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Am I missing something? I am only seeing that it is not sold in the US, not that it is illegal to sell.
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Submitted 1 week ago by dwazou@jlai.lu to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
SoupBrick@pawb.social 1 week ago
Jimbabwe@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Came here to say this. Major editorializing by the OP, unless there’s another source they chose not to share.
KoalaUnknown@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Different states have different regulations, but almost all states prohibit their use on highways/interstates or use above 55mph.
Because of US import restrictions, they can’t realistically be imported unless they are >25 years old, and generally only Kei Trucks are imported.
ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 1 week ago
They’re aren’t road legal in some US states, OP might have confused them.
IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
So after reading the article, are you editorializing or did Wired change their title? No where does it mention the legality of selling the Sakura in North America. It only mentions that Nissan has not chosen to sell it outside of Japan.
apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Kei cars are illegal to purchase in certain states because of the comparitave danger they face due to other size of other vehicles.
States include: Georgia, Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Michigan.
SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 1 week ago
They are like driving an ATV or go cart with a canopy though. Kinda scary to be going highway speeds in them around even other sedans.
acosmichippo@lemmy.world 1 week ago
so nothing to do with being an EV, an import, or anything like that as most people would assume.
thallamabond@lemmy.world 1 week ago
The Chicken Tax is a 25 percent tariff on light trucks (and originally on potato starch, dextrin, and brandy) imposed in 1964 Eventually, the tariffs on potato starch, dextrin, and brandy were lifted,[4] but since 1964 this form of protectionism has remained in place to give US domestic automakers an advantage over imported competitors.
Gladaed@feddit.org 1 week ago
17k for not even 200km range sucks. EVs must get cheaper.
SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 1 week ago
More range would make it large defeating a large portion of its purpose.
It’s meant for driving around a city, 200km should be more than enough for a day of shopping.
anguo@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
For driving around a city, 50km is already more than enough
Gladaed@feddit.org 1 week ago
I struggle to believe that. Packing more batteries does not mean size has to increase by a lot. the biggest part of car volume is air anyway.
Tinidril@midwest.social 1 week ago
Adding in cost of ownership, EVs are cheaper than ICE vehicles. Electricity is way cheaper than gas, and electrics require almost zero maintenance. Also, even 200km meters the needs of a whole lot of drivers just fine. Our family’s secondary vehicle is a Gen-1 leaf with 140km of range and I think we’ve used a public charger 4 times in over 10 years.
henfredemars@infosec.pub 1 week ago
With better infrastructure and fast charging that shouldn’t be a big deal. I mean, we don’t have that infrastructure today, but ideally the gargantuan battery mode isn’t where we stay in the extreme long-term.
shortrounddev@lemmy.world 1 week ago
17k for a new car of any kind is a good price
pipes@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Heat pump and dual direction charging are awesome though. I don’t imagine they’re using these kei cars between the cities when they can get high speed trains.
Nissan could easily take 5k off but has been hesitant/gradual with EV adoption just like the rest of the Japanese producers.
tankplanker@lemmy.world 1 week ago
The problem is that the battery is usually half the cost of manufacturing the car, larger batteries still means more expense, at least until whatever replaces the current battery tech is mainstream.
Britians cheapest brand new EV that isnt limited to 28mph top speed is the Dacia Spring at £11k. $17k is about £13k. UK average commuting distance is a round trip of about 40 miles. In an ICE car thats costing about £6 a day, vs. 70p in an EV that can charge at home overnight. My kids basically get brand new (small) EVs for free vs. running an older ICE that I would gift them just on the fuel saving.
Obviously not everyone can change at home, but this will change the more people push for it.
NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
Trust me. You do NOT want to go on a long distance road trip in a kei car. Even if you are super short.
Kei cars are amazing for commuting and grocery store trips. They are horrible for basically anything beyond that so you are still getting that chair delivered and so forth. Once you start cramming it full of luggage or camping supplies you will rapidly feel the claustrophobia.
112 miles is perfect for driving around a city or going to the park on the weekend or whatever. 40 minutes for 10->80% is a bit… ouch. But if you can charge it over night (with even an L1 charger) that doesn’t matter for day trips and… trust me when I say you want to take a long lunch and stretch your legs if you are taking a kei car on a road trip.
Gladaed@feddit.org 1 week ago
I don’t live in car land. Hence I don’t commute or shop groceries via car. Charging seems a hassle for typical trips, but I am not an experienced driver. I want mini cars to be cheaper, not go farther, so using one is more sensible.
Soup@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Except that even if your commute is 20km that’s still going tonlast you all week. Obviously there are other trips to make but it’s definitely not stopping 99.9% of people in the middle of their commute, or even their workday, to charge.
I don’t know why so many people think whatever they buy needs to be able to handle every single fringe case they’ve never even experienced or why they think that something being absolutely adequate for their own use is somehow bad. It’s room-temp IQ bullshit and I’m tired of it.
17k for a vehicle powered by a watch battery(exaggeration) is pretty sick and more than practical, even for people in North America.
ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 1 week ago
The BYD Seagull price/capacity is exceptional even among Chinese EVs. I think a better comparison to this car would be the Wuling MINI, which also has a 200km range, and costs 6~7k in China.
Gladaed@feddit.org 1 week ago
Which is much cheaper than this car. Prices for small cars must go down(and big car prices going way up seems fine, TBf)
neuracnu@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
Cars made to be sold and driven in Japan (aka JDM vehicles, for Japanese Domestic Market) can not be imported into the US until they are over 25 years old. This is part of a series of import laws that American vehicle manufacturers lobbied for to keep foreign cars from dominating domestic marketplaces.
The US also has crash test safety standards that domestic cars must meet because a) safety is good, and b) people drive tanks like maniacs. Kei cars used to be pretty awful in crash tests, but have gotten a lot better in recent years.
zephorah@lemm.ee 1 week ago
They were manufacturing original Volkswagen beetles in Brazil and Mexico up until 2003?. Illegal to sell in the USA.
Flemmy@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Ther takin ur jubs!
florencia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
Fuck Cars means Fuck all cars.
Electrified trolleys and trains all the way
FenderStratocaster@lemmy.world 1 week ago
You aren’t in the fuck cars community, and the rest of us live in the real world where cars exist. Especially in the US. This isn’t some fantasy land where we can go back in time and change our entire infrastructure. We CAN however condense more, rely on trains in metro areas, and use electric vehicles. But you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.
NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
I mean… even in Japan (basically the mecca of public transit), you need a car for a lot of “last mile” transit to smaller towns. And you want a car for many (most?) towns because there might only be two or three buses per day.
Makoto Shinkai’s movies LOVE to focus on this as a way to build tension. Have one of the characters spend two or three days taking a long chain of trains and buses to reach the one that they love only to have to spend the night at a motel in a nowhere town where they can then have a heartfelt talk about what they are actually looking for.
taladar@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
The entire infrastructure was changed towards cars within living memory. What makes you think the reverse isn’t possible or even likely in the next hundred years?
n2burns@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
Sure, but even in the most orange-pilled places, there are still cars, and occasionally reasons to drive. And if individuals/small groups need to get somewhere inaccessible by bikes/public transit, etc., I’d rather they drive something like this instead of a vehicle that’s literally the size of a tank.
gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
An entirely impossible dream world you live in, bud
zephorah@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Unless you live inside a major city in America, you can’t get to work without a vehicle. It’s either have a car or be homeless.
LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
How are deliveries going to work, exactly? If I order a computer, what, I can’t have it anymore because some dumb ecofash said so? And before you go all “hurr durr go 2 ze store” I can’t, I WFH, as should everyone who can, in part - to save the environment.
JoshuaFalken@lemmy.world 1 week ago
That comment is a bad take to be sure, but it isn’t really about eliminating every vehicle in existence. We’d still need individual vehicles to serve for delivery and emergency services, as well as a bunch of other stuff.
The main thought is just that it’s a bit silly to have half the population driving a two tonne vehicle to the grocery store. There’s already communities where golf carts are used instead of cars.
The whole concept of ripping out every road and installing solar tramways is just as much a nonsensical extreme not worth taking seriously as ‘what do I do if I order a computer and I work from home’. I get your use of the example though, it is the equivalent counterpoint.
Empricorn@feddit.nl 1 week ago
And before you go all “hurr durr go 2 ze store” I can’t, I WFH, as should everyone who can, in part - to save the environment.
I think I get the point you were originally going for, but this part is unhinged. You can’t go to a store because you work from home? What??
catloaf@lemm.ee 1 week ago
How do you build a railway?
Empricorn@feddit.nl 1 week ago
Why are you lying, @dwazou@jlai.lu? These vehicles aren’t illegal in the US. Your own article says this:
Sadly, so far Nissan has shown no desire to sell the car outside Japan, although a few secondhand examples have ended up in right-hand drive markets such as New Zealand.
Surprisingly, the car’s systems such as the navigation were possible to switch into English, so if the determined fan were to import one to the US, they wouldn’t be stuck with a Japanese UI.
apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Gigantic vehicles should be outlawed, not these.
BallShapedMan@lemmy.world 1 week ago
But what am I going to do without my tiny dick support vehicle? /s