America Is Missing Out on the Best Electric Cars: Whatever kind of EV you might want, chances are China has it.

boem@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 123 points –
America Is Missing Out on the Best Electric Cars
theatlantic.com
119

Probably not a well received opinion but the amount of China promoting drivel that goes on here in lemmy is astounding.

Which is the propaganda? The posts touting Chinese achievements in tech, or the posts saying to beware of the Chinese milestones?

Both.

I mostly agree with your statement and we should be aware of both.

Agree. Tankies are on the loose, and not just on their own servers

Eh, I've seen all these same headlines on Hacker News. China is a rapidly developing country with a lot more people, manufacturing, advancements, and news than many other countries so it makes sense that there would be a lot of news coming out of it.

I just visited China for the first time during a business trip a few weeks ago and as an American I was impressed. The US media tries so hard to present only the negative that a lot of Americans aren't even aware of all the achievements they've accomplished.

3 more...

Like most Chinese products I wouldn't trust their quality or their customer support, and would expect the thing to spy on me 24/7.

You do realise that anything made in the USA or even sold to be used in the western world has the CIA sucking it all up.

Like sure China are gonna spy but let’s not pretend the USA, UK, Australia, and Israel ain’t spying on us all.

So, basically no different than we already have...

So why hail them as some revolutionary?

What, modern cars and almost everything else? Who's hailing general enshitification and literally everything we do being consumed as monetizable data points as "revolutionary"?

The Ora Funky Cat had an issue where it would not terminate charging consistently before unlocking the charging cable, leading to customers being greeted by a loud bang when disconnecting the cable.

On the bright side, if they weren't completely awake before, they would be afterwards.

In my experience, Chinese products are way better and more affordable than American ones.

Buying American is just a scam to fool people with more money than sense.

Mark Twain was right.

You must not use Amazon.

I was specifically thinking about products I got on Amazon.

Headphones, especially. It really cemented in my mind that most "audiophiles" are just idiots with more money than sense trying to fit in with the same.

I want a car without spyware.

I want a small, fun roadster. Or a hot hatch. Or a sport wagon. And I didn't see one listed.

An e-civic would be phenomenal...

Tweak the motors to simulate vtech!

Toyota had a concept EV that simulates a manual transmission (including "stalling," coasting, and "engine braking"), that it showed off last year to some journalists. People who drove it say it's a ton of fun.

If someone makes an electric equivalent to the Pontiac Fiero I'm getting a drivers license. Small, cheap, fun.

Hell yeah. Or an MR2. Or an S2000.

Carice? Harks back to the small British sports car.

Man, if some Chinese company rebooted MG I'd be so happy

MGs are still around, made in China but I see a lot of them on the roads here in Australia.

We're already halfway there! I'm gonna order my girlfriend a long silk scarf now so we're ready

I‘m just waiting on the release of the german X-Bus. A modular 600kg vehicle that counts as a quad and can be used as a bus/transporter/pickup/camper and recharges 30-50km of range a day through solar energy on the roof for under 20k€ is exactly what I want from an EV. I don’t need a 50k price tag with shiny smart features.

I've just been looking at those. I can't help but think of the old adage, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is

it basically falls under the vehicle classification of tricycles and golf carts, so the safety standards are, shall we say, more lenient

I would prefer better crashworthiness though

I hope they do better than expected, sadly the lower standards also the downside of their classification. But I think they commited to doing crash tests and also build in ESP by defaultc so at least the basics will be there.

"Whatever kind of EV you might want, chances are China has it."

proceeds to describe a car that's slower and has less range than my e-bike

Kinda curious what the other options are, I got hit with a paywall.

I want an Aptera. Any solar cars available in China? A Telo would be sweet but they're super early on.

I want the kind of EV that's made in Japan.

A Gundam then. That will be $725M for the base model without Beam Saber and shield. Would you like to pay in cash or card?

What if I steal Fort Knox on my test drive? Will that work?

I'm sorry citizen but the Earth Federation currently does not accept stolen reserves for test drive bonds. You may wish to contact the Principality of Zeon who may be amenable to your mode of payment. Thank you and have a nice day!

Cut them som slack they just recently made progress in removing the floppy as an essential peice of technology for their citizens

I've recently driven a brand new 2023/2024 Maxus T90EV. It had 15 miles on the clock when I drove it. These are the problems I experienced with it and these aren't even touching on my preferences like I thought the seats were uncomfortable, or that regenerative braking is quite aggressive and can't be changed. So I doubt China EVs are going to take over, not in 2024 at least.

  • Auto lights didn't work
  • Auto wipers didn't work
  • Intermittent wipers didn't work
  • Rear view camera was really poor quality
  • Infotainment system crashed, where I had to walk away from the vehicle with it still in its crashed state. At some point it finally turned off and worked again on the next drive
  • Bluetooth audio kept crashing
  • Infotainment system is really basic
  • Shudders when driving on the factory set speed limiter
  • No driving aids like cruise control or driver defined speed limiter

I feel bad for everyone who takes your word at face value.

Anyone can type anything on the internet. Just keep that in mind, folks.

The amount of Chinese propaganda around EVs is astounding

The Atlantic is an American magazine. Its an opinion piece by a guy who runs another car review and discussion website that is full of articles about non-Chinese cars. The person who posted it has posted a variety of articles about tech from all over the world, including Tesla. Like I asked another user, what part is propaganda? Are Chinese people just never allowed to speak positively about anything they do? Because that's the implication of these off-topic posts.

Do they have an electric truck that isn't the size of a small house?

Straight up if I could get an electric Kei truck I'd be over the moon

Well ... then 1.5k for the good battery and other options and like ... another 5k for shipping related expenses. That blew my mind how expensive it was to import.

And you get a truck 3 dudes can pull backwards with a top speed of like 36mph. It's basically a very robust power wheels.

Those expensive shipping release fees are what’s stopping people from importing EVs from China.

Another day, another CCP shill post. Tomorrow you'll tell us about their beautiful human rights handling I hope.

This just isn't a CCP shill post. Western and Korean companies simply refuse to sell an EV that isn't a luxury car, and Japanese companies seem to be trying to get out of making EVs period. The only one I could name, Chevy Bolt, got the axe last year.

Like, I look like an American Nationalist next to most Lemmy users (you could say I am in a way, but not in the conventional right-wing flag waver way.) But BYD coming to America would fill a need, even if the cars actually suck. Teslas suck, but they still sell, and there are alternatives to Tesla.

It's frankly bordering on racism that any amount of positive words for Chinese people or their accomplishments gets you labeled a "CCP shill". Is every Chinese friend I made in uni a shill for having nice thoughts about their previous school and hometown?

Stop talking to strawmen plz

What part is the strawman? The Atlantic is an American magazine. Its an opinion piece by a guy who runs another car review and discussion website that is full of articles about non-Chinese cars. The person who posted it has posted a variety of articles about tech from all over the world, including Tesla. Where is the shill?

Eh, it's more the dumbing-down of America starting to take effect.

It's always funny seeing you people comment almost instinctively on anything that's positive about china.

I'm French, try again

Umm... your nationality has nothing to do with it.

You should pay more attention in English class.

wow, you sure are a nice Person.

  1. yes it does. The Dumbing-Down of America has no Effect on a Frenchie.
  2. I wanna know how many Languages you speak, because it's very well possible he speaks 3 completely different Languages (French, German, English). So how about you get your Attitude checked and stop being an Arrogant A**hat

Or maybe the West is just not the be all end all in all aspects of society?

I want a nice cheap basic car without all the nonsense, and 250 miles of range plus battery swap. Neta V fits the bill

I would like an electric 2004 Dodge Neon...

Does China have that? Not like in build quality, I know they're trash, just that exact car.

Though not Chinese, there are companies nowadays offering conversion kits for older, ICE cars. Electric Twingo, here I come!

Considering how much respect China has for western intellectual property... probably. Somewhere.

They also have fields of decaying vehicles that were built solely to take advantage of the subsidies

idk why you're being downvoted, you're absolutely right lol

Chinas EVs are not built to standard and are used in majority to grab cheat the Central Government for subsidies

It's the result of massive subsidies. When they stop, this market will crash like a house of cards.

Those bastards, subsidizing emissions reducing technologies.

Not really. It's mainly about gaining market dominance on a technology they think is the future. They'll build them right next to the massive coal plant alongside a million other things they're subsidizing.

Even if its not some altruistic reasons, they still are literally subsidizing this emissions reducing technology.

Tho they are also going pretty ham on subsidizing renewable energy too.

You won't be saying that once the market crashes. You'll realize that there are much better ways of spending that money. Like far more practical emissions reducing solutions.

How do subsidies=crash, and what are more effective emissions reductions solutions than renewable energy and electrifying transit?

You’re better off spending it on stuff like mass transit and the like. It won’t just all disappear at some point in the future.

And we could be doing the same if we ditch big oil subsidies.

You could say the same thing about fossil fuels in the USA...

Or all of the food in the USA. Imagine all agra subsidies stopped. Probably a bigger deal than a EV market disruption.

Well honestly we need to stop with corn subsidies. It is used far too much in our food system. Corn sugar just needs to stop.

As a professional car reviewer, I couldn’t travel to test-drive interesting cars during the early pandemic, so I did the next best thing: went to the website Alibaba, and bought a Changli. After I paid $2,000 for shipping and customs, the car arrived at my doorstep months later in a massive cardboard box.

But if you’re hoping that you might be able to buy these cars like you do so many other Chinese-made gadgets, keep dreaming.

I want a top speed of 50, 100 mile range, single seater, and a price tag to match

It is fascinating to read assessments of the new Chinese industry based upon comparison to lowest budget small enterprise items bought 5-10 years ago. Wasn't this originally the same said of Japanese watches and cars? Tesla has zero long tern reliability data and lots of concerns about their failures to step up to repair faults. With electric cars, everyone is at the same point for development, except the Chinese, who have been at it longest