this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2025
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Canada proposes 100% tariffs on Tesla, I have an alternative: open the door to Chinese EVs (electrek.co)
submitted 19 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

It's a combination of issues. In no particular order;

  • precursor availability: All the stuff that EVs are made of, is made in China. If you want to build EVs it's easier and cheaper to get all the parts in China than it is in the US
  • logistics: China has more modern roads, railroads, ports etc. That makes it much easier to get parts in and finished products out
  • government aid: China has prioritized EVs for a long time and has all kinds of policies to encourage EV production
  • EV infrastructure: China has more EV charging stations than the US and EU combined
  • limited ICE competition: China doesn't have any big ICE vehicle companies. There are no significant groups in China advocating against EVs

Labor costs don't seem to be a factor at all. EVs are made in modern factories that are almost completely automated. The biggest part of "precursor availability" is likely batteries. The main innovation in EVs was the batteries. The electric motors, chassis, computers, etc are all secondary to batteries that can safely hold a lot of charge and discharge reliably. China dominates that market too.

[–] RememberTheApollo_ -1 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 8 minutes ago) (2 children)

How about the rare earth materials as well as much more expensive metals in the motor and electronics construction? An ICE engine is well understood and you can pick up a higher performing aluminum block and head crate motor for ~$13k or so. The higher trim Tesla motors are ~$20k, and they can have up to four motors. That’s a huge difference.

E: y’all downvoting…why? OEM electric motors for cars like a Tesla are expensive AF whereas you can get a relatively inexpensive ICE (~$7k for a base model V8 crate motor). That’s retail, not the manufacturer internal price.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 12 hours ago

China has more rare earth deposits than the US but that's a bit misleading. Rare earths show up in trace amounts all over the world. China has them in higher concentrations.

The bigger issue is that China has been the main refiner of rare earths for decades. That means they have all the infrastructure for actually making it available and they've developed a bunch of technologies and processes to do it way cheaper and more efficiently than anyone else can.

I don't know the pricing specifics of EV motors but I have some familiarity with electric motors, in general. The technology hasn't really changed much in a long time. We've have 3 phase motors and hall effect sensors for ages. They're better than older electric motors but the huge technology leap, that made EVs practical, was the batteries.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

No way does an electric motor cost that much.

Have you seen the amount of precision engineering that goes into building a combustion engine? That is ridiculously expensive.

[–] RememberTheApollo_ 1 points 52 minutes ago

No way does an electric motor cost that much.

Did you check numbers before you posted or did you disagree out of hand with zero thought to it? I didn’t pull these numbers out of my ass.

https://gbtimes.com/how-much-is-a-tesla-motor-replacement/

$10k-$30k, I posted a midrange price. Another site had them as “cheap” as 7k, but either way if you need 2-4 of them it’s not cheap.

That precision engineering has been establishing itself for well over a century, we get the cheaper price thanks to the economy of numbers. piston engines were driven by steam well before ICE. Yes, I am abundantly familiar with ICE engines having built several and in fact have one under assembly in my garage right now. There’s a massive difference between a boring consumer grade crate motor and any purpose-built high-end track motor as far as engineering goes even if the parts are essentially the same.