• Rob Bos@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    That talking point is a bit out of date - the average price for a car int he USA (for example) is quite a bit higher than base EVs now. They’re cheaper to manufacture and gas vehicles won’t be able to compete. The only missing piece is infrastructure for charging in some places.

    It won’t be long before EVs are the cheap option. Tesla for instance is supposedly putting out a cheap option soon, but I’m not holding my breath.

    Tesla is probably a good one to bank on, though. The gigacasting process shaves a LOT of manufacturing cost.

    • Someone@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      That’s good to hear, but I think it’s disingenuous to say that EVs are the cheaper option when talking about people who aren’t within reach of even the cheapest new cars. Until we start seeing used decent condition EVs under $10k they’re still out of reach to a lot of people. It sucks because these are the same people who would benefit most from the lower operating costs.

      • Rob Bos@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 year ago

        Sure. But that’s something that’ll come with time. We should be preparing our infrastructure for five-ten years from now, not this year. If we wait until EVs are sub-10k used, then we’ll have a massive infrastructure crunch.

        Yes, you can make an argument now for EVs being a rich person plaything, but that’s a snapshot in time. The curves are trending downward fast.

        In a few years, gas vehicles are going to be for the rich assholes who refuse to get with the program and demand their precious gas stations get subsidized by the government more than they are already. It might not be too long before gas stations in city cores are completely uneconomic because 20%+ of their customer base evaporated.

        • Rob Bos@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          There will almost certainly be a period where people are trying to dump their gas vehicles, selling them way below market, which will make them attractive to the less wealthy, which will also very much increase the temptation for governments to subsidize gas infrastructure. :(

          That will further increase the price pressure on gas vehicles, they’ll be screwed by the new cheap EVs AND the cheap used gas market.

    • Hypx@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      The average car is basically a pickup truck. BEVs are not even close to being cost competitive. Especially against used cars.

    • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Lol Tesla’s cheap option will be made of cardboard judging by the quality of their expensive models. Also the cheapest EV in my city used is roughly 15k. About 10k above my budget

      • Rob Bos@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Give it a few years. EVs are inherently cheaper to manufacture, and economies of scale are kicking in like crazy now. “Lol” is not exactly a great response to that basic fact.