What will it take to make you seriously consider an EV?

Vinfast invited some journalist to come to Vietnam to drum up hype for their Vinfast VF8 and VF9.





The cars seem decent as a whole, but unpolished. The pricing structure is interesting. The VF8 starts at $40k, but you're required to subscribe to their battery lease plan for $110/month. The battery is then warrantied and they will replace it if it gets lower than 70% capacity.

I don't think that kind of battery rental plan making sense for most people that drive 10k-12k miles per year. You end up paying $13,000 for battery rentals in 10 years. You can likely buy a replacement battery for $13k in 10 years. It would be ideal for someone that drives a lot of miles per year. Then you don't have to worry about wearing out your battery or battery warranty in a couple of years.

I wish them luck, but I would be wary until they can show reliability and good post purchase service and parts availability.

 

Sounds like an expensive car if you're paying for a vehicle and then renting the battery on top of it. I think a lot of battery warranties on EV's cover the battery for around 8-10 years if the battery capacity gets below 70%. That grille gives me horror flashbacks to the Pontiac Aztek, though. The interior is meh. And, of course, they don't even have a dealer/service network yet, so... I'd probably wait and see how this thing does for a few years, first. lol.

 

I'd like to see someone not have a frunk, and then kind of do the VW van kind of thing, so you'd have more seating.

 

"Chevy Bolt owners who opt for rebates must waive right to sue over battery fires"

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/chevy-bolt-owners-opt-rebates-162800543.html

lol

Chevy is such a FAIL.

 

The important point is the EV tax credit. It doesn't apply if your SUV is above $55K if I recall correctly. The Model Y is disqualified from that. The effective price of Vinfast is $32.5K, and then you pay $13K for 10 years of battery service. It's a nice peace of mind plus it's wayyy cheaper than a Model Y. ($45K vs $65K) I can easily see how people would buy Vinfast over Tesla. Furthermore, theoretically you can sell the car for more after 10 years because the other person doesn't have to worry about the battery, but the only way that works is if the battery itself loses more than $13K of resell value had you have owned it. Not sure if that really is the case.

The real competition comes from cars that are more in its price range. Why would someone buy the Vinfast over a Ioniq 5 for example, which starts at around the same price, and you get to own the battery, and it's being made by an experienced car manufacturer.

 

The proposed new EV credit rule would throw a wrench into Vinfast's plan. Since it won't be assembled in North America, it won't qualify for the EV credit. I don't see how it can compete with something like the Chevy Blazer EV that will likely qualify for the EV credit.

 

Rip Tesla

+

Spoiler

https://www.thedrive.com/news/tesla-dating-score-helps-owners-rate-like-minded-obsessives

 

I wouldn't mind her being my suga mama.

 

@KingCheetah



Warren Redlich - YouTuber & Tesla HyperBull
Swiping on some 18 year olds during the TSLA meeting?

 

GRANDMA GET OFF INTERNET!

 

It exists.


Look up Canoo.


I'm very interested in them. They may not make it, and they may be huge.


Walmart put in a large order, and there's rumors of a partnership with Mini.

 

Pretty interesting vehicle, especially starting around $35K.

 

Dealership mark-up 60k

 

Just get an ID Buzz, then. It's supposed to be here in the US in a couple of years, I think, unless you need one sooner. lol. I hated the VW Microbus as a kid, but man, for some reason those things restored just look sweet... and can cost 6 figures. lol.

When I owned their SPAC stock, I thought the idea to do a subscription model for a car was about the stupidest thing, and there'd be no way I "buy" a vehicle I don't own. It looks like they got rid of the former leadership and the subscription model, too (?). Thank God. The vehicles are hideous or cute depending on what end of the spectrum you are, but I can see them being useful for businesses. Their "Lifestyle Vehicle" seems pretty good for intra-city driving for a family, but this is one of those vehicles you wait to see how they do first. lol. At least with Ford/GM/Tesla, if the thing flops, you have a solid company behind it. With Canoo, they may just jump in their canoe and float away leaving you with your lovely $35k purchase. For some reason, Mini and Canoo seem like a good pairing.

 

I'm interested in the seeing the 2024 Honda Prologue EV when it comes out. That, and the 2024 Acura EV, the "luxury" version. Yes, Honda's finally coming out late next year with a full blown EV based on the joint venture Honda went into with GM, the Ultium battery and the associated drive train. Honda says it has it's own EV base platform in development that it'll use for future EV's. The video below the camo image is interesting:

Spoiler

 

The Prologue looks eeerily similar to the Chevy Blazer, so they may not just be sharing the Ultium battery tech.

 

According to Car and Driver, Honda's going to be using it for the Prologue, but I don't know what GM's going to do.

It's going to be pretty freaky when we start getting tens of thousands of EV's cranked out every year by the mainstream auto makers, including the big Japanese, European, and Korean ones. It looks inevitable. My cousin and I used to rebuild V-8's (I handed him the tools! He was an amazing shade tree mechanic). Heck, I changed the shocks on my car. Everything is so complicated now that the vast majority have to take their car/ SUV etc. to a shop anyway. Might as well be an EV once the average range is good, as long as they're reliable.

 

The Prologue seems like a stop-gap measure for Honda until they ramp up their own tech/designs. Probably a good idea since by the time it's released, there's going to be a bit of data out on GM vehicles like the Lyriq and the Ultium tech from the early adopters/beta testers. lol.

 

I may have posted about this EBus thing, but I'm too lazy to go back and look for it. Thios one is cool because the backend is modular with a bunch of options. Here's a video:

 

Any thoughts on the Subaru Solterra? I wouldn’t touch an EV but love the AWD.