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Comment by cheald | Hacker News Reader

They may not quite be there on sticker price, but depending on the cost of power and gas, TCO is already solidly in the competitive range. People aren't buying just $15k cars, either - the Toyota Camry is the most popular model in the US, and it runs $25k-$35k new based on configured options.

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By comparing to the Camry you're kind of supporting their point, though. The Camry is a mid-size gas car (by length), and its top trim is the same price as a bottom trim Model 3, a compact electric car. The accurate comparison would be to a Corolla, a compact ICE car whose top trim is about $28k.

In other words, current electric vehicles are about 2 price classes above equivalently positioned gas cars, maybe 1.5 price classes if you consider TCO.

Is there a reason why you're valuing performance at zero? 7.6 seconds 0-60 for that Camray, 8.0 for the Corolla. Surely some fraction of consumers care about that.

A new v6 camry will do 0-60 in 5.8, and once it gets going as much hp as a model 3. But no, most customers do not care about performance[0] otherwise trucks, SUVs, CUVs, etc. wouldn't be dominating American car sales.

[0]Sadly.

I'm pretty sure that the minority of consumers who care about performance is much bigger than the % who are buying electric cars today. There's a lot more to the car market than the most popular thing.

Actually performance is exactly why SUVs came to dominate -- they're classified as trucks under CAFE which allows them to have worse fuel economy. Which allows them to have bigger engines.

That advantage mostly fell to hybrids and full electrics, because now you can make a fast car that satisfies the rules, but by that point the ship had already sailed and now people don't feel safe in a sporty little thing next to the neighbor's hausfrauenpanzer so now people want it to be fast and big.

The fraction who care about performance won’t be interested in a Camry or Corolla.

Some certainly do. But not in a basic or mid-level commuter car.

If I'm sitting in traffic 45 min, one way, on my way to work around DC or LA, what's a wicked good 0-60 going to get me?

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