Tesla BEV Competition Developments

[mblakele]

Toyota to build new electric car plant in Tianjin | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

Toyota Motor has decided to build a plant in the Chinese city of Tianjin to jointly produce electric and plug-in hybrid cars with a local company.

Sources say the Japanese automaker has filed an application to construct the facility in a special economic development zone.

Toyota is expected to invest more than 1.2 billion dollars to manufacture some 200,000 units annually. It plans to complete the plant by the early 2020s.

[...]​

 

[TheTalkingMule]

Great news. Forcing Toyota put a sincere effort into building EVs profitably at scale is a HUGE milestone in this part of the Master Plan.

Get to it!

 

[ZsoZso]

Renault has made a transformer concept:

The EV can grow or shrink (at least length-wise). First I did not get the point of extending the nose of the car (not the cabin!), but then they explain in the video that it gives space to add more floor-mounted batteries. So you can have a small range city car and when you want to go for a road trip, you go to a station where extra battery pack is added to the bottom of the stretched version.

 

[JRP3]

It's insane, even for a concept.

 

[alloverx]

Posted the following in the i4 thread

photos have leaked here

 

[Compton]

Posted the following in the i4 thread

photos have leaked here

Won't that huge grille and flattish front kill the aerodynamics? Just to maintain and even exaggerate the classic BMW look?

 

[EinSV]

BMW says they are targeting a 270 mile EPA range for the i4 concept, with an 80 kWh battery.

Finally, BMW is taking a run at the 2012 Model S!

BMW’s electric i4 sedan finally shown off in concept form

 

[Kmartyn]

Toyota announces EV plans today, and GM announces theirs tomorrow.
Still don’t see any Tesla killers.
Toyota Goes Electric Starting In 2020: Announces Massive EV Offensive

Sorry, just noted that Toyota link was from last year, but was just retweeted today.

 

[willow_hiller]

In case anyone needs a laugh, I present: Discussions from the Kia Niro EV Subreddit

Anyone else get another oil change message? : KiaNiroEV

 

[SmartElectric]

Just as annoying as my Smart telling me to perform my yearly service appointment, when there isn't anything to do, and the warning about being 400 days overdue (at this point) shows up every time I get in the car. Sigh.

 

[willow_hiller]

As a general rule of thumb, when the title of an article is a question the answer is "No." Has Ford Mustang Mach-E Production Started Early?

But it looks like they are getting started on pre-production. I suppose we'll know when they're actually ready when an EPA rating pops up.

 

[ammulder]

An interesting thing about GM’s just-announced plan to have 12 electric vehicles by 2025:

As of January, the goal was to have ‘20 electric nameplates released by 2023’... oops.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Just as annoying as my Smart telling me to perform my yearly service appointment, when there isn't anything to do, and the warning about being 400 days overdue (at this point) shows up every time I get in the car. Sigh.

Don’t forget your dessicant filter.

 

[mongo]

It occurs to me that other companies talk about catching up to Tesla based on where they see them and their cars' stats currently. But they miss the important piece of information that Tesla has lapped the track at least one more time than they have.

Y deliveries start tomorrow.

 

[RobStark]

Polestar 2 Production Officially Begins: Deliveries Start This Summer

 

[cucubits]

BMW says they are targeting a 270 mile EPA range for the i4 concept, with an 80 kWh battery.

Finally, BMW is taking a run at the 2012 Model S!

BMW’s electric i4 sedan finally shown off in concept form

I know you're trying to make a funny but if you put a 2012 Model S next to a 2020 Model S, an outsider will have a hard time telling the difference. I'm very happy that other manufacturers are stepping up and I hope with all my heart that this i4 will be a serious wake up call for Tesla.

The range and power will be perfectly fine. Tesla can keep beating their chest with more range and maybe faster acceleration, but that's not everything in a car. A dated, noisy and un-ergonomic low quality interior does not make up for that.

With how little seems to have been improved in the new Model Y, I'm more and more sure Tesla's glory days are numbered.

 

[ggr]

I know you're trying to make a funny but if you put a 2012 Model S next to a 2020 Model S, an outsider will have a hard time telling the difference. I'm very happy that other manufacturers are stepping up and I hope with all my heart that this i4 will be a serious wake up call for Tesla.

The range and power will be perfectly fine. Tesla can keep beating their chest with more range and maybe faster acceleration, but that's not everything in a car. A dated, noisy and un-ergonomic low quality interior does not make up for that.

With how little seems to have been improved in the new Model Y, I'm more and more sure Tesla's glory days are numbered.

You say "as an outsider" but maybe you mean "from the outside"? We have a 2012 Model S P85, and I test drove a 2019 S P100D (pre-raven) last year. While lots of things were the same, lots of things were different, and the difference was "chalk and cheese". Today's car is 80% better and 10% cheaper. Oh, and a lot quieter too.

 

[Saghost]

I know you're trying to make a funny but if you put a 2012 Model S next to a 2020 Model S, an outsider will have a hard time telling the difference. I'm very happy that other manufacturers are stepping up and I hope with all my heart that this i4 will be a serious wake up call for Tesla.

The range and power will be perfectly fine. Tesla can keep beating their chest with more range and maybe faster acceleration, but that's not everything in a car. A dated, noisy and un-ergonomic low quality interior does not make up for that.

With how little seems to have been improved in the new Model Y, I'm more and more sure Tesla's glory days are numbered.

Anyone looking at the front will see the difference immediately.

That’s only cosmetic, and by far the least important of the differences, but it is immediately obvious.

Anyone flooring it will know the difference immediately, too.

And then there’s Autopilot...

 

[canoemore]

This Reuters article seems to confirm once again that the competition is not coming:

Detroit's near future based on SUVs not EVs production plans show

 

[willow_hiller]

Video progress report by Rivian:

Interesting choice to post that in the middle of this pandemic, with a majority of footage shot before it. I'm sure it's mainly to assure investors.