Here are some numbers that aren’t made up. With the number of links I’m about to post, I have no idea if this will make it out of the greys.

I’d argue that the Tesla price tag isn’t a huge obstacle to Tesla sales right now, but it will be soon.

I cannot express how much I want to add “Biodiesel Pirate” to my list of credentials.

So at least in some concentrated areas it will be a capacity issue.

Or if they add a crager to every pump - what will everyone do when all pumps are being taken by cars that have 15 minutes to a half hour left charging?

This is a really fascinating move. It’s easy to spin it any number of ways.

I.... I need to know more about this vehicle.

And on top of that, we haven’t seen a concept car or mule, so their quoted WLTP range is just a goal. I’m guessing they won’t hit that goal.

Assuming they meet the dealers don’t die of embarrassment trying to sell them, the Crozz (2020) and Roomzz (2021) could be very good EVs. They will be 95kWh platforms (83 usable) with ≈250mi range and 150kW CCS charging.

1st gear and Neutral:

Hit the nail on the head. There’s a big price gap between the plasticky economy EVs and the luxury EVs. The XC40 fits firmly in the middle there.

A decent resource for tracking existing and upcoming EVs is https://evcompare.io/

Most sites are predicting $50k, though I could imagine $45k. If it’s based on the Polestar 2 platform, we can expect 78kWh batteries and 250 mi range.

A few observations on the technology:

2ᴺᴰ gear: To spark a 2008-style gas crisis, we would need to hit ≈$4.90/gal in 2018 dollars (equivalent of Jan 2008 peak). The EIA predicts only $85/bbl ($3.16/gal 2018 dollars) by 2025, so we’d need some serious volatility to spike to $4.90.

Proper solar cars still look like that. The Sion won’t pull enough energy to run indefinitely. It doesn’t have the surface area, aerodynamics, or (as soundman98 illustrates) the azimuth angle to optimize what it has. That being said, Sono is only advertising the solar panels as an 18mi/day top-off, and I do think…

There’s also the challenge of targeting a good market intersection.

It can’t be done.

I’d love to see some examples of that. I can’t think of good examples of sedans built on crossover platforms, so all I have are apples-to-oranges comparisons.

Call me crazy, but all signs point to the fact that practically nobody wants to buy entry-level EVs. Even as EV sales rise (≈30% year-over-year), plug-in hybrids (like the Volt) and low-cost EV sales drop.