Honda says making cheap electric vehicles is too hard, ends deal with GM::The platform was to use GM’s Ultium batteries.
As trade tensions with North America and China degraded that was one of the worst casualties.
China has a booming market for small EVs for all types of consumers. It is not an understatement to say they are years ahead of us in that regard.
What is it North America? Because you said I’m not allowed to have public transit and now I’m not even allowed to have the type of car I want.
Oh boy do I love freedom.
Send_me_nude_girls@feddit.de 1 year ago
So like all the others while China will produce cheap cars. Look, I don’t want to predict the future, but if I only have 20-30k for a new car, I simply physically can’t but a 60k SUV. You can’t jump into a saturated market of other car companies, who almost all seam to want only expensive eCars and expect a good outcome. There’s only so much money in the pockets of people and only so much people are willing to pay for a used eCar if it need expensive battery replacement soon. Not going to happen. Build cheaper cars.
0x0@programming.dev 1 year ago
Not to mention not everyone has a garage or nearby charging spot to charge an ev.
Perhaps dealing with infrastructure first would be interesting…
Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Then again, I don’t have a gas station in my backyard either…
Shopping centers/grocery stores need more charging stations, that’s the most realistic place to go to charge when you don’t have the capacity to do it at home.
100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 1 year ago
Planning on a 1-to-1 swap between traditional cars and EVs is the crassest mistake. It would take a paradigm shift that emphasizes remote work, carpooling and carsharing in order to make private transportation really sustainable.
Send_me_nude_girls@feddit.de 1 year ago
Good point. It’s a sort of chicken egg problem. Lack of ev and no investment for infrastructure, resulting in even less ev.
Here they in Germany in my local town, they build hydrogen fuel stations instead of charging stations. Very strange.
AA5B@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Or maybe instead of blocking everything on the theory a complete charging solution will magically appear despite no demand, we can go ahead with the 59% of the population living in a house, and can decide to install a charger. Maybe we can go ahead with charger networks we already have, already allowing most road trips and getting better continuously. And we can use all that demand, all that money to keep building out a better and better charging solution.
FYI - buddy of mine has an EV at a townhouse with no opportunity to charge, and just goes to a supercharger once a week to top off. It may be inconvenient, but it’s not onerous
frezik@midwest.social 1 year ago
You can’t have infrastructure without the cars, and you can’t have the cars without the infrastructure. The solution to this catch-22 is to force the infrastructure to catch up.
Diplomjodler@feddit.de 1 year ago
Charging infrastructure is getting better. I’ve had an EV without hinge charging for they’re years now and I’ve managed just fine. Overall it’s no more inconvenient than having to go to a gas station.
Diplomjodler@feddit.de 1 year ago
Electric cars don’t normally need a battery replacement during the car’s lifetime. If the battery needs to be replaced, the car has usually already been running longer than most ICE cars ever would. The used market for EVs used to be pretty dire, with little supply and awful pricing. But it’s slowly getting better. But of course the fact remains, that there is currently a lot of demand for cheap EVs and little supply. The Chinese are gearing up to eat up that part of the market.
BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 1 year ago
What?
Show me a battery that goes 200k - 300k.
Just because the average consumer is an idiot and replaces cars long before the doesn’t mean the vehicles can’t go that far.
Every car my family has owned for the last 30 years has gone at least 200k, some 300k+. My current 2005 vehicle is at 270k, and I expect many more years from it, barring an accident. Our newest vehicle is from 2016, and is approaching 100k. An electric vehicle would be needing a battery soon, while all mine needs is an oil change, and perhaps a timing belt for $50.
bstix@feddit.dk 1 year ago
I hope to see more cheap cars by 2025 when VW starts doing their id1 and id2. The rest of the manufacturers need to follow suit or lose out of the massive market for mini and micros.
Personally I did get a used EV. It had driven less than 200km in total, but I got it at about 70% of the normal price. The battery is fine. The used market isn’t just for worn out cars. People sell almost new cars for a variety of reasons, so it’s worth looking at the used market already. The batteries in modern cars are generally better than their reputation. I wouldn’t want to get a 7-10 year old EV, but anything newer is just fine.
PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Bwahahaha that’s not used. That’s new. Talk to us again when you pick up a car with 50 000 on it.
rubikcuber@feddit.uk 1 year ago
20-30K?! Holy crap. I’ve never spent more than 10K on a car.
ElectricCattleman@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You guys drive? 💀 My rollerblades were only $200 and the ball bearings are in great shape.
Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 1 year ago
There’s always one smug dunger driver in the comments.
Let people have nice things, OK?
KpntAutismus@lemmy.world 1 year ago
my car wasn’t even 2K
tankplanker@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Why does it have to be new? Whats wrong with a nearly new car that is only a couple of years old? Warranty, at least in Europe covers the major components like body shell and battery for 7 to 10 years now.
Part of reducing the impact of cars to the environment is making them last longer and EVs have the opportunity to be fully refurbished at what would have been the end of their normal lifespan to better than new. Replacing the battery pack for a more modern and denser version, replacing the motor for a more efficient and powerful one, even replace the entertainment unit with a more modern one. Sure, this is expensive but you are basically getting a new car for considerably less than a new car.
While I personally think Musk can eat a bag of dicks, the ability to upcycle early Teslas using Tesla parts is very welcome. It needs to be legally mandated that manufacturers have to offer this and end the cycle of scrapping cars.
stealthnerd@lemmy.world 1 year ago
What you described is already done with ICE vehicles. Engines and transmissions are rebuilt all the time. Even cars that are totaled are typically given a second life.
Ultimately it’s the vehicle’s body and frame that determine when it’s at the end of it’s life. You’re not going to put a new battery in a tesla with a rusted out frame.
Arguably the lifespan could be worse for EVs since replacing the batteries is so expensive (more than a typical engine rebuild) that many probably won’t be willing to put that much money into an old vehicle.
DudeDudenson@lemmings.world 1 year ago
Don’t manufacturers charge something close to the price of a new car to exchange the battery?
Like they based the entire business model around the smartphone model of making them “disposable” so you keep buying new ones