most economical, over the life of the car. If you only drive the average distance per year, around ~13,000 to ~15,000 miles, it takes many years to recoup the extra cost of a hybrid. See:
https://www.moneyunder30.com/d…-efficient-car-save-money
On the other hand, if you drive only short distances in stop-and-go urban traffic, an electric car makes a lot of sense, because wear and tear and maintenance is reduced. It is also very convenient because you recharge at home, and you never go beyond the range of the car. (If you have to drive out of town a few times a year, and you only have an electric car, I suggest you rent an ICE car.)
The average American drives about ~13,000 miles per year according to one source. For suburban living and annual driving that distance, a conventional ICE is probably most economical.
I myself love high tech gadgets, so I buy electric cars, hybrid cars, ultra-efficient heat pumps, super-high res computer screens, and other high tech stuff that will not pay for itself over the life of the equipment. I am paying extra for the geek coolness factor. Sort of like an ordinary person who buys a sports car or an SUV he does not really need. It is worth it! I am the kind of person who put a watt meter on the refrigerator for a few days to record total use, high and low power demand. Okay, I have an excuse: I needed to know how much it takes out of my ultra-cool hybrid car connected inverter during power failures. So there!
The fridge consumes ~122 W when the compressor is running, 4.3 W standby, and occasionally 501 W for some reason I could not figure out. Defrosting? Over 24 hours: 1.34 kWh.
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Electric cars - at least Teslas at the moment - are completely practical for the overwhelming majority of drivers.
The Nissan Leaf is not as practical. The range is still limited, and the cost is high compared to an ICE or hybrid. The Tesla is a wonderful machine. It makes other cars seem 20 years out of date. But it is expensive.
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Tesla vehicles, despite their $, cannot really be considered “Luxury” vehicles either.
The interior is rather spartan and sans the overly large screen are rather plain.
They are, however, wonderful to drive, very efficient, (compared to ICE), I am a big fan.
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The Tesla is a wonderful machine. It makes other cars seem 20 years out of date. But it is expensive.
Tesla has yet to produce a car for the economy car segment. Supposedly it is in their plans a few years out. In the mean time, the Model 3 and Model Y are comparable in price with many upscale cars from multiple manufacturers. The average new light vehicle price in the US is now $37,000. That’s about the same as the lowest-priced Tesla 3.
Industry predictions are that there will be price parity between ICE and BEV cars within five years. If you build in the much lower fueling cost and the virtually nonexistent maintenance costs, the economics of BEVs are already pretty compelling. ICEs only win if you are looking at the economy car segment. If that is what you choose to drive (or can afford), then you come out ahead. Of course, if economics is your only criterion in a car purchase, you buy a 10-year-old Honda Civic and you will win the prize.
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Maxwell is not worried.
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Tesla has yet to produce a car for the economy car segment.
In China they have begun selling small electric cars for $4,700. They are outselling Tesla. Here is an article in Japanese about it, which you can Google translate:
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Maxwell is not worried.
External Content youtu.beContent embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.Interesting video, '*radically cheap energy for most purposes' due to common untapped energy differentials or reactants is real, different from unlimited free energy which isn't, finite mass is always converted somewhere! I wish them well. Unless you claim the quantity of hydrogen in the solar system is practically boundless then I guess your right! Love this dialog though.
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In China they have begun selling small electric cars for $4,700. They are outselling Tesla. Here is an article in Japanese about it, which you can Google translate:
I imagine even Elon Musk would agree that if people only want to spend or can only spend $5000 for a car, it is great that there is an electric alternative rather than driving a polluting heap of some sort.
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I imagine even Elon Musk would agree that if people only want to spend or can only spend $5000 for a car, it is great that there is an electric alternative rather than driving a polluting heap of some sort.
I imagine he is nervous that they are outselling him in China. Nothing stops them from introducing these cars in the U.S., the EU, Japan and elsewhere. Chinese automobile safety standards are the same as the rest of the developed world. They would probably charge more than $5,000 in the U.S., but way less than what he is charging.
Tesla went after the luxury market first. That is a good business strategy in the early stages. You can sell new technology at a premium. The first IBM Personal Computers were very expensive compared to other consumer goods in 1982. IBM made a ton of money on them. It is a good strategy to start with, but you have to watch out for someone cutting in from the bottom, with a low-cost commodity offering. That's what happened to the personal computer market.
From the video and description this does not have anywhere near as many features as the Tesla. On the other hand, it has about as many as a Leaf.
Main points from video:
Charges in 6 ~ 7 hours with home voltage.
120 km range.
People as tall as 178 cm can fit.
Feels like a Japanese economy car.
It has a rough suspension. You really feel the bumps in the road. *
* The word road "bump" in this video subtitle is "outotsu," which is usually used in a more technical context meaning concavity and convexity. It is written with two of my favorite characters: 凹凸. These are some of the few characters that actually look like pictograms. The other well known ones are one, two, three: 一 二 三. I guess "tree" looks a bit like a tree, and person like a person: 木 人
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I imagine he is nervous that they are outselling him in China. Nothing stops them from introducing these cars in the U.S., the EU, Japan and elsewhere. Chinese automobile safety standards are the same as the rest of the developed world. They would probably charge more than $5,000 in the U.S., but way less than what he is charging.
Tesla went after the luxury market first. That is a good business strategy in the early stages. You can sell new technology at a premium. The first IBM Personal Computers were very expensive compared to other consumer goods in 1982. IBM made a ton of money on them. It is a good strategy to start with, but you have to watch out for someone cutting in from the bottom, with a low-cost commodity offering. That's what happened to the personal computer market.
From the video and description this does not have anywhere near as many features as the Tesla. On the other hand, it has about as many as a Leaf.
Main points from video:
Charges in 6 ~ 7 hours with home voltage.
120 km range.
People as tall as 178 cm can fit.
Feels like a Japanese economy car.
It has a rough suspension. You really feel the bumps in the road. *
* The word road "bump" in this video subtitle is "outotsu," which is usually used in a more technical context meaning concavity and convexity. It is written with two of my favorite characters: 凹凸. These are some of the few characters that actually look like pictograms. The other well known ones are one, two, three: 一 二 三. I guess "tree" looks a bit like a tree, and person like a person: 木 人
Thanks for the information about this Chinese EV JedRothwell , I can’t get Google translate to work with my IPhone.
I Am not so sure about all Chinese car makers having the same safety and quality standards, even in my country some Chinese vehicles aren’t officially sold due to not matching local standards, and you can buy one from certain equipment vendors but only to drive them in remote places where no one will ask you for a permit for them. Those are cheap, tho. Chinese vehicles that comply the standards for my country are all priced above USD 5000 so I think the USD 4700 for an EV is really cheap.
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I Am not so sure about all Chinese car makers having the same safety and quality standards, even in my country some Chinese vehicles aren’t officially sold due to not matching local standards,
I have read that Chinese cars now meet safety and quality standards, but until recently they were not quite up to pollution standards. The laws were changed, and that clobbered production for a while. It put pressure on smaller automakers, and it may end up killing off some of the smaller ones.
See 2015 report:
Emerging markets are taking vehicle safety seriously (at least on paper!)
China has shown immense progress in adopting car safety standards, but other developing countries, such as Mexico, India, and Brazil, lie far behind.
https://www.automotiveworld.co…ty-seriously-least-paper/
2019 report:
China paralyzed its auto market by fast-tracking stricter car pollution rules
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I strongly doubt that Musk is nervous about these little vehicles. I doubt that the market in the US would be any greater than that for Smart Cars, which appeal to a pretty limited audience. They do better in Europe. But a tiny electric car with a 75-mile range is not going to whet many appetites on this side of the pond.
With so many huge gas guzzlers on US roads, I would be scared to death to drive one of these tin cans. An F150 could roll over one and not even notice.
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I strongly doubt that Musk is nervous about these little vehicles. I doubt that the market in the US would be any greater than that for Smart Cars, which appeal to a pretty limited audience. They do better in Europe. But a tiny electric car with a 75-mile range is not going to whet many appetites on this side of the pond.
Not true at all. I should explain that I had a used Leaf but I gave it to my daughter, because of the pandemic.
The Leaf I had was a few years old with an an effective range of 90 miles. It is a small car. The cost was around $30,000 new, after a tax break, and they were selling like hotcakes in Atlanta. They were everywhere! Tens of thousands of them, I believe. The tax break was rescinded and sales fell somewhat. But if you could buy something like that for $18,000 without a tax break, which is the cost of Yaris or other small car the size of a Leaf, they would sell millions of them in urban areas. Hundreds of thousands in greater Atlanta. The 90 mile range was never an issue. Other people I know who have one have never had a range problem. If you go far, there are charging stations everywhere, and there is a GPS in the car that shows you where they are.
If you need to drive hundreds of miles, you rent an ICE car.
little vehicles. I doubt that the market in the US would be any greater than that for Smart Cars, which appeal to a pretty limited audience.
The ones in China are smaller than most U.S. cars. They are the same size as Japanese subcompact cars, which are everywhere in Japan. I was riding in one years ago. When the driver parked, one wheel fell off the road into a steep gutter. Three of us got out, picked up the car, and put it back on the road.
These cars are well suited for the Asian market, and Asian roads. However, they are not really any cheaper to make or to buy than the slightly larger ones such as the Yaris, or the Geo Metro. The Nissan Leaf is the same size as a Yaris. The Chinese could probably make one the size of a Yaris and sell at a profit for $18,000 (the same cost as a cheapest U.S. ICE cars).
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With so many huge gas guzzlers on US roads, I would be scared to death to drive one of these tin cans.
Well, no worse than the Geo Metro I used to drive. Small cars of all sorts are at a disadvantage on highways. An electric car with a 75-mile range is really only practical for urban driving, or the highways in Atlanta, which are jammed with traffic most of the time. The gas guzzlers can't go fast.
There has been a measurable increase in high speed fatalities this year on the highways in Atlanta because there is less traffic, because of the pandemic. It is a little ironic.
