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Comment by alkibiades | Hacker News Reader

top down government technology mandates never work. the early adopters and rich california folks all already have EVs. normal people don’t want them

toyota was right and that’s why i got their hybrid vehicle instead of an EV

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I’m a “normal person” and I’d love one. But they’re too expensive and the charging situation near me isn’t great.

When talking about market demand, the only thing that matters is how many people will actually spend money on the thing. Wanting something hypothetically if a bunch of additional conditions are met doesn't really help Tesla. Basically, Toyota was right.

It sounds like you like the idea of EVs but not the reality. I'm in the same boat; it's a cool technology, just not currently very practical for my situation. Maybe future technology and infrastructure improvements will change that someday, but we aren't there yet, at least not for me.

Right, as much as anything I was addressing the OP's statement "top down government technology mandates never work". Some technologies need top down help to achieve viability and to my mind EVs fit that bill. If the government help bootstrap the industry it could easily achieve viability over the years. It's hardly without precedent: would car travel be the same without the interstate highway system?

I'm curious, how much would you spend on a car?

The $7,500 rebate sort of tweaked with the value system in my head and got my to purchase my model Y. also with not dealing with dealerships was a huge +

I love the rhetoric that simultaneously paints California as rich yet wrong with policy. "Those successful Californians are failures!"

wow so right!! those saudi sheikhs must have really good policies too. rich = correct

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