Aston Martin behind debunked anti-electic vehicle “study” | Hacker News Reader

Aston Martin behind debunked anti-electic vehicle “study”

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What’s sad is that Aston Martin cars are so beautiful, they could go electric, raise prices to keep their margins (just like Porsche), and let people make the decisions....rich people who want clean cars would happily buy those cars.

I’m definitely a car guy, and I would love to one day own an Aston Martin. I really couldn’t see ever wanting an EV one though. I also own a Tesla so I’m not anti-EV or anything. EVs are just good transportation, they’re not that interesting.

I think it’s like with watch people. Everyone wants a mechanical one but they’re objectively worse for telling time than quartz.

Interesting analogy in regards to watches. What makes it different is that never will governments not allow mechanical watches to be sold :)

You make a good point, from Aston Martin’s perspective they’ll have to adapt eventually. I think the future is bleak for them but I suppose we’ll see.

Thankfully I likely will have the option of buying a used one for the rest of my lifetime.

If what you wrote would be true, Aston wouldn’t need to try to bash the competition. I bought a mechanical Rolex, it’s nice, but boring for me, so I don’t use it...I guess on the luxury/technology curve people have different needs.

As the other commenter mentioned they need to get governments to stop banning their cars if not competition.

I’m not a watch guy, but people that own cars like this don’t drive them much either. They make awful daily drivers for a host of reasons, so it probably isn’t all that much different than your Rolex.

Aston Martin never has to go electric. They can offer what they offer now at the super luxury prices they charge.

They aren't pushing enough volume to matter.

California banned new combustion vehicle sales after 2035, 2030 for the UK. Other jurisdictions are between now and 2050. The transition to EV powertrains will be mandatory to continue selling automobiles in the future (versus buying compliance credits from those building and selling EVs).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-out_of_fossil_fuel_vehic...

For every California there's a Texas.

Automakers aren’t going to build two versions of vehicles (EV and combustion), hence how California drives emissions requirements for the entire country.

You only need a simple majority (perhaps even less) of auto markets to ban combustion vehicles to encourage automakers in the right direction.

We're talking about Aston Martin, not Toyota.

Yea California really making a difference - SUVs, Trucks, all time highs, compact cars all time lows in sales.

Aston has been pretty broke for a long time, so they really don’t have the cash to develop an electric platform all on their own. They have a new investor in Lawrence Stroll, but it’ll take quite a few years for that to materialize in the shipping cars. Right now the company is bet on the DBX SUV doing well (basically taking a page from Porsche 15 years late).

That said, it’s inexcusable to sponsor fake science and journalism to cover up the gaps in your business model.

A lot of automakers seem to be making electric cars because they have to instead of embracing it as a gift. I understand it's more expensive (batteries) and there is potentially lower margin, but it's also an opportunity to create a second tier in a strong brand (pricing, experience, etc), or re-invent a failing brand (new dealers, new design language, etc).

For companies like Aston Martin, the sound of the engine/exhaust are a large and visceral part of the experience. But again, this is an opportunity to create something different. Audi took the opportunity to create a really cool sound for their e-tron:

https://youtu.be/MUcbXplAvSc?t=74

Admittedly, it doesn't sound that great in the video, but I heard one drive past me as I was walking and it sounded very natural, like it was the noise the motors were making. It's not annoyingly loud, it's very subtle, and it really adds the same thing a great exhaust note can.

A typo in the title? It should read “electric”.

Typo in the article’s title

Interesting they’re not having a go at the estimates for a truck BEV. And that they think a 13,000kg battery is ok.

The trucks at work weight about 7000 so without engine but with a massive 450hp motor we’d come out even but a 13,000kg battery would eat half the cargo weight and nullify any savings in diesel.

A 13,000 kg lion battery would be around 2500-3000 kwhr. That's enough to drive heavy truck across the US without stopping.

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