This is interesting

[dverna]

https://youtu.be/izvdO-zdlKg

An EV for $12k with a range of over 200 miles, 4 wheel disc brakes and cruise control. I cannot buy a UTV for that.

If they come to the US they will need to pass safety standards so the price might be $14k or so. I would seriously consider one as a "disposable" car for running to town/church/visiting friends etc.

The Chinese are going to eat our lunch.

[barnabus]

https://youtu.be/izvdO-zdlKg

An EV for $12k with a range of over 200 miles, 4 wheel disc brakes and cruise control. I cannot buy a UTV for that.

If they come to the US they will need to pass safety standards so the price might be $14k or so. I would seriously consider one as a "disposable" car for running to town/church/visiting friends etc.

The Chinese are going to eat our lunch.

if you buy one thats helping them eat our lunch

[GhostHawk]

Actually at that price I'd consider buying one for a spring/summer/fall car.

I do not think it would do well overnight in -30 weather. But the way things are who knows when or if we will see those days again.

Even if I had to park it for winter, it could be a good value. Anyone know anything about maintance schedule?

[William Yanda]

I am amazed by how often Henry Ford's Model A has been reinvented.

[dverna]

if you buy one thats helping them eat our lunch

I thought about that. But I have done it before. Bought 100k of those commie Tula and Wolf primers when they were less than $20/k. I have no regrets.

I am not a fan of Mossin's, SKS's, AK's etc. and never bought any, but it seems a lot of Americans bought them. I wonder why they wanted commie crap when they could have had American made weapons?

BTW, my company took a 6 month strike from the autoworkers union, so I do not have love for the organization.

I am not a fan of EVs but... BYD is looking at building a plant in Mexico. That means cars imported into the US will qualify for the $7500 tax credit. If it comes in at $15k and the Chinese have paid off enough of "our leaders" to maintain the $7500 credit, we have a $7500 car that does not need gas and oil. I will be getting one if that happens. 90% of my driving is trips under 75 miles. Even in Michigan winters, a 200+ mile battery that degrades 35% will be adequate to meet my needs.

You are right. Buying one will help the Chinese. But I do not care that much. Heck, if more people cared, they would not shop at Wally World.

I suspect with Trump in office, the $7500 EV credit will be nixed, and if not, it will be nixed for Chinese EVs. But even at $15k, it is interesting option for a second car that will cost $.03/mile to operate.

[Bmi48219]

Nice but by the time that vehicle passes US standards it’ll be closer to 18K. If reliable it would be great for short excursions. For a lot of us it won’t be able to replace an IC vehicle. True that most of my travels are less than twenty miles each way. But often times I’m driving 100 plus miles each way. I’m better off with one vehicle for all my travels instead of a local and long distance vehicles to insure, plate and park.
If you look on the internet there are several non-street-legal austere Chinese vehicles available in the $5,000 price range. Shipping to CONUS doubles that figure. Twelve thousand is wishful thinking for something like the vehicle in this link.

[HWooldridge]

I am amazed by how often Henry Ford's Model A has been reinvented.

Exactly my thoughts. Ford kept it simple and built millions of autos, then he applied the same concept to tractors. There are way too many gadgets on new vehicles, which drives up the price. Too bad we can't get a basic half or three-quarter ton pickup truck with roll up windows, and none of the WIFI crap that everyone wants to sell to the consumer. You can't even find standard shift vehicles much anymore - they are only in specialty vehicles. I saw a 2023 truck advertised the other day for $85K - really???

[georgerkahn]

Actually at that price I'd consider buying one for a spring/summer/fall car.

I do not think it would do well overnight in -30 weather. But the way things are who knows when or if we will see those days again.

Even if I had to park it for winter, it could be a good value. Anyone know anything about maintance schedule?

A nagging thought I have vis electric vehicles is two-fold. To wit, do *I* have enough power/amperage (e.g., service entrance -- I have a split 150A SE -- 150A each for house and shop) to ADD charging a vehicle? And, perhaps of greater interest to me is the cost of said vehicle charging. Even with my relatively low mpg Toyota truck, I can easily calculate/plan on petrol costs. On the other hand -- WHAT might be the "light bill", as we used to call it, be with an added vehicle charge added?
...just curious...

[Handloader109]

You CANNOT keep it simple. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has prevented that thanks to kalifornias EPA push for fuel, and then DOT foe safety. Obviously nothing fuel in the EVs, but lots of safety stuff. Airbags, side door impact front and rear bumpers, and all crash certification. 12k goes to at least 16k probably 18k. Which is still a very cheap car. Figure it'll last 6 years or maybe 100k miles before battery is at half capacity. Mexico...... yep, no import duty, China direct is still 25% (one of the few Trump items that Biden didn't reverse)

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[dverna]

The Chinese do not need to defeat us militarily. They will corrupt our government (as has been shown), infiltrate our universities, and control critical parts of our economy we have abandoned (like drug manufacturing). Most of the stuff we see in Wally World comes from China.

I recently purchased a SSQA plate to make a custom attachment, and it was 1/3 the price of anything made in the USA. The welds were OK but not great. The owner of the shop told me I got a great deal. He did a bit of extra welding for a few dollars. I saved about $300

I don't like what is happening but unless we are prepared to drastically lower our standard of living, the Chinese will not be stopped easily.

If I were to buy something like this, I would not be proud of it, but it would do what I need a second car to do. At 73 I do not need a "chick magnet". $300 year for electricity for 10k miles of running around is cheap. Fuel for 10,000 miles on the F150 costs would be over $1500. If the EV lasts 10 years, I will have saved $12k in fuel, $1000 in oil changes and avoided putting on 100k miles on a $50-60k truck.

[Finster101]

To each their own. I am 100% GM certified in EVs. I will not be owning one anytime soon.

[czgunner]

To each their own. I am 100% GM certified in EVs. I will not be owning one anytime soon.

Yep. I'm a Toyota T-Ten trained tech and only own gassers.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[country gent]

The chinese know that if they undersell long enough the american companies will close and then they can make up the losses. Small shops do this to get their foot in the doors of big companies Bid a few parts low then get on the select supplier list and they are home free. China and the asian nations see this and are working it to their advantage. Once they lower US production to where they cant make what is needed they can start upping prices and also gain control of the country. You need cars,appliances, light bulbs,ect ect, well we need ??????

[Finster101]

Another thing to consider, what is the dealership network going to be like?

[dverna]

A nagging thought I have vis electric vehicles is two-fold. To wit, do *I* have enough power/amperage (e.g., service entrance -- I have a split 150A SE -- 150A each for house and shop) to ADD charging a vehicle? And, perhaps of greater interest to me is the cost of said vehicle charging. Even with my relatively low mpg Toyota truck, I can easily calculate/plan on petrol costs. On the other hand -- WHAT might be the "light bill", as we used to call it, be with an added vehicle charge added?
...just curious...

George,

EV's like a Tesla use about .3 kWhr/mile. My cost for power is $.133/kWhr. Cost per mile would be $.04/mile. A 30 mpg car with $3.25 gas costs $.108/mile...2.5 times more.

As to power. It will depend on if you use a Level 1 (120 V - wall plug) or Level 2 (240V) charger. A level 1 charger adds about 4 miles of range per hour plugged in. The level 2 about 32 miles per hour. A level 2 charger would draw about 40 amps (same as an electric stove) but that is normally at night when you are not using much power anyway. Below is a home "smart charger" that can control charge rate and the time it operates.

https://www.amazon.com/Autel-Charger...zcF9hdGY&psc=1

[dverna]

To each their own. I am 100% GM certified in EVs. I will not be owning one anytime soon.

Between 2013 and 2022 GM sold 1.1 million EV's worldwide
In 2022, BYD sold 1.6 million plug-in EVs and 1.4 million hybrids.

Maybe BYD has learned things GM and Ford still have to learn.

Birkshire-Hathaway bought 225 million shares of BYD in 2008. They do not hold any GM or Ford stock. Warren Buffet does not make many investment mistakes.

[Hannibal]

I don't know it to be fact, but I've read companies have wanted to build shipping hubs using EV trucks. When they requested the necessary power structure the local municipality thought it was either a hoax or a significant mistake. Seems the power required equals enough for a city of 200,000 or so.
I'm skeptical about such claims. However, until there are significant improvements made in the grid and more importantly a significant increase in power generation capacity the simple fact is switching over to EVs is not possible. Let alone practical.
Particularly if coal and natural gas fueled plants are going to keep being eliminated by EPA requirements.

Heat waves and cold snaps already result in power failures/blackouts/brown outs. If everyone starts plugging in 2 or 3 vehicles every day .......
You don't have to be an electrical engineer to see that's simply not possible. Nor will it be for decades.

[35 Rem]

I remember when the Yugo came out for a ridiculously low price lots of people were wanting one thinking that there was no way they could lose. Two years later when they had all broken down with no repair parts available there wasn't much enthusiasm left. I'd be cautious with something so cheap myself.

[nicholst55]

Nice but by the time that vehicle passes US standards it’ll be closer to 18K. If reliable it would be great for short excursions. For a lot of us it won’t be able to replace an IC vehicle. True that most of my travels are less than twenty miles each way. But often times I’m driving 100 plus miles each way. I’m better off with one vehicle for all my travels instead of a local and long distance vehicles to insure, plate and park.
If you look on the internet there are several non-street-legal austere Chinese vehicles available in the $5,000 price range. Shipping to CONUS doubles that figure. Twelve thousand is wishful thinking for something like the vehicle in this link.

I disagree. The dealership will sell them for full MSRP plus an additional $5K or so as 'additional dealership profit margin,' or some such crap. Kinda like they do now with extremely popular cars and trucks.

[Winger Ed.]

The chinese know that if they undersell long enough the american companies will close and then they can make up the losses. ?

Years ago, American industry was more or less being strangled by the EPA, US tax laws, favoritism for foreign companies,
labor laws and labor unions that wanted more money for less work.
Which translated into stuff being more expensive compared to imports.
At the time you'd see bumper stickers all over that read, "Buy American, the job you save may be your own".

I encounter people all the time moaning and groaning, crying the blues about the loss of American made products,
and the jobs that went with them.
I tell them that the next time they go running down to Harbor Freight or someplace else to load up on cheap Chines junk,
I tell them to ask their self if they are part of the solution, or part of the problem.