This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
And yet, EV prices stubbornly high in North America.
A la corporate profits.
There is a reason why the United States government blocks the sale of Chinese EVs. It would destroy the American car sector.
North America has little competition because of the tariffs on everything not made in USA.
AFAIK Canada is getting out of that shadow. I read an article about a month ago, how Canadian imports were routed through USA, and that it stifled EV adoption in Canada.
EV adoption was stifled by MAGA Premieres killing incentives and ripping out public chargers, while giving money to Detroit to keep building shitty trucks and muscle cars.
Meanwhile, to sell EVs in Europe, XPing is getting them made in Austria using Magna, a Canadian company. Why didn't Carney/Ford insist on this in Ontario?
BYD tried to build buses in Ontario but they were so shit they had to close the plant and pay a bunch of lawsuits. And BYD is hurting, they just laid off 100,000 worldwide.
Are they hurting? They still made a massive amount of profit, it's just that their lead is shrinking. They're still the biggest EV manufacturer by far, though Geely could catch up in a few years.
BYD tried to build buses in Ontario but they were so shit they had to close the plant and pay a bunch of lawsuits.
Wow interesting I didn't know that, I've heard that China has too many car makers, and some of them would have to go. So this is probably just the beginning of an adjustment for Chinese makers.
I of course looked into used EV but...there's nothing to buy used. You can only get shit with less than 80kW batteries for under $15k in Canada. Think 2006 - 2015 models with high mileage so even less range. I need something that can go 60 kilometers when it's -40"C outside.
What size of car are you looking at?
Chevy Bolt has a 60kWh and will go over 200km in the winter and closer to 400km in the summer.
Lots of them around 15k CAD. Price has been creepying up in the last few weeks. I need to grab one myself.
I can't be picky about make/model at all. Here's the options as of posting for my entire province:
I'm unwilling to deal with scum car lot dealers if I can help it, but these guys who are a 4 hour drive one way away ftom me are anither option:
https://www.goelectricyyc.com/
Keep in mind battery degradation and -30% range in winter here.
Almost all Bolts should have newish batteries or a stupid long warranty on the battery.
Degradation is not really a thing on thermally managed batteries, IE only as issue on the Nissan Leaf and the eGolf to lesser extend.
Lots of Bolts in Quebec if you are willing to have one shipped. ($1000-2000).
I really regret not getting one a year or two ago when their value was sort of tanked.
I've never considered shipping a car or how to get that done. I'll look into it but if you have any advice about that please do share.
I just have to factor in shipping, OOP inspection, and getting a proper charger installed.
I really regret not getting one a year or two ago when their value was sort of tanked.
Yeahhh I chose home reno instead lol. Still maybe for the best idk CoL skyrockets again.
making electrified transport a reality
Electrified rail remains the most efficient form of transportation and has been available since the late 1800s......
People are just so obsessed with cars that they ignored the safest, most efficient, and environmentally friendly option for over a hundred years.
I guess the future is bound to be filled with dangerous traffic with even heavier cars, and filled with millions of batteries filled with lithium mined by impoverished children.
I don't think it's an "obsession with cars" or that people are "ignoring" electrified rail.
The problem is that there are things that are in your direct control, like buying a car and using the roads which exist. Then, there are things outside your direct control, like trying to get your government to install electrified rail. Even if you have a really responsive government that isn't captured by special interests, getting rail built and up and running can take a decade. And, if you need to get from A to B, you can't wait for a decade. Even if you're really pro-rail during that decade you still need to travel, so you're likely to be forced into getting a car. Once you have a car, then rail might become less of a priority because you are now a car user. Maybe eventually you'll still want to use the rail system, but for now you have a car, so your priorities are still going to include car priorities.
This all changes if you live somewhere where there's already great rail service. In that case, you might already have rail available when you move somewhere and all you need to do is encourage your local government to keep funding rail and not subsidizing cars. At that point, the car driver demographic is small and easy to ignore.
The problem is in switching from one system to the other. You need a government that is going to weather the complaints from drivers for years while the rail infrastructure is being put in place until you get to a point where drivers can start selling their cars and switching to rail. That's really hard to do though, because going from poor rail infrastructure to good rail infrastructure can take a decade, and politicians often have terms lasting only 4 years or so. That means that they have to take on the expense and pain of starting a rail project and then facing an election long before the system is up and running. It's actually surprising how many politicians are willing to do that, given that it's so hard on their political careers. It's unsurprising that most of them don't want to do it because it means getting re-elected is much more difficult than if they just stick with the status quo.
Meanwhile, the special interests like car companies, car dealerships, gas stations, etc. are all going to be lobbying against any rail projects. In North America it's even harder because car companies are local, whereas the companies that make trains are mostly European. So, the car-related lobby can talk all about the impact on local jobs, whereas the rail lobby has to deal with the jobs mostly being in Europe. Even without that, it's hard to change things because of the issue of diffuse costs and concentrated interests. Hundreds of thousands of commuters might benefit from a rail system, but it's probably not their #1 priority, it's something they care about, but at best it's #4 or #5. Meanwhile for car companies, etc. it's a top priority. While you might not want to go to every city council meeting where this is being discussed. It's almost certain that the auto lobby will ensure their voice is heard because it's at the top of their list.
In the end, it's a lot more complex than just people being obsessed with cars, or ignoring light rail.
And trolley buses, which are cheaper to install and more flexible for lower volumes of passengers. They don't need a battery either, alternatively can use a very small one, and this saves a lot of weight.
Eh, as long as the gas prices don't concern me... /s
People are just so obsessed with cars
It's hardly an obsession among the vox populi. Highway construction is dogma produced by the Church of the Petrochemical Company. We continue to cling to low density, high cost cement roadways because that's why billionaires and their lobbyists tell elected officials to pay for.
Where rail exists, people flock to it. But you have to build before people can come.
In 1991, lithium-ion batteries cost around $9,200 per kilowatt-hour — 33 years later, they cost just $78.
Where can I get lithium-ion batteries for $78 per kilowatt-hour?
It's amazing how much batteries have decreased in price, we now not only have mid range cars that can be electric, the lower range sub compacts have been entering the EV market too.
Among all the shit happening today, this is actually a bright spot, making an EV more affordable to normal households.
Maybe except USA that is clearly behind now, despite Tesla was a major influence in the early days of EV.
All the shit happening may lead to an earlier transition into renewables, ironically trump to help reduce the impacts of climate change. We should name the new wind turbines in his honour. But yeah the US will be fucked, power in the new currency in electrostates and renewable is significantly cheaper
Lol. Although this claim might be technically true, comparing the cost of the first prototype lithium ion battery with a modern mass produced batteries is apples to oranges.
But the savings haven't flowed down to us. Gotta make line go up, it seems.
Lithium ion batteries are far cheaper now at a consuner level than they were thirty years back.
EDIT: I'm actually surprised that a higher proportion of laptops today don't ship with 100 Wh batteries. Go back some years, and shrinking the battery had a much larger difference in cost than it does today. The larger battery gives you longer battery longevity (makes it more reasonable to charge to 80%, say), can be used to make a laptop run more quickly, can power more devices. The only drawback is weight, and it isn't that heavy.
