I'm hoping some of the Chinese manufacturers will bring affordable sedan or station wagon BEV's to the market. Lighter, better aerodynamics, more range for the same battery size.

Not interested in hybrids, the worst of both worlds

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I just cannot bring myself to trust my life to a Chinese car.

I have done business there. I know what it's like. It does not fill me with confidence.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (42 children)

Also it's one thing to be spied on by ad companies (which is bad enough) but quite another to be spied on by an adversarial dictatorship.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Exactly. Same reason I won't use Chinese brand phones.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You probably trust your life to chinese made parts in your current car.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (12 children)

Absolutely, but those are parts which are subject to overseas QA, standards and testing. For example, I have a Toyota. Chinese made parts must meet their strict quality control, must adhere to safety standards, etc.

I know first hand that, in China, regulations and standards can be bypassed with the correct payments. I do not trust that they have not done so, especially when there are other, better, choices.

We are talking about a country that has things like Melamine laced baby formula quite frequently. How did these things pass regulators and testing? Bribary.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (6 children)

Nio seems to be the one making waves that no one in NZ has heard of as they don't operate here. They are doing the Tesla promise of swapable batteries for real life, with a network of swap stations. Imagine buying a car and knowing you can in future swap the battery for a longer range one, one with better health, not to mention long range batteries from empty to fully charged in minutes.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

The only reason I've heard of Nio was because I bought shares in them a couple of years ago. I sold when I doubled my money, which looks like it was a good move considering how low it is now!

[–] stoy 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Tom Scott made a video where he tested an automatic swap station:

https://youtu.be/hNZy603as5w

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

He also mentions the company is hemorrhaging money at the moment.

[–] stoy 4 points 7 months ago

Yeah, that is normal for a VC funded company

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That's awesome! I hadn't seen that video before. Looks pretty impressive, though I'd be curious for more details about the subscriptions. Do you get charged for use or whether you use it or not?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

You lease the battery pack from them, from my understanding, so yes.

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[–] stoy 2 points 7 months ago

PHEVs are the best of both worlds for me living in an apartment with limited charging capacity.

We have two shared charges for PHEVs, they can be used for four hours maximum per day, this means that I can drive in EV mode to and from the shops as well as to my parents house, if I need to go further, I turn on Hybrid mode and it gives me great milage for a long time.