Batteries now cost $85 kwhr. 30kwhr battery is now $2600.
Battery costs driving EV prices was Musk’s bullshit, his cars had the highest profit margin in the industry. Model S batteries dropped 90% in price 2012-2024.
EVs should cost less than ICE. A battery pack is now close to the cost of catalytic systems in ICE.
$2600 for a 30kWh battery? Can I get a battery like that without the car attached… Jackery and most others are fairly similar, for that price you would only get a few kWh.
Short answer is yes, but you’ll have to dig up suppliers and handle the form factors on your own. Used EV batteries (i.e. once their capacity becomes an issue for use in a car, or after the car is wrecked) are commonly used for things like grid storage and home battery backup.
You can try to get one from a junkyard, but usually someone else has beaten you to it.
Inverters are pretty expensive too. And you have to remember those combined with the battery merely replace a gas tank that probably cost less than 10 bucks to make.
But then the electric motor is probably cheaper to make than a combustion engine. Also the heavier weight of a BEV car makes brakes and suspension more expensive.
But despite all that, I think that BEV cars are actually mostly at the level of ICE car prices now. Especially if you compare in the 400-500 hp AWD range.
The motors are AC and it’ll have a variable frequency drive (fancy inverter that changes frequency to drive the motor at the desired speed). Also provides the regenerative braking by running at a lower speed than the motor.
DC motor EVs are not really a thing any more, outside of hobby conversions.
Low power VFDs are dirt cheap these days, but a 65kW one would run a few thousand. A brand name industrial spec one in that power range would cost $5-10k USD.
Putting tarrifs on Chinese vehicles wouldn’t be logical, because there is no domestic car manufacturing left in Australia for tariffs to protect.
Ford and GMH both stopped making cars there a decade ago, Mitsubishi stopped in 2008. All of them were propped up by the Australian government with hundreds of millions before they left.
True, but they could still have a tariff on ALL cars. Or only Chinese just to make USA happy.
Here in Denmark where we also don’t make cars, we used to have a very high tax on cars, officially to limit pollution, but also because the state was low on money.
This dated back to post WW2 where for years for instance color film was illegal to import, because the country lacked the wealth to import luxury items.
Even when in the EEC later EU we still had/have high taxes on cars, but they were not called import taxes, they were added at registration, so it was called a registration tax, that however was obviously a workaround, and EEC/EU allow it.
Taxes are now way lower on cars, because to stimulate transition to electric, they have way lower registration tax, and the sales of BEV cars is 90% now.
Registration cost is quite high in Australia as I understand it, my small 4 cylinder car is around €500 a year, and it’s about double for an 8 cylinder.
There is a tax on luxury vehicles over approx €50k, and a fuel tax of about 30 percent per litre , and fuel at about €1.75/l, there’s plenty of revenue coming in for the government.
And while Australia is friends with the USA, putting tariffs on Chinese vehicles “to make them happy” would be quite disadvantageous. A lot of Australian raw materials go to China to be turned into stuff that is then sent back. Retaliatory tariffs from China would be quite devastating on those primary industries.
Having said all that, employee leasing arrangements where your employer folds in a car as part of your salary package have been exempt from “fringe benefits tax” if you buy an EV. That works out to around €5000 a year if you are in the upper income tax brackets, so that has had quite an effect on the market.
And to be honest, BYD make EVs that are relatively well built, have good range in the typical Australian climate, have lots of “luxury” items, and are cheap compared to EVs of similar spec from other overseas companies. So if by those means they bring on the wholesale electrification of Australian vehicles, I say go for it.
From what I’ve heard BYD should have decent build quality.
The problems I mostly hear about are poor steering characteristics, it is not as safe as the average European car in double evasive maneuvers. And some of the assist systems are horrible. So users simply turn them off.
But the value is undeniable. And here in Denmark we are not seeing them rust yet. Which is a common occurrence with cheap new brands of cars. Honda Civic in the early 70’s probably being the worst yet, they rusted away in a couple of years back then.
So for such a young company, BYD is doing really well, avoiding common problems we’ve seen with other brands that have become reputable brands with improved quality over time.
Regarding the taxes, I can see you have some “funny” regulation like we do here. 😋
Not exactly, GM and Ford in Australia and Canada lived off billions in corporate welfare. When Australia refused to keep paying, they left.
Canada really needs to rethink it’s relationship with Detroit. Ottawa likes the export value numbers, but we certainly subsidize this industry that only makes thirsty trucks.
They have complete vertical integration, China owns everything from mining operations to the refinement, to the production of the battery packs. Any non-Chinese manufacturers are going to have to pay ~2x as much for battery packs, especially in Europe because China won’t sell them as cheap to our manufacturers as they do their own and we have environmental regulations preventing us from doing large scale lithium refinement AFAIK.
Not to mention that there’s a subsidy that China pays on all NEVs, regardless of where they’re sold.
That’s only 12,400 Euro! At that price one has to wonder if batteries are included. 😋
Obviously the battery can’t be big at that price, but still good enough for commuting and most daily drives.
Batteries now cost $85 kwhr. 30kwhr battery is now $2600. Battery costs driving EV prices was Musk’s bullshit, his cars had the highest profit margin in the industry. Model S batteries dropped 90% in price 2012-2024.
EVs should cost less than ICE. A battery pack is now close to the cost of catalytic systems in ICE.
$2600 for a 30kWh battery? Can I get a battery like that without the car attached… Jackery and most others are fairly similar, for that price you would only get a few kWh.
Start an EV manufacturer in China and you can have it for that price.
Short answer is yes, but you’ll have to dig up suppliers and handle the form factors on your own. Used EV batteries (i.e. once their capacity becomes an issue for use in a car, or after the car is wrecked) are commonly used for things like grid storage and home battery backup.
You can try to get one from a junkyard, but usually someone else has beaten you to it.
Just like what happened to used veggie oil…
Even fresh rapeseed oil is cheaper than diesel here. Unless you are going for the fancy cold pressed stuff anyway.
Inverters are pretty expensive too. And you have to remember those combined with the battery merely replace a gas tank that probably cost less than 10 bucks to make.
But then the electric motor is probably cheaper to make than a combustion engine. Also the heavier weight of a BEV car makes brakes and suspension more expensive.
But despite all that, I think that BEV cars are actually mostly at the level of ICE car prices now. Especially if you compare in the 400-500 hp AWD range.
What do you need an inverter for? Cars are small. Isn’t everything DC?
The motors are AC and it’ll have a variable frequency drive (fancy inverter that changes frequency to drive the motor at the desired speed). Also provides the regenerative braking by running at a lower speed than the motor.
DC motor EVs are not really a thing any more, outside of hobby conversions.
Low power VFDs are dirt cheap these days, but a 65kW one would run a few thousand. A brand name industrial spec one in that power range would cost $5-10k USD.
Charging from home is AC, and IDK maybe it also contains the charging control for DC?
Anyways the inverter alone is generally upwards of 1000 Euro.
the motor is ac
BEVs are not heavier than US trucks and SUVs. Atto1 weighs 1295kg.
Does Australia have tariffs on Chinese cars?
No they don’t:
https://www.autonext.co/news/australia-evs-outsell-petrol-august-2026-no-chinese-tariff
Putting tarrifs on Chinese vehicles wouldn’t be logical, because there is no domestic car manufacturing left in Australia for tariffs to protect.
Ford and GMH both stopped making cars there a decade ago, Mitsubishi stopped in 2008. All of them were propped up by the Australian government with hundreds of millions before they left.
True, but they could still have a tariff on ALL cars. Or only Chinese just to make USA happy.
Here in Denmark where we also don’t make cars, we used to have a very high tax on cars, officially to limit pollution, but also because the state was low on money.
This dated back to post WW2 where for years for instance color film was illegal to import, because the country lacked the wealth to import luxury items.
Even when in the EEC later EU we still had/have high taxes on cars, but they were not called import taxes, they were added at registration, so it was called a registration tax, that however was obviously a workaround, and EEC/EU allow it.
Taxes are now way lower on cars, because to stimulate transition to electric, they have way lower registration tax, and the sales of BEV cars is 90% now.
Registration cost is quite high in Australia as I understand it, my small 4 cylinder car is around €500 a year, and it’s about double for an 8 cylinder.
There is a tax on luxury vehicles over approx €50k, and a fuel tax of about 30 percent per litre , and fuel at about €1.75/l, there’s plenty of revenue coming in for the government.
And while Australia is friends with the USA, putting tariffs on Chinese vehicles “to make them happy” would be quite disadvantageous. A lot of Australian raw materials go to China to be turned into stuff that is then sent back. Retaliatory tariffs from China would be quite devastating on those primary industries.
Having said all that, employee leasing arrangements where your employer folds in a car as part of your salary package have been exempt from “fringe benefits tax” if you buy an EV. That works out to around €5000 a year if you are in the upper income tax brackets, so that has had quite an effect on the market.
And to be honest, BYD make EVs that are relatively well built, have good range in the typical Australian climate, have lots of “luxury” items, and are cheap compared to EVs of similar spec from other overseas companies. So if by those means they bring on the wholesale electrification of Australian vehicles, I say go for it.
From what I’ve heard BYD should have decent build quality.
The problems I mostly hear about are poor steering characteristics, it is not as safe as the average European car in double evasive maneuvers. And some of the assist systems are horrible. So users simply turn them off.
But the value is undeniable. And here in Denmark we are not seeing them rust yet. Which is a common occurrence with cheap new brands of cars. Honda Civic in the early 70’s probably being the worst yet, they rusted away in a couple of years back then.
So for such a young company, BYD is doing really well, avoiding common problems we’ve seen with other brands that have become reputable brands with improved quality over time.
Regarding the taxes, I can see you have some “funny” regulation like we do here. 😋
I don’t think they make much of anything right hand drive in the US, at least not enough to matter, and their Tesla’s are made in china too.
Australia told GM and Ford to fuck off years ago. They no longer make cars.
I think ford and GM said to fuck off first. Which was a shame because their Aussie divisions were killing it.
Not exactly, GM and Ford in Australia and Canada lived off billions in corporate welfare. When Australia refused to keep paying, they left.
Canada really needs to rethink it’s relationship with Detroit. Ottawa likes the export value numbers, but we certainly subsidize this industry that only makes thirsty trucks.
They have complete vertical integration, China owns everything from mining operations to the refinement, to the production of the battery packs. Any non-Chinese manufacturers are going to have to pay ~2x as much for battery packs, especially in Europe because China won’t sell them as cheap to our manufacturers as they do their own and we have environmental regulations preventing us from doing large scale lithium refinement AFAIK.
Not to mention that there’s a subsidy that China pays on all NEVs, regardless of where they’re sold.
It’s only the smaller 65kWh battery but still exceptional value, no comporable ICE car is as cheap in Australia.
If it had such a big battery it would have a hell of a lot better range.
You accidentally used the power of the engine.
Most of tiny EVs are having range of like 100-150. At 220, it’s an upgrade!
The newer ones tend to go higher around this range. Even the cheap ones. But considering this is the cheapest in the market 220 km range isn’t bad.
there is a version with a bigger battery, longer range etc and a few other upgrades, but costs more of course, the one in the OP is the base model