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My guess would be its more of a financial reason...the stats say that 22% of people trading in hybrids and Ev's are trading them in for suv's....that would indicate that the price of gas is the determining factor.

Stats from whom? Edmunds, but they never say what their sampling plan was (who did they talk to) or how many responses they got--10? 50? 200? 10,000? Bias can be baked in or unintentional. Even if the data is legit, the CAFE mileage requirements in place will continue to require EVs/hybrids/fuel cells as alternatives to gas to meet the numbers. Since Americans have fallen in love with SUVs/CUVs lately--bigger vehicles with poorer mileage--it means the rest of the automaker's cars will have to be non-ICE. And the diesel issues aren't helping either as the makers hoped they would.
 
Do you drive more than ~250 miles per day? If yes, then I agree. Otherwise, electric cars are from from being a novelty. Come home, plug it in, all good.
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Per day? No thankfully. But I do like to take day trips, weekend trips. Also most electric cars do not have a range of 250. The average range is 100 miles. Only Tesla's have the range you are talking about and that is for an $80K + 2 seater. Not taking any trips in that even if I owned one. They are novelties and errand getters just like every other electric car out now.
 
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Stats from whom? Edmunds, but they never say what their sampling plan was (who did they talk to) or how many responses they got--10? 50? 200? 10,000? Bias can be baked in or unintentional. Even if the data is legit, the CAFE mileage requirements in place will continue to require EVs/hybrids/fuel cells as alternatives to gas to meet the numbers. Since Americans have fallen in love with SUVs/CUVs lately--bigger vehicles with poorer mileage--it means the rest of the automaker's cars will have to be non-ICE. And the diesel issues aren't helping either as the makers hoped they would.
Sales of electric cars were down in 2015 with the exception of Tesla....low gas prices have a huge effect of the market for electric and hybrid vehicles
 
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I think the Apple car will be a bigger success than the iPhone, people will be lined up just for the opportunity to buy one. Apple won't be able to build them fast enough.

Mark my words, the car is the future of Apple.
 
Per day? No thankfully. But I do like to take day trips, weekend trips. Also most electric cars do not have a range of 250. The average range is 100 miles. Only Tesla's have the range you are talking about and that is for an $80K + 2 seater. Not taking any trips in that even if I owned one. They are novelties and errand getters just like every other electric car out now.

Tesla is an "errand getter"? Ha. What a joke. Furthermore, you really should review your pricing. With tax credits (in the US), you can get into a Tesla Model S or X for under $70K and they definitely seat more than 2 people. Model S seats 5. Model X seats 7. They haven't made a 2 seater in years.

Models S 70D, the entry level model, starts at $75K. Model X 70D starts at $80K. There is a $7500 Federal tax credit. Some states offer additional credits. When you configure on Tesla's site, they also calculate gas savings. They put the price of a Model X 70D at $61,000 if you live in California ($80K base price - $7500 federal tax credit - $2500 CA incentive - $9000 fuel savings).

I would guess that most people don't drive more than 100 miles per day, but that is definitely a more restrictive range. No argument. ~250 miles is very reasonable even for long drives considering the Supercharger can provide ~70% of a charge in about 40 minutes.
 
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Let's revisit this discussion again when Apple is the top player in the electric automobile industry. Historically this is what happens when Apple enters a product category...I'll side with history.

What are you talking about? History. More like a few successes - all thanks to Jobs, who is now dead - after DECADES of selling a fraction of the computers that its competitors sold, not to mention launching utter failures like the Newton. How successful was Taligent? A total failure that lead to Apple buying NeXT out of desperation. Jobs turned it around and had some brilliant ideas, but he's gone and the guy running the show doesn't come across as a visionary except when it comes to the supply chain. Pull your head out of your you-know-what. Yes, in recent years, Apple has enjoyed some unbelievable success. They revolutionized the way we listen to music with the iPod. And they revolutionized personal communication and computing with the iPhone. iPad is an extension of iPhone tech, so I don't give them much extra credit there. So far their wearables effort is average and doesn't represent a major leap over the competition. It's just Apple's spin on wearables.

Computers to iPods to iPhones to iPads to Apple Watches...this is a logic progression. Cars is not. Cars are a completely different kind of product on every level. I'm not saying that Apple can't do it. But there's no "history" to side with. For every success you can find, I'm sure I can find a failure. In many ways, the hubris expressed within your post is exactly what worries me and I certainly hope this same kind of thinking isn't driving the car project at Apple.
 
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What are you talking about? History. More like a few successes - all thanks to Jobs, who is now dead - after DECADES of selling a fraction of the computers that its competitors sold, not to mention launching utter failures like the Newton. How successful was Taligent? A total failure that lead to them buying NeXT out of desperation. Jobs turned it around and had some brilliant ideas, but he's gone and the guy running the show doesn't come across as a visionary except when it comes to the supply chain. Pull your head out of your you-know-what. Yes, in recent years, Apple has enjoyed some unbelievable success. They revolutionized the way we listen to music with the iPod. And they revolutionized personal communication and computing with the iPhone. iPad is an extension of iPhone tech, so I don't give them much extra credit there. So far their wearables effort is average and doesn't represent a major leap over the competition. It's just Apple's spin on wearables.

Computers to iPods to iPhones to iPads to Apple Watches...this is a logic progression. Cars is not. Cars are a completely different kind of product on every level. I'm not saying that Apple can't do it. But there's no "history" to side with. For every success you can find, I'm sure I can find a failure. In many ways, the hubris expressed within your post is exactly what worries me and I certainly hope this same kind of thinking isn't driving the car project at Apple.

To say that Apple's expertise in human software interfaces and hardware design can in no way be carried over into vehicles shows an incredible lack of forward thinking on your part. You throw around the term "hubris" like it's some sort of insult. Some of the great innovators in the world started their journey thanks to hubris. Thankfully Apple isn't run by scared pessimists such as yourself. Stay in your safe place...I'll continue to bet on Apple.
 
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To say that Apple's expertise in human software interfaces and hardware design can in no way be carried over into vehicles shows an incredible lack of forward thinking on your part. You throw around the term "hubris" like it's some sort of insult. Some of the great innovators in the world started their journey thanks to hubris. Thankfully Apple isn't run by scared pessimists such as yourself. Stay in your safe place...I'll continue to bet on Apple.

I'm saying that a car has motors, requires service, requires garages, requires a completely different kind of "tech support", etc, etc, etc. And no, designing a consumer electronics device isn't anything like designing a car. Do some of the same skills apply? Sure. But that doesn't = success. I don't use "hubris" as an insult, but as a caution. Excessive pride. Maybe you think that's a good thing? I don't. There's nothing pessimistic about my attitude. I'm cautious. The auto industry is a deeply entrenched one. When you consider Tesla's success, it's actually quite amazing. Everything has been a battle for them. You have no perspective. If you really knew Apple, the company, and its REAL history, not your cheerleader history, you'd realize that they failed many times and made many bad decisions, some of which were driven by hubris. If history is going to remember Tim Cook as anyone other than "the guy who took over from the visionary founder Steve Jobs", he needs to blow everyone's mind and he obviously thinks a car is the way to do that.
 
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I *think* it was Buick. It was a HUD combined an IR lamp/camera combination. I remember those commercials, where it showed the deer down the road, visible with the HUD, but not yet visible just by headlights. I've often wondered why that never hit mainstream.

I'd caution against going full 'viewscreen-only', though. Being able to see out of the car is important, and if there aren't windows, you can only see out when there is power and the camera(s) aren't obscured/broken.

Yup that's the exact commercial I was thinking of! And yes, it was IR source + camera or something.

And yes, you're exactly right; at that point I was just teasing. I would actually hate having a view-screen only mode because so many things could go wrong.
 
I think most people would just use the self-driving feature on long stretches of highway anyways. That should be a little bit easier to program.

But, I think Apple should sell components to the automakers instead of trying to sell cars.

Huh? Why? Becoming a component provider is not what Apple does, and it's usually not that profitable on the whole either.
 
So in other words, don't buy first Gen Apple Car. For some reason I find this hilarious. I won't buy a first Gen Apple product ever again since I was burned on the iPad.

How were you burned on the iPad? I still use my gen1 and it works fine.
 
Um... I think you might be doing your unit conversions incorrectly...

20 miles per gallon is not abnormal.

20 miles per gallon is equal to 11.76 L/100km... less than the 14 you quoted.

How?

1 gallon = 4.55 L, 20 miles = 32 km

so for L/100km you get:
4.55 / 0.32 = 14.22 L/100km

and my SUV:
9.5 / 4.55 = 2,09 gallons => 100 / 2,09 = 47,85 MPG...

20 MPG is ABYSMAL.

Edit: Found that the us has still another special case - 3.78 instead of 4.55 L/gallon. When are you stopping this insane madness?

So 3.78 / 0.32 = 11,81 L/100km (still rather bad)

an my SUV:
9.5 / 3.78 = 2,51 gallons => 100 / 2,51 / 1.6 = 24,9 MPG
 
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Found that the us has still another special case - 3.78 instead of 4.55 L/gallon. When are you stopping this insane madness?

IDK. Our public school system has been teaching metric for the last 15 years or so. But it's shoehorned in... nobody ever uses metric in everyday conversation here.

I wouldn't bother with remember so many digits for precision. I just say there's 4 liters in a gallon. Since we also use half gallons and quarter gallons (quarts)... It's a lot easier to convert between liters... 1 liter ~ 1 quart. 2 liter ~ half gallon. 4 liter ~ gallon.
 
There's no reason why an electric car *can't* have a manual transmission. They won't have them by default, because they're less efficient, but once the market widens sufficiently, I suspect you'll start to see niche options like a manual transmission become available.
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I *think* it was Buick. It was a HUD combined an IR lamp/camera combination. I remember those commercials, where it showed the deer down the road, visible with the HUD, but not yet visible just by headlights. I've often wondered why that never hit mainstream.

I'd caution against going full 'viewscreen-only', though. Being able to see out of the car is important, and if there aren't windows, you can only see out when there is power and the camera(s) aren't obscured/broken.
An electric vehicle with a manual transmission would be a dream come true
 
Why? A Tesla doesn't even have a transmission? One forward gear.
That's part of the reason why it can't keep up with ICE cars of similar performance once you reach high speeds (in races it usually pulls away from the line, but is passed a little later). It's also not a very good car to drive the Autobahn at sustained high speed.
 
I don't know if Apple is actually working on a full-fledged car.
Not as enthusiastic of Apple producing a car as I once was. Seeing the products coming out of Tim's Apple has been underwhelming to say the least.

Elon is the CEO that Apple needs, but Elon is changing the world with Spacex and Tesla. Tesla and Apple are amazing companies, but only one of those CEOs is an amazing leader.

Elon is definitely a visionary. But Steve Jobs himself chose Tim Cook. Judging from comments about how "Steve wouldn't have done X," it seems as though people believe Steve Jobs never made mistakes about running Apple as its CEO. There were bad products even during Steve's time. Remember MobileMe? Remember Ping? Ping was important enough to get stage-time at a keynote but months later, it was quietly discontinued.

Tim Cook doesn't have the product pedigree of Jobs. He's an operations guy. But he's far from the real "bean-counter MBA types." Those kinds of people can be far, far worse than Tim. Some of those types don't like people who can outshine them. I don't see any evidence of Tim Cook doing those kind of things. He's been more than willing to surround himself with product people.

It's ironic that for all the hero-worship surrounding Steve Jobs as Apple CEO (not the person), people have little faith in his ability to choose the right person to lead Apple after him.
 
Because the i3 car low weight carbon fiber exterior. Required if you want EV efficiency in a small car.
I don't think it has to be a small car. Bigger SUV size will have more place for battery. As for the material, Apple always could use something composite and light even in larger cars.
 
I don't know if Apple is actually working on a full-fledged car.


Elon is definitely a visionary.

It's ironic that for all the hero-worship surrounding Steve Jobs as Apple CEO (not the person), people have little faith in his ability to choose the right person to lead Apple after him.

Mobile Me? try the one button mouse!! That was a huge mistake by Steve. He definitely had issues (so I have read), but he did have moments of brilliants. I haven't seen Tim shine, I think of him as a one button mouse right now.
 
How about an electric pickup truck? They could call it the Apple Cart. Seriously though, whoever brings an consumer electric truck to market first will the big winner.
 
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