Electric cars, hybrids, and related vehicles

While it’s true the base model is $35k, when you add the $1k for not-black and $5k for the assisted driving package you’ve already hit $41k so that does seem like a more realistic price for the low end car. Still too high for me though. :(

VW is going to release a pretty interesting model next year.

Cool stuff:
1- Priced as a Golf (probably a mid-upper range golf, though).
2- 600km theoretical range on the higher capacity model (the link shows the lower capacity one). Will probably amount to 300km real highway range at 100km/h which is my sweet spot.
3- They plan to turn up 1m vehicles by 2025. This is a mass market effort.

Sadly I have to change car right now. But I’m going with a VW on a financing plan with return so in 3-4 years time I can shift to this model if it somewhat meets the expectations. Only thing that sucks is that right now charging stations are not too common over here. Hopefully a law that will force big gas stations to install them will pass.

That Neo is a concept; no guarantee what the final version will look like. But, as VAG already has significant investment in EVs, and has been producing e-Golfs and now the Audi e-Tron with some success, yeah, that looks like a good direction to be thinking in.

The outside is a concept, but the car will enter retail in 2020, so I think the exterior of the three models in the line will be somewhat similar to what’s shown?. I really don’t care about the aesthetics, just the performance.

But anyway, it’s a modular EV platform (modular for manufacturers, to reduce costs). I think they have a good shot at being the first truly mainstream EV manufacturers. Certainly they are banking on that more than anybody else but the only-EV manufacturers.

Heh, I care about aesthetics a lot, especially the interior, which is one reason the Teslas leave me cold. But I do think for many the performance/tech specs are key. Though don’t underestimate the appeal of sexy sheet metal (or fiber or whatever it will be) in attracting market share!

I agree that VAG is pretty well positioned to take EVs mass market. They certainly have some non-technical reasons for wanting to push into green tech, given their, um, checkered recent past.

If that’s what they’re calling it then I need to insert the worlds largest rolling eyes Emoji here.

Pretty much the only important point for me with EV is the range, and I’m sorry, but 180 miles on a charge just won’t do. I commute about 90 round trip each day, and charging availability is non-existent around here unless I run a cord from my house.

The 300ish mile version might do, though it still wouldn’t work for out of town stuff. We often drive down to NYC, which is about 3 hours, and this would give us a round trip of that.

Damn but we need a breakthrough in battery tech.

If you don’t go over 60mph on the highway, it looks like there are several Tesla models that go over 300 miles on a charge.

Looks like there’s still a few models that can do it at 65mph, but at 70mph there’s only two models that go over 300, and 75mph or above, there’s none.

Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, or Volkswagen Inc. I guess it would be in English. Also used as shorthand for Volkswagen auto group, as the corporation includes a ton of brands, including VW cars, Audi, SEAT, ŠKODA, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Scania and MAN.

But yeah, unfortunate. “Phrasing!”

They tend to call themselves VW AG, to be fair.

Probably to avoid what we were talking about! Car forum people are lazy though and love short acronyms, so often the “w” gets lost, at least on the American boards.

SIGH.
Telsa have not ‘lost another CFO’. Its the same guy, deepak, who came back temporarily to cover for the CFO who did leave. Nobody expected him to stay forever, he has been at the company 11 years in total (how many years does the average auto company CFO last?), and probably desperately wants to have some time off with his mega millions. PLUS he is staying on for two months anyway, and will be an advisor after that anyway.

So much bullshit is spread in news headlines about Elon & Tesla its frankly ridiculous.

You can already comfortably do 210 a day in a tesla model S. My S easily does that, and its an old one, and I live in the UK which is colder, and thus you get less range. Plus thats a S85D. A 100D would get that range with a lot of room to spare.
Of course that assumes fairly ‘normal’ driving, not gunning it like a maniac at every stoplight.

I would advise anyone who can’t/won’t home charge to pass on an EV. It’s one of the best things about an EV (never, or very rarely, going to a station). Conversely, it would SUCK if I had to go to a charging station regularly, even if it was once a week or so.

And this is why EVs aren’t becoming more mainstream faster, or at least one reason. Tons of people don’t have detached houses with their own garages for charging points. Lots live where they either have curbside parking, a big lot shared by all the residents, or something similar, none of which allow for reliable or safe charging options right now.

As an EV owner, I’m not going to dispute that. If you can’t charge at home, or some other place your car is regularly at (e.g., work), I would pass. At least in the US, our infrastructure isn’t there, yet.

EVs, at present, definitely aren’t for everyone. They’re mostly for the upper middle class and up, living in an urban/suburban environment.

I’ve seen some trends in EVs that I like; Audi’s EV design is blending traditional ICE car look and feel (and quality) with modern EV engineering, and I like that. I am not a fan of Tesla’s “car as phone” aesthetic, nor of their iffy quality control, but that doesn’t mean I’m anti-electric, at all. Give me an EV that has an interior on par with what I have now, good looks, good build quality, and that makes me feel like I’m in a car not a space pod, and I’m all ears. Well, if it’s not like six figures…

I am so glad Volkswagen is entering the EV market! Finally, we don’t just have to settle for ICE in the VAG.

Nah, in a few years they will get sued for using more electricity under driving conditions than they do when being tested…

And they’ll be found shocking the monkey, too, I bet.