What's the problem with electric cars?

[Moose Test]

Disposition to do so aside there are fewer with that kind of money to just throw around now than there were just 2-3 years ago, and the direction that the global economy is taking isn't improving.

I suspect that is part of what we are now seeing in the global downturn in sales and thus overproduction of EVs. The richest weren't buying in to start with, the poorest can't and those in the middle are getting squeezed and have changed their priorities.

We've said it ourselves here. Some of us might be able to afford to spend 100k on an EX90 but few, if any of us would consider doing so. Those that could and would already have and aren't in the market right now.

[GMcL]

...and you all thought the batteries were the achilles heel.

https://insideevs.com/news/699413/hi...ries-14-motors

New motor every ~86,000 miles

[The Thong]

Originally Posted by GMcL

...and you all thought the batteries were the achilles heel.

https://insideevs.com/news/699413/hi...ries-14-motors

New motor every ~86,000 miles

Yet the battery lasted 300k. Let’s be honest, that’s not bad at all. If they could make the motors more robust you’d be on a winner.

TT

[Tannaton]

Tesla will cease to exist as they are now... as the mainstream motor car manufacturers catch them up, and overtake them powered by their experience, Tesla will get bought and subsumed into GM, Ford, VAG, Geeley, whoever.

And I don't think Elon Musk cares one jot, he's all about change, not steady state, just like buying Twitter.

[foggyjames]

Maybe, but the combined might of the Western car industry has had several years to try, and hasn't really got close so far, frankly. Apparently BMW have had some good EV sales figures lately, but the appeal is still stunted by the charging network, and I'm not convinced the efficiency will be close enough. I suppose neither matters if it's a commuting tool, rather than something to cross the country in. The latest Harry's Garage video is worth a watch. Like me, he's no Musk-fan, but the package is hard to argue with (plain stupid UI aside).

The greatest threat probably comes from cheap offerings from China.

cheers

James

[baggy798]

Originally Posted by GMcL

...and you all thought the batteries were the achilles heel.

https://insideevs.com/news/699413/hi...ries-14-motors

New motor every ~86,000 miles

He's won the Trigger's Broom Award for high mileage! Any car of the last 30 years will do that easily with the same engine replacement schedule and replacing bits of the fuel system 4 times, all else being equal.

I thought EVs were supposed to be vastly more reliable with only 20 moving parts vs 1000 for ICE..🤔😏

In fact it's an utter embarrassment considering the Tesla is in an environment where the least wear occurs - on a motorway. At least assume it is? 131,000 miles a year, 360 miles a day but he only does "about 62 miles at a time before pausing for a while". What?? Christ, it must take him all day to get anywhere! Good thing he's retired and hasn't got anything to do.

Irv Gordon's P1800 it ain't!

[Whippy]

Originally Posted by foggyjames

Maybe, but the combined might of the Western car industry has had several years to try, and hasn't really got close so far, frankly. Apparently BMW have had some good EV sales figures lately, but the appeal is still stunted by the charging network, and I'm not convinced the efficiency will be close enough. I suppose neither matters if it's a commuting tool, rather than something to cross the country in. The latest Harry's Garage video is worth a watch. Like me, he's no Musk-fan, but the package is hard to argue with (plain stupid UI aside).

The greatest threat probably comes from cheap offerings from China.

cheers

James

The problem ('pparently) with Chinese offerings is that apart from good ole MG, there seems to be a distinct lack of servicing, spares or back up. Buy a cheap car off t'interweb and when it breaks, buy another. Also, the Chinese seems to have a 'unique' take on design.

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Whippy

The problem ('pparently) with Chinese offerings is that apart from good ole MG, there seems to be a distinct lack of servicing, spares or back up. Buy a cheap car off t'interweb and when it breaks, buy another. Also, the Chinese seems to have a 'unique' take on design.

I don’t wish to change the subject but there are many reasons not to buy Chinese goods.
I know it’s not always possible.

[Thekilt]

tesla are still the leaders in terms of efficiency. Harry's Garage recently reviewed the new Model 3 after also reviewing the Lotus aEV SUV and BMWs i5, both of which he was not impressed with the range and efficiency. He wanted to see if Tesla was the benchmark....low and behold they still are. All current manufacturers arent getting close to the efficiency.

Something else that i found very interesting too, is the weight. @ 16:32 in the video he puts it on the weigh bridge, and it weighs 1780. hwen you compare that to the BMW 3 series, they come in at the same ball park. So no longer are EV's drastically heavier.

[Moose Test]

Tesla has really achieved very little when it comes to the electrification of private motoring.

In 2023 just 7.6% of all vehicles sold in the US were EVs and that's after 7 years of 'mainstream' Telsa model sales (not to mention a decade for the likes of the Prius and Leaf) and it includes EVs of other marques too, including Toyota and Nissan. Perhaps more importantly, that's just 1.7% annual growth from 2022 and as we now know, there's likely to be contraction in 2024, at least for Tesla.

Moving the dial globally is going to take a very different strategy than they've collectively executed on so far, which seems to me to have been to created to serve a niche market supported by government subsidies and concessions which are now saturated and gone respectively.

I too think Tesla will continue to exist into the future, only either with a very different game plan or as a subsidiary of another manufacturer. The traditional manufactures will pose an existential threat once they get their own game together. On that, for each EV that Tesla didn't sell in Q1 of 2024 as compared to Q1 2023, Ford sold one that it didn't last year. The tide is turning.