Consumers don't want an expensive EV. Now that EVs are becoming cheaper than ICE vehicles, they will take over the market because they are the better product.

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hn_submit 13 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This is true, but there other drawbacks. The charging infrastructure may not be there and the electrical grid may not be able to handle the load. Consumers know this and are therefore steering clear of EVs.

I've predicted long ago that EVs will eventually be (much) cheaper than ICE cars since they're much simpler. An EV is basically a battery, an electric motor, four wheels and a steering wheel. ICE cars are incredibly complex. It's just that manufacturers had over 140 years of experience in making them reliable, safe and easy to own and drive.

Even if they become cheaper governments may dissuade consumers from buying them for fear of overloading the electrical grid.

	▲	eldaisfish 13 hours ago \| parent [-]
		lol, this is complete nonsense. The average person has non idea how the electricity grid works or how much capacity it has. "The grid will collapse" is just FUD spread by the oil industry and parroted by the boomers who run electricity companies. Even in a city like Bombay, with a famously unplanned electric grid, people are buying electric scooters not because the government told them to, but because it's cheaper. Bombay has yet to have this "overload" that so many here seem to fear.

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java-man a day ago | parent | prev [-]

This is exactly right. 2026 Nissan LEAF is at 30k point, once it drops down to 20-25 it's over for internal combustion cars.

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hn_submit 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

BYD already sells cars that cost less than $10,000 with a 5 star NCAP rating. And there are even cheaper Chinese EVs costing less than $6000 (OK, they're deathtraps but for some people that doesn't matter). And they're not junk either. They work and cut a few corners here an there. Good enough for a lot of price-conscious buyers.

Most importantly: they have LFP batteries which last much longer than Li-ion ones in addition to being safer.

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fpoling a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

New EV from Renault and Fiat are below 25K Euro in Europe without subsidies. They are still more expensive than similar sized gasoline cars with manual gear shift, but the difference is small and will pays off in few years.

	▲	hn_submit 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Gasoline is expensive at the moment because of the Iran war. But as soon as it's done the price of gas will fall markedly and people will forget all about EVs.

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wolvoleo 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

No it's not. If you live in a flat where are you going to charge the thing? Around here there's almost no charging points and the ones that are there are constantly occupied.

I gladly don't own a car but if I did it would be an ICE for sure.

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speedgoose 19 hours ago | parent | next [-]

You must install chargers. Living in a flat is not a problem if you have plenty of chargers where you park your car.

Not a problem since a decade in Oslo. We have chargers. It’s cheap and relatively easy to install.

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wolvoleo 15 hours ago | parent [-]

Norway is super rich because of oil money though. Easy to do the right thing for the environment when you are loaded with cash. And most of it gained through fossil fuel exploitation.

In the netherlands it's much harder to upgrade the distribution network, right now in many places it's not even possible anymore to build new housing because the network is full and it will take at least a decade to fix it.

	▲	speedgoose 15 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Installing EV chargers is cheaper than importing oil though.

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Lio 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That sounds like a solvable problem given a short amount of time.

Two things will likely solve it:

1. There's isn't a fixed number of chargers in the world. Eventually the majority of commercial car parking space will have a charging point because they're getting cheaper and it's an easy value add.

2. Charging is getting ever faster and range is growing. 800v platforms are probably the next obvious step but after that something else will come along.

Imagine an EV with 1000 mile range that charges in 5 minutes and costs less than half what the average ICE car does now. It's far fetched but it's not so far fetched.

There are no such improvements on the way for ICE technology.

Electrification is happening right now in the rest of the world and it can't be stopped because it's better technology.

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wolvoleo 19 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I doubt it will happen in the short term. The number of chargers isn't really the problem, the energy distribution network is, and that is only increasing with faster chargers.

But I don't want a cheaper car anyway, I want better public transport.

	▲	bpt3 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> But I don't want a cheaper car anyway, I want better public transport. That's fine, but you're a small minority in most of the world. People want on-demand transportation.

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pitkali 19 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yes, eventually it will be solved. But I drive today, and until I can charge the car, there's no point getting the electric one.

	▲	Lio 19 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Well, it's not the distant future we're talking here. This is happening right now. On street charging is being installed in most countries as we speak.
	▲	speedgoose 19 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Indeed.

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lkbm 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I mean..that's a problem, but apartment-dwellers are around 20% of Americans, and disproportionately the ones who don't need a car at all, and it's not a problem at all apartments.

Does the ICE marketshare only drop to 10-20%? I feel like that could be describes as "it's over".

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imtringued 19 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Charging infrastructure for flats is expensive at $4k per parking lot, but the charging infrastructure lasts longer than the car, meaning that the primary problem has nothing to do with money and more to do with the fact that it's an all or nothing proposition where everyone has to get on board simultaneously.