The Economy

If making electric cars proves to be so much less labor intensive, doesn’t that lower barriers to entry for potential new companies in the field? Doesn’t it potentially free up space for existing factories to be retooled and make more total cars (since I no longer have to do drivetrains in Town A, engines in Town B, etc.)?

The switch to electric is going to happen. Not all because of the IRA and probably not as fast as Biden and the automakers are projecting, but it is going to happen.

 

It's happening already.

 

It does. The Chinese might be the ones who hurdle those low barriers. That’s where things get sticky.

A $15,000 EV we can’t match. It’s 1979 and the Japanese all over again. If only we could know it would turn out as well as it did with the Japanese.

I fear Ford and Chevy will chase the giant EV trucks, the historical Cadillac, and the Chinese will build the version of the next generation’s Corolla and Civic, the cars that anyone can afford.

 

I stand corrected. Everyone is going to build The Homer EV.

 

They're building everything from electric bikes and trikes right on up, and they're in use and increasing market share quickly in China.

 

The question is, will the U.S. allow imports of Chinese vehicles?

China is exporting vehicles everywhere except here at the moment.

China exported more than 3 million vehicles in ‘22 … and is soaring even higher this year

 

This is why I worry about Ford’s and GM’s strategies (who the hell knows what Chrysler is EVER doing other than try to make vehicles that accuse other cars of being Woke. “We put 750 horsepower on this inflexible giant heavy steel boxlike structure and it only goes in straight lines! Turning is for Libs!”)

If the Big Three don’t make cars….car cars…the appetite for cheap Chinese vehicles will become overwhelming.

The EV revolution will be wasted if all we get is Americans driving giant, energy- swallowing electrified vehicles and increased traffic because of it. The point is to get efficient, affordable, reliable transportation. Not a fashion statement.

Henry Ford, of all people, introduced us to this line of thinking.

Detroit already failed this test 50 years ago. It’s happening again.

 

Electric cars are a hackers dream. And you all want to ride in them ?

Car Hackers Are Out for Blood

 

That’s more an issue of turning every feature into a subscription service than the electrification of cars.

Heated seats should not be a subscription service.

 

Stellantis, the ancient civilization sunk under the weight of a 426 twin-screw supercharged Hemi, and those terrible interiors.

Keeee-rist.