I agree,  it’s all wishy-washy with no hard data. I’ll be honest, my statements just come from my own observations of what people drive in my immediate circles (and the knowledge that most American’s have a serious problem with buying in excess and living beyond their means).
The thing that gets me is that you could…

Oh, I absolutely agree. This is just a small piece of the whole “you will own nothing and be happy” future that we seem to be steadily approaching.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the only way to make a measurable reduction in emissions and hit climate goals is to reduce the use of personal transportation (everyone making these decisions knows this, but they also know how unpopular such a notion is - especially to Americans). The big push to EVs is one…

Of course there are situations where range anxiety is a legitimate concern, just like there is a small cross section of those people driving huge trucks and SUVs because they actually need the towing capacity and extra storage space. But the majority of people would probably be just find with an EV that has 300 miles…

Agreed, and honestly I think adoption would happen organically given enough time. Unfortunately, no one seems to want to wait, so you get very emotional and heated responses from both sides when adoption is forced.

Mass EV adoption has really never been about literal range anxiety, but the perception of it. Just like most car purchases are not entirely rational. It’s the biggest piece of the puzzle that everyone seems to be ignoring, in my oinion. How do you convince people to buy something that they don’t want, even when it…

[Insert surprised pikachu face]

A.)

that’ll cut down on the waste!

Good point. From what I understand, Tesla uses a huge casting for their front cradle assembly/chassis. Fantastic from a cost savings perspective, but if you’re in what would otherwise be a moderate crash, it’s like cracking your bumper on an early Lotus Evora - gotta replace the whole thing.

Munroe does have some interesting insights, but he really lacks the “bigger picture” view that factors in macro and global economics and their affects on how/why companies build cars the way they do. As well as the shackles (some self-imposed) that other companies who aren’t Tesla have to contend with when designing…

Keep in mind Tesla doesn’t have unions to contend with (for better and for worse). That alone is a major contributor to their fat margins.

100% correct. I should have added that. Another commented risk as well, and that is probably the second biggest driver. 

Correct. And when they’re told by their engineers what actually needs to happen, they ignore them (ask me how I know...).

Absolutely. And it’s admirable that companies are trying to change that, but it’s not something that can be changed quickly. It will take several years to do correctly and can’t/shouldn’t be rushed if they’re serious about taking a new direction. 

4th gear:

I’m not going to say that there’s nothing to be learned from Tesla, but I think a lot of the praise over their manufacturing processes needs to be taken with some serious considerations. Virtually all of the manufacturing processes in use today across established OEMs are used because of one underlying…

These articles are getting so tiring. 

Speed has never looked more boring. 

Starting right off with the personal attacks I see? Nice. I actually live alone with no dependents (aside from a cat). So don’t worry, no one else is exposed to my cynicism. 

Ah yes, this is what I come to a car enthusiast blog to read about.