Samsung delivers solid-state battery for EVs with 600-mile range
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Concerning part is that China has a massive lead in this industry, and the lone American company that can compete is being targeted by the petty regime we have in power.
Better yet, what policies do you think we should be pushing?
Are you suggesting that Tesla is struggling to compete because our government is targeting them more than, say, BYD?
Range and charging time was the biggest barrier for me in buying an electric car because I need to drive 350 miles every month or so, and don't want to stop at a crowded charging station for an hour 1-2 times on the drive.
The second barrier is I know that battery tech is rapidly getting better, which means an electric car today will rapidly devalue, and I'll have a much better experience buying one in 5-10 years when the self-driving features are really honed in.
It's like PCs in the 1990s. There were big advances in processing power, memory, and storage every 2-3 years so you didn't want to lock yourself in with something too crazy. Cars are something I buy every 10-15 years, so I have to wait for things to settle a bit before I'll be willing to buy. I think there's going to be a seismic shift in the market in 5-7 years.
It has to be really hard being an automaker right now. You need a lot of capital, which isn't cheap at the moment, to expand your capabilities into EV production whose sales may not take off for another few years. But you can't ignore the EV market altogether or you risk getting left behind. Crazy market!
I'm fully aware that there's no apples-to-apples comparison to be had here because equivalent EVs in 2003 were... not great nor plentiful and definitely not available on the current used market. They did actually make a 2003 RAV4 Hybrid but my understanding is that due to the increased complexity the maintenance costs were pretty brutal.
Digging into this long tail though is going to be the key to getting to the tipping point where there are more EVs on the road than not. She has absolutely no reason to "upgrade" her car until either gasoline becomes so eyewateringly expensive that it makes obvious financial sense to pay a loan on an EV every month instead of buying gas or the car itself breaks and there's something that's competitive with the used small SUV market.
https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-safety/what-makes-c...
Anyway, I'm surprised that a used one or two year old Subaru Solterra EV with less than 10,000 miles costs less than $25,000.
https://my.caredge.com/buy?radius=7000&rows=20&zip=97256&mak...
Someone could, yeah. I think you'd have a hard time convincing her to spend that $25k for those things, especially given that the Solterra has half the cargo capacity compared to the '03 RAV4 (30 cu.ft. vs. 68 cu.ft.).
There's interesting things all over with this. I've got a 2016 Tacoma and absolutely rely on the backup camera every time I back up because the rearward visibility is terrible. When I drive her RAV4... it's not necessary at all because the vehicle itself has amazing visibility.
The other thing to take into account... what are the odds that the Solterra is going to make it to 2045 without requiring significant/expensive maintenance? She's had the RAV4 for around 4 years now and so far all we've had to do are brake pads and oil changes.
> Maximum cargo volume: 63.5 cubic feet
...I'm assuming that's with the seat folded down, and assuming the RAV4 cargo capacity is also with the seats down.
https://www.subaru.com/vehicles/solterra/specs-trim.html
>what are the odds that the Solterra is going to make it to 2045 without requiring significant/expensive maintenance?
Unknown, but the Solterra is built by Toyota, FWIW.
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/the-real-reason-the-2023-subaru...
Well, we’ll see in 5-10 years when she’s ready to replace the RAV4. She had to drive 300km for work today which looks like it would have been right on the edge of the range of that unit. Would’ve been cheaper in an EV, but a significantly longer day since there’s no high-capacity charging infrastructure available on the shortest route to get there.
It gets really bad if you dare to drive out of state because you get hit with extra mileage fees. For example every year I go camping for a week - driving from the midwest to Utah in a full size suv or truck (need 4wd and space for climbing/camping gear). Last time I ran the numbers (2022) it was around $1500 for a rental for that trip. (1k base rental for a week, 350 for mileage fees, and 180 for towing fee because I like to bring a small teardrop camper)
I've kept a close eye on this since I would love an EV, but it remains much cheaper to keep paying for my ICE vehicle than buying an EV and occasionally renting. There's a huge list of other drawbacks to account for as well:
- the non-financial costs of time spent reserving, picking up, dropping off, fighting surprise fees, etc.
- worrying about damage (most rentals don't allow off pavement driving, or will void insurance if you do)
- the fact that you can't have anything custom (no roof rack for a kayak, no snow tires or chains for driving through the mountains, no winch or recovery points, no interior improvements like stereo or dash cam, the list goes on)
DC fast charging is closer to ten to fifteen minutes. It's a bit longer than gas but not ridiculously long.
An hour or 2? A good rule of thumb is needing to stop for about 20 mins every 2 hours of driving (conservative numbers). This might not even be extra time depending on how often you stop anyway.
If you can charge at home, count the number of minutes you spend filling up your current vehicle every month. I spend less time waiting on my EV ( 0 minutes/month ) than I did filling up my diesel ( 20 minutes/month ).
When you factor in the time that the auto-schedule defrost on my EV saves in the winter, I definitely save a lot of time compared to my old ICE. The fact that it costs about 1/4 of the cost per mile is great too.
Most people just want a shitbox to go from A to B, which is exactly why EVs aren't selling now that all the fanboys signed in for the beta test.
The only reason they're not selling is price
> in 5-10 years when the self-driving features are really honed in.
Ah yes, Elon said it'll be there next year every year since 2012 and people still believe in this pipe dream... incredible