Since the US has such a ridiculous tariff (100% ?) on Chinese cars you guys are missing out on a lot. A nicely equipped compact BYD goes for low to mid twenty thousands here. I bought a "mild hybrid" Azkarra from Geely (parent company that now owns Volvo, Astin Martin, and Lotus) for $24K a little over a year ago. Full sunroof, leather interior, 4WD, turbo, very quiet and stable on the road, offroad (somewhat) capable. Six years, 120K km bumper to bumper warranty. If I had waited until now, their recently introduced plug-in hybrid with 10K km combined range (the Starray) is larger and more luxurious, but still under $30k.
As for US offerings, I don't know if the Chevy Spark EUV (all electric ultra-compact SUV) was just introduced here, starting at $21,500. Fossil fuels are so twentieth century. On Tue, Jun 9, 2026 at 9:41 AM Steve Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > > Good Find! Now to the anecdote-stream: > > As you know (Cody) I'm all-electric for the first N miles and loving > it... three PHEVs. (2 Gen1 Volts, a Gen1 CMax). I seem to remember that > DaveW has a deposit down on the Slate which might only be a year out now? > > I grew up in a VW double-cab pickup and have owned another handful of > aircooled's made before 1970 over the decades and have a fondness for > that unique rattle/clatter the underpowered engine offers up and the > ultra-simplicity of the design/construction. I was pleasantly > surprised in the mid 90s to take a short vacation in the Yucatan and the > "rental car of choice" was a classic Bug, still being manufactured sold > throughout parts of Central (and South?) America 20 years after they had > left the US. > > During the mid-70s gas crisis, I lived on the MX border and quite a few > people bought the early VW diesel pickups and filled up with $.05/gal > diesel (PetroMX was (?is?) government run and cheap diesel was treated > as necessary for economic stability). US Gasoline hit $1/gal just as I > bought my first car (gas guzzling 64 T-bird with a bashed in > drivers-door). I still see a few of those little Rabbit-framed diesel > pickups on the road now and then. > > In my never ending quest for (faux/aspirational) self-reliance on the > back of other people's discards I tripped over a Gen1 BMW i3 EV (the > little carbon-fiber job with suicide-styled tiny back doors) at the Los > Alamos "Lemon Lot". It looked like someone's toy, probably garaged > continuously and carefully cleaned regularly... no door dings, no rock > chips, nothing. The seller claimed 50-60 mile remaining range and > offered with an anecdote about "stopping at Tesuque Casino on the way > home for a hamburger and a quick-top-up, making Santa Fe fully > round-trippable from LA. > > It has been out there on the lot for 2 weeks now, it is priced at > dealer-trade-in. I'm guessing that in spite of a town full of people > whose longest commute is probably 10 miles each way, such a vehicle > isn't good/versatile/??? enough for anyone? My stable is already full > or it would have joined my herd already. Had it had the RE (range > extending 600cc motorcycle engine - PHEV mode) I almost for sure would > have anyway. And as you suggest, the market for anything less than > "above average" in most qualities is weak in the US. All three of my > PHEVs were someone else's "end of life" sheddings which *have* required > a minor bit of patience and attention but truly *minor* compared to the > attention I had to give my vehicles for the first couple of decades of > my driving life. Points, Plugs, Timing, Valves anyone? > > Since I have ICE engines under the hood ready to kick in if my > expectations exceed my (battery) resources, I'm a little > range-spoiled... but still acutely aware of when/where I'm going to need > to kick the ICE in to leave my "silent running" EV mode available for > stop/go traffic and/or the ultra efficient "long downhill runs" such as > returning from Santa Fe. The 15 miles/2000ft slow drop from the top of > Opera HIll means that even a few kWh of reserve power will get me home > for "free". Id' not be quite so happy if I didn't have the ICE > available under adverse conditions, bad judgement. We've driven each of > these cross-country as well with little/no time on a charger. > > I helped my elderDotter move from Portland to Davis CA (thank you RFK > Jr) in April which included her Bolt EUV. She had only taken it out of > town once (normally commuting about 60 miles daily) so wasn't that > confident in it's range at highway speeds. I was hauling a modestly > heavy trailer with a full-sized but underpowered (for the load) pickup > in the caravan through several mountain passes so got ahead and stayed > ahead of them on every leg pretty effectively. She had planned an > overnight 2/3 of the way at a place with good L2 charging so was able to > make the last leg with no stops. Her son, their golden-doodle and > niece enjoyed the oldSkool road trip of driving <60mph with the windows > down that last leg... probably knocked 5 miles of range over windows-up > AC but it was "an experience". I don't think they knew you could > drive that slow or with windows down on the freeway! > > I don't spend much time at a gas pump these days so was shocked at the > total bill at the gas pump... over $100 at each (of 3) stops. > > When we got the first Volt (nearly a decade ago now!) we would top up in > the city garage next to the violet crown while watching a movie, > otherwise the ICE would kick in on the way home. I now know to force it > before heading up opera hill in and again out of SFe and just that > little bit (.07 gal is the minimum it will burn in one go) can get us > all the way home for "near free". Mary drives them like conventional > cars and ignores the extra dashboard diagnostics without any trouble... > only needing to add the extra step of plugging in when she gets home. > At $.11/kWh the 10-12kWh "tankfull" is a bargain compared to petrol > (esp. today). My newer Volt (2013 vs 2011 w 100 vs 250k miles) round > trips everywhere I regularly go except Santa Fe with kWh to spare when I > get home... LA calls for 7kWh up and gives back 2kWh on the return, > netting about 1/2 my range. Espanola and Pojoaque runs are near-flat > so pretty under-demanding. I'm still charging off the spinning turbines > of Abiqui dam (until it goes empty) but at least the Coal Burners near > the 4 corners are not belching for me like they used to. I still > haven't pulled the trigger on the pallet of used PVs I keep talking > about. What a hypocrite! Now that my (new) Volt has a trailer hitch > (first owner did a good job, though it's only rated for about 3k lbs) > I'm back to ideating a road-trip to collect. I already moved a modest > load of concrete blocks (carefully) with it. > > I doubt I'll live long enough to add an Olinia to my experiences, but > who knows... it might be the vehicle of choice in the Mad Max > Apocalypse we are racing toward? Do we know anyone attending DJT's > "Thunderdome on the Ellipse" event next week? > > > On 6/9/26 7:41 am, cody dooderson wrote: > > What do you all think of the electric car that the Mexican government > > plans to build? It will supposedly cost under 10k. It looks very > > utilitarian; probably too practical for the American consumer. > > > > https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/sheinbaum-olinia-mexico-ev/ > > > > > > _ Cody Smith _ > > [email protected] > > > > > > > > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / > > ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > archives: 5/2017 thru present > > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ > > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / ... > --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. 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