Chinese Cars
- Thread starter kirknewton
- Start date
If Teslas struggle in Canadian winters, can you imagine how Chinese EVs will perform?
That's literally every new car being made by everyone. I'm not aware of a single car company that's making simple vehicles that don't have all these fancy bells and whistles. They are all, as you put it, glorified tablets on wheels that can be remote controlled
I have a 2025 Nissan Kicks Play. The screen only controls the radio, all other controls are conventional knobs and switches. However, like all vehicles, the engine management and safety systems add a lot of complexity.
There are more than one that has an engine to charge the battery. These Extended-Range Electric Vehicles (EREVs) may be very common in the future.
My biggest worry would be parts, maintenance and repairs for the first few years until a company has been established in Canada for a few years. I have friend who owns a body shop and the wait for some of the more random parts and be weeks even for Toyotas and Hondas.
Not to mention that Teslas use a proprietary very high efficiency electrically driven heat pump/air conditioner. In moderately cold temps, a heat pump can provide 4x the heat of electric resistance heating elements. And IIRC, Tesla's use of a heat pump in an EV is patented. Not sure but that's my recollection.
So EV's that use glowing hot wires or other resistance-type heating will eat power like crazy in a Canadian winter.
Never buy the first models from any manufacturer. They all lie about the specs. Let someone else be the test dummy.
I worked in Australia 99-03, and still have some pals we connect with on the Web.
Chinese cars are quite common there.
Two have the Chinese EV's and have no issue about them.
Where they live the a/c is the range eater.
Chinese cars are quite common there.
Two have the Chinese EV's and have no issue about them.
Where they live the a/c is the range eater.
Heatpumps cannot be patented, some aspects of the Tesla design are patented. Most Chinese EVs use heatpumps. China has some very cold regions so their vehicles do take cold into design consideration. I am in Asia now and there are Chinese EVs all over the place. Even taxis are Chinese EVs, I was in Vietnam and the Viet build Vinfast cars (with Chinese tech) are everywhere and seem really excellent. They have small EVs not sold in Canada. I am very impressed with the quality and variety of the Chinese EVs
I have an EV that I only use in the summer, I put only 4K km on it a year, and there are people with over 195K MILES on the same car. So I suspect I will have it a loooong time. I will consider replacing it when a full self driving car is produced.
What has me worried about EVs are the batteries and range. Once they go kaput you are better off buying a new car and if you drive long distances, especially in winter, there's a good chance you'll drain the battery and be stuck. I drive sometimes 12 to 16 hours to go to my favorite hunting and fishing spots in Northern Ontario, there's no way I can do that in an EV. Hybrid gas/electric are a far better option imo as you aren't relying 100% on the battery in the car
They last longer then gasoline engines in most cases and don't require oil changes. But for really long drives where there is no infrastructure for now maybe gas is a better idea.
Chinese EVs have routinely been ranked above Teslas both for build quality and performance.
How they will perform here in Canada, in our winters, is uncertain.
That said, I don't care much for EVs anyway.
How they will perform here in Canada, in our winters, is uncertain.
That said, I don't care much for EVs anyway.
Been driving EVs for four years and will never go back to ICE. If you have 2 vehicles, 1 should be an EV. Down here some EVs actually cost less that ICE, since EVs have 30% less parts.
Have a Level 2 charger in my garage so never have to pump gas in the rain, cold or snow anymore. Just plug it in at night before bedtime and it's fully charged and ready in the morning. Cold winters suck, you loose 50% battery range but summers are great. With Regeneration I get 400 miles of range per charge. This results in net savings of ~100 bucks a month USD now. Used to be ~120/month savings 3 yrs ago but electric rates have gone up here in Buffalo. Plus no oil changes and antifreeze needed anymore. In winter heat is instant since there is no wait for the ICE engine to warm up. This translates into a savings over $6,000 dollars and counting so far that went to me, instead of Big Oil. Big Oil can go drink their oil, don't need it anymore.
Canada has a colder climate which will hurt battery range. You need a garage to recharge your EV in. Charging outside in the driveway in winters gives you even less range. They are working on batteries that do better in the cold.
Have no need for 2 vehicles anymore. If I go on a long trip, say NYC or so, I simply rent an ICE car. This way there is no need to stop at a charging station along the way and sit for an hour or so while vehicle is recharging. Can go to Toronto and back on a full charge with no problem. Many Hotels and such have FREE EV Charging available for their guests, so you can extend your driving range while staying there. Just make sure to call and ask if the EV charging units are in working condition before booking.
Batteries are warranted 8 yrs. However if you charge your EV from 20% - 80% of capacity, the battery will last 10 yrs. Charge battery from 40% - 60% and battery will last over 20 years, most likely longer than the vehicle itself! Doing this is very easy with any Level 2 charger. Running battery down below 20% frequently is bad for batteries. Also charging batteries to 100% and letting EV sit fully charged for a day or so is bad. Unless you begin a trip or drive EV around doing something to lower the 100% charge down some. BTW this is all due to Lithium-ion battery chemistry and also applies to smart phones and laptops.
China is years ahead of the world on EVs. They have EVs that make ours look like Chevettes. Plus they cost around 50% less than Tesla. Chinese love them. Wuling is a GM and China joint venture building EVs. Base model costs, $6,500 with a 127 mile battery range and upscale model costs $8,000 USD with a 187 mile battery range. This EV is a Chinese style Steve Urkel smart car and outsells Tesla by a ratio of 5 to 1. Have seen a few older versions of them here in use, by people on the University of Buffalo campuses. Big OIL and Detroit will not let these EVs be exported to the USA! Told my Dealership about them and most salesmen and sales managers told me they would buy 2 of them if they came here!
2025 Wuling MINI EV
Also China has eliminated problem of sitting around and waiting for your EV to recharge. You can buy a subscription for, then drive your EV into their 'Battery Exchange Station' when your battery is depleted. A robotic type unit takes out your depleted battery and puts a fully charged battery in its place! This takes about 2 minutes! Like going through a car wash. Quicker than filling up the gas tank on an ICE vehicle.
Things like this are difficult to accomplish in the USA where BIG OIL dictates our energy policy and continues doing all it can to sabotage EVs along with help from their myopic tool Trump . Not sure if this applies to Canada also.
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