Featured E-Golf is the Shizzy - I test drove one

I love the control and instrumentation layout! I see the dash surface is textured exactly the same as my 1970 VW, and I'm not sure if I like that.

 

If they would double the range then it may be a contender.

 

And in the winter I couldn't even get to my grandkids and back. 125 will get you to the train station, but not real for a do everything car.

 

The local VW dealer does not have an EV charger.

Bob Wilson

 

likely you need the 39k premium trim to match tesla. i think i'd spend's the extra 6k to get 300 miles of range and supercharger network.
btw, stay away from dedham auto mall, very shady used car dealer.

 

even if you pay $39K - the e-golf's ho hum 125 mile range is still less than ½ of the Tesla. Then there's the old quandary no Nationwide infrastructure. Pass.
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and vdub reliability. they can't even maintain the few chargers they have.

funny, when you go to the listing, there's nothing about it being a bev.

 

100 miles is plenty to cover the majority's daily commute, and the households that can charge at home tend to line up with the households that own more than one car.

Only Tesla has a fast and reliable network of chargers to truly support long range BEVs outside of local use.

Getting the range over 200 miles is going to add $5000 to $7000 to the price.(Bolt vs. e-Golf or Ioniq Electric)

 

not necessarily . . .
Consider the Kona range versus price;
Hyundai finally gives us a price for the 2019 Kona EV—$29,995 | Ars Technica

Don't ask me how they do it, but it is quite the bargain, if & when it ever gets here. In any event, it makes the cheeters' VW e-golf look that much more pathetic.
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This statement got me thinking:

If Tesla really wanted to express the value of their superchargers, they could make a car with a smaller battery than the competition. They'd be able to sell the cars for substantially less than anyone else in the EV game.

 

Even the $35K version seems to be a ways off, because bigger means more profit - whether an electric car, or a massive Dually diesel pickup. Why else would tesla be putting so much energy into the Tesla semi? Even 'if' Tesla made an electric with baby range, it would be hard to get decent range versus charging time, because it's the bigger packs that allow for high-speed charging before they reach that 20ish % chargespeed throttle back threshold.
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Its really the old line car companies that are talking about small batteries now. Tesla is trying to develop a charging network which is much less expensive to sell their cars. They want to make a profit on these cars. Estimates are that at a pack level tesla will be at $100/kwh cost in 2025, and they have products in the pipeline until then that are much more profitable than a small batteried bev. Superchargers that are needed for a larger percentage of miles would be a much more expensive build out.

Think about it, we expect tesla will get the standard range model 3 out sometime this year with approximately a 50 kwh battery. In the next 6 years they plan to drive their cost for that battery down to around $5K. This won't put much of a toll on the supercharger network if drivers continue to use superchargers mostly for long trips, with the bulk of the miles at L2 at home or work. Large installed bases of these cars in the US and China will spur other companies to provide L2 chargers in apartment buildings and other multi housing places for night charging. This is far different than the gasoline model.

Watching 60 minutes last night - Nio - a chinese start up with big california R&D plans already has mobile swap stations that can go and do battery swaps on their cars in 3 minutes, and they want to sell under tesla. I would expect companies like this to produce shorter range less expensive models if the current big car companies do not. China is investing big and has 100 execctric car manufacturers. People still want tesla's there, and tesla is primed to sell to the high end once their chinese factory is built and they can get chinese government support like china's other plug-in manufacturers. My guess is if short range bevs will sell in volume, pack standardization and swap stations will happen. That's at least a decade away.

 

You forgot the "without charging more" part.

 

I started a link on the Chinese in Fred's House of Pancakes, it is eye opening.

 

The Ioniq Electric is $22,815 after the federal tax credit; $7180 less.

There is the issue of charge time and potential damage with supercharging the smaller battery, but also the fact that the Superchargers are intended, and spaced, for long trips. Tesla wants owners charging at home, or slower public chargers, for local travel.

Being able to fast DC charge a lower range car is nice for those just in case moments, but few people will want to take a car that needs refueling every 100 miles on long trips.

 

yea - i'd rather just post here than fhop ... but Nio? They came out of the woodwork & in short order set a World Record on one of Germany's most prestigious road racing tracks - although McLaren's hybrid came along just a few weeks later, & shaved a few more seconds off of the short-lived nio record.

The company isn't to be trifled with, although they have yet to prove they can do something more than pull 1meg of power, generate 1,300hp, cling to a road course & go fast ....
NIO EP9 - Wikipedia
.... they'll also need long range thermal management, longevity, safety compliance, nice ride, comfort, quiet, and style.
OH yea .... 3 more things, regarding being able to charge wherever you head out to - infrastructure infrastructure infrastructure.
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