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Its unclear how many of those are anything more than dipping their toes in the water. Theres a lack of product range, and don't forget the scale, these manufac

Its unclear how many of those are anything more than dipping their toes in the water. Theres a lack of product range, and don't forget the scale, these manufacturers are currently producing 1000s of evs, they need to scale to millions. VW seem to sound most serious, aiming for 50 models by 2025, but what do they have now? And don't forget lead times. They will be starting to design those 2025 cars right about now. Are they ready for that?

mdorazio 8y ago
I'm under NDA with one of the companies in my list, so I can't provide details. The short answer is yes, but not necessarily with US-oriented vehicles.
- benj111 8y ago
  Yes, they will be ready? That's encouraging that at least one company is serious. Why not with US vehicles? Do you think US consumers will continue buying combustion cars even when EVs are cheaper?
  - SECProto 8y ago
    > Why not with US vehicles? Do you think US consumers will continue buying combustion cars even when EVs are cheaper? Not OP, but I would speculate north american consumers have more range anxiety than many markets (300km range would suit a larger portion of the market in Asia and Europe than in North America). Also, fuel taxes are significantly lower in North America (and the US in particular) than Europe and Asia, so combustion engined vehicles will remain total-cost-competitive for a few years longer.
    - Scoundreller 8y ago
      I know Americans can drive a lot, but I still think 300km or range vastly exceeds 95%+ of use cases. Even 100km of range will cut it, especially with charging at place of work. For long distance travel, rent an ICE and put the wear and tear on someone else’s vehicle.
      - rwbhn 8y ago
        > charging at place of work Already contention for chargers at my workplace.
      - SECProto 8y ago
        While I agree with your post in a rational sense, people don't buy their vehicles that way. They buy SUVs for their daily commute, because a few times a year they like to go somewhere that AWD (or the extra storage space, or the extra ground clearance, or..) is useful. > I know Americans can drive a lot, but I still think 300km or range vastly exceeds 95%+ of use cases. For commutes, sure. But I know a lot of people (most?) who like to travel to the next city to see their parents (450km), or go camping/hiking/skiing (wilderness where chargers aren't common, 200km one way). A 300 km range wouldn't cut it for them (and a 100km range wouldn't be good for anything except daily commute). Several of my family members have gotten plug-in hybrids - 40km range, but backed with a gas engine. That means their daily commute (or most of it, with winter weather range impact) is electric, and they have gas for when they want or need to go further (eg kids sports on the other side of the city). I intend to buy an electric car, but probably not until my current yaris gives up the ghost. I'm willing to put up with the inconvenience of a 400km range, even though I regularly do a 1400km one-way drive, and filling up the battery with a supercharger will take about 15 hours instead of 13 with gas fills.
Someone 8y ago
”VW seem to sound most serious, aiming for 50 models by 2025, but what do they have now?” https://jalopnik.com/the-fascinating-engineering-behind-vws-electric-car-pla-1829257860 https://jalopnik.com/the-fascinating-engineering-behind-vws-...: ”we’ve been hearing a lot of companies announcing lofty electrification plans like these, so what makes VW different? Well, they’ve at least got hardware to back up the talk. Here’s a look at what might be the platform that actually brings electric cars to the masses. The MEB Platform VW started designing the MEB platform—the company’s very first high volume EV architecture—about three years ago.”
Eiriksmal 8y ago
It's important to note that "electrification" in these press releases is often referring to hybrid vehicles, not battery-electric vehicles as normal people would interpret the term. VW is promising a mix of BEVs and hybrids across all its marques. Quoting from Forbes at the time of the announcement: >Keep in mind, this doesn’t always mean a pure electric car. An electrified vehicle could mean a gas-electric hybrid or a plug-in hybrid. For instance, VW’s 80 new electric cars goal for 2025, includes about 50 purely battery-powered vehicles and 30 plug-in hybrids.
woodandsteel 8y ago
One way to tell how serious an auto manufacturer is about electrification is to look at what it is doing with batteries, like is it entering into large, long-term contracts to buy them.
- Tuna-Fish 8y ago
  Precisely. Right now, apart from Tesla the one big manufacturer that has made plans to source massive amounts of batteries is Toyota. https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-deals/Toyota-and-Panasonic-to-build-electric-car-batteries-together https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-deals/Toyota-and-P...

mdorazio 8y ago

I'm under NDA with one of the companies in my list, so I can't provide details. The short answer is yes, but not necessarily with US-oriented vehicles.

benj111 8y ago
Yes, they will be ready? That's encouraging that at least one company is serious. Why not with US vehicles? Do you think US consumers will continue buying combustion cars even when EVs are cheaper?
- SECProto 8y ago
  > Why not with US vehicles? Do you think US consumers will continue buying combustion cars even when EVs are cheaper? Not OP, but I would speculate north american consumers have more range anxiety than many markets (300km range would suit a larger portion of the market in Asia and Europe than in North America). Also, fuel taxes are significantly lower in North America (and the US in particular) than Europe and Asia, so combustion engined vehicles will remain total-cost-competitive for a few years longer.
  - Scoundreller 8y ago
    I know Americans can drive a lot, but I still think 300km or range vastly exceeds 95%+ of use cases. Even 100km of range will cut it, especially with charging at place of work. For long distance travel, rent an ICE and put the wear and tear on someone else’s vehicle.
    - rwbhn 8y ago
      > charging at place of work Already contention for chargers at my workplace.
    - SECProto 8y ago
      While I agree with your post in a rational sense, people don't buy their vehicles that way. They buy SUVs for their daily commute, because a few times a year they like to go somewhere that AWD (or the extra storage space, or the extra ground clearance, or..) is useful. > I know Americans can drive a lot, but I still think 300km or range vastly exceeds 95%+ of use cases. For commutes, sure. But I know a lot of people (most?) who like to travel to the next city to see their parents (450km), or go camping/hiking/skiing (wilderness where chargers aren't common, 200km one way). A 300 km range wouldn't cut it for them (and a 100km range wouldn't be good for anything except daily commute). Several of my family members have gotten plug-in hybrids - 40km range, but backed with a gas engine. That means their daily commute (or most of it, with winter weather range impact) is electric, and they have gas for when they want or need to go further (eg kids sports on the other side of the city). I intend to buy an electric car, but probably not until my current yaris gives up the ghost. I'm willing to put up with the inconvenience of a 400km range, even though I regularly do a 1400km one-way drive, and filling up the battery with a supercharger will take about 15 hours instead of 13 with gas fills.

Someone 8y ago

”VW seem to sound most serious, aiming for 50 models by 2025, but what do they have now?” https://jalopnik.com/the-fascinating-engineering-behind-vws-electric-car-pla-1829257860 https://jalopnik.com/the-fascinating-engineering-behind-vws-...: ”we’ve been hearing a lot of companies announcing lofty electrification plans like these, so what makes VW different? Well, they’ve at least got hardware to back up the talk. Here’s a look at what might be the platform that actually brings electric cars to the masses. The MEB Platform VW started designing the MEB platform—the company’s very first high volume EV architecture—about three years ago.”

Eiriksmal 8y ago

It's important to note that "electrification" in these press releases is often referring to hybrid vehicles, not battery-electric vehicles as normal people would interpret the term. VW is promising a mix of BEVs and hybrids across all its marques. Quoting from Forbes at the time of the announcement: >Keep in mind, this doesn’t always mean a pure electric car. An electrified vehicle could mean a gas-electric hybrid or a plug-in hybrid. For instance, VW’s 80 new electric cars goal for 2025, includes about 50 purely battery-powered vehicles and 30 plug-in hybrids.

woodandsteel 8y ago

One way to tell how serious an auto manufacturer is about electrification is to look at what it is doing with batteries, like is it entering into large, long-term contracts to buy them.

Tuna-Fish 8y ago
Precisely. Right now, apart from Tesla the one big manufacturer that has made plans to source massive amounts of batteries is Toyota. https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-deals/Toyota-and-Panasonic-to-build-electric-car-batteries-together https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-deals/Toyota-and-P...