Not surprised in the slightest. All old guard (western +Japan) car manufacturers, Tesla Included, were greedy and delusional enough to think they could push virtually exclusively high-end, premium vehicles as BEVs. The few forays into affordable BEVs from the old guard auto makers were Zoey from Renault, the Leaf from Nissan and a few more but we got literally zero of the most sold body types as BEVs, i.e. hatchbacks, SUVs and station wagons. Instead we got Sedans, a dying breed outside BEVs and CUVs which lack the U part of the name and all at significant price premiums compared to their ICE sisters and cousins. Hell even the relatively cheap stuff like Mazda MX-30 and Peugeot Mokka-E / 2003-e are very premium for those brands.
I wouldn’t consider the Tesla model Y a high end premium vehicle. It was the best selling vehicle in the world earlier this year, in spite of the higher price than gas-powered competitors:
https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/26/23738581/tesla-model-y-ev-record-world-bestselling-car-electric
Sure, but at least in Sweden 90% of all Model Ys (and there are a fuck ton of them) on the road are corporation owned cars. The heavy subsidies for BEVs made them very attractive especially since they had (this is changing rapidly right now) a very low rate of depreciation. I’d hazard a guess that this is a common pattern, i.e. cars that are privately used but commercialy owned as well as a lot of subsidies at play.
Prior to the Tesla the most common corporation owned cars in Sweden were XC90s which aren’t exactly cheap either.
Further what do you think I meant with high end premium? I meant expensive and the model Y is very expensive. Are you implying that if there was a sub $15K Dacia Logan MCV it wouldn’t sell better? A car like that with no bells and whistles but a BEV with decent range (say 300 km) would sell like hotcakes given that they’d pay for themselves for a majority of car owners. But instead they focus on stuff that is simply to expensive for the masses.
Is this a US take? Serious question because in Europe, I see primarily SUVs being sold when it comes to EVs. Small and shitty ones yes, but still aiming to resemble at least the SUV look. E.g. VW ID3, ID4; these I see a lot on the streets over here. Big exception seem to be hybrids, they usually are sedans or hatchbacks.
… In what world is an ID3 or 4 an SUV? They’re the aforementioned CUVs I was bitching avout. And further why in the fuck are they so expensive? Where is an electric VW Polo for a pricetag the average family can actually afford? Say €30k ish. Not €45-60k
BYD as an example sell the Dolphin, a hatchback of the body type and size most sold in recent years in Europe, for €30k and a normal sized SUV (Atto 3) for €50k. And I’m very confident that they print money at those prices in Europe, but they can charge that because there is very little competition at anywhere near those price points and also even few actual models that are similar in body size while being BEVs
The Volkswagen e-Golf was literally just an electric GTI hatchback but they discontinued it…
Those graveyards were for failed startups around ride sharing / rentals.
Were the startups manufacturing vehicles or were they purchasing from companies like BYD?
It will be interesting to see how how this turns out.
Roughly a year ago, I was in the market for a major vehicle upgrade since my 2008 Prius was showing its age. I, really, wanted to be able to get a fully electric vehicle. However, I live in a rural area and there just isn’t enough charging stations to make it practical yet. So, I got a 2022 Toyota Prius (Hybrid) AWD. I’m very happy with this vehicle and it has all the modern bells and whistles as most EVs do.
By the time I’m in the market again for another vehicle, I have a feeling that there will be enough charging stations to finally get an EV. The BYD HAN looks amazing and I’m happy that this company has an easier price point.
I hope they will be able to bring their cars to the US soon. In addition to getting infrastructure to rural areas, we also need less expensive and smaller cars.
The infrastructure will come. Beside the Infrastructure bill including funds to assist in developing nationwide charging networks:
A charging connector for all the major manufacturers to use has finally been settled on; it happens to be Tesla’s connector (now called the North American Charging Standard (NACS). They had a long while back offered all manufacturers to use it for free (still Tesla design property), but no major manufacturers took the bait as it may have terms attached; Tesla finally truly released it recently and it is now a standard: https://www.sae.org/standards/content/j3400_202312/
Tesla is opening up their charging stations to all (probably because of the above). For new cars, if you see one of those Tesla stations everywhere, like behind a target, or the side of some remote seeming parking lot, you will finally be able to use them.
Personally, I’m waiting for the prices to be more reasonable, and for solid state batteries (the safety and energy density/range to improve).
I wish they were already available in Canada.
I’ll honestly just ride a bike before I ever buy a car from Musk or the CCP.
That said, Canoo looks good here in the US if they can build the momentum from the contracts they’ve secured and make the leap to selling to consumers.
I honestly would feel better buying a sketchy Chinese car than a Tesla. There’s a chance it’s perfectly fine, and probably will be a good deal cheaper. Meanwhile, Teslas are somehow more unreliable than the old ones powered by a bajillion moving parts and small explosions.
