Panda Mini EV unveiled by Geely with 150km range price starts at USD5700 | Hacker News Reader

Panda Mini EV unveiled by Geely with 150km range price starts at USD5700

arenaev.com

33 pointsteleforce20 comments

Did they really copy the name of the Fiat Panda?

For Americans: The Fiat Panda was a two door hatchback (five seats, but good luck...) launched in 1980. It was slightly longer than this at 3.3m.

Not only was there a 4x4 option, but in 1990 an electric version was launched, which became one of the first mass produced car EVs - it weighed 1150kg and had a 14kW electric motor.

The current version is a four door hatchback, and still quite popular in some European countries. Perfect for driving around small Italian streets.

Not just Italian streets: you haven't driven an Alpine pass if you haven't done it in a Panda.

*five door hatchback.

The hatch is counted as a door.

Also perfect for hooning around British B roads.

Most of these small Chinese EV's are for domestic market only - lax regulation means you can drive these golfcart like cars around without needing safety features like airbags/seat belts or own a drivers license.

Also Fiat does not sell the Panda in China so no trademark issues.

I shudder to think how poorly built all these new "Cheap" Chinese EVs must be. If my and the rest of the world's experiences with Chinese built e-bikes and e-scooters is anything to go by, we're soon going to be in the age of the "Disposable automobile." I had a friend who got 4 defective Chinese e-scooters in a row all brand new from the manufacturer...

These cheap Chinese EVs all just going to end up getting scrapped in 3-5 years or less and the environmental impact from all the toxic materials used in these cars ending up in landfills is going to be a disaster.

Personally I'd way rather spend substantially more money on an EV from a reputable brand (I tend to prioritize reliability first and foremost), as for anyone dumb enough to actually buy one of these lemons outside of China, good luck getting warranty support or after sales service or even parts for your broken car. Once your cheap new Chinese EV breaks (And it will) you won't be able to get it serviced, and it will just end up rotting away in a landfill leaching toxic chemicals into the earth.

I mean, you keep saying "cheap Chinese" have you seen the build quality of say Tesla lately, have tried to get one serviced?

We are in an age of disposable everything, and it isn't just the Chinese with poor build quality, this reduction in quality is driven by the private equity acquisitions and quarter over quarter demands. And this attitude that is ruining production and produced goods in all markets. When you can't innovate or continue to grab more of the market, the only way to increase profits is to reduce cost of production.

And you end up with a shit quality product.

It is so disgusting to see just limitless amounts of "products" that are made without any shred of care put into them. And it isn't just the cheap garbage infesting everything, even if you pay quite a bit of money the thing you get will still have obvious cut corners. Clearly the engineers are completely capable of better, but making something work more reliable is just the company loosing money on the margin and on spare parts.

I have to say I am very glad that I am not working on consumer products.

As a counterpoint to your sample. My phone was built in China and works. My last phone was built in China, and works. My laptop was built in China, and works. In fact quite a lot of the stuff I buy comes from China and it mostly works.

Designed in California and made in China, the quality is great.

Maybe in first world countries it makes sense to purchase a quality built EV instead, but do you have an idea how hard is to even buy a used scooter for some people in other places? This obviously is not aimed to replace Teslas in NY or Tokyo but it probably is a more environment-friendly alternative to old oil-burning cars in some places.

https://tiagoev.tatamotors.com/

this one is $10k, double the 5700 but it has global ncap of 4. range of ~250km and the brand is solid enough to trust your life with (as opposed to manufacturers in india who have ncap rating of 0 and they still sell like hot cakes)

For a while I thought it was about a FIAT Panda EV. I may have some fun memories in a bucket like that.

Ok, it’s a cousin of European Opel Rocks-e or it’s clone Citroën Ami. Never understood who are the buyers of such vehicles. Ideally it’s for cities. But cities normally already have public transportation. For countryside they are dangerously too slow.

The Ami goes 60km/h, that's fast enough for short trips in the countryside. In fact, most nonurban roads around here are limited at 60 anyway.

>But cities normally already have public transportation.

Public transportation is slow, especially if you are living in the outer parts of a city using a car can easily cut commutes in half. Those cars clearly are for cities, but if you think public transport comes even close for convenience, speed, hygiene, you are not using public transportation.

Fact is public transportation is mostly slow due to cars.

Remove all the cars, buses and tramway don't have to wait at traffic lights or behind cars, you can more easily increase their frequency and they end up only marginally slower than cars in a city free of traffic and faster than cars being operated in busy city and by drivers obeying rules. Especially if combined with other mode of transports (bicycle, scooters, skates...).

All the things that slow us in an urban setting like traffic jams, speed bumps, traffic lights exist because of the huge flow of individual passenger cars.

>Fact is public transportation is mostly slow due to cars.

90% of my daily commute are by train. The bus is, if anything, slowd down minimally by cars.

Remove all cars and I am 2 minutes earlier at work, by train. If I use the car it is about 15 to 30 minutes. This is a complete non argument. You take a train because your commute is long, trains are not impacted by cars.

Even the subway is slow, or it’s overcrowded, or it’s really late, or there’s crime issues. Tons of ways the commute can slow you down no matter what you do. It’s the people that are the problem, maybe I’m a bit of a hermit

Lotus EV, Volvo EV, Benz EV, Panda EV

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