stevebrooks wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 9:26 pmRead the other day that EV's made in China have a 100% from Chinese retail markup when they are sold in Europe, that gives them leeway to just drop the price any time European makers start making cheaper EV's.
Maybe they can also absorb tariffs and still undercut the competition. They are way out in front in EV making.
Irrev-Black wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 5:26 pmArticle titled: "I Went To China And Drove A Dozen Electric Cars. Western Automakers Are Cooked".
...and that article laid out the messy reality. It also depicted a kind of insanity, the Chinese are making gazillions of cars whether they can sell them or not.
I'm drooling over the very real prospect of a fossil fuel international crime syndicate being brought low, but there are lots of very disturbing aspects to it. The main one is the vast carbon emissions to make these cars, which are a driver for overall economic growth which adds even more CO2. EVs only make a difference if they replace a fossil fuel car and are driven for approximately four years. After that they are better than an ICE car, but before that they are worse. For it to make sense, EVs have to be designed to have a longer lifespan, but this consumerist frenzy looks like they are making them more disposable than ever.
The Biden administration plans to raise tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports from 25 per cent to 100 per cent, as it intensifies efforts ahead of the US election to protect American industry.
The administration is expected to announce the move, and other tariffs on clean energy imports, on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the situation.
The sharp rise in the levies comes amid mounting concern that China could flood the US market with cheap EVs, threatening the American car industry. President Joe Biden has taken several actions in recent months to convince union members in swing states that he will protect jobs.
The Biden administration has for three years been reviewing the tariffs that then president Donald Trump put on imports from China as part of the trade war he launched in 2018. The new EV tariffs will be announced alongside the conclusion of the review, led by the US Trade Representative.
During a visit last month to Pennsylvania — a swing state in November’s election — Biden said he wanted the agency to triple tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium. USTR also recently opened an investigation into unfair practices in the Chinese shipbuilding industry following a petition from the United Steelworkers union.
But the decision to increase tariffs on EVs comes as the administration becomes particularly concerned that China is moving far ahead in the green industrial sector, including in the production of solar panels.
Irrev-Black wrote: ↑Sun May 12, 2024 3:28 pm
Wet chook noises heard from the USA.
The Biden administration plans to raise tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports from 25 per cent to 100 per cent, as it intensifies efforts ahead of the US election to protect American industry.
The administration is expected to announce the move, and other tariffs on clean energy imports, on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the situation.
The sharp rise in the levies comes amid mounting concern that China could flood the US market with cheap EVs, threatening the American car industry. President Joe Biden has taken several actions in recent months to convince union members in swing states that he will protect jobs.
The Biden administration has for three years been reviewing the tariffs that then president Donald Trump put on imports from China as part of the trade war he launched in 2018. The new EV tariffs will be announced alongside the conclusion of the review, led by the US Trade Representative.
During a visit last month to Pennsylvania — a swing state in November’s election — Biden said he wanted the agency to triple tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium. USTR also recently opened an investigation into unfair practices in the Chinese shipbuilding industry following a petition from the United Steelworkers union.
But the decision to increase tariffs on EVs comes as the administration becomes particularly concerned that China is moving far ahead in the green industrial sector, including in the production of solar panels.
You see this might be justifiable of the US were releasing competitive cars at competitive pricing and China was undercutting by slashing profits to below cost level, that's an argument I can see as reasonable, but of course the US is not making competitive EV's at competitive prices, they are making poor second rate EV's at high prices. But you know, even with 100% tariff's, from the article above I can still see a lot of people opting for Chinese EV's.
Car enthusiasts mourn the commoditization of propulsion. Once petrolheads would have chosen a BMW for its sonorous straight-six or a Mercedes-AMG for its thunderous V8. Now many believe that distinctiveness is rapidly diminishing. Electric cars might provide mad, silent thrust, but a common complaint is they are mostly indistinguishable for the character of their drivetrains.
Carmakers worry about this too. Their engineering DNA is less apparent in the EV age, leaving them more reliant on design, brand power, and other types of technology to differentiate their cars and keep their customers. There's no point trying to trump the competition on power when the quickest Teslas and Lucids already have far more than you can ever deploy on the public road. More isn't better when you already have too much.
But soon there'll be a choice again: between the conventional radial-flux motors that have powered almost every EV until now and something radically different.
Axial-flux motors won't necessarily offer more power, but they are so much lighter and smaller that their proponents say they have the potential to transform almost every other key measure of an EV's performance—and the entire architecture of a car designed around them.
By fitting axial flux motors into the wheels, the spaces in a car's body currently occupied by motors could be largely vacated, clearing the way for more batteries, people, or stuff, and permitting the sort of design exuberance that EVs have long promised but never quite delivered.
More importantly, this new design of motor might help address the growing public backlash against overweight, expensive EVs. They might reduce the weight of a typical EV by around 200 kilograms (440 pounds)—half in the motors themselves, and half from the mass-compounding effect which allows you to reduce the weight of other systems such as batteries and brakes as a result.
By sending mass into a virtuous downward spiral, carmakers could increase range, decrease cost, and perhaps even preserve the agile handling of lightweight cars, which enthusiasts also worry might disappear with the advent of the EV.
BYD Sealion, plug in hybrid with nearly 100km range on battery alone, combined with ICE engine, 1100km range with a fuel consumption of 1.1 litres per 100km for the base model and 1.4L/100km for the more powerful version.
Another that uses the engine to charge the battery, these are suddenly getting more popular as car manufacturers realise they don't need gearboxes and diffs and all that heavy weight if they just charge the battery instead. How it will do and if it takes off is anyone's guess, but I think that depends on developments in battery tech and how long that takes to flow through to consumers. I mean if you can get a pure EV that does 1100km on a charge why bother with this.
With 100km electric only range that is a pretty good plug in hybrid option, though I do wish they would tighten up the suspension a bit on all their cars.
On another note I had some minor warranty issues with my BYD, errors on the screen (when launching maps) after the last update (wasn't big issue just annoying) and issue with the drivers seat making creaking noises (I think it wasn't mounted in 100% correctly).
Booked it in right away, no stress. Took it in and they fixed in a few hours, no attempts to charge me anything, loan car offer, no hassle, have a nice day (they did have to remove and reinstall the seat). So good response compared to my previous warranty issues with Mazda that I needed to fight them for months to even acknowledge (and they still never fixed).
Only issue is Dandenong is the only BYD dealer in Melbourne that does warranty repairs.
"Now this is the command: Do to the doer to make him do." - The Eloquent Peasant (2040–1650 BCE)
“Religion the protector of the well fed and consoler of the hungry.” - Mikhail Bakunin
joele wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2024 6:08 pm
With 100km electric only range that is a pretty good plug in hybrid option, though I do wish they would tighten up the suspension a bit on all their cars.
On another note I had some minor warranty issues with my BYD, errors on the screen (when launching maps) after the last update (wasn't big issue just annoying) and issue with the drivers seat making creaking noises (I think it wasn't mounted in 100% correctly).
Booked it in right away, no stress. Took it in and they fixed in a few hours, no attempts to charge me anything, loan car offer, no hassle, have a nice day (they did have to remove and reinstall the seat). So good response compared to my previous warranty issues with Mazda that I needed to fight them for months to even acknowledge (and they still never fixed).
Only issue is Dandenong is the only BYD dealer in Melbourne that does warranty repairs.
Ideally an EV maker will emerge with a "car for life" and make servicing an integral part of the business, 10, 20 even 50 years after you buy the car.
Loved the bit at the end, of course it was a Ford Ranger driver
Last month a Ford Ranger driver used a hammer to smash the stalls of a Tesla Supercharger station in Taupo, New Zealand. Thankfully he lingered too long at the site and was arrested. Hopefully with increased security, lighting and cameras at public charging sites, criminals like this will be brought to justice.
"Now this is the command: Do to the doer to make him do." - The Eloquent Peasant (2040–1650 BCE)
“Religion the protector of the well fed and consoler of the hungry.” - Mikhail Bakunin
Loved the bit at the end, of course it was a Ford Ranger driver
Last month a Ford Ranger driver used a hammer to smash the stalls of a Tesla Supercharger station in Taupo, New Zealand. Thankfully he lingered too long at the site and was arrested. Hopefully with increased security, lighting and cameras at public charging sites, criminals like this will be brought to justice.
Hmm, maybe EV drivers should gang together and go around wrecking petrol stations.....oh sorry, most EV drivers aren't mad!
