If you can hazard a guess, which make and model is the “Tesla killer” for EVs, if such a car exists.

I frequently suggest to folks in the US (where I’m from) that BYDs in the US would change the competitive landscape, but I can’t reliably point to a make/model or two that they can check out online.

How about $100/ton of CO2.

At 30 mpg that's 60 tons of CO2 so $6k.

The automakers in the US mostly want to fight a war two wars ago. They’re careening towards international irrelevance fast with this crap.

And we’ll either be dominated by the players that saw the truth, or stuck with overpriced protectionist crap.

This was true maybe even as recently as 5 years ago, but it certainly isn’t true now.

Tesla, at the top end, hasn’t been an attractive luxury proposition at least since the Hyundai Genesis & Mercedes EVs started rolling out. They had a shot at capturing the mid- to low-end market, but it looks like they’re in the process of blowing that as well.

> Hard to do in times of austerity [..]

The average American’s lifestyle is hardly austere — it _is_ precarious for very many (most?), but I don’t think that’s the same thing.

You can now get refurb EVs (e.g. a Hyundai Ionia) with <50k miles for <$15k, and that’s in a not-inexpensive part of the US (northeast).

Over the course of the next 10 years that used market is going to only grow, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that a battery swap will be less costly than the sorts of overhauls high-mileage gasoline cars require so there _will_ be a solid used market.

You also don't need to have every parking spot to have an outlet, that is not the status quo; if 50% of vehicles charge at single/multi-family homes and 50% charge 2-3x a week at a fast charger for 15 minutes; then that's the best chance for local gas stations to stay in business (local stations are going to struggle if the 20% rate of EV purchases and everybody has a non gas station outlet continues)

PHEVs definitely do not require fewer parts - they’re more complex to build, maintain, and repair. You take an ICE vehicle annd add a big battery, a motor, a complex way of interfacing that motor with the existing drivetrain, and additional computers to manage it all.

It took a while to find numbers, but it seems like ~$80B in total gas taxes in a year is probably close. Meanwhile state and local governments (alone) spend over $200B on road maintenance and construction while the federal government spent about $60B on the interstates.

$80B is a lot, but if gas taxes covered even just car infrastructure it'd be an extra $1 a gallon already. Even without EVs. In case anyone was under the misapprehension that roads are budget neutral. Frustrating (to get more off track) that other transit is expected to somehow be profitable when roads are subsidized so heavily. I wish it wasn't so critical for our supply chain, EV trucks probably works a lot better between a train terminal and final destination than it does hauling across I-40.

Sources:

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/gasoline/use-of-gasoline...

https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/cross-center-initiative...

https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/

https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2024-03/D...

"Current US admin only has 3.6 years left, ~2M voters 55+ age out every year, etc. Maintain momentum, be ready to spin up faster after regime change."

The majority of Boomers are liberal - the demographic shift you perceive is not going to work out the way you think it will. Gen-Z is increasingly leaning right, especially males.

Most people just want a 2018 era car (there's diminishing returns for vehicle technology at this point and average vehicle selling price trajectory, Post-Covid, is unsustainable) at a decent price - something with a six cylinder engine that can be easy serviced / repaired.

Most of the people who will suffer have done nothing wrong.