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this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2024
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Electric Vehicles
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Right? I thought cars would get smaller as I grew up
The old land yachts of the 60s and 70s were gigantic. They only had to get smaller because they couldn't keep up with fuel economy. But now that they're going electric and fuel economy isn't a concern, it seems they have no reason to go small.
Depends on where, in the UK, the old Land Rovers are tiny compared to what's out now.
They got smaller because fuel was more expensive...
That was a huge oil shortage in the 80s that led to astronomical prices. This also paved the way for Japanese brands into the US market, as they were already developing more fuel efficient vehicles. You can see this influence to this day in Europe where the gov doesn't have crazy oil subsidies like the US.
EVs still benefit from being smaller, as the batteries become significantly less expensive as the vehicle becomes more efficient.
There are a couple of issues spurring electric SUVs:
I think people just like them better. They're more capable. The US culture has shifted.
We're still in the early days of EVs and these are the vehicle types that are ultimately still the most profitable, and they can't afford to sell anything less-profitable.
Shifting your entire production to EVs like Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, etc. streamlines production costs.
I think the problem is, as soon as some (domestic in the case of US because of the recent tariff) automaker makes a cheap electric small car that's got room for 4 and 60-150 miles in range is gonna realize holy shit that's 90% of the driving out there and will drastically undercut the premium market. tens of millions only drive a few dozen miles away from home for most of their activity.
I dunno. Even growing up, American cars were always bigger than European cars. In fact I'd argue the cars from the rest of the world grew to try and fit the sensibilities of America as that's a huge market
Aren't you describing the Bolt?
Which they discontinued, and now the "smallest" offering they have is an electric Blazer. Although I guess you can argue the Blazer is a compact SUV. I think only the Nissan Leaf is left on the compact car category.