People are sick of Elmo. And Tesla’s designs are stale.
this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2024
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You made me look it up, the newest vehicle they offer is the Cybertruck, but that design was revealed in 2019, the same year that the previous newest model of SUV started shipping, the Model Y. Their entire line is almost 6 years old, that is ancient in fancy car design time. By now people no longer want EV cars that look like electric cars, they just want them to look like cars. Ever since BYD, Nissan, and the other manufacturers started to offer EVs that are indistinguishable from petrol cars—design wise—Teslas have definitely looked outdated. No wonder no one is interested in driving an Apple Magic mouse.
Anecdotally, I didn't even realize they made electric Blazers until one charged next to me at the fast charger.
The 3 was refreshed earlier in the year and the Y has it's refresh incoming. They also update the cars all the time just not always stylistically. There's not an "all new for 20xx" launch or the like that you get from others. The X and S now compared to say the 2016 are markedly different.
Also Nissan had the leef about 10 years ago so they're not a new entrant and only have currently two products and I wouldn't say they're indistinguishable. Also I wouldn't say that about the Seal, it's clearly an EV and BYD is unashamed about that.
The existing OEMs need to get their act together. If you thought Tesla was hurting them, wait until BYD, NIO and Geely turn up in numbers.
I can't count on my fingers the number of automobile manufacturers that have sprung out of thin air in the last few years offering some variation of EV. Two of those you mentioned I had an easier time finding information about their stock than I did finding a picture of their car on the road. Not a good sign for a company that purportedly sells cars. It's a great sign for a company that just sells stock though.
To add to the other commenter that's already replied. Those three names, whether you know them or not, are very big in China and th Asian Pacific. They're making entrance into the middle east and eastern Europe along with lucrative markets like Norway. Make no mistake, they are expanding out from china rapidly. BYD is the best example I have to hand, 12 show rooms in the UK in 2023 with an aim for approx 70 by the end off 2024.
Look at the Wikipedia pages on those three brands for more info, they're not small companies alone new ones, just relatively new to EVs. But given the date of Ford and Stellantis and the other OEMs, I don't think existing for a while os a good yardstick to go by. Hell, look at the absolute shit show of Toyota in this arena l.
Search for them in Chinese or China content if you can, those cars and brands are on the roads here in China in high numbers.
The EV bubble is well behind us. People are looking for cheap reliable EVs that meet their daily needs. Very few can afford a new Rivian or Tesla, and even fewer now are willing to take out loans to finance one. More fancy EV companies will go bankrupt and dissolve unless they change their priorities.
Companies like GM, Ford, and Stellantis are going to start producing more utilitarian EVs. Meanwhile BYD is doing well, why? Because they build utilitarian barebones cheap EVs that get the job done.
It's almost like for the majority of people a car is a tool and not a personality substitute, despite what car maker's CEOs would like to believe.
When I was younger, I loved exotic sports cars and wanted something like a Porsche, though realistically expected to get something a bit cheaper but still fun like a WRX, Miata, or an S2000.
Now that I can afford something like that (well, assuming I'm willing to give up a lot of disposable income for it), I don't really care as much. I can drive cool cars in Gran Turismo or maybe I'll rent a supercar one day for a short time just to feel the acceleration for real.
But between climate change and the shitty direction car design is going in these days, even those moments that I get weak and think about how a new car would be nice don't last very long.
What I want is a basic EV with just battery, motors, heater, AC, power windows, power locks (that require a button press), and a sound system would be nice. I'd maybe go for smart cruise control and reverse cam. I'd prefer an analog speedometer that overrepresents my speed by like 5km/h but could live with an accurate digital one (or let me add an offset). Cloth seats (not even sure why leather is so popular, cloth is comfortable in pretty much any temperature, leather gets cold or hot), sedan (or hatchback body with a frunk), spare tire, jack, and wrench (though I could maybe be upsold on tires that don't ever need surprise changing, if such a thing exists in the consumer space). I don't need it anymore, but car seat mount spots because they are trivial to add to a design. If it gets updates through the internet, make it via a phone app that does the downloading and then through USB because the car itself has no wireless connectivity other than AM/FM radio (and maybe Bluetooth, I'm neutral on that one). Another big thing I'd care about is how the drivetrain is set up (ie, how many motors and how are they usually engaged), because I'd want something capable of fast acceleration when needed but also efficient for general driving. I like having decent power still when driving around the speed limit so that I know I can pass quickly at that rate. Windows, wipers, mirrors... I think that about covers the main things I care about in a car these days. Oh also make the body aerodynamic and not stupid looking, and design it to be easy to do maintenance work.
My EV is a bike lol, I can't afford anything but an old manual ICE Subaru when it comes to cars and most of the time I still ride a bicycle or an ebike.
EV sale are slumping more because of cost to buy than anything else. The great unwashed masses, like you and me, simply can't afford to make the purchase. Even used EVs are more expensive a use ICE vehicle.
GM had it right with the Bolt. An EV with good range, 260 miles or so, and a far more affordable entry price for us commoners to swallow. It just died because the battery manufacturer screwed it up. But there is hope the Bolt comes back with GMs new Ultium battery that is supposed to be cheaper and better. They know it can be done and they can do it. And BYD could sell a lot of EVs in the same price range as a base level Bolt very easily.
I'm sure Musk knows Tesla's days are numbered. The large manufacturers are now in the process of pivoting and they will eat Tesla alive. This is why he's trying to get that big payout from the Tesla Board of Directors and has now also been caught in alleged insider trading. He's going to suck all the cash out of Tesla he can before running clear of the collapse.
The point about price sums it up perfectly. I have a german car from 2009, it's really solid, fun to drive, technologically exactly where I want it to be and - perhaps most importantly of all - it does not fucking spy on me.
You can get the spy part with any newer vehicle. My 2015 Jeep Patriot and Dodge Ram pickup can both be hacked to the point of the driver no longer having control of the vehicle. It's been proven and actually done. Maybe your German car is old enough, maybe it isn't. But the spying is everywhere now.
It's not so much hackers I'm afraid of, but rather the invasive spying done by modern cars. Mine is old enough to not have any of that, but new enough to have all the things I do want to have.
They can do it now as it is. Even ICE vehicles can track your acceleration, braking, speed, and even lane weaving, (and yes it can/could affect your insurance rates). There are a few that do so now. They have 'Black boxes' like airplanes that can have data accessed in real time if it's wanted. The tech is simple and cheap and it's been around for a while.
We reached the dump part of the pump and dump.
It just died because the battery manufacturer screwed it up
That's debatable. They are bringing it back, and it will have the newer Ultium battery, but whether the battery recall is what did it is hard to say. They did run another model year after that happened, though I would've expected a little more after the refresh from the 2022MY.
On the other hand, the Bolt platform was released in 2016. A lot has changed since then, particularly with charging. 55kW is laughable compared to pretty much everything else on the market these days, and they may need to go back to the drawing board to update it.
Outsourced parts are almost always the fault of the supplier - and I have experience with being a tier 2 or 3 supplier.
I sure there will be a design refresh before the Bolt comes back. Yeah, 55kw charging is not all that fast anymore. But to keep costs down to entry level affordability, like less than $35,000US, corners will need to be cut and cheap tailing edge tech will probably need to be used. Otherwise, all you've done is price the largest body of buyers, (lower middle class these days), right out of the market again.
And the EV market needs those low priced cars to achieve common market penetration. If they don't design and build to that affordability price points, then EVs will simply remain toys for the wealthy.
If those people aren't opting to buy a different brand then that's a problem for EVs.
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