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A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

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1321 points kwindla | 2 comments | 25 Apr 25 15:01 UTC | HN request time: 0.423s | source
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dogline ◴[25 Apr 25 15:14 UTC] No.43794427[source]▶
It's a $20k, street-legal, EV modding platform. Sounds like you can mount your own infotainment system. Just an electric motor, battery, and chassis, and the rest is up to you. Isn't this what we've been asking for?
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ryandrake ◴[25 Apr 25 15:25 UTC] No.43794572[source]▶
Yea, it's pretty exciting. I'd like to see how much more they could strip out to reduce the price and still have a viable commercial product. I guess I'm living firmly in the past, but $20K still seems to be a high price for a car. Then again, I haven't bought a car new since the 90s, so I'm probably just an old fart who hasn't grokked what things cost today. I still remember the day when the base-model Corolla started costing more than $9999 and I thought the world was coming to an end.

EDIT: Yep, I'm just old. Another commenter linked to a "10 cheapest new cars" list and there seems to be a price floor of around $20K. No major manufacturer seems capable of making one cheaper!

1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43794523

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connicpu ◴[25 Apr 25 15:33 UTC] No.43794677[source]▶
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics[1], $9999 in 1995 is equivalent to $21,275.25 today, so it's a pretty spot on price for a barebones car.

[1]: https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

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patagonia ◴[25 Apr 25 15:38 UTC] No.43794751[source]▶
Except, with advances in computational design and engineering, manufacturing automation, and moving to plastic for the body I would expect a reduction in price, in real terms. Not impressed.
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1. Suppafly ◴[25 Apr 25 15:49 UTC] No.43794908[source]▶
>Except, with advances in computational design and engineering, manufacturing automation, and moving to plastic for the body I would expect a reduction in price, in real terms.

Except with all the safety equipment, crumple zones, airbags, sensors, etc. I would expect an increase in price.

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2. Spivak ◴[26 Apr 25 06:05 UTC] No.43801318[source]▶
And this back-and-forth here is why the folks at the BLS have a hard job. Both options— a car in 1990 is a car in 2025 and real value/utility is unchanged and price should be compared 1-1 ignores that cars are actually better now. But at the same time you literally can't buy a new car at 1990's quality so the additional value/utility might not actually be wanted by some and so this in effect makes real price go up.