In China, It’s Already Cheaper to Buy EVs Than Gasoline Cars::undefined

  • TenderfootGungi@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    They are far simpler with fewer parts. It is only a matter of scaling up manufacturing. The biggest cost is the battery.

    BYD is closing in on Tesla as the largest EV manufacturer and most Americans have no idea they exist.

    • 1bluepixel@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I was in China two months ago and the use of electric cars is honestly changing the feeling of big cities. Delivery motorcycles and service vehicles are all electric now, and with the number of electric cars on the road, streets are a lot quieter now barring the frequent honking. Less air pollution too.

      What I love and Chinese electric car manufacturers is that they’ve fully embraced the cyberpunk aesthetic from the chassis design to the car sounds. Made me feel like I was walking around a cyberpunk movie set.

      • Yonrak@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        I just got back from a business trip to China also. The high proportion of EVs, particularly in the southern cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen really stood out to me, and many of them (particularly from BYD) looked really, really nice. They seemed less prominent in the more northern part of the country (e.g. Shenyang, Beijing), but even there I’d say they’re more common than in the UK.

        It was a real eye opener

      • Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        I’d really like to see more of this. Do you know some of the names of these super cool manufacturers / designs?

        • coffee@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Not the OP, but I live in China.

          Check out for example the Xpeng (Xiao Peng) G6 and P7, the Qiantu K50, Zeekr 009, Lynk & Co. 03, Aiways U5 and the Dongfeng Mengshi M-Hero 917 (now if that’s not HALO inspired, I don’t know…).

          • Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            1 year ago

            Ah these are really cool, but I misread car and thought OP meant bikes. Americans will never be able to buy these sweet chinese cars.

            I read in an article that chinese people who own these cars often sit in the back and have a driver. Is that true?

            • coffee@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Oh sorry forgot to mention the drivers. In my experience this is not true at all. People who have drivers are usually senior executives, and they’d have company cars. Typically some top of the line Mercedes or BMW, sometimes a Porsche SUV. Electric cars (even the fancier ones) are rather affordable, and people here are very focused on their external impression.

            • coffee@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Ah, what he mentioned were e-bikes, but those are not really on the fancy side. Search for 饿了么 scooter or 美团 scooter. They do food and grocery deliveries mostly. For private use, Niu scooters are the most popular in terms of design, but a ton of cheap stuff exists. Couldn’t tell you about the brands, they are all very generic.

              Electric motorbikes exist, but require a special license and are banned in most downtown areas, so they aren’t really common. One brand I’m aware of is called Dayi Motors, they recently got certified for the European market, so chances are that those would become available elsewhere as well.

      • witten@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        [Comment content deleted by author because apparently I was spouting lies!]

      • TwinTusks@outpost.zeuslink.net
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        1 year ago

        What I love about Chinese electric car manufacturers is that they’ve fully embraced the cyberpunk aesthetic from the chassis design

        I actually think Chinese EVs are quite ugly.

  • thedarkfly@feddit.nl
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    1 year ago

    Are the US and EU late, or is it a deliberate business decision from EV car manufacturers to aim for bigger and luxury cars because they make more profit?

    • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      More than 80 percent of new cars sold in Norway now are EVs.

      Which also means that all the talk in the US about EVs not being reliable in cold-weather states is just pure crap from politicians trying to protect oil and the gasoline car industry.

        • Iceblade@lemdit.com
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          1 year ago

          20% is huge on cheaper (i.e not horribly expensive) EV 's when you’ll already be on the edge of your range for daily use. Luckily though, most people don’t live in northern latitudes.

        • Xavienth@lemmygrad.ml
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          1 year ago

          It depends on a number of factors: outdoor temperature, the model of car, whether climate control is used. At temperatures of an average January daytime high where I live, using climate control, range can decrease by 40% and anecdotally my model is even higher.

      • arc@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        And over 90% if you count PHEVs too. Norway demonstrates electric vehicles are completely viable.

      • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        Who are the manufacturers building these cars? I’m curious how many are the very same manufacturers we have in the US and where the disparity occurs.

    • Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      We’re late. Our competition sucks (almost certainly on purpose). BYD is taking the slow approach to the US market - early next decade? Reuters: BYD Global EV Push

      The US car manufacturers are going to take a protectionist approach to a shrinking market. They’ve already won this decade - everybone has a massive truck/SUV, no transit, all cars including EVs are an unaffordable luxury to Americans now after “inflation.”

      • arc@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        The US has protectionist rules about EV grants - car must be assembled in the US to receive tax credits. It’s why Teslas sold in the US are assembled in the US whereas Teslas sold in Canada are made in China. There are some comments that the Chinese manufactured cars are actually better quality. It probably also explains why Chinese brands like BYD are focussing more on other markets like Europe.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Since Tesla Inc. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. started developing the first mass-market electric cars in the late 2000s, battery vehicles have struggled with a higher cost structure that even subsidies and manufacturer losses haven’t been sufficient to surmount.

    That’s come on the back of a price war, instigated by Tesla, so savage that the government last month induced automakers to sign a pact pledging to compete fairly and refrain from “abnormal pricing.” (The latter commitment was retracted two days later.)

    Tesla’s Model 3, which previously retailed at twice the price of comparable premium mid-sized sedans such as the BMW AG 3 Series, is now the more affordable option.

    BYD’s Dolphin, likewise, comes in about 5,000 yuan ($693) cheaper than a comparable compact sedan such as Volkswagen AG’s local Jetta variant, the 125,000-yuan Sagitar.

    Just three years ago, Deloitte — in a report that was generally extremely bullish about the prospects for EVs — predicted this level wouldn’t be hit until the end of the decade.

    Closing that gap has depended on falling costs for batteries, a process that’s been delayed as the commodity price inflation of the past few years pushed up expenditure on raw materials.


    The original article contains 873 words, the summary contains 186 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • gornar@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Meanwhile where I am in Canada, with massive amounts hydroelectric power: “bUt tHe gRiD!”

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The dam electricity has to charge the damn car but the damn grid is inadequate ….

      I can believe it. Massachusetts has been try to buy some of that sweet dam Canadian hydro - apparently there is plenty but no damn transmission lines to get it here. And the damn nimbies in Maine and New Hampshirite have no incentive to let us build Dam power lines

    • AirlineF0od@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      A certain amount passes through anyway, but how much water has to be let through a dam to charge a car?

      • arc@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Yes and the electric company is handsomely rewarded for providing that service.

        • Asymptote@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          You can have infinity watts at the power dam but the grid to and in your town can still have capacity issues.

          This should not be hard to understand.

          • arc@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Nor should it be hard to understand that power companies are not stupid and already have a roadmap for renewables (solar, hydro, wind etc.), energy storage, EV charging facilities and other 21st century concerns. They are not blindsided by this change and are looking forward to it.

            • Asymptote@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              1 year ago

              It’s as if you haven’t read the original comment this thread is about but just want to argue for the sake of arguing.

              • arc@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                Actually I have and I’m also aware that electric companies including in Canada have roadmaps out until 2050 to accommodate not just EVs, but the transition to heat pumps, renewables and all the rest.

        • Asymptote@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          You can have infinity watts at the power dam but the grid to and in your town can still have capacity issues.

  • Gerula@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    That for sure has nothing to do with state subsidies for EV manufacturers.

  • Aux@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Oh no, capitalism does actually work and makes life better! Even in China!

    • sfgifz@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      I’m from a country that has salty relations with China and I think it’s good they’re embracing EVs. It will push my own country harder to catch up and as long as it’s adopted more sustainability than ICE it’s good for the planet as a whole.