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The Hyperloop was never meant to be built. Elon Musk admitted it was all about fueling opposition to California’s high-speed rail project so it would get canceled.
He never planned to improve transportation; he just wants to keep people trapped in cars.
https://newrepublic.com/article/174089/big-tech-watching-drive
#tech #transport #elonmusk #transportation #hyperloop #trains
A used car that runs is like 200 euros. Okay, maybe 500 now that inflation happened. They’re not that unaffordable, but they do require the owner to be resourceful and learn some DIY skills. Tires can be bought used. When I was in university and had no job, I got a set of used Continentals with one summer left in them for 16 euros and only spent real money on tires for the winter, when summer tires (or all seasons as people in non-snowy areas know them) wouldn’t work in my climate anyway.
Someone who can’t afford a used car can’t really afford a minicar EV that starts with maybe 50 miles of range and then slowly works its way down as the battery dies. There’s just way less margin for battery degradation than on a bigger EV. You’ll have to replace the battery in just a few years and it’s going to be way more expensive than getting some old Volkswagen diesel engine from a junkyard for 50€.
I just don’t see what the market for those vehicles is. It’s not poor people, poor people don’t buy new vehicles. It’s not the middle class, the middle class would rather buy something that can fill 100% of their transportation needs rather than 80% of their transportation needs.
Are you sure you’ve looked at a used car in the past decade? (Or maybe the problem is that American policies like cash for clunkers have left the entire continent with unreasonably expensive used cars… Last time I looked at used cars was like 2 weeks ago, and it was absurd. Something with 300,000km going for $15k)
My first vehicle was 500 bucks (and was a piece of junk but I loved it) but I don’t even see anything remotely like that anymore.
It’s an American problem mostly, yes. These are the available cars in my country and this is far from the cheapest site because it actually requires money for keeping your ad up. Most will run on require minor repairs, some might require major repairs, but it’s a risk you take when you’re poor. My first car broke down a couple of times, but I think the most money it ever required for a real breakdown was 25 euros for a distributor rotor + some dude’s labour in diagnosing and replacing it (with a part he literally had in his garage). It was an Audi with an inline 5 engine for about 500 euros, so far less common than something like a 1.9 tdi Passat too.
Cash for clunkers could’ve done some good if it’d been done after EVs became available for the mainstream and required you to buy an EV with the rebate. Unfortunately, it didn’t even require you to get a particularly efficient car. So not only did it make old cars unaffordable, it didn’t improve average emissions or fuel economy as much as it could have.
I’m in Canada but the problem is the same up here.
If our used car market looked like this, then I’d totally agree with you that the small cheap EVs wouldn’t have much of a chance. Looks a lot like pre-gfc prices!
A used car that runs is like 200 euros. Okay, maybe 500 now that inflation happened. They’re not that unaffordable, but they do require the owner to be resourceful and learn some DIY skills. Tires can be bought used. When I was in university and had no job, I got a set of used Continentals with one summer left in them for 16 euros and only spent real money on tires for the winter, when summer tires (or all seasons as people in non-snowy areas know them) wouldn’t work in my climate anyway.
Someone who can’t afford a used car can’t really afford a minicar EV that starts with maybe 50 miles of range and then slowly works its way down as the battery dies. There’s just way less margin for battery degradation than on a bigger EV. You’ll have to replace the battery in just a few years and it’s going to be way more expensive than getting some old Volkswagen diesel engine from a junkyard for 50€.
I just don’t see what the market for those vehicles is. It’s not poor people, poor people don’t buy new vehicles. It’s not the middle class, the middle class would rather buy something that can fill 100% of their transportation needs rather than 80% of their transportation needs.
Are you sure you’ve looked at a used car in the past decade? (Or maybe the problem is that American policies like cash for clunkers have left the entire continent with unreasonably expensive used cars… Last time I looked at used cars was like 2 weeks ago, and it was absurd. Something with 300,000km going for $15k)
My first vehicle was 500 bucks (and was a piece of junk but I loved it) but I don’t even see anything remotely like that anymore.
It’s an American problem mostly, yes. These are the available cars in my country and this is far from the cheapest site because it actually requires money for keeping your ad up. Most will run on require minor repairs, some might require major repairs, but it’s a risk you take when you’re poor. My first car broke down a couple of times, but I think the most money it ever required for a real breakdown was 25 euros for a distributor rotor + some dude’s labour in diagnosing and replacing it (with a part he literally had in his garage). It was an Audi with an inline 5 engine for about 500 euros, so far less common than something like a 1.9 tdi Passat too.
Cash for clunkers could’ve done some good if it’d been done after EVs became available for the mainstream and required you to buy an EV with the rebate. Unfortunately, it didn’t even require you to get a particularly efficient car. So not only did it make old cars unaffordable, it didn’t improve average emissions or fuel economy as much as it could have.
I’m in Canada but the problem is the same up here.
If our used car market looked like this, then I’d totally agree with you that the small cheap EVs wouldn’t have much of a chance. Looks a lot like pre-gfc prices!