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Comment by duxup | Hacker News Reader

> 486 EV manufacturers registered in China

That's an incredible amount. I can't imagine the complexity of managing engineering a car, manufacturing, sourcing everything needed.

That's a lot of very ambitious people.

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There were a similar number of car manufacturers in the US in the early 1900s. Many of them were essentially assemblers, bolting together parts made by other companies; most of them didn't survive long enough to release a second model.

It's a natural developmental stage in any emerging technology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_automobile_man...

I thought this was an interesting point even if "similar number" was an exaggeration by an order of magnitude. Then I clicked through. Holy shit. If anything it's an underestimate. Hundreds and hundreds of American car companies that lived for what looks like an average of two or three years, clustered around 1910. Seriously, worth taking a look.

Cars were a lot simpler back then though.

An EV is much simpler than an ICE car. Modern EVs use what is known as a "skateboard" platform, with the wheels, powertrain and battery forming a flat package. For western manufacturers, this means that they can build anything from a family car to a panel van on essentially the same platform, massively reducing development costs; Chinese startups can just buy a skateboard as a rolling chassis and bolt a body on top. It's essentially a return to the old body-on-frame approach that dominated prior to the 1960s.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/skateboard-chassis-electr...

It is a fascinating subject. ICE cars also used to separate platform and body. Coach builders might have been completely separate ones from the rolling chassis makers. Monocoque construction made that harder.

Engines might have been one cylinder side valve arrangements. Electric starters only came around after 1910 or so. Compression ratios and temperatures were low. Cars only had a few gears.

Closer to a pull start lawn mower technologically than a Tesla.

Not compred to the tech of the day. Most pre-war cars had a higher parts-count than a common car made today. Old does not imply simple.

You could say the same thing about PC manufacturers. Computers are very complicated! But at that scale, I'd wonder if, as with PCs in their heyday, a relatively small number of companies are doing most of the complex work, while the nominal manufacturers were focused more on integration, branding, and tailoring for specific markets.

For what it's worth, the site the link to for that doesn't seem to match their numbers: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https...

I think they just linked to the wrong page, but a quick bit of rummaging didn't turn up anything either, so I'm not sure what we're actually talking about here.

The barriers isn't as high for EVs as it is for internal combustion engines right? Plus, I doubt they are focused on the consumer market, maybe tractor makers are thrown in there. Then it starts to look a little more reasonable (although it's still nuts)

EVs include e-scooters, electric tricycles, airport tarmac vehicles, etc.

I think you’d have to be fairly naive to believe the tech was all developed in-house, especially in China.

I think OC is talking about operational costs, not research.

Let's say you're half right. Or even 75% right. Or even 90%. That's still a lot of EV companies.

OP didn't mention development

And I think it's just as naive to think there's any merit to criticize where tech comes from

America would not have gotten its start if Samuel Slater hadn't stolen textile production from the old country

If you don't want China to copy your tech, don't hire China to copy your tech.

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