Well, I didn’t say the market would collapse, just that resale values of these would plummet due to the relative benefits of EVs in 3-5 years over a used Wagoneer.  I know they’re not the same physical size, but it seems like someone looking for a luxury SUV that can seat 7 or 8 would potentially cross shop since all…

I’m sure I’ll get lots of push-back on this, but in a world where the Rivian R1S, and the Model X and Y exist, these things are going to depreciate catastrophically.

Iron (the principle component by weight of LFP batteries) is already mined and distributed at low cost and high volume. Nickel-based batteries require more mining in the next decade or so, for sure, but it’s not like mining is new. It takes a lot of steel and aluminum to make ICE cars, too. Also, there’s a ton of…

There’s money to be made in controlling the future supply of hydrogen. That’s why all the oil/gas/OEM car manufacturers are still trying to push it. They make less money if everyone charges their BEVs cheaply with electricity produced by the cheapest local method.

Swappable batteries sound good at first, but they are a huge logisitical nightmare when you really think about real usage. Plus, they require that the car be designed in a very specific, complicated, inefficient way, with limited upgradeability due to backwards compatibility requirements. No structural packs or true…

Consumers are really bad predictors of what they want. Before the car, consumers would have told you they wanted a better horse. Before the iphone, consumers would have said they want a better physical keyboard on their blackberry.

“It’s got a manual transmission.”

Awesome!  Maybe Ford can throw in some new-to-you hardware to cover some of the more expensive line items as part of the deal?  I’m sure they have some useful stuff lying around in their development shops.

For me, a 100-150 mile range would easily cover the vast majority of my driving.  If there’s a good fast-charging network available for longer trips, I think that’d be enough.  More is always better, though.

I’ll believe that Ford is going ‘all-in’ on EVs when they shut down their engine/drivetrain R&D funding. Stop developing new engines and I’ll believe you.  It’s also worth noting that these targets only seem to apply to EU/UK models.

I’m also kind of torn on this result since you definitely want to discourage IP theft, but not slow EV development.  I wish they would have done some sort of punitive profit-sharing from SK to LG Chem where SK can build out their production without limits, but have to share a percentage of profits with LG Chem for,…

First of all, no need to get so worked up. I’m just a cartoon dog on the internet.

I wasn’t referring to software. I agree that software engineering is a very different situation with different requirements. I’m referring to hard science majors (physics, chemistry, etc.) becoming materials engineers, applications engineers, chemical engineers, etc. It happens all the time.

Exactly. I’m an engineer (by degree and profession), and in my experience it is not at all uncommon for engineers in most industries to have either hard-science degrees like physics or chemistry or to have technical degrees and tons of relevant experience. Unless you’re a ‘Professional Engineer’, it’s really just a…

By all indications Rivian will likely be on the market first since they have a factory to produce with already. Cybertruck can’t start until the Austin factory is up and running, which will likely be 2nd half of 2021 with maybe a few trucks completed for customers by EOY. Rivian will do well, I expect they’ll sell…

Exactly. Anyone promoting hydrogen for land vehicles aren’t doing it because it’s the most efficient or best for the consumer. They’re doing it so that they can control the energy supply and profit off of all of it. Distributed solar with local storage and BEV’s is a nightmare for most oil companies or car companies.…

My guess is they’ve realized that they can’t afford all the emissions credits they’d need to buy to keep this going for very long...

Exactly. They’re in a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. They could just keep churning out profitable gas and diesel cars to make some money in the short term. Or, they could make the painful transition to EVs and use the profits from the gas and diesels to spin up the loss leader EVs that will take…

I guess I both forgot about the Maverick and didn’t realize it was supposed to be unibody. Thanks.