Would you have an electric car if you had the money for a new car and were in the market for one?

[Slenver]

Bit off piste now I know, but in line with the original question in the thread title, yes, we've just added one to basket and pressed 'Buy now'.

[Rockburner]

Bit off piste now I know, but in line with the original question in the thread title, yes, we've just added one to basket and pressed 'Buy now'.

One what?

[Slenver]

Bit off piste now I know, but in line with the original question in the thread title, yes, we've just added one to basket and pressed 'Buy now'.

One what?

Audi Q4

[Count Steer]

Bit off piste now I know, but in line with the original question in the thread title, yes, we've just added one to basket and pressed 'Buy now'.

One what?

Audi Q4

Ooh. Look forward to the ownership reports.

[Slenver]

One what?

Audi Q4

Ooh. Look forward to the ownership reports.

It's the missuses'eses really, but I'll still drive it.

[ZRX61]

I've just seen an advert on primetime ITV (I'm watching Corrie, init) for the BYD Seal...

https://www.byd.com/uk/car/seal

I know nothing about them, but the advert showed the central touch screen rotating between portrait and landscape, so now I want one.

You better hope they're better than the buses they build here. They're complete disasters with a penchant for catching fire or just shitting the bed completely. I've lost count of how many I've seen crapped out on the local freeway. They do great going down the hill the LA & then combust on the way back up the hill.
The factory was built here owing to kick backs paid our corrupt mayor... on land owned by his brother.

[Slenver]

I've just seen an advert on primetime ITV (I'm watching Corrie, init) for the BYD Seal...

https://www.byd.com/uk/car/seal

I know nothing about them, but the advert showed the central touch screen rotating between portrait and landscape, so now I want one.

Biggest EV manufacturer in the world.

We'll start seeing a lot more of them as they're expanding more into Europe.

[Mussels]

They might have trouble getting big in Europe, there are so many taxes the price difference won't be much.
There was a really cheap Chinese electric city car a while back that looked great until you saw EU taxes doubled the price.

[Count Steer]

They might have trouble getting big in Europe, there are so many taxes the price difference won't be much.
There was a really cheap Chinese electric city car a while back that looked great until you saw EU taxes doubled the price.

I suspect deals will be done. They're taking sales off European manufacturers. Eg:

"BYD is also the best-selling car brand in China since the first quarter of 2023, overtaking Volkswagen which held the title since the liberalisation of the Chinese automotive industry."

No doubt they'll do the same in other big markets. We may put taxes on imports here but they can squeeze sales of imported vehicles (or the output from foreign owned plants) there. It may be they build assembly units here (as the Japanese did) then import the batteries. BYD is, effectively a battery manufacturer with a vehicle business attached. They own lithium mines etc.

We're so far behind in the battery game, we're stuffed - and that, fundamentally, is why the phasing out of ICE vehicles has been kicked down the road. Nothing to do with environmental issues etc. It's to try to slow down the handing over of the whole 'new energy' business to China.

[KungFooBob]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67873890

[Mr. Dazzle]

I'm surprised you can get enough power in them little plastic plugs

[Horse]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67912033

A brand new substance, which could reduce lithium use in batteries, has been discovered using artificial intelligence (AI) and supercomputing.

The findings were made by Microsoft and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), which is part of the US Department of Energy.

Scientists say the material could potentially reduce lithium use by up to 70%.
...

But Dr Edward Brightman, lecturer in chemical engineering at the University of Strathclyde, said the tech would need to be "treated with a bit of caution".

"It could throw up spurious results, or results that look good at first, and then turn out to either be a material that is known or that can't be synthesised in the lab," he said.

This AI-derived material, which at the moment is simply called N2116, is a solid-state electrolyte that has been tested by scientists who took it from a raw material to a working prototype.
...

After the software narrowed down the 18 candidates, battery experts at PNNL then looked at them and picked the final substance to work on in the lab.

Karl Mueller from PNNL said the AI insights from Microsoft pointed them "to potentially fruitful territory so much faster" than under normal working conditions.

"[We could] modify, test and tune the chemical composition of this new material and quickly evaluate its technical viability for a working battery, showing the promise of advanced AI to accelerate the innovation cycle," he said.

[Felix]

I would rather get the bus. No wait

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67944657

[ZRX61]

Chevy just introduced an all-new EV SUV.

Sat here watching the news & the reporter brings it up... Then states that Chevy have a Stop-Sale owing to quality issues, followed by "stay tuned to learn the names of the high profile people who already bought one"

Cut to a commercial break & the first ad is for the EV SUV the dealers have been told to stop selling...

[Taipan]

I just saw a picture of a new MR2 concept, called a FT-Se.
I'd have one of those.

[KungFooBob]

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos- ... 024-01-11/

Jan 11 (Reuters) - Rental firm Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ.O) is selling about 20,000 electric vehicles, including Teslas, from its U.S. fleet about two years after a deal with the automaker to offer its vehicles for rent, in another sign that EV demand has cooled.

Hertz will instead opt for gas-powered vehicles, it said on Thursday, citing higher expenses related to collision and damage for EVs even though it had aimed to convert 25% of its fleet to electric by 2024 end.

[ZRX61]

Media over here is full of reports about how the Tesla charging network in Chicago has shit the bed during the current cold spell & no one can charge their cars unless they have a toasty garage.

[Pirahna]

Media over here is full of reports about how the Tesla charging network in Chicago has shit the bed during the current cold spell & no one can charge their cars unless they have a toasty garage.

I read an article about it yesterday.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/16/ ... ep_freeze/

[Mr. Dazzle]

My colleague just got back from Holiday in Sweden.

No one could start their ICE cars (cause its minus 40 ) and the only vehicles on the road were EVs. Lots of queuing at Taxi ranks to get a Tesla ride.

[Noggin]

Seriously, did someone actually say that or did the 'reporter' make it up??!! I don't have an EV but even I know that if you're trying to charge one but also have the heaters running, it's gonna take a bloody long time!!

He said he's been sitting in the car running the heaters and it was taking about twice as long to charge.