Honda "Urban" EV - nearly done, new info

[kokakolia]

5 hours ago, floofer said:

How is my reaction ridiculous? Why would anyone pay the same amount for the Honda, with last-gen range and power? Hyundai are also behind. It’s not about the size of the car, but the dated tech. 

...Clapping your hands with doodoo isn’t ridiculous

 

I get your spiel about range and power. But you have to factor in reliability and price too. I personally don’t think that the power matters much. 100+ hp is more than adequate for any small-medium sized vehicle. And being electric, the acceleration and torque must be awesome regardless. 

[cluelessgenius]

19 minutes ago, kokakolia said:

...Clapping your hands with doodoo isn’t ridiculous

 

I get your spiel about range and power. But you have to factor in reliability and price too. I personally don’t think that the power matters much. 100+ hp is more than adequate for any small-medium sized vehicle. And being electric, the acceleration and torque must be awesome regardless. 

also if "last gen" tech finally gets us lower prices then even better. tech is all fine but right now we need EVs to widen the price ranges right now its either 100k for premium or your stuff with the tini ones. i think honda isnt really helping with this. we need some middle ground between the high and the low end.

[Fnige]

Ah yes, the shocked mini

[kokakolia]

1 hour ago, cluelessgenius said:

also if "last gen" tech finally gets us lower prices then even better. tech is all fine but right now we need EVs to widen the price ranges right now its either 100k for premium or your stuff with the tini ones. i think honda isnt really helping with this. we need some middle ground between the high and the low end.

Well, the way I see it: 

 

- More competition, better cars.

- If this Honda doesn’t sell very well then you might be able to snag one on a clearance sale.

- EVs are such a risky proposition because if the technology is not widely adopted you’re stuck with a handicapped car. Further, EVs get better every year. So last year’s model loses a lot of value. EVs have poor resale value. 

[suicidalfranco]

23 hours ago, kokakolia said:

new Renault Twingo

what my mom has now. Ugliest duckling out of the bunch. Wish she'd just picked a 500 and call it a day.

Among current urban cars i'd pick the mito if i wasn't into pickups

[kokakolia]

11 hours ago, suicidalfranco said:

what my mom has now. Ugliest duckling out of the bunch. Wish she'd just picked a 500 and call it a day.

Among current urban cars i'd pick the mito if i wasn't into pickups

The Renault Twingo and the Fiat 500 have basically the same shape. But the Twingo is far more practical. 

[Castdeath97]

By the looks of things I’m probably the only one in this planet that thinks it looks alright and sorta good actually. Don’t get the hate towards the design. 

[Commodus]

3 hours ago, Castdeath97 said:

By the looks of things I’m probably the only one in this planet that thinks it looks alright and sorta good actually. Don’t get the hate towards the design. 

It's just dandy!  The funny thing is that people will complain about blandness in car design and then get miffed when someone actually tries something different (if clearly inspired by the past).  So long as it's not outright ugly, I'd call it a success.  Especially since it gets people talking about about EVs and the importance of ditching gas cars as soon as possible.

[kokakolia]

8 hours ago, Castdeath97 said:

By the looks of things I’m probably the only one in this planet that thinks it looks alright and sorta good actually. Don’t get the hate towards the design. 

Well, I have been trying my darnest on this thread to argue in favour of this Honda EV design. I like it for being cute and not hyper-aggressive like most cars from 2011~2019. 

[bcredeur97]

gosh EV's are so heavy. tiny car weighs 3k pounds

[FezBoy]

4 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

gosh EV's are so heavy. tiny car weighs 3k pounds

TBH, it probably makes handling much better.  The battery lowers center of gravity and with that much weight it won't get blown around by strong wind.  Definitely better than the prius c my family drives.

[AnonymousGuy]

The concept looks cool.  The actual version looks like what you'd get if you asked a chinese company to knockoff something cool.  Soft, ugly, and only vaguely looks like the original.

[bcredeur97]

2 hours ago, FezBoy said:

TBH, it probably makes handling much better.  The battery lowers center of gravity and with that much weight it won't get blown around by strong wind.  Definitely better than the prius c my family drives.

better than a car of the same weight with it's weight up in the air.. yes. Nothing better than a really light car tho... (I do drive a miata for peat sakes though so I'm one extreme lol)

[dalekphalm]

@cluelessgenius the major problem with Hydrogen Fuel Cells (HFC) is just how insanely damn inefficient they are. Like seriously, super terribly inefficient.

 

Despite Hydrogen being the most abundant element in the universe, Hydrogen Gas doesn't really exist naturally on Earth.

 

There are two main methods of creating hydrogen:

1. Steam reforming, which burns Natural Gas, and creates pollution and carbon GHG's in the process (very bad for the environment, still relies on fossil fuels)

2. Electrolysis - using electricity to split Hydrogen atoms off the Oxygen Atom - the byproduct is H₂ gas and Oxygen - however, it takes a lot of electricity. I mean, a lot. Far more than you would use to simply charge up a battery to use in an EV.

 

Additionally, it's incredibly inefficient, in terms of energy extracted in the final product.

 

I think that the real solution will be a combination of multiple technologies (HFC for long-haul or long distance, and EV for normal travel), unless there's a paradigm shifting breakthrough in either HFC or Battery tech.

 

In terms of your city only having 2 public charging stations? That's a bureaucratic problem, and is solvable. The Gas Station infrastructure didn't pop up overnight either - it took multiple decades.

 

Anyone that owns their own home and has a parking spot will easily be able to switch to an EV - even the home charging infrastructure isn't too expensive when you consider the cost of a new (or newer) car, and the savings on fuel. That will mean public EV charging infrastructure simply won't matter to those people, since they will charge at home every night.

 

People in condos or apartment buildings that have their own dedicated parking spot will potentially have the same benefit. Yes, the Landlord isn't likely to want to do it. But so what? Legislate it, and make it so that an EV owner is allowed to install their own charger, at their own cost. And in terms of the electrical utility getting involved? Might be necessary, but again, that's a solvable problem.

 

People who do street parking or have other - non ideal - parking situations are the ones that will either require public stations, or an alternative fuel source.

 

But if we can get literally everyone else onto EV's, and only have people with specific needs on another source? That's still a win.

 

Furthermore, fast charging is getting better. Once we can get to the point where you can get 80%+ charge within 5-10 minutes, "refueling" on the go will become a non-issue, outside of more infrastructure (which is again, a solvable problem).

[ARikozuM]

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

In terms of your city only having 2 public charging stations? That's a bureaucratic problem, and is solvable. The Gas Station infrastructure didn't pop up overnight either - it took multiple decades.

This is the laziest counter-point to EV's I've ever heard. If we can have 40 gas stations in one city, we can damn sure equip every parking spot with charging stations. Especially for commercial and municipal lots.