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The Driven, an Australian car news site is reporting on a new EV offering from Chinese auto manufacturer BYD
From the article:
At $US15,000, BYD's new Qin EV is already being touted as a "Corolla killer" as the world's second largest EV maker continues to disrupt the global auto market.
Launched earlier this week in China, the all-electric Qin Plus has five models priced between 109,800 RMB to ($A23,300) to 139,800 RMB ($A29,700).
The Qin Plus comes with a 100 kW motor and the option of either a 48 kWh battery providing 420 km CLTC range or a 57.6 kW hour battery with 510 km range.
[...] Indeed, most legacy car makers, at least those that are bothering to make EVs at scale at all, are still focused on the top end of the market, selling premium and heavy and high cost EVs, largely to protect their ICE business. In the US, the major car makers are retreating rapidly on their EV plans.
BYD, which is challenging Tesla as the biggest EV maker in the world, says it's "officially opening a new era where electricity is lower than oil."
Additional reporting on the BYD Qin:
https://electrek.co/2024/02/19/byd-launches-15k-qin-plus-ev-kicking-off-price-war-gas-cars/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/autos-hybrids/byd-launches-qin-plus-ev-honor-edition-electric-cars-now-cheaper-than-gasoline/ar-BB1izoNY
https://www.carscoops.com/2024/02/byd-launches-11000-qin-plus-dm-i-phev-in-china/
(Score: 2) by number11 on Sunday February 25 2024, @11:24PM (2 children)
EV hybrid vs. ICE car? HEV (and preferably Plugin HEV) has the "cost of fuel" advantage because it uses less, consequently makes less pollution. Fewer recharge issues for people who either can't recharge at home, or live in the wilderness where there aren't any working chargers. HEV eliminates the "range anxiety" of pure EVs for Americans, who fantasize that they will hop in and drive hundreds of miles at a moment's notice (rather than just renting an ICE for that rare occasion). But there's no reason why a hybrid can't have the low-end torque (and potentially neck-snapping acceleration) of a pure EV, since some of the time it is purely EV (at low speed/acceleration for a parallel HEV, always for a series since there the ICE just recharges the battery). True, hybrids do have the complexity of an ICE, though depending on the design might have no mechanical transmission. And towing your yacht will play hell with the operating range.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday February 28 2024, @01:31AM (1 child)
HEV (and preferably Plugin HEV) has the "cost of fuel" advantage because it uses less, consequently makes less pollution.
Incorrect, I have an EV. My friend in Columbia has a hybrid. It costs him six dollars to drive here and back, it costs me four to drive to his house and back. It was twenty with gasoline.
Fewer recharge issues for people who either can't recharge at home
Those are the people who need hybrids. But I've been driving since 1968 and have never driven anything that handled or braked better, thanks to the weight on the bottom and two sets of brakes acting in tandem. No routine maintenance, and in fact almost no maintenance at all. No worries about it starting in the cold, you have heat before you're out of the driveway instead of when you get to where you're going, and you don't have to stand in the snow babysitting it while it fuels. It's roomier than a much larger piston car, those thousands of moving parts in that drive train take up a lot of room. I don't have 220, but if I did my car could power my house in an outage. No noise or vibration, no gear changes. That's off the top of my head, I'll never buy another piston car.
The Stupid-Ass Voter Evisceration act: SAVE Trump and his family from prison
(Score: 2) by number11 on Wednesday February 28 2024, @05:15PM
I was comparing hybrids to ICE, and certainly didn't say that hybrids got better mileage than EVs (whether $/mile or mpge), so I don't doubt your experience. But if you're using commercial chargers, the cost of recharging is uncertain since most will charge what the market will bear. You get the range anxiety issues, though in real life, range shouldn't often be an issue for city dwellers.
Yes, you get instant heat, but probably at the cost of a significant amount of range. Worse with the cheaper EVs with resistance heaters than with the more expensive ones with a heat pump, though I wonder about even those if it's 0F (-18C). And even if you had 220V available, most EVs aren't capable of powering your house (sure, they should be).
I've got a 2015 ICE, and don't plan on replacing it for another 10 years (I don't rack up a lot of miles), at which point I may be too old to drive anyhow. I probably couldn't afford a new EV with price-gouging manufacturers. I just want cheap reliable transport from Point A to Point B that's easy to get in & out of (crossover territory), not "entertainment centers" or "allegedly self driving" or mood lighting or heated seats (I wear pants when I drive in cold weather, thank you), and certainly not with touch screens that you have to look at while driving. Eventually EV prices will drop (Hello BYD!), the fad of touch screens will pass (though they'll still remain cheaper than real buttons), batteries will become modular and standardized enough for ordinary mechanics to deal with, and insurance costs will drop (since insurance companies won't play it safe by ruling a minor fender-bender a total loss).