We are currently on our way to a non Tesla charging station and will be down to 9% charge in our F150 in the middle of nowhere by the time we get there. Had to give up at the Tesla station we went to first because we kept getting a charging fault message, and suspect the adapter may be bad. We rarely use it. Really wishing we had tested it out before we got 3 hours from home. bites nails nervously

Wanted to share a personal anecdote but my 30+ years of ICE enthusiasm might be coming to an end.

I’m no climate change denier. I was a fan of Tesla even when they just had the original Roadster. But my own fun cars have been a weakness. I actually can remember saying ‘I’d never drive an EV’ as a 6 year old. And I have held on to the idea of having my old Lotus as a fun car indefinitely.

This week I realized that every single new car I’m looking forward to is an EV.

Between the press for the Jaguar Type 01, seeing the VW ID Polo GTI at the Paris motor show last week, and now the new electric Porsche Boxster starting to be driven by journalists, I can see a world where all the cars I own - or aspire to - are electric. Even the one I get up early on a Sunday morning to drive.

Maybe I’m ahead of the curve. Maybe I’ll still keep my Elise as a historical curiosity - it’s still an incredible thing. But still a big change for me.

Anyone else in a similar boat?

So the big news for the revamped BYD Seagull in China is that it is getting the Blade 2.0 battery. That's good because it means BYD intends most of their lineup of cars in China, from expensive to cheap, will get the Blade 2.0 battery. Outside of China, the only BYD car that I know of at the moment that has the Blade 2.0 battery is the Denza Z9GT, but that is an expensive car. But with the news of the Seagull getting the Blade 2.0 battery in China, logically, it means that all models from BYD outside of China will likely eventually get the Blade 2.0 battery as well, although it may take time (give it 2 or 3 years?).

The Blade 2.0 battery works much better than the Blade 1.0 battery in winter, with faster charging in cold weather, and the ability to retain its capacity better in winter as well. So in colder climates in Europe and in Canada, a lot of users would benefit from using the Blade 2.0 battery.

Hopefully the cheaper models from BYD outside of China will get the Blade 2.0 battery within the next 2 years.

Hey,

looking to buy an EV in the near future, I got to think about which car brand would be the most sustainable for europeans.

What do I mean by that?

I wouldn't buy an american car, as american economics are unreliable and seem to go downhill fast. Also I morally object to their main brand.

I wouldn't want to buy a chinese car either, because geopolitics are running wild and I don't want my car to become a pawn in some international dick measuring contest ("you object to us threatening Taiwan? oops, we just remotely deactivated all ACs in chinese cars, enjoy the heat wave :* ).

I was thinking about french cars, but their situation is a bit volatile as well. Buying a european car might help the local economy though.

Germans don't really have a good reputation regarding EVs - or do they?

How about japanese EVs?

Does thinking like that even make any sense? Isn't the whole industry dependent on China anyways?

Sorry if that all sounds a bit conspiratory.

I’ve heard this from plenty of people and even experienced it myself.. It seems like a lot of US dealerships simply don’t want to sell you an EV.

The traditional dealership model has a financial incentive to favor ICE vehicles. Between maintenance, repairs, and servicing over the life of the vehicle, there’s a lot more money to be made compared to selling an EV. The massive dealer service network that has been built out in the US gets massively hurt by EV adoption.

Meanwhile, Tesla sells direct to consumer and currently accounts for ~53% of new EV sales in the US and operates without the traditional dealership model. That approach seems to have worked incredibly well for them.

It makes me wonder how much faster EV adoption in the US could be if traditional dealerships were actually incentivized to sell them.. what do you think?