The most eye-stealing highlight is the Flash Charging technology, which works in conjunction with the latest Blade Battery 2.0.
– Charging from 10% to 70% takes only 5 minutes.
– To charge to 97%, it only takes 9 minutes.
– Even in temperatures as low as -30°C, it can still be fast-charged in 12 minutes.
Love how they translate the price to USD when sadly there’s no way in hell well ever see this car in the US.
Also no mention of crash test ratings. Which is likely the real reason we won’t see it here, and even if we did it would never be for that price because that price is subsidized by the Chinese government.
Edit: Why do so many people think pointing out that some Chinese EVs have been through crash test ratings refute that this article doesn’t mention them?
Also, please note that all the ones that have good ratings aren’t being sold for $22k.
22k USD is around 31k AUD
The BYD Atto 1 sells for 24k AUD + on roads, so less than that figure.
It got a 5 star ANCAP rating.
Just saying.
I did a quick search and cannot find any of those for that price. Source please.
Base model is 26.5k AUD drive away, Premium is 30.5k AUD drive away, so both slip in under the 31k AUD / 22k USD price point.
https://bydautomotive.com.au/atto-1
Hmm, good question, and a quick google later:
Chinese EVs may not have to pass USDOT crash tests, but they do have to pass Euro NCAP crash tests, and Chinese NCAP crash tests, which are similar.
And a lot of them did quite well in that regards.
And and they also have to pass however Canada does crash tests as well.
BYD vehicles all rate 5 stars in the Australian ANCAP ratings as well.
The “Chinese vehicles aren’t safe” thing is just fear mongering these days or, more generously, a misapplication of their micro vehicle standards for low speed urban use to ordinary passenger vehicles.
Those smaller vehicles are definitely safer than pickup trucks, which are loopholed for safety standards.
This article is counting Tesla and Polestar as Chinese EVs…
Polestars basically are. They are owned by Geely and some are built in China
Still seems disingenuous in the context of the article linked. Like those “assembled in USA” stickers. Technically correct but also misleading and mostly missing the point.
A lot of iPhones are made in China too. Do you consider them Chinese?
Isn’t Geely a Chinese company though?
Yep, the article is purposely conflating “Chinese” with “Made in China”.
Ontario built cars and trucks are subsidized by the Canadian and Ontario governments, why aren’t they $22K?
What? What does this have to do with anything?
To be fair China has their equivalent of the NHTSA with more or less comparable tests. US crash tests are particularly bad and still assume a sedan when everyone drives SUVs/light trucks now. Even mini vans in China are smaller than the majority of American SUVs.
The government subsidy is the bigger reason for why the West generally blocks or heavily tariffs the import of Chinese cars. It’s just not fair competition (though there’s also an argument of it being a good thing for us to let them subsidize our imports of lithium)
I’m wondering if I can ship one over?
Take a vacation to Mexico, buy one there, and drive it back. Perfectly legal and you will still come out ahead and get a vacation thrown in
if the car has passed US testing, and you pay the tariffs. You cannot just import a new car.
It’s not a new car if you’re driving it over the border. Then it’s a used car. Volvo does something similar by offsetting someone visiting Sweden and driving the car round a bit before flying back and having their car delivered.
The bigger issue is, you need to have the right to buy a car in Mexico (legally a resident, usually), and have the ability to wire transfer in full (you’re not getting a loan). Then you pay a 2.5% duty when you bring it in.
Edit: Canada is probably the better place to try this gray importing scheme as their cars actually meet required US standards.
There’s an idea! Thanks
I believe you can import them, but it is a 100% tariff. So your $22k car becomes $44k plus delivery charges and local registration fees/taxes. So very quickly becomes not worth it. Which is why the tariff exists.
There is also the matter of which charging standard is needed. The US of course not using the same standard as the rest of the world.
What, you even have imperial chargers?
Is it not worth it? Are there EVs in the US that are sub $44k?
Chevy Bolt, $28K, Nissan leaf$32K, Hyundai kona, $34K, Subaru Uncharted, $36K, Toyota BZ $36K, Ioniq 5, $38K,
…Chevy Equinox, Toyota CH-R, Tesla model 3, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Kia EV6, all below $40K.
I love my Leaf. Best car I’ve ever owned.
People also forget that there’s this pesky thing called safety standards and getting certified can make the car cost more when it’s officially released. Don’t forget that in China there’s 599 other electric car manufacturer so it’s race to the bottom in terms of pricing.
Hmm, come to think of it this means that cars should be much cheaper than it is and this makes me sad.
I was going to buy one of the new rivians for about 45k, not sure if they released prices yet. My husband has one of the more expensive Rivians and they’re really cool. That being said, byd is cool too and even with import fees it looks doable. Gotta think about it.
JFC…a Rivian costs 140k in Canada
Yeah it was an investment for sure.
Then it will cost >$50k and you have a car no one can fix.
You forgot what ever extra tax the orange dumb shit adds