Volkswagen's cheapest EV ever is the first to use Rivian software
techcrunch.com
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> “This means the future entry-level Volkswagen can be equipped with new functions throughout its entire life cycle,” he said. “Even after purchase of a new car, the small Volkswagen can still be individually adapted to customer needs.”
I would rewrite it as:
> “This means the [car] can be equipped with new functions throughout its entire life cycle,” he said. “Even after purchase [...], [it] can still be individually adapted to customer needs.”
The original reminds me a bit of renowned author Dan Brown: https://onehundredpages.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/dont-make-f...
> Our second generation R1 vehicles feature an entirely new electrical architecture and compute platform developed in-house by our hardware and software team. This significant update to our onboard computing system makes our vehicles more robust, less costly to produce and easier to service — all while improving the experience for our customers. Our new system also dramatically improves scalability for deployment in future vehicles.
> Core to the new system is a substantial reduction in the number of electronic control units (ECUs) used to control the vehicle, down from 17 different ECUs in our first generation to just seven ECUs in our second generation. This massive simplification has been achieved by shifting to a zonal architecture and by significantly increasing the computational capabilities of each of our ECUs. While infotainment, autonomy, vehicle access, drive units and our battery management system each have their own ECU, every other vehicle function is controlled by just three ECUs.
> Shifting to a zonal system enabled us to remove over 1.6 miles (2.6km) of wiring from each vehicle, shedding 44 lbs (20kg) of weight. This reduction in wiring, along with the elimination of 10 ECUs, greatly reduces production costs. Fewer components needing to be installed during assembly also improves manufacturing efficiency, allowing us to build vehicles more quickly and with better quality. With less components onboard, vehicles are easier to service and require us to stock fewer parts, improving serviceability.
This looks like a list of safety critical systems
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DC5AIXX1VA
In short, Rivian reduced the number of control units from 17 to just 7. Software components are allocated to the an available unit. So, most stuff in the vehicle no longer has dedicated processors but simply gets allocated to share hardware with all the other systems. Doing that means less wires are needed, less thing can go wrong, etc. And it all gets over the air updates.
They develop most stuff in house; so they are not dependent on suppliers providing software for their hardware. So, that means it's easier to change things, to update things, etc. without having to deal with suppliers.
I assume, they are talking about bringing similar changes to VW. Same OS, same kind of processing units, probably a lot of the modules, etc. So when VW talks about a software defined car, that's what they mean.
Of course they might decide that there might not be enough demand for small budget cars in the US to even offer this model but I doubt tariffs would be the primary reason.
I've seen some BYD busses, Facebook was using them when I was there, but I don't see any indication that their passenger cars have arrived in US/CA?
I'm normally all about local manufacturing, but I'm rooting for BYD to come in and splatter all the big car manufacturers.
The markups on EVs are ridiculous given how much cheaper they are to manufacture.
for /me, currently have VW Polo, this small <€20k city EV would be ideal replacement while keeping the maintenance and easiness of finding a service station in place. In EU vw garages are basically everywhere
Volkswagen seeks to counter rivals with budget EV model
Uh, sounds more like facial recognition software than a car.
I can't wait for someone to sell affordable EVs in the US. I'm thinking about something like an electric Geo Metro.
Yes it is nice to see prices come down but you are not going to convince me and millions of others that this is ultra cheap.
Some countries like Denmark etc. have very high sales/registration taxes (then again EVs were mostly exempt from them for quite a while, and maybe still are?). In most other countries you only need to pay VAT (~20%) but then there are various rebates/subsidies which might fully offset that (especially for cheap models like this)
Would not say these are ultra-cheap. There is probably a lot of "price that the market can sustain" going on here, rather than what it costs them to build the cars
But those aren't the sub-$10k ones, right?
I don't know if they sell the exact same model (same range, same speed, same tech trim etc) for $10k but I would not be that surprised that they'd be making a huge huge outrageous profit just because they can in the UK, because that is what the competitors are charging so why not?
FWIW there are cheaper things on sale in the UK but they are much lower spec. E.g. £15K OTR gets you a 45bhp (yes, 45!) Dacia Spring that will get you from 0 to 60 in 19s (19!!!) and only go 100 miles between charges. Suddenly that BYD dolphin looks amazing. There is the Citroen AMI for £7.5k OTR, but that is legally not even classified as a car (it's a "quadricycle") has a range of 46 miles, a top speed of 28mph, and has not been crash tested by EuroNCAP ... It would likely be a total shit show if it were though. The BYD looks like a decent option by comparison, but I'd personally not pick one because they are such an unknown in this country and the price needs to be even lower for me to take a punt :)
At least they have 5 stars in the Euro NCAP assessment: https://cdn.euroncap.com/media/82666/euroncap-2023-byd-dolph...
And they're being sold in Mexico in N. America, for 358,800 pesos (1), which is $18,000!
(1) https://mexico.as.com/motor/byd-dolphin-mini-que-tiene-de-es...
European spec BYDs tend to have 5-star (max) crash ratings.
this VW isnt "ultra cheap" at all.
Regardless of the availability of this specific model, the parent comment still claimed that a car must be sold in the United States or it "might as well not exist".
You could move to Nuevo Laredo in Mexico, which is on the US/Mexico border, and buy a Mexican BYD. Register it in Mexico and get a Mexican driver's license.
Right on the other side of the border is Laredo, Texas, making it easy to come to the US for most things you want to do outside of your home if you don't want to do them in Mexico.
Google is telling me that crossing the border into the US at Laredo is usually pretty quick and easy for a US citizen.
Maybe VW will also bring its cheap EVs to Mexico?
If the internet is to be believed they would not need a Temporary Import Permit when visiting the US with the Mexican car because they are a US citizen. They would be able to stay with the car for up to a year in the US, so even if they wanted to take a vacation or road trip to someplace other than Laredo, TX that should be OK.
PS: there's an interesting limitation of Google maps I just noticed. If I've got a view that shows both the US and Mexico Laredos and do a search, I only get results on the US side. I have to scroll so that most of the view is the Mexico side before it will show anything.