this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2024
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[–] jj4211 4 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Note that if doing a LFP battery, then you don't have the Cobalt issue. Also, as I could most recently find, prices on LFP are such that currently it could be about $7,000 for a pack that can get over 200 miles in a typical EV. CATL claims they'll have it under $4500 for that capacity battery pack by the end of this year. Analysts are suggesting that 2025 might see that battery pack go under $2800 or so. If that comes to pass, then it's a slam dunk that an EV will incur less cost over a decade than the ICE maintenance and repairs, even ignoring gas vs. electricity costs.

The price has been coming rapidly down, after the shortages have subsided. Of course, whether the supply chain and pricing of the big automakers reflect this... well we have to see. However, Ford at least proclaimed they "managed" to save $8,000 cost per unit of mach-e, and most of that is likely just the battery pack getting thousands of dollars cheaper (they also redid the rear motor and other touches, but the bulk of that number is probably just battery cost reduction).

[–] Bytemeister 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Gonna sneak in here and mention that the real trick to EVs is to make them smaller. It's fucked up that we're building EVs to make more efficient SUVs. It's not hard to improve on the fuel economy of an SUV, and it really just kicks the can down the road. EV SUVs get like 93MPGe, and we really need smaller, more efficient cars that get in the 150-200 range.

[–] jj4211 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Though many of those "SUVS" we would have used to call "wagons", before SUV was 'cool'. The battery weight (sadly worse with LFP) is the enemy, being most of the weight to carry.

So you can have yourself a Mini Cooper SE, with "only" 400 pounds more weight than the gas counterpart, but you only have 115 miles of range, and your MPGe is only 10 more than the typical 'SUV' electric.

The most problematic facets of traditional SUVs are (so far), not common in EVs:

  • High center of gravity - Thanks to batteries, generally an EV SUV has a lower center of mass than even a lot of sedans
  • Absurd nose limiting front visibilty. Thus far most EV SUVs have pretty car-like noses. To get those vaguely decent range figures, they can't afford the stupidity of cosplaying as semi trucks like the 'big ol SUVs' like to do.

If hoping that smaller cars will pave the way to reduced kWh for good range, unfortunately the battery packs themselves are the biggest problem with weight. So you'd be really looking toward a breakthrough in energy density before you could have, say, a little Miata to toss around cheaply and lightly wear a cheaper battery with lower capacity and still get at least 100 miles of range.

[–] DogWater 1 points 5 months ago

Yeah the problem with lfp is weight and density. I'm excited to see what the big battery company's innovations are. Í believe it once it's happening.

Too much vaporware and false promises