You can't take it out on the highway, though.
Unless you can pedal really, really fast.
Posted on 01/08/2022 12:48:38 PM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie
Whatever the technological promise or pitfalls of electric vehicles, the real challenge lies in getting consumers eager to buy them. And that’s proven to be at least as difficult as making batteries last and building out a comprehensive charging infrastructure. A new report from the big-time, grownup pants Deloitte consulting firm indicates just how big an undertaking that is proving to be.
Deloitte’s touchingly named “2022 Global Automotive Consumer Study” goes into granular detail about the buyer expectations that will drive the automotive market in the coming years. It’s all based on a survey of 26,000 consumers in 25 countries. R&T has been reliably informed one of those countries is the United States, which is still located in North America. The whole report is available at this link as a PDF.
Much of what Deloitte reports is unsurprising. People still vastly prefer personal vehicles over public transportation; are willing to embrace high technology as long as they don’t have to pay for it; that they still want to buy new vehicles in person and not over the internet; and that they’re fine with electric vehicles as long as they’re affordable and at least as good as those relying on internal combustion.
The big insights come with the subject of intentionality. That is what consumers expect to buy next. In the U.S. fully 69 percent of consumers expect their next vehicle to be powered by internal combustion. Another 22 percent will go for some sort of hybrid. But still, amid all this, only about five percent of Americans expect their next vehicle will be a fully-electric, battery-fueled machine.
“Buyers expect their vehicles to be affordable,” explains Ryan Robinson, Deloitte’s Automotive Research Leader. “Fully 74 percent of those intending to buy an electric expect their next vehicle to cost less than $50,000. With the average price of a new vehicle already approaching $40,000 that’s a very narrow band for electrics.”
Right now, many of the electrics on the market are what Robinson describes as “halo” products. That’s to say premium vehicles that attract attention and sell at high prices, but aren’t intended to sell in huge volumes to average buyers. Will there be affordable and attractive electrics? Good question.
Governments are driving forward with aggressive plans for converting the vehicle fleet to alternative fuels. What prominently emerges from the Deloitte report is that ambitions are one thing, and reality is something else.
Other countries are more eager for EVs. In South Korea, for example, 23 percent of buyers anticipate next buying an electric. In China it’s 17 percent. In almost all countries, hybrids and plug-in hybrids seem to be gaining traction as alternatives to pure ICEs.
There are plenty of other indications in Deloitte’s report that what lies in front of us is a tumultuous vehicular future. “There are a lot of big, all-in bets being made,” Robinson asserts. “We’re right in the middle of a very messy time.”
That is exactly the Chinese plan that has been in effect. Price of gas & oil up, increased smog regulations and fees, massive subsidies for EVs and tax credits for EV purchases, massive registration costs on ICE vehicles, and road limits on ICE vehicles including bans in cities and on toll roads. That Chinese plan is being adopted here and elsewhere.
That is a joke, and GM will go broke within 10 years. Elon Musk was making fun of GM in tweets this week, because GM sold a total of 26 EV vehicles in 4th quarter 2022. That's 26, including just one Hummer. As compared to more than several hundred thousand for Tesla. People will be forced by Biden to buy GM EVs. GM will go broke if they manage to produce any, cars that people don't want.
You can't take it out on the highway, though.
Unless you can pedal really, really fast.
No.
I’d worth more about those who have to make regular long-haul trips for business than those who who make an annual vacation trek. Of whom there are many.
And more who regularly visit family.
and.............
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) found that in 2018, a total of 212,500 vehicle fires caused 560 civilian deaths in the US.Dec 8, 2021
and you can’t put out these fires with normal fire extinguishers A, B, C. You need “D” type extinguishers.
Cost of a D extinguisher is over $900
And you need TWO!
Tesla aims to release $25,000 electric car in 2023, likely will not have a steering wheel
Elon Musk has told Tesla employees that the automaker is aiming to release its previously announced $25,000 electric car in 2023.
The CEO hinted that it might not even be equipped with a steering wheel.
At Tesla Battery Day last year, CEO Elon Musk announced that Tesla will be making a $25,000 electric car.
The CEO commented in the announcement:
Tesla will make a compelling $25,000 electric vehicle that is also fully autonomous.
He made it clear that this new price point is achieved through Tesla’s new battery cell and battery manufacturing effort, which could reduce battery costs by over 50%.
The $25,000 Tesla electric car, which is often referred to as the “Tesla Model 2,” has been likened to a new electric hatchback that Tesla has been planning to produce at Gigafactory Shanghai in China and export globally.
Last year, Tesla announced plans to establish a new R&D center in China to build “a Chinese-style” electric car.
Tesla started taking design submissions for its Chinese-made small electric car last summer and started hiring for the program shortly afterward.
At the time, the automaker also released this early design drawing of a small electric hatchback. It led many to think that it was the design direction and form factor that Tesla is going for in the upcoming electric vehicle:
We recently reported on some media reports coming out of China that claimed the production of the Model 2 could start imminently.
However, we did warn that this isn’t likely to happen.
Now Elon Musk has confirmed a better idea of the planned timing to release the new cheaper Tesla vehicle in a company-wide meeting held last night.
Sources who were at the meeting told Electrek that the CEO said Tesla was aiming to start production of the new $25,000 electric car in 2023.
In his comments, Musk linked the release of the new Model 2 (not an official name) to Tesla achieving a deployable full self-driving system and even asked Tesla employees:
“Do we want to have this car come with a steering wheel and pedals?”
He made it sound likely that the new Tesla vehicle will not even be equipped with a steering wheel.
Back in 2019, Tesla unveiled an image of a vehicle without a steering wheel and pedals and said the goal was to release such a vehicle within two years:
In the meeting, the CEO said that Tesla is betting on full autonomy for the new $25,000 electric car.
Tesla is currently trying to release its Full Self-Driving Beta software to its wider fleet in the US by the end of the month.
Once the software, which still requires driver attention, is out, Tesla will improve it using data from the fleet and try to make it several times safer than human drivers in order to achieve regulatory approval to use it as a true full self-driving system.
The progress made on that front will dictate whether or not the new Tesla vehicle will come with a steering wheel or not.
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If they were cheap I’d have an EV for commuting to work. They’re not, so no deal.
Why not? Unvaccination is doing pretty well.
All they want is their own window.
EV battery fires are very hard to extinguish.
Car insurance has to come to grips with homes/condominiums that catch fire—plus—the mandated replacement of the battery pack after every EV fender-bender.
Yes.
With some engineering, it will be a suitable platform in which to install a turbocharged internal combustion engine!
“Green” advocates should not be able to avoid paying the price for the implementation of their Nirvana. Those who advocate for EV autos should be forced to purchase ONLY electricity generated BY renewables. At NO time should they ever be able to skirt their costs by utilizing any fossil or nuclear generated electricity.
There is no easier way for a corporation to go broke than to try to cram their product down consumer’s throats.
That lesson must be learned the hard way—over and over and over again...
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