The hype is gone from the electric-vehicle industry. EVs are becoming boring appliances

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If there is an iota of excitement left in the automotive industry, it is not in EVs, and certainly not in regular gasoline and diesel cars. It’s in another aging technology – hybrids

Until about five years ago, the hype machine propelling electric and autonomous vehicles was compelling, dreamy, full of Jetsons-style promise of transportation’s new world. EVs and versions that could drive you to the office while you sipped a cappuccino in the back seat inhabited the same razzle-dazzle universe as bitcoin, the metaverse,and defi – bro talk for decentralized finance.

At first, according to various reports, the idea was to build a fully autonomous car. Later, when it became apparent that the inadequate technology, the safety concerns and the missing legislation that would allow driverless cars on the roads would prevent the cars from hitting the market any time soon, Apple concentrated onBy then, the market was already cluttered with EVs of various degrees of sophistication and Apple apparently realized it could never turn itself into a profitable car maker.

Tesla propelled the EV and autonomous-car hype for years. No longer. With autonomous cars off the agenda for a while, and robo-taxis almost entirely absent in spite of endless predictions they would be the norm by now , Tesla is left making upscale battery-powered appliances that already seem so … yesterday. It’s easy to forget the first Tesla car, the Roadster, came out 16 years ago. Revolutionary then, commonplace now.

With BYD’s prices coming down fast – the newest version of its Dolphin hatchback model costs about US$14,000 – its market share will undoubtedly rise. That will leave Tesla having to decide whether to try to dethrone Porsche and Ferrari, or do the opposite and compete with the cheapie Chinese EV brands. Either way, the effort will be a slog as building EVs becomes just another business, like pumping out so many furnaces or air conditioners.

 

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