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As Elon Musk steps away, yet again, from the idea of a $25,000 Tesla, let’s take this opportunity to zoom out and appreciate what a truly affordable EV can be. For this we need to ignore the Nissan Leaf—currently the cheapest EV in the US at $29,280—and skip over Europe, home to the adorable but flawed $10,000 Citroen Ami, and head to China.
Today, the Biden administration announced a near-unprecedented 100 percent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles, a move the White House said would protect the American industry from “unfairly priced Chinese imports.” Previously, tariffs on Chinese EVs sat at 25 percent.
Car enthusiasts mourn the commoditization of propulsion. Once petrolheads would have chosen a BMW for its sonorous straight-six or a Mercedes-AMG for its thunderous V8. Now many believe that distinctiveness is rapidly diminishing. Electric cars might provide mad, silent thrust, but a common complaint is they are mostly indistinguishable for the character of their drivetrains.
A lot can happen in 150 milliseconds. Light will have traveled around the Earth’s equator (and then some). A honeybee’s wing will have flapped 30 times. The M13B pulsar located in the constellation of Hercules will have rotated more than 42 times. All this in the blink of an eye—which, incidentally, also takes about 150 milliseconds.
A controversial bill that would require all new cars to be fitted with AM radios looks set to become a law in the near future. Yesterday, Senator Edward Markey revealed that the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act now has the support of 60 US Senators, as well as 246 cosponsors in the House of Representatives, making its passage an almost sure thing. Should that happen, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would be required to ensure that all new cars sold in the US have AM radios at no extra cost.
Have you heard? The hybrids are coming. As sales growth falters for electric vehicles, particularly in the United States, automakers have started to turn their gaze toward the EV’s less-charged-up cousins.
About two years ago, I was in a car with my best friend and her toddler. She was driving, and I was sitting in the back next to her 10-month-old, who was tucked into his car seat. For a while, the ride was smooth—then the baby burst into tears. We tried every common trick to comfort him. I contorted my face into the silliest of poses, my friend burst into a catchy song, but our efforts were met with louder wails until finally—mercifully!—we pulled into my friend's driveway and she was able to scoop her son up in her arms.
Do the Germans have an impressively long word for something that is all new, yet feels reassuringly familiar? If they do, that’s how we’d like to describe the new all-electric Porsche Macan.