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Drew Dowdell

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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    @ccap41 - The point that @surreal1272 and I are making here is that driving has been subsidized by taxpayers for decades.... So while I can't speak for him, I'm a little confused as to why you protest this particular subsidy that is, in the grand scheme of things, very small. If you're against all subsidies, that's a perfectly valid position to have. Just understand the full gravity of what comes with that position with regards to traditional cars.
  2. Drew Dowdell
    Heck, just raise the gas tax to the point where the highway trust fund is fully funded.... No one would flinch at an extra 25 cents a gallon these days.... no one would even notice it.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    China and Cadillac are no-brainers for increasing EV offerings. They have the biggest potential in China where it will be legislated and they can charge a premium for them here in the US. If Buick wants a good play-book for the US, they really need to look at Volvo.
  4. Drew Dowdell
    Tesla will run out of credits first, followed by GM. Nissan has to be on that list somewhere too. I do not know how close they are. Why is subsidizing 57% of someone's road use okay, but not 20% of someone's vehicle purchase? Putting it another way; If you're so worried about tax credits on EVs, why aren't you worried that we haven't raised the gas tax from 18.4 cents per gallon to 43 cents per gallon.... a 133.7% increase in the gas tax?
  5. Drew Dowdell
    Why not just let the 200k vehicle credit run its course? Our gas taxes only cover 43% of the highway budget. I work from home most days now so my contribution to the highway fund via gas taxes is very minimal.... my income taxes are subsidizing your driving whether you buy an EV or not and I'm okay with that because that's how civil society works.
  6. Drew Dowdell
    because its fake
  7. Drew Dowdell
    There were practically no changes for the 2018s. They're just using up parts at this point.
  8. Drew Dowdell
    And this is why I was thinking you were trolling or deliberately being obtuse. Tax credits = higher sales Higher sales = better economies of scale = lower costs per unit. The Leaf only has a 107 mile range - Batteries cost per KwH - KwH = range - Bolt has more than double the range No one here, or anywhere, is saying that we all deserve to drive EVs - don't use fallacies. The Credit is there to get more EVs onto the market to drive more demand for the infrastructure to be built so that more EVs can get on to the market at a lower cost in the future.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    The tax credit makes the vehicle more affordable for a broader audience. That means it increases sales for the companies and it helps with the financial justification for investment into the infrastructure. Superior technology is also usually more expensive technology. If this tax credit goes away, expect EV sales to crater and Tesla to possibly go under. The removal of the tax credit turns the Bolt from a $30k car into a $37,500 car.... base. Even with the credit, GM is likely losing money on each one sold. These are very long term investments for 10 - 20 years into the future.
  10. Drew Dowdell
    Yet fewer faults than humans.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    Computers are smarter and faster than humans.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    This. For what he wants to drive, I defer to him on picking out a car. I present him with options based on his criteria and he can pick from them. Last night he said to me "I'm not getting a used car.". And that's where I corrected him. Whatever we get will be a CPO or used with a good warranty.
  13. Drew Dowdell
    That's actually pretty low for the oldest truck on the market. The 2018's are the last year for this generation of Ram, so I would expect incentives to be high.
  14. Drew Dowdell
    That's kinda what this article is talking about. Excessive leasing is starting to hurt them at the back end of the transaction. They are writing artificially cheap leases and then when the lease is done, the asset it worth less than what the lease was written for even at full retail. However, they are finding themselves unable to stop because they've hooked those customers on the crack of cheap leases. If they adjusted their leases for reality, lease prices would go up and sedan sales would drop even further than they already have.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    I'm not sure if you're intentionally trolling or are actually missing the nuance of what I said. Infrastructure is more than just charging stations, though yes, those also need to increase. There is also the infrastructure in lithium mines, battery construction, electric motor construction. GM is geared up today to build millions of 4-cylinder engines world wide... but they'll only build maybe a hundred thousand electric motors for EVs this year. (Bolt, Volt, CT6 PHEV, eAssist). It's not easy to quickly turn an engine manufacturing plant into a motor manufacturing plant. The subsidies need to continue in order to make the technology available to a wider audience. That wider audience will drive demand for infrastructure higher. The pump still needs to be primed for a while.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    I drove from Pittsburgh to NY to Pittsburgh earlier this week. It shouldn't be surprising to me that people are idiots on the road, but on the first leg of that trip I wanted to nuke the whole east coast. I can't imagine the idiots who can barely operate a Corolla operating a flying drone car...
  17. Drew Dowdell
    No, there is still not enough infrastructure to start widespread adoption yet.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    Changing a technology like this requires investment. There won't be chargers without EV demand and there won't be EV demand without chargers. It's a chicken and egg problem. Also, until any of these things hits large scale, there won't be economies of scale and the price won't come down. The Federal government started the EV credits to help prime the pump and lower costs until the price comes down. Lest we forget, the government paid for a whole bunch of paved roads 100 years ago to enable vehicle traffic. Prior to that, roads between cities were largely dirt paths with mud axel deep. It wasn't "The Market" that paved those roads.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    This is the new bubble and I'm right there with you. I've been in my house 15 years and I've paid it down so much that there are used mid-range luxury cars out there that exceed the outstanding balance on my mortgage.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    The industry got those regulations because the industry was acting badly. Corporations will poison your kids for a 5 cent jump in share price if they could get away with it. It is much better to be proactive with regulations than reactive with spill cleanup. That said, at least these tax credits are helping the end consumers directly instead of going to multi-billion dollar corporations.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    GM is weird. Sometimes they'll have a car out as soon as January of one year prior to model year and then you get 18 months of a model year's production. Other times it will be December before it goes on sale and then quickly switch in May or June. The Envision's first model year was only about 3 months long.
  22. Drew Dowdell
    My next purchase is one for me and will be something that went out of production after 2013. Albert gets his Encore replacement after I get my new to me car. I've suffered long enough with the CR-V..... though neither of us drive much anymore. He takes the bus to work and I work from home.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    The system voltage is largely irrelevant as long as it is within a certain range. The Chevy Volt's battery runs at 360 volts. The old eAssist Malibu ran at 36 volts. A first gen Prius battery is 200 volts. The original Civic Hybrid IMA battery is 180 volts. I couldn't find the battery voltage for the XC90 and XC60, but as both of them produce more total system power than the Benz, I feel the actual voltage of their system is completely irrelevant. Can you please stop thinking that the 48 volt system from Benz is anything special? It's just eAssist a decade late.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    they'll only have incentives on what's already on the lots in bulk. FCA seems to be behind with getting their '18s out.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    Tesla is too unpredictable, but yes, I am concerned for the future of the company. I don't have a personal interest in any of their automotive products (I do like their ideas for home solar and home battery), however even if I never bought a Tesla car, I would not be "gratified" to see them go under. If you are referring to my comment about shorting the stock, I can easily see the money making opportunity of an overvalued stock and yet still not want the company to go under. Tesla is not the only company on the stock market looking at precarious conditions these days. We're due for a major correction soon.
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