EVs aren’t working
EVs are the highest growth sector for personal vehicles but are growing a little less than expected, and we can’t make big profits yet
Auto execs are coming clean: EVs aren't working
Submitted 1 year ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.businessinsider.com/auto-executives-coming-clean-evs-arent-working-2023-10
Comments
AA5B@lemmy.world 1 year ago
cybersandwich@lemmy.world 1 year ago
This is a huge point. The other considerations are: EVs are balls expensive compared to ICE counterparts and often require $500-2k worth of electrical work at your house (assuming you even own it) to put in a charger. If you live in an apartment, good luck.
And oh, btw, the chargers aren’t standard. Each charging site has different plugs, apps you have to download, etc. Then there is the lack of charging stations that highlights the range anxiety people have with EVs.
Adoption would be so much faster if EVs cost $15-25k and there were adequate standardized charging options available.
DreadPotato@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
the chargers aren’t standard. Each charging site has different plugs
IDK where you’re from, but in europe it’s all standardized and all cars use the same plug for both AC and DC charging. The whole app/rfid tag mess is true though.
someguy3@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
EVs cost more up front and then cost less with fuel, maintenance, and longevity.
AA5B@lemmy.world 1 year ago
the chargers aren’t standard. Each charging site has different plugs, apps you have to download, etc
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US has 2.5 common plugs. An old one that’s mostly gone, the standard one, and Tesla. However Tesla opened theirs as a standard, and it looks like they will be de facto standard across the US
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The protocols are compatible. The adapter for my Tesla to use the other standards is mostly plastic and dumb. You just need something to fit a different socket
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yes, the state of apps sucks. Everyone wants to maximize their profit. However I thought most non-Tesla chargers had a credit card reader, so as long as you can find it and it works, you can use it without an app. Tesla is another story, but does seem t add a lot of convenience with their app
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echodot@feddit.uk 1 year ago
Yeah so I looked into this little while ago and I own my own house so in theory I can put the box in. The problem is I only have on the street parking and the house is set back away from the road and there’s a garden between the road in the house.
So how the bleeding hell am I supposed to charge a car? I’d have to run a long cable through the garden, over the fence, over the pedestrian walkway, over the grass verge and to the car. Someone is going to trip over it and then think they can sue me.
Or the government could just install a street furniture like they do parking metres, but I have no way to force them to do that.
acutfjg@feddit.nl 1 year ago
Yep these are all true points, but not unexpected as with any innovation. Just like how computers were immensely expensive, and without standards for decades.
EVs are relatively new in the scope of technology. Capitalism just wants to make you think it’s an issue. In reality this is gonna take time and lack the profits every company is striving for, which to them is a failure.
altima_neo@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
Yeah, I keep reading articles saying the same thing. Auto industry and dealers complaining EV sales are slowing down, yet as you said, it’s the fastest growing category.
Of course products aren’t as great now coming off that high during expensive fuel prices the last few years, COVID related shortages causing prices to skyrocket, etc. Not to mention inflation decreasing the value of people’s income.
atrielienz@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Automakers also rely on dealers to sell vehicles and the dealers often make most of their money from repairs and maintenance. More than half the maintenance for ICE vehicles is just non-existent on EV’s. Not a lot of stuff to do when you get your tires rotated and your brakes checked every 5000k miles.
nxdefiant@startrek.website 1 year ago
Dealers: We inflated the ever living shit out of the ALREADY inflated MSRP on all our EV’s during a global recession and now no one wants to buy any of them!!
Manufacturer: The customers have spoken, EV’s are dead.
Funkymatt@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Seriously, the electric f150 had a 100% markup at some dealerships. The build quality was absolute crap on those too.
Contend6248@feddit.de 1 year ago
The Tesla strategy
Veraxus@kbin.social 1 year ago
“We are grossly overcharging for our product and nobody is buying… what could be the problem!?”
CmdrShepard@lemmy.one 1 year ago
More like:
“We are grossly overcharging for our product and nobody is buying… Obviously nobody wants an EV!"
tankplanker@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The problem is that small cars are unpopular in the US, they are available in Europe but the majority would not buy them in the US. Once you make the car bigger it gets heavier and you need more battery to give it the same range as a small car, and as the battery is one of the most expensive components on an EV its going to boost the price quite dramatically.
Europe has brand new EVs from £8k, but they are tiny city cars. Small hatchbacks are low £20ks now, and with the way finance works in Western Europe the monthly is not that much, starting at low £200 per month. Its not till you get to what would be a very large SUV in Europe do you start to get to the £1k+ mark per month, or what the US would call a mid sized SUV. That’s the penalty of demanding a 2.5 to 3 ton EV.
Used you can pick up small hatchbacks from £5k now, but there just isn’t the availability of large cars (or US mid sized) to make the used market viable for those on smaller budgets.
Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Typical misleading headline from pro-profiteering Business Insider on an article about how charging too much while people are suffering extreme inflation isn’t a great idea but the self-serving execs are blaming the very concept of an alternative to killing millions of people a year 🤬
RidcullyTheBrown@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Mercedes: the EV market is challenging at the moment.
Also mercedes: pay 100k for this car with limited autonomy and dubious software in early beta stages…
NanoooK@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Carmakers: (High) increase of the selling prices of all cars, gas/EV.
Consummers: 20k for the simplest car, without options? No thanks, we can’t afford that
harry_balzac@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Next year - subscription to maintain air pressure in the tyres
Hubi@feddit.de 1 year ago
You can get an electric Benz way under 100k, probably half that. 100k is S-class pricing and it has always been this high.
RidcullyTheBrown@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You made me check, the cheapest I can buy one here is 70k EUR for the EQA:
EQA is the name of the new entry-level model to the all-electric world of Mercedes-EQ vehicles.
What a bargain for an entry level model
averyfalken@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 year ago
Here’s the honest truth though. You hear Benz and you don’t think affordable car. Benz have always been fairly high priced
assassinatedbyCIA@lemmy.world 1 year ago
So we can start focusing on real solutions to climate change. Like building cities that don’t depend on cars for transportation. Right… right?
cybersandwich@lemmy.world 1 year ago
If you want to talk about real solutions to climate change I wouldn’t aim as consumer facing things like cars or household recycling. That’s all BS to make people focus on what their role in it is to distract from the fact that the vast majority of emissions come from things like:
Industrial and manufacturing processes Electricity and heat generation Transportation (with vast majority being bunker fueled chips, and agriculture.
Me getting 25mpg versus 30 ain’t moving the needle on the emissions numbers the same way moving to renewables for electricity generation and eliminating shipping emissions would. Or mitigating agricultural emissions which produces tons of the worst kinds of greenhouse gasses (methan and nitrous oxide).
And then we have fugative emissions from unintentional leaks or more accurately irresponsible processes and maintenance from things like fracking, oil/gas extraction and transport. Quite literally just drilling into gas and releasing it into the air.
But yea, my Honda is the problem.
I’m not saying everyone has a part to play, but don’t let the arguments and focus be on anything other than the big culprits of greenhouse gas emissions. We could pass meaningful regulations and provide meaningful incentives and actually move the needle on green house gasses.
assassinatedbyCIA@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Focusing on constructing transit oriented cities is a systems based solution to climate change. Not an individual consumer facing solution.
FrankTheHealer@lemmy.world 1 year ago
And taxing companies that produce a significant amount of carbon emissions?
Maalus@lemmy.world 1 year ago
What about banning all trade shipping?
mriormro@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Trade shipping is incredibly efficient when it comes to moving large quantities of goods. Transportation, as a whole, consumes about a quarter of the world’s energy output. Meanwhile industry verges on near 60%. A large portion of that is refining and manufacturing coupled with new construction.
While I understand that people’s immediate reaction is that we need more EVs or, on the extreme end, somehow restrict cars. People also need to understand that’s not the sector that is going to have the most corrective impact on the coming climate disasters.
Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
“building cities”
Well, one can attempt to make it easier going forward but this isn’t sim city where you can just demolish your entire infrastructure and remake it to suit your needs.
Doing so will take decades to even start to have an impact on personal vehicle usage. Decades we don’t really have.
Virulent@reddthat.com 1 year ago
We used to lift cities up to support sewer systems and now adding relatively simple infrastructure seems out of reach. Neoliberalism has completely ruined our ability to invest in public infrastructure
assassinatedbyCIA@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I’m not really saying it can be done overnight. But imagine if all the money (heck even half the money) that went into trying to build electric cars went into building some good transit systems supported by strong transit oriented design. It would have done way more to tackle climate change than making cars EVs. It’s a long term process but one that far more likely to make a difference than EVs.
c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Great cities are handled, now how do we make rural areas work without cars?
assassinatedbyCIA@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I never said rural areas should go without cars.
Treczoks@lemm.ee 1 year ago
FTFY: EVs aren’t working to rise profits and bonuses.
podperson@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Auto makers: “We’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas”
Thrickles@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Most people aren’t buying $40k+ cars? Weird.
ripcord@kbin.social 1 year ago
Sadly, they are. The median new car price in the US last year was $46k.
LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Sad? Seems like people had more money then they needed and were buying cars 2x as expensive as they needed.
j4k3@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Maybe it is price. Maybe we all finally realized Musk is a right wing piece of shit, even worse than all the other corporate thieves.
WallEx@feddit.de 1 year ago
… But Tesla is far from the only manufacturer, that produces totally overpriced and shitty EVs
Yaztromo@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I want an EV.
I have the money for an EV.
I put a down payment on an EV back in April 2022.
It still hasn’t been ordered, because the manufacturer won’t permit the dealership to order any, and is barely shipping any to Canada, even though they advertise it as their flagship EV.
Meanwhile, lots in the US are full of unsold units.
vsis@feddit.cl 1 year ago
EVs are expensive because of the battery.
A cheap car is not a novelty, specially for asian manufacturers. There is no cheap EV because there is no cheap big ion-li battery.
Toyota strategy of focus on hybrid and hydrogen seemed weird to me. But over the years has been started to make sense.
The world needs a better battery. Until that, EVs will be heavy and expensive.
tinkeringidiot@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Very much this. Lithium batteries are the best battery we’ve got (at manufacturing scale) so far in terms of energy storage density, but the best we’ve got isn’t very good.
Gasoline has an energy storage density of around 13 MJ/kg. That’s a ton of energy, so much so that a vehicle can waste most of it generating so much heat that we have to bolt on a cooling system (with the associated weight) and still have enough to go highway speeds for hundreds of miles on a quantity of fuel weighing less than one of the passengers.
Toyota loves hydrogen because it’s got a storage density slightly higher than gasoline. Hydrogen has some serious volume and storage issues, but the density is there.
Contrast that with lithium ion batteries at ~0.7 MJ/kg (for the really good ones, which usually aren’t used in cars). Less waste heat, to be sure, but the bulk of the vehicles weight, the main factor in speed and travel distance, is the insane amount of material necessary to store the “fuel”.
Electric motors are far more efficient than ICE, but we need orders-of-magnitude improvements in battery storage density before EV can really take advantage of the greater efficiency. Until then manufacturers don’t have a choice, EV will be heavy and thus expensive.
Hypx@kbin.social 1 year ago
Hydrogen cars are basically EVs without the giant battery. So it neatly avoids the huge cost and weight problem. Which is why Toyota thinks they are the future.
Luisp@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
Sounds like they are asking for free government money
21Cabbage@lemmynsfw.com 1 year ago
We really need to change our culture to support mass transit and pedestrians more. I live in a town with fantastic bus service and extensive pedestrian infrastructure, and people in my apartment complex DRIVE THEIR CARS to a gas station/liquor store they could throw a snowball to. Hell, I’ve seen people make a longer walk to their car than it would’ve taken to get to their destination.
assplode@kbin.social 1 year ago
Charging infrastructure is still pretty shit compared to refueling a gas car as well.
ripcord@kbin.social 1 year ago
Yes and no.
The EV refueling infrastructure while on the road is kinda shit.
The home refueling infrastructure for gasoline cars is really, really shit.
Pasta4u@lemmy.world 1 year ago
And so if you aren’t a home owner then the ev refuling is shit.
LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I love these crazy comparisons you people make. Nobody gives a fuck if they have to stop 2 minutes to refuel. 5 minutes if there is a line. Nobody wants to take an hour long wait for a charge port.
It’s like none of you have ever traveled for the holidays.
WallEx@feddit.de 1 year ago
Yeah, but that totally makes sense if no one is buying. It’s just, that no one is buying, because automakers aren’t really interested in EVs, since gas powered has WAY bigger margins.
conditional_soup@lemm.ee 1 year ago
The elites don’t want you to know this, but you can be personally responsible for getting your city off of car addiction.
Seraph@kbin.social 1 year ago
At the root of this issue is dealership exclusivity. Otherwise new companies would make them cheaper sell them privately and dominate that market. Tesla did some of this but still wanted to be premium. We need generic Tesla to come out, and the other EV companies are obsessed with premium.
BananaTrifleViolin@kbin.social 1 year ago
While it's a factor it probably isn't the root of the problem. The problem is car manufacturers are building the cars faster than the market is growing and at high price points than consumers want in a time of economic difficulty and inflation.
We're still seeing build out of electric infrastructure, expensive cars vs petrol cars, and a relatively small second hand market (which also drives infrastructure expansion). Dealership monopolies certainly exacerbate all those problems.
This story headline is nonsense though. EVs are working and are growing. The story is actually that car companies have made expensive attempts at grabbing market share which haven't worked and are now counting the costs. They're delaying the rate of growth, not reducing production - significant difference.
ripcord@kbin.social 1 year ago
I'm sure that's a factor, but I'm pretty skeptical that it's the root
turbohz@programming.dev 1 year ago
China ate their lunch, now they cry
Gazumi@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Similar to a headline that says “Food products not working”, without mentioning escalating costs for the average person. Those that could afford and early adopters are limited.
Veraxus@kbin.social 1 year ago
“We are grossly overcharging for our product and nobody is buying… what could be the problem!?”
autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] 1 year ago
This is the best summary I could come up with:
With signs of growing inventory and slowing sales, auto industry executives admitted this week that their ambitious electric vehicle plans are in jeopardy, at least in the near term.
Several C-Suite leaders at some of the biggest carmakers voiced fresh unease about the electric car market’s growth as concerns over the viability of these vehicles put their multi-billion-dollar electrification strategies at risk.
Even Tesla’s Elon Musk warned on a recent earnings call that economic concerns would lead to waning vehicle demand, even for the long-time EV market leader.
These cars are taking dealers longer to sell compared with their gas counterparts as the next wave of buyers focus on cost, infrastructure challenges, and lifestyle barriers to adopting.
In July, the company extended its self-imposed deadline to hit annual electric vehicle production of 600,000 by a year, and abandoned a 2026 target to build 2 million EVs.
“People are finally seeing reality,” Toyota Motor Chairman Akio Toyoda said at the Japan Mobility Show, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The original article contains 566 words, the summary contains 167 words. Saved 70%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
iluminae@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Make. An. Affordable. Car.
Why does every new ev for the US have to be mega deluxe luxury SUV? No one in the US is buying your affordable EV because you only sell them in Europe!
potatopotato@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Yeah, a surprising number of people don’t want these hyper complex cars with thousands of microchips and millions of lines of code operating them. Give me an electric 2012 Honda fit/Toyota matrix equivalent that just fucking works and costs $20k or less new.
llii@feddit.de 1 year ago
Yes please. I want my car to work without tracking and software updates.
Damage@slrpnk.net 1 year ago
Yeah, I don’t care about color changing LEDs in the trim or talking computers, just give me a cheap android-auto-compatible head unit (replaceable please, none of that integrated bullshit), a cheap instrument cluster and a real handbrake.
IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social 1 year ago
It’s the batteries. They are the biggest cost in an EV. The margins on such a car would be too low. Even the new Volvo XC30 is 40k plus which is one of the cheapest and most barebones EV.
LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world 1 year ago
cars.usnews.com/…/best-new-cars-under-20000?slide…
An EV at that price was always unrealistic the battery is 75% that cost. But an ICE under 20 is easy. People just want nicer shit when they see the vehicles or have to head to Mitsubishi.
tmjaea@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Got exactly that with a VW e up.
bobbytables@feddit.de 1 year ago
I currently lease a 2 years old Renault Zoe (very compact car) for 200€ a month (0€ upfront). It was a special deal in Germany for a few months. I charge at home with solar panels and rarely drive more than the 300-350km range.
It honestly feels like the holy grail of electro mobility.
tankplanker@lemmy.world 1 year ago
And if you had an ICE car you would be spending around that 200 just on fuel, as it is with both my kids and their baby EVs, its like having a free car.
Bye@lemmy.world 1 year ago
There’s no margins there. Just like in real estate, the best margins are at the high end. They won’t make affordable cars while they can make more money on expensive ones.
WallEx@feddit.de 1 year ago
Other companies can, but the big ones can’t? Yeah, no. I don’t buy that for a second.
ripcord@kbin.social 1 year ago
Because people are buying all the mid- and high-end EVs. If it's more profitable, there's some sense to it until that saturates.
GM tried real hard for the lower-end. And care like the Bolt EUV 3nder up actually really good especially for the price. Then they cancelled it because they just weren't making enough money or volume or scaling like they wanted.
And at the moment ALL the carmakers have gone kinda nuts with pricing. And sales are still super strong overall.
Also, people are paying way, way too much for cars. It's insane how many people making $60,000 a year or less are buying cars worth almost that much, and taking out these ridiculous loans. I guess the interest rate hikes are putting a little damper on it, but it's been just stupid.
hobbit@lemm.ee 1 year ago
The Bolt EUV is the only reason we have an electric car now (personally, I would have gotten the smaller and cheaper Bolt but it was a family decision to go with the EUV). It was reasonable for what you get. The only downside is the slower charging compared to other EVs but I don’t plan on taking it for longer trips. We have an ICE for that.
DessertStorms@kbin.social 1 year ago
Because car manufacturers don't give two shits what people need, nor what's best for the environment, they're in the profit making business, and that's all that matters.
We're at the point now where this shouldn't need to be pointed out, the fact it does goes to show just how successful (from their viewpoint of course) their propaganda is..
Pasta4u@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Electric cars make zero sense for the less well off. No one wants to go and sit some where for 45 minutes for 80% of a charge when they can go tonangas station and fully gas up a car in less than Five minutes. Also that is if there isn’t a line to one of the few public charging. Imagine working a shit job for 40k a year and then having to go and sit and wait for wven an hour to get to charge your car that then takes an hour to charge it self
ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Imagine working 40 hours a week and having to breathe gas fumes while you bike to work because your homeowners insurance doubled and now you can’t afford your ICE car.
No one thinks the transition to electric will be fun but it’s necessary because we waited 30 years to even acknowledge climate change. If you want to drive an ICE, you should have to pay for the destruction you’re causing so we can subsidize public transport. But failing that, EVs are the bare minimum.
thisNotMyName@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I guess you are walking around with your phone until it dies, charge it for 5mins and then repeat? … or do you just plug it in over night or when you are not using it? That’s really not a good point you are bringing up here. You could critisize, that there are only few public charging stations (with user friendly terms) or what the comment you answered to is critisizing or even that there are so few alternatives for (really) climate friendly transport, but your point is just ‘what if I am not able to think at all??’
Pxtl@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
Because batteries are expensive. So by default you’re targeting a luxury price, whether it’s luxury sports car or a luxury SUV.
seiryth@lemmy.world 1 year ago
This. It’s even worse in Australia. The only affordable ev is a Tesla 3 @ 55k AUD. Which even then is out of reach of most.
Why not make a 30k EV? Penetrate the majority of consumers.
I’m on a great wage and even I shake my head at 80-120k range of most EVs here. Then you get bwm releasing 180k+ EVs… who exactly is buying them?
When you price a technology out of the reach of people, the tech isn’t the failure.
Deceptichum@kbin.social 1 year ago
You can buy a BYd Dolphin for $38k mate.