Hacker News Reader

Comment by nozzlegear | Hacker News Reader

I love electric vehicles, but I want something that lands somewhere between the DIY-esque Slate and the literally-costs-more-than-I-paid-for-my-house F-150 Lightning. I have a 23 Chevy Bolt EUV which is the sweet spot for me right now, I just wish it had AWD for the winters where I live.

View on HN

>I just wish it had AWD for the winters where I live.

Why? People always say this. AWD doesn't help you stop faster. It won't help you get around the corner. You aren't on a racetrack.

Buy better tires. A real set of winter specialized tires will do better than any powertrain option. If you are absolutely insistent that no really you are totally special, get studded tires.

The best snow performance I've ever had out of a vehicle came not from the AWD trucks people around me owned, but from $34 walmart winter tires on a Dodge Neon. Because being light is a benefit.

Or, and this is the big one, stop being so bad at driving! My mom would spend $350 a tire on the best best best snow tire money could buy and fill it full of studs and still feel like she was out of control in the snow, because if you put your foot down on the pedal, any vehicle with more than 20HP will spin the tires.

Learn how to steer in the snow and slightly out of control. It's pretty intuitive IMO and fun.

Just be gentler. Press the pedal less to start. Or don't, modern ESC has no problem modulating the throttle for you.

> Why? People always say this. AWD doesn't help you stop faster. It won't help you get around the corner. You aren't on a racetrack.

So I don't get stuck lol

> Or, and this is the big one, stop being so bad at driving! [...] because if you put your foot down on the pedal, any vehicle with more than 20HP will spin the tires.

> Learn how to steer in the snow and slightly out of control. It's pretty intuitive IMO and fun.

> Just be gentler. Press the pedal less to start. Or don't, modern ESC has no problem modulating the throttle for you.

Don't patronize me. I've lived in Iowa for 35+ years, I know how to drive in the snow.

> literally-costs-more-than-I-paid-for-my-house F-150 Lightning

I'm on board for a house that cost less than 50K.

I preordered a lightning. When they finally released it, it could not be obtained for less than $85k, and many were marked up or added-on for upwards of $100k.

Ford having set my expectations at a $40k starting price, I canceled my order.

Ok, where are houses going for 60k? I need to know this secret.

Haha, I'm in rural Iowa – my house was $89k for 3 beds, 2 baths in 2016. When we were looking at electric vehicles at the end of 2022/early 2023, the F-150 Lightning was pushing 70k-100k for the trims and ranges we were looking at.

Yes, early adopters paid extra, as is normal when demand is high and supply is low.

I want a BYD that costs less than a 2000 Camry did brand new in 2000.

EVs are inherently pretty simple machines. All the complexity is in the battery, and China’s crushing everyone at battery tech. It’s not even close. It’s like a human trying to beat a polar bear in hand to hand combat.

They really need to deregulate the auto industry and let us buy the Yugos with a Jetsons battery. America is a poor country now. Nobody can afford used cars in this economy, never mind new ones.

>DIY-esque Slate

Slate is very far from DIY.

A DIY Slate would be conversion kits/service for existing trucks.

I gave Slate my $50, though since the price is creeping up (not their fault), I may or may not bite. I am hoping the Nio Firefly[1] becomes the EV equivalent of the VW Beetle and conquerors the world, but I am not holding my breath on it making it to the US in the present (political) climate.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(vehicle)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com