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Old 09-13-2021, 02:07 PM   #86
Martinjlm
Retired from GM
 
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Drives: 2017 Camaro Fifty SS Convertible
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ember1205 View Post
So, which is it? EV's ARE 'moderately priced' or there needs to be continuing improvement on the cost? I don't believe we are EVER going to see electric vehicles at price points to compare with their ICE counterparts (with everything else being the same - size, passenger capacity, cargo, range per "tank", etc.).

While the vehicle part of EV may have a level of maturity, the power part does not. We need to lighten batteries, reduce size, increase charge capacity, decrease charge time, reduce hazard risk during charging, improve ability to recycle, decrease cost, and significantly improve reliability. And that's just off the top of my head.

I still genuinely don't understand why there was never a market for a diesel electric automobile... All the benefits that everyone decries from the electric motor part of the world combined with a smaller overall battery pack that can be kept charged by a tiny diesel engine (which could be controlled with stop/start technology). Seems it would be super reliable, able to traverse long distances, able to actually refuel in short orders of time, and would significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the way the engine operation would be controlled.
Both. Cost does not equal price. Mustang Mach E and VW ID.4 are both moderately priced. Ford and VW will continue to work on the cost element of both to the point where they will cost less to produce than the ICE vehicles they have already been put into the portfolio to replace.

Your diesel based solution has the same basic problem that caused GM to drop the Chevrolet Volt (I have one of those in my garage, so I'm not hating on the Volt). Automakers would have to commit to the cost of two propulsion systems. Hard to get past that. The closest "solution" to that is Nissan's ePower system that works well in Japan, but will likely never see the light of day in the US. It is basically a Volt without the ability to plug-in. Works fine for Japan, because who has a place to plug in anyway? Most of the city population lives in high rises. They don't make extension cords long enough (<--joke). The vehicle runs 100% on power provided by electric motors. But there's a small ICE that runs almost continuously to provide power to the emotor. It's basically an EV that is not zero emissions. Almost zero chance of making it to the US.

By the way, we've just started publicizing this. I'll be speaking on this topic at Motor Bella next week. Motor Bella is an event that's been put together to fill the void created by the cancellation of the 2021 NAIAS.
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