Electric Vehicles

I just saw the headline on Google News: “Tesla Has the Highest Fatal Accident Rate of All Auto Brands, Study Finds.” Yikes. I’ve covered how safe Tesla vehicles are for many years. In fact, it was the #1 reason why I bought a Tesla Model 3 in 2019. So, on the one hand, it was surprising to see that headline. But not really.

We already saw last year that one of the reasons Hertz was selling off its Tesla vehicles and not buying more was because they were more likely to get into accidents, and then waiting for repairs/service/parts took longer than average as well. Those kinds of things add up a great deal when you’re managing a big fleet of vehicles.

Are Tesla vehicles actually designed to be unsafe? No, that’s not the issue. The issue is that while Tesla was designing its cars to be extra safe, it was also constantly focusing on making the cars super quick (insanely quick, ludicrously quick, plaid quick) and regularly hyping up how quick its cars were in order to stimulate consumer demand.

Believe it or not, when you’ve consumed all that hype around how quick a Tesla is, it’s easy to be influenced and want to smoke cars off the line at a red light, or just drive like a bat out of hell. The problem is: that leads to accidents, and fast accidents lead to deaths. Let’s get to the shocking stats:

“Tesla’s vehicles have the highest fatal accident rate among all car brands in America, according to a recent iSeeCars study that analyzed data from the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).”

https://archive.is/f690v

In a sea of electric crossovers and SUVs, a good ol' sedan is a nice change of pace. However, there’s still a problem. Nissan’s new EV will be made in China exclusively for the local market. The N7 was developed with local partner Dongfeng through their 50:50 joint venture. If it weren’t for the badge, I’d honestly be hard-pressed to identify this car as a Nissan.

If the N7 already looks familiar, Dongfeng Nissan previewed the production model in April with the Epoch concept. It’s a sleek sedan that ticks all the design trend boxes in 2024: split headlights, a rear light bar, an illuminated logo, two-tone wheels, and a swoopy roofline. The LED daytime running lights send a bit of a Hyundai vibe, but the boomerang-shaped lights below give the car a unique front fascia.

Some would be tempted to say this is Nissan’s first-ever electric sedan. However, that’s not the case. The Leaf-based Sylphy Zero Emission was launched in 2018 as the company’s first EV made for the Chinese market. Just how big is the N7? At 194 inches (4930 millimeters) long and 74.6 inches (1895 millimeters) wide, it’s roughly the same size as a Volkswagen ID.7. However, it sits closer to the road, at 58.5 inches (1487 millimeters) tall. It measures 114.7 inches (2915 millimeters) between the axles, so the wheelbase is a tad shorter than the VW’s.

Nissan isn’t willing to show the interior just yet, nor is it ready to divulge technical specifications beyond the car’s measurements. We do know it sits on a locally developed modular electric architecture and will be offered with a “Navigate on Autopilot” advanced driver-assist system. Inside, the touchscreen should run smoothly courtesy of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295P processor.

The N7 will go on sale in China during the first half of 2025. It’s one of several models included in Nissan’s “The Arc” midterm plan, which will allow the Dongfeng Nissan joint venture to accelerate the launch of hybrid and electric vehicles in China. This strategy calls for a total of 30 models globally by 2027, including seven vehicles for the United States.

I joined up here from the other EV communities on Lemmy because it seems some consolidation is going on. Now it's looking like there's a ton of posts all from one of the mods and it's literally overtaking my feed.

For example, the top "hot" posts are here are SIX in less than an hour.

I'm all about getting the community active and all that, but is this really the best method? Spamming links to Elektrek or Cleantechnica doesn't really spur much conversation. Is it possible to just slow that roll of link spam and work on fostering more discussion?

I’m planning a road trip in January with my sister and this will be the first long road trip I’ve taken in my car. I know we will have to stop a couple times, and I’m just trying to plot out our path.

Related video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMWtZwifMu4

Tesla placed a big bet back in 2020 when it announced that it was developing a new battery cell format. The 4680 battery, as it’s known, powers the Cybertruck and in the past, it made its way into a limited number of Model Y crossovers.

The cylindrical cell was touted as being more energy-dense than the 2170- and 1865-type units found in the Model Y and Model 3 and the Model S and Model X, respectively. It’s also supposed to be cheaper to manufacture and easier to assemble.

Recently, Tesla announced that it produced its 100 millionth 4680 cell. That’s a big achievement and a sign that the company managed to ramp up production of the proprietary cell significantly to reach an average manufacturing rate of 495,000 cells per day. That’s enough for 368 Cybertrucks.

However, the biggest battery maker in the world, Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited, better known as CATL, believes that going down the cylindrical cell route is a dead end. CATL’s founder and head honcho, Robin Zeng, told Tesla CEO Elon Musk this to his face. The reaction was silence.

Zang, who spoke with Reuters, said he had told Tesla’s head honcho that his bet on the 4680 cylindrical battery “is going to fail and never be successful.”

"We had a very big debate, and I showed him," Zeng said. "He was silent. He doesn't know how to make a battery. It's about electrochemistry. He's good for the chips, the software, the hardware, the mechanical things."

But that’s not all. Zang also had some remarks about Musk’s tendency to set unrealistic timelines for upcoming products. "His problem is overpromising. I talked to him," Zeng said. "Maybe something needs five years. But he says two years. I definitely asked him why. He told me he wanted to push people."

(The Center Square) – Although Initiative 2117 repealing the state’s cap-and-trade program was rejected by Washington voters earlier this month, state planners are still grappling with logistical and practical challenges around transitioning the transportation sector toward electric vehicles, an effort heavily funded by cap-and-trade revenue.

“EVs are going to be a story here and it’s going to be part of both Washington and nationally at different stages in different areas,” COIL, Inc. Founder Bobby Penn told the state Electric Vehicle Coordinating Council at its Nov. 6 meeting. “EVs are not going anywhere regardless of what’s happened with this with the election.”

However, the state will still need to figure out how to meet expected demand for EV charging ports of varying charging capacity. Although the state is meeting the forecast for L2 chargers, it remains behind on DC Fast Chargers. As a result of state funding, Washington is expected to have an additional 7,000 charging ports.

Yet, that’s a small amount compared to the total needed. According to UW Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Don McKenzie, the state will need between 40,000 and 150,000 fast-charging ports alone to support 8 million vehicles, which he estimates could cost $30 billion.

The council estimates the state will need a total of 3 million ports by 2035.