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> basically who ever has the cheapest reasonably good batteries and marketing wins wins... the market for "cheap golf-kart like cars". But the market for "cars
by neogodless 6y ago
> basically who ever has the cheapest reasonably good batteries and marketing wins
wins... the market for "cheap golf-kart like cars". But the market for "cars" extends way beyond that very narrow definition of a car.
Also interesting to note that the skateboard platform idea has been floating around for a couple decades now. GM planned a potential one when they dabbled with hydrogen fuel cell EVs back in 2002.
[0] https://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/24/forgotten-concept-2002-gm-autonomy/ https://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/24/forgotten-concept-2002-g...
- recuter 6y agoFunny you should mention GM, they had: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagneRide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagneRide Bosch had electromagnetic car suspensions figured out 20 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KPYIaks1UY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KPYIaks1UY The car industry is a perfect example of "worst is better". The point about the cheap golf-kart car from China is about how little in terms of material costs actually goes into it. It is $5,000 shipped. In actuality it is about $2000 in parts. The skateboard platform I linked to is already developed, they are supposedly going public this year, not just a concept. If they can get them to pack flat (or flat-ish), they can ship quite a lot of them around the world for peanuts. Add whatever cab, wheels and branding you want to finish it off. All of this stuff is about to become a commodity. The most, and basically only, expensive part is the battery.