My biggest beef about Toyota is their interiors are not made to last as long as their fantastic engines and drive trains. Same with Honda too.
1 Like
One thing worth noting, the new infrastructure bill has done a number of things with regard to EVs:
- increased the federal tax credit up to $12,500 (from $7,500)
- made the credit available at time of purchase, so it is deducted from the cost of the vehicle, not dealt with on your tax return*
- eliminated the 200,000 vehicle cap for manufacturers, which brings almost the entire Tesla lineup back into eligibility (only the S and the X remain excluded as they’re luxury models)
*If you don’t pay more than $12,500 in federal taxes, you won’t get the full credit.
Now, the final list of qualifiers hasn’t been determined as they differ between the House and Senate, but it is likely that $7,500 is the minimum, $2,500 will be added for vehicles built (assembled) in the US and another $2,500 if such assembly is done in a unionized shop. Tesla isn’t unionized, so the credit on its models will likely be limited to $10,000, but that still drops the cost of a RWD Model 3 to below $35,000.
The credit, once finalized, will be back-dated, so anyone buying an EV after May 1 will be eligible for the credit.
So if I bought a Rivian, I wouldn’t get the credit because it’s too expensive?
I figured vegan interiors would include that fake mushroom-based leather, and that if you lived in a humid enough climate it would sprout.
The price cap for electric pickups is $74,000, so you might be ok depending on how loaded it is. For example, if you opt for the premium interior and then a paint option that isn’t white, you’ll bust the limit.
However, if the cap is based on the pre-options price, you’re good to go (except they’re sold out and not taking orders).
I always assumed the tax credit for EVs was higher in America than Korea because Korea was a little bit late to adopt as with most things. However this change actually brings it closer to what the current tax credit is here and I think the cap is about the same too.
1 Like
I think it was always $7500, but the Trump tax “cut” added the 200,000 unit sales volume cap which impacted only Tesla.
Now that Kia and Hyundai are rolling out EVs hardcore I imagine some of the restrictions that were put into place as a bit of protectionism will get lifted. Hyundai launched their first all electric car earlier this year and the initial 45,000 sold out in the first month of presales.
1 Like
All the EVs seem to be back-order only or sold out on pre-order. It’s clear that the consumer demand is very strong.
1 Like
Innovation was always going to kick in and make EVs better. This is nuts though.
I thought it insightful, though a bit out of order. Apparently heat is one of the problems with faster charging times; I hadn’t realized that. What it doesn’t say until the end is that you can’t have higher charging rates unless it runs through the entire system–it doesn’t tell me whether higher rate batteries are available. It also doesn’t tell me whether normal electric infrastructure can support those charging levels.
Mostly I found it interesting because it was just something I hadn’t thought about.
1 Like
Invention may not happen in the “correct order”. Thermal management is one of the most difficult issues with EVs, particularly with the fast charging and fast discharging of batteries. The systems today are far advanced from those ten years ago, and I expect charging times to get close to gasoline fill-up times within the next 5 to 10 years. Although, as I’ve said previously, it is not needed as home charging is the most common method of charging batteries. Something that is impossible for every I.C.E. car owner that’s not a farmer.
Electrical infrastructure will need upgrading over the entire country, but the advent of large scale storage makes that MUCH easier. Large fast-charging facilities have a lot of electricity storage on site to levelize demand on the grid, some also generate a significant portion of their electricity with solar.
When I.C.E. cars were introduced there were many technical challenges to overcome. They were mocked and denigrated because they weren’t perfect right away. “Get a horse” was a sneer tossed at anyone with a mechanical problem or out of fuel. The idea that gasoline would become almost ubiquitous with thousands of miles of pipelines and thousands of retail outlets was laughed at.
Electric vehicles were considered toys like golf carts that could never compete on performance with a V8 engine. Until they out performed any V8 ever produced in every way. Now, those that denigrate EVs no longer talk about performance. Range has increased to over 200 miles for almost every EV available and some are coming out with 500 miles range. When the Aptera is introduced it could have a range up to 1000 miles. Range won’t be a discussion soon.
So now the reason EVs can’t possibly succeed is charging rate. I wonder what the next insurmountable hurdle will be?
2 Likes
They never sounded as authentic as 350 V8 with glass-pack mufflers.
This is certainly not what I read in the article, only that faster charging times were coming.
I was talking about the organization of the article.
Nothing that 1,000 watts and couple of well-placed Marshall’s couldn’t fix.
And, charging rate is nearly a non-issue. The VW AG units with the 800v charging architectures now charge from 5% to 80% for 90+kWh batteries in 18 minutes. Realistically, how long do people spend at the gas station? Most quote the commonly understood 4.5 minutes to pay and dispense gas. But, the actuals are quite different with 55% of all gas station visits lasting 5 minutes and longer. The 90th percentile is between 2 and 30 minutes.
Edited to add: VW AG, the largest and most profitable vehicle company in the world, used 18 minutes as their engineered design based on data like this. They determined two data driven elements and engineered them into their J1 platform (Porsche Taycan, Audi eTron GT) accordingly: an average stop time of 15-20 minutes and an average trip stop distance of 300km on long road trips.
Speaking of electric cars:
I’ve owned a few ground pounders in my day including a 1970 426 Hemi Charger in Dukes of Hazzard orange and a 1970 Chevy Z28 with an LT-1 engine and Muncie “Rock Crusher” transmission.
Nothing sounds like a 426 Hemi with twin Rochester 4 bbl carburetors when you punch it. Those four huge secondaries open simultaneously and it sounds like NASCAR. Especially when the compression ratio is 12:1, like mine had. It had the Hemi Automatic transmission with an immense torque converter and could “get rubber” in three gears.
My buddy’s Model S could blow it away. The silent “hand of God” torque at any RPM is a whole different experience than the old days.
2 Likes