Submitted by Sorin61 t3_z8ib3s in technology
moofunk t1_iye3ihn wrote
Reply to comment by FTR_1077 in Competitors chip away at Tesla's US electric vehicle share by Sorin61
The second generation GM EV1 from 1997 had the same range as an early Nissan Leaf and used NiMH batteries.
Power electronics and production facilities would have been limiting factors, but mostly politics killed early EVs.
EVs were really looked down on back then, even if they could have worked.
SkiingAway t1_iye7noy wrote
Estimates vary, but most I can find peg the EV1's at $80k+ in production cost per car, which would be more like ~$150k+ today.
Are you going to pay for $150k for an early Nissan Leaf with even worse battery longevity? Probably not.
Now, you can argue that the cost would have come down somewhat further with bigger production scales, but it's still quite far from where it needed to be for what they had to offer.
moofunk t1_iyea3sq wrote
Yeah, though I still think the battery itself wasn't the issue. The EV1 was only manufactured in around 2000 units and thus never warranted cost optimization, and its demise just screams politics. All cars were hand built in a facility that built specialty cars, which is very expensive to do.
Even today, tiny electrics with mediocre specs that are hand built, are crazy expensive.
Say Tesla had started everything 7 years earlier, developing the Roadster between 1998 and 2003.
They would have been more limited by the power electronics early on than the batteries. It would have been more expensive, but would have been better positioned for cost optimization, even though it was also hand built.
Power electronics development today is continuing and helps to make modern EVs cheaper and with better specs.
FTR_1077 t1_iyedd0f wrote
>EVs were really looked down on back then, even if they could have worked.
That has never been true, electric cars have always been the "future". The problem has always been the batteries. Tesla just came at the time when the right technology/price point came to market.
I was there, 3000 years ago.. Ok, I'm not that old, but old enough to remember electric cars in the 80s and 90s, concept cars that is.
CaptainLockes t1_iyf9hkv wrote
A technology doesn’t just get better on its own. There has to be some driving force pushing it forward. Auto makers could’ve been investing and researching more to make better battery, but they decided not to because it wasn’t profitable enough.
And battery technology alone isn’t enough. You have to take into account thermal and weight and all sorts of things to make the vehicle as a whole as efficient as possible. Not to mention mass production and cutting cost wherever you can. It requires a whole new mindset and going all in. Doing things half-heartedly would not have worked.
moofunk t1_iyext4t wrote
> old enough to remember electric cars in the 80s and 90s, concept cars that is.
I remember the Hope Whisper from 1983. It really ruined a lot of the reputation of EVs and never made it to the production stage.
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