The Canadian Electric Vehicle thread

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

EVs are selling like crazy in Thailand. I like this new EV street light charging concept: https://www.voltpost.com/

That's been done in other places for like a decade or more. The conversion to LED means there is excess power capacity in a lot of cities.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by jonny24

I wouldn't be surprised if there was higher than normal depreciation across the board as an after effect of all the covid/supply chain issues.

This is pretty much what's happening. From an American dealer, but I assume we have the same trends in Canada.

Wholesale used car prices are falling again in April:

Prices for used cars sold at auction fell 1.9% during the first 15 days of April — according to the Manheim Index.

The index hasn’t been this low in three years.

Basically, prices have dropped meaningfully year-over-year. The index is down 13.7% from April 2023, and all major vehicle categories (SUVs, trucks, cars) have experienced similar drops.

By the numbers:

- Luxury vehicles have seen an average decline of 12.7% YoY.

- Compact cars have seen the steepest decline at 17.1% YoY.

So why a drop in value now?

Three primary reasons for this: rising new vehicle inventories, more factory discounts and falling new car prices.

All three factors are leading some consumers to buy new cars again (as opposed to used cars).

Bottom line:

Car buyers will likely start to see retail used car prices decline… However, it could take some time for the wholesale price declines to trickle fully into retail markets.

Should also add that the biggest factor that could entirely reverse this is the "leasing cliff" that we're about to experience.

Fewer leases from 2021/22 = Fewer lease RETURNS in 2024/25 = Fewer used car vehicles = Higher prices

https://twitter.com/GuyDealership/st...8jytJ5nuA&s=19

[Djeffery]

But that being said, as recently as early March, my dealer told me they would take my Sorento Hybrid off my hands that day for what I paid for it 15 months earlier. So it really depends on the models. People who just had to have a Dodge Ram in late 2021 are probably not happy right now.

[Nouvellecosse]

Hmm, seems not everyone is impressed by the Cybertruck. Tesla has done many things over the years to progress EV technology, improve public perceptions and increase market adoption. But this doesn't appear to be one of them.



• Video Link

[urbandreamer]

There's such high demand for the Fiat 500e that Stellantis has halted production for four months; meanwhile the company is rushing an ICE version to market.

[P'tit Renard]

Axed Tesla staffers say the chaos will lead to ‘pretty bad’ quality only getting ‘worse’

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b2531175.html

[Innsertnamehere]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...hicle-capacity

Honda to build electric vehicles and battery plant in Ontario, sources say



TORONTO - Honda Canada is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant near its auto manufacturing facility in Alliston, Ont., where it also plans to produce fully electric vehicles.

The Canadian Press has learned that the federal and Ontario governments will make the announcement this week.

Senior sources with information on the project confirmed the deal but were not yet able to give any dollar figures.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Monday morning told a First Nations conference that there will be an announcement this week about a new deal that he said will be double the size of a Volkswagen deal announced last year.

That EV battery plant set to be built in St. Thomas, Ont., comes with a $7-billion capital price tag.

The Honda facility will be the third electric vehicle battery plant in Ontario, following in the footsteps of Volkswagen and a Stellantis LG plant in Windsor, and while those two deals involved billions of dollars in production subsidies as a way of competing with the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act subsidies, Honda’s is expected to involve capital commitments and tax credits.

Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s recent budget announced a 10 per cent Electric Vehicle Supply Chain investment tax credit on the cost of buildings related to EV production as long as the business invests in assembly, battery production and cathode active material production in Canada.

That’s on top of an existing 30 per cent Clean Technology Manufacturing investment tax credit on the cost of investments in new machinery and equipment.

Honda’s deal also involves two key parts suppliers for their batteries — cathodes and separators — with the locations of those facilities elsewhere in Ontario set to be announced at a later date.

The deal comes after years of meetings and discussions between Honda executives and the Ontario government, the sources said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier Doug Ford and Honda executives were on hand in March 2022 in Alliston when the Japanese automaker announced hybrid production at the facility, with $131.6 million in assistance from each of the two levels of government.

Around the time of that announcement, conversations began about a larger potential investment into electric vehicles, the sources said, and negotiations began that summer.

[urbandreamer]

Earlier this year, iirc end of January I said an announcement was forthcoming and many of you said I was fos. I said Hwy 413 was approved, or about to be, and Honda was originally going to make the announcement at the auto show, or around then. My source was a MoT employee.

Likewise, the situation in Wilmot Centre. Apparently Hwy 7 to Stratford will be 4 lanes in conjunction with the announcement of either Toyota, Subaru/Toyota or Tesla building a battery plant here. (Maybe Stratford is an alternative site/parts location?!) The Mennonites in Wellesley New Hamburg area are publicly pretending to be against the deal, but privately have already made plans to establish a community near Ottawa.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

There's such high demand for the Fiat 500e that Stellantis has halted production for four months; meanwhile the company is rushing an ICE version to market.

That's too bad. Plenty of 2 or 3 car households could use something like that a city/suburban runabout. However, most probably get something way too large like a CRV.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by whatnext

That's too bad. Plenty of 2 or 3 car households could use something like that a city/suburban runabout. However, most probably get something way too large like a CRV.

In North America.....

The world is bigger than Canada and the US.

Italy has huge problems with its auto sector. One of the oldest fleets in Europe. And the auto OEMs are threatening to move manufacturing unless incentives are improved or requirements are lowered. This is part of those games.

[travis3000]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...hicle-capacity

Confirmed by Global News, CBC and Associated Press. The announcement will come Thursday morning in Alliston, ON. Trudeau and Ford will both be there. Details will leak out Wednesday night, and confirmed Thursday morning. But a few details known right now:

-the Honda deal will be the biggest investment in Canadian history around 15 billion.

-will include a new battery plant, assembly plant, and resource/mineral plant.

-no upfront money or bribes, just tax incentives.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by travis3000

Confirmed by Global News, CBC and Associated Press. The announcement will come Thursday morning in Alliston, ON. Trudeau and Ford will both be there. Details will leak out Wednesday night, and confirmed Thursday morning. But a few details known right now:

-the Honda deal will be the biggest investment in Canadian history around 15 billion.

-will include a new battery plant, assembly plant, and resource/mineral plant.

-no upfront money or bribes, just tax incentives.

All these battery plants at the same time are going to really push our construction capabilities. They're massive, and heavy structures as well.

If we're lucky the schedule will fall in such a way that VW St. Thomas is slowing down as this ramps up.

[urbandreamer]

Landowners in Baxter, Ontario are looking forward to building more grey boxes in their swamp along the rail line to Honda's Alliston plant.

Also: Beeton, Tottenham, Alliston, Cookstown, Thornton, Bond Head, Schomberg, Orangeville.

[travis3000]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

Landowners in Baxter, Ontario are looking forward to building more grey boxes in their swamp along the rail line to Honda's Alliston plant.

Also: Beeton, Tottenham, Alliston, Cookstown, Thornton, Bond Head, Schomberg, Orangeville.

One of the biggest bedroom communities for Honda workers is actually Angus.

[urbandreamer]

Makes sense. Also Baxter. It's weird how from Nobleton to Randall it's very hilly and attractive then suddenly north of Alliston it turns into a Timmins-Northern Ontario style swamp up through Baxter, Angus, New Lowell towards Stayner. Maybe it's part of the Bruce/Canadian Shield here resulting in poor ground conditions?

[whatnext]

Straight outta EV central:

British Columbians’ interest in EVs dropping: survey
By Pippa Norman
Posted April 22, 2024 8:07 pm.

British Columbians are becoming less keen on going electric for their next vehicle, a new survey finds.

The survey, conducted by AutoTrader, reports that interest in electric vehicles is dropping year-by-year nation-wide.

Since 2022, the number of Canadian survey respondents who said they would consider an EV for their next vehicle has dropped to 46 per cent — down 22 per cent from two years earlier.

By province, B.C. saw the lowest drop in interest with a three per cent dip from 2023 to 57 per cent. Meanwhile, Ontario saw the highest decrease in interest with an 18 per cent drop down to 41 per cent from the year before.

Baris Akyurek, vice president of insights and intelligence at AutoTrader.ca, says the top three reasons people are losing interest in EVs are limited travel range, not enough charging stations and higher purchasing costs...

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/0...rest-dropping/

[urbandreamer]

Meanwhile, with gas over $2/L and heading towards $3/L, my 80 year old Nanaimo aunt is suddenly thinking about buying a Tesla. She probably drives less than 1000km a year and failed grade 8 math.

I suspect there'll be another boom.

[Truenorth00]

Gas is not going to $3/L. There will be a few months of hovering around $2/L with summer pricing and geopolitical tensions. It'll settle back down in the Fall and forgotten about.

[travis3000]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

Makes sense. Also Baxter. It's weird how from Nobleton to Randall it's very hilly and attractive then suddenly north of Alliston it turns into a Timmins-Northern Ontario style swamp up through Baxter, Angus, New Lowell towards Stayner. Maybe it's part of the Bruce/Canadian Shield here resulting in poor ground conditions?

Alliston to Baxter/Angus/Borden are in the Nottawasaga Valley. This was the bottom of the previous lake that covered the area after the last ice age. Great soil for farming, but yes can be quite marshy. Cool nights, sizzling hot days. Downwind of the escarpment and in-land so this area routinely is warmer than nearby locales, and often misses the worst of storms both in summer and winter.

[Truenorth00]

Volkswagen says it will make solid state batteries at St. Thomas. Amazing news for VW, EVs and Canada if true.

https://financialpost.com/commoditie...teries-ontario