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Electric cars?

Would you buy an electric car?

  • Already own one

    Votes: 10 5.0%

  • Yes - would definitely buy

    Votes: 43 21.5%

  • Yes - preferred over petrol car if price/power/convenience similar

    Votes: 80 40.0%

  • Maybe - preference for neither, only concerned with costs etc

    Votes: 38 19.0%

  • No - prefer petrol car even if electric car has same price, power and convenience

    Votes: 25 12.5%

  • No - would never buy one

    Votes: 14 7.0%
  • Total voters
    200
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one person said they had been told by the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ) that they were only covered for using the three-pin ‘trickle’ charger at home and not the unit they’d just had installed.​

Coming up to 4 years of Tesla ownership and I still use the supplied trickle charger. I don't see the point of paying to purchase and install a fast charger at home, when the supplied trickle charger does the job.

“I was told unless it’s the BYD-supplied charger you’re not covered. I’m in a similar position, the electrician installed a 32amp point and purchased a 7kW charger. Nothing but BYD-supplied will be covered unless I go to the expense of getting my equipment certified by BYD,” they said.​
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JohnDe said:
Click to expand...
Thanks @JohnDe . I didn't have time this morning to watch the full video but am impressed. Perhaps should the barbarians exert more pressure on Elon there may be a price reduction and reason to seriously look at the latest Y.

@sptrawler I'd agree with John re just trickle charging. My nights are not as exciting as when I was younger so a slow charge will do me fine.

gg
 
BYD is not wasting time.
It's latest release Sealion 05 comes in at $26k Australian.
Very well featured. Now cheaper than most ICE cars in the range

BYD launches Sealion 05 EV, priced from just $A25,700​


BYD, the world’s fastest-growing car company, appears to be on an onslaught of launching new models, with the latest launch pitched as an affordable mid-sized electric SUV called the Sealion 05 EV.

According to CNC, the new model features BYD’s recently announced smart autonomous driving system, “God’s Eye”, and a large frunk with 110 litres of capacity, and the asking price is the equivalent of just $A25,700, with the top variant going up to $A30,100 in the Chinese market.

One key feature of the Sealion 05 is its smart driving driver assistance system, which will include the company’s recently announced God’s Eye assisted driving system.

This includes a combination of radars, ultrasonic sensors and cameras, which will allow it to perform autonomous supervised navigation on the highway network.

BYD launches Sealion 05 EV, priced from just $A25,700

BYD's onslaught of affordable EVs continue with the launch of Sealion 05 EV, featuring rear-wheel-drive and God's Eye tech.
thedriven.io
 
i am SHOCKED .. another tiny clause hidden in your insurance policies ( to avoid/delay payouts )

simply SHOCKED ( sarcasm )

i hold QBE ( 'free-carried' ) , IAG , SUN and TWR ( and have minimal insurance policies except where legally required )

just like gambling ( where i consider insurance policies fit that description ) i prefer to own a piece of the business rather than be a customer(victim ) ( i also hold TAH , TLC and have held Crown in the past )
 
With those specs, it is going to hard for the Japs or Europeans to compete.
From your article Bas:

Powering the new compact SUV is a single motor setup, but it has two rear-wheel-drive options. The first is an entry 140 kW motor, and a more powerful 160 kW option is also available.

These are powered by BYD’s blade batteries, which come in two capacities. There is a 50.05 kWh pack that will feed the 140 kW motor, while the larger 60.93 kWh battery will power the 160 kW motor variant.

Both will deliver 430 km and 520 km of NEDC ranges, which is likely to be between 370 km and 460 km on the WLTP test cycle, respectively.
 
This is Tesla's price range competition -

the VW ID.5 GTX weighs about 200kg more than the 1992kg Model Y Juniper Long Range.​
​
Tesla proves the most energy efficient with a combined average of 20.0kWh/100km as opposed to 21.5kWh/100km in the Vee Dub. However, the duo returned much better results in the city with 14.3kWh/100km and 15.8kWh respectively.​
​
Both EV SUVs quell noise, vibration and harshness levels sufficiently, but the Model Y Juniper Long Range has a slight edge. According to Tesla, the addition of double-glazed acoustic glass reduces road noise by 20 per cent. It also helps to keep the Tesla’s cabin warmer and, crucially, cooler.​
​
The Tesla is the winner of this contest by virtue of its technology, pragmatism and monetary sense (sans expensive options you don’t need). This won’t come as a surprise to the devoted Tesla fanbase, but it equally shouldn’t be derided by the detractors.​
 

The video of the road test, see below. Check out the service cost on the VW, which is every two years. And VW's roadside assist is only for 2 years. The warranty is better, but not for the battery kilometers.

The Tesla uses onboard software to tell the driver when a service is required, which is usually when there is a problem. My Model 3 is 4 years old this June, it has had one service which was under $600.



 
Remember a while back @basilio , I said if we aren't careful China will send all the other car makers broke? You said you couldn't see that happening and I was being crazy.

Well others are starting to cotton on to it as well.


We saw this with Japanese brands such as Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Nissan which gained popularity in the 1960s and ’70s before becoming established go-to brands in the 1980s and ’90s as they fought homegrown heroes Ford and Holden for space in Australia's driveways.

And it stayed that way until the first decade of the 2000s ticked over.


Holden and Ford’s ranges and sales shrank giving way to the Koreans who filled the gap with Hyundai and Kia which have climbed high into the top 10 thanks to an excellent range of SUVs and EVs.

They’re now marching towards the only brands that stand in their way - Mitsubishi, Ford, Mazda and Toyota - which, by the way, have about three EVs between them.
And given another five years Kia and Hyundai may have been able to topple Toyota from number one. But it might be too late for that. The presence of a large and fast-growing force is creating major uncertainty for the established brands in the Australian market - the rise and rise of Chinese brands.

At the end of 2024 there were 12 Chinese brands operating in Australia and this year we’re expecting at least another seven to arrive. To put that in perspective we currently have a total of 50 car brands in Australia and nine are Japanese. By the end of 2025 the Chinese tally could easily be 20 brands or 30 per cent of Australia's brand make up.
Several Chinese brands have been in Australia for years and have already done the hard yards. It took MG a couple of attempts to find a foothold but it was the seventh best-selling brand in 2024, while GWM came in at 10th. LDV is further down but still sold more than 16,000 vehicles here last year.

The newer Chinese arrivals show huge promise with most of them offering affordable electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids when the established brands have only a handful among them, usually at higher prices.
YD, Zeekr, Leapmotor, Geely, Deepal, XPeng, Smart, JAC, Aion, Chery and Jaecoo will spend 2025 launching a multitude of new vehicles here.

BYD will be one to watch having sold more cars here last year than Mercedes-Benz and it will likely enter the top 10 best sellers next year. Geely, which is the ‘Volkswagen of China’ in terms of its size and how many brands it owns, is another to watch.
Chinese car manufacturers' speed of production, the development of new platforms and technology, the low cost of batteries, availability of electronics and the breakthroughs being made in charging systems, plus the sheer amount of money and Chinese government support behind them make competition almost impossible for many other brands.

It’s almost certain that some established brands will bow out of Australia, unable to compete with Chinese brands. It’s also feasible that within the next decade more than half the Australian market could be made up of Chinese brands. And surely some Chinese brands won’t be able to cut it here and leave, too.
Who could survive? Well, time has shown that even the mighty like Holden have fallen if they don’t make the cars people want to buy. The sheer brute force of Chinese brands being able to offer what people want quickly and at a low price, and at an always improving tech level could be too difficult for many other brands to fight off.

In an extreme scenario this could lead to a 100 per cent Chinese brand market within 15 years. Sounds far fetched? Well they’re a third of the way there already.
 
Did I say that ? Bit strong for me.

Having said that I can certainly see that the car market in China is killing everyone else technically, quality wise and price wise. Of course not everyone buys on price or quality. There are plenty of cars that will be be excellent and do a great job. But if people look closely and dispassionately the Chinese products will be close to the top of the list - for better or worse.

There is always a case for ensuring the home country has a effective manufacturing industry. Maybe that is teh final argument for protecting some core of car manufacturing that isn't Made in China ?
 
It is only a matter of time, if Trump fails and there is every reason to believe he will, everything is stacked against the West.

Staggering scale of Chinese government EV subsidies revealed

Amid a European probe into alleged Chinese government subsidies for electric vehicle makers, a US think-tank has put a number on the support the industry has received.
www.carexpert.com.au
 
On the subject of electric cars, mine is now 2.5 years old and has done nearly 30,000klm.
Normally I charge it to 80%, but last week I had cause to charge it a bit higher as I expected to have to do a longer trip .
Anyway battery degradation doesn't seem to be a problem yet.
94% charge 500klm range.


 
I did read somewhere that the cost of servicing and parts for BYD the main Chinese EV is quite high. Please contradict me this if it is wrong.

I am hoping for a price war between the Chinese cousins and the American cousins for EV's in Australia when the new Tesla Y comes out. I'm not interested in the older Y from last year. I'm stingy with paying for cars, so price is as important to me as to whether it is an ICE or an EV. I usually buy top of the range in a vehicle range with a V6 oomph or equivalent engine as I believe that if one is spending that much money one should get the best of the best with all the comforts and do-dangles.

So if there is such a price war, I will be in a Tesla, more than likely, or a BYD by the end of this calendar year.

gg
 
I don't know what the cost is regarding the Chinese or American EV's, I purchased a Korean EV.
Both the Tesla and BYD are very nice cars, my decision was based on cost, range and long term costs, I tend to keep vehicles for a long time and then give it to one of the kids or grandkids that needs a car.
 

Beating the five-minute barrier would be a huge leap forward for an EV industry that acknowledges ‘range anxiety’ is the biggest deterrent to people switching from petrol to electric, and technology that charges as fast as it takes to fill a fuel tank is the key to unlocking new customer demographics globally.

The five-minute promise came from Chinese battery giant CATL, which supplies cells to some of the world’s biggest electric car makers such as BMW, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz and Tesla.

Unveiling the second generation of their Shenxing battery this week, CATL also claimed it was capable of charging quickly in freezing temperatures – a feat most EVs traditionally struggle to achieve.

CATL’s cold-weather demo at the announcement showed an EV charging from 5 per cent to 80 per cent in just 15 minutes at temperatures of -10C.


CATL only began operating in 2011 and specialises in the production of batteries for cars rather than the production of EVs themselves.

That devotion to the core component of EVs as opposed to an entire vehicle has seen CATL race ahead of other Chinese competitors and Tesla.
 
I’m in Darwin for a week visiting an in-law that is 84 and not doing so well. I booked a Subaru loan car for the size of the rear to fit 2 walking aids, instead they gave me a Toyota Corolla Cross hybrid EV. Today we had one walker in the rear with plenty of room, tomorrow I find out if I can squeeze in a wheelchair next to it.

I drove about 80 kms today, trying to use battery & the EV motor as much as possible but found it pointless. After about 5 minutes driving the engine cuts in, either as the power source or to charge the battery.

What is the point of having an hybrid EV if the majority of the time the engine is running?



 
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Reduced oil consumption only?
And not waking the kids when leaving home at 5am for the commute?
But to be honest, a small diesel engine would probably give you as much mileage, cheaper purchase price AND a much simpler mechanic/much longer life...the lot very bad for the GDP and ATO revenues!
 
that would depend on the size ( and fuel efficiency ) of the engine

if it was a glorified lawn-mower/motor scooter engine .. it might give you some cost savings , as a renter , however maintenance service costs as the owner might be more ( assuming you are not recovering vehicles with float batteries all the time )
 
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