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Electric vehicle warning as BYD records biggest month of sales in Australia: ‘Race to the bottom'

Electric vehicle warning as BYD records biggest month of sales in Australia: ‘Race to the bottom'

Yahoo19 hours ago
The Barefoot Investor Scott Pape has delivered a warning over buying an electric vehicle (EV) as popular provider BYD records its best-ever month of sales in Australia. The Chinese brand now sells more cars in Australia than Tesla and has beaten out the likes of Kia and Mitsubishi.
Pape's warning was sparked by his father buying a new car and him suggesting that he should look at buying a Tesla Model Y. But his dad wasn't a fan of the suggestion and pointed out practical concerns with buying an electric car, including where he would charge it, how much it would cost to fix and what it would be worth in a few years.
Pape said cars had 'always been a terrible investment' and 'EVs just let you feel morally superior while you do it'. Cars are a depreciating asset, meaning they decline in value over time.
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With cheap electric cars from China flooding the market, Pape said prices were only going one way.
'In China, BYD — the world's biggest EV maker – recently slashed its local car prices by 34 per cent overnight,' Pape wrote in his weekly column.
'I grew up choosing between a Ford or a Holden (OK, and Toyota and Mazda). I'm convinced that, for my kids, cars will be like shopping for a TV at JB Hi-Fi: lots of weird-sounding Chinese brand names that get better and cheaper every year.
'In other words, it's an electric race to the bottom … with no one at the wheel.'
The cheapest EV for sale in Australia is the BYD Dolphin Essential, according to RACV, which is available from $32,138 driveaway.
The GWM Ora is in second place with a driveaway price of $33,990, followed by the MG4 51hWh Excite with a list price of $36,990 driveway.
Recent research from NRMA found the key reasons Aussies lacked confidence in EVs included doubts over owners' ability to find qualified EV technicians and concerns about the viability and safety of second-hand EV parts.
BYD recorded its best month of sales in Australia in June with more than 8,000 vehicles delivered, a 368 per cent increase from the same month last year.
This put it behind Toyota (20,225), Ford (10,103), Mazda (9,405) and Hyundai (8,407), but ahead of Kia (7,810), GWM (5,464) and Mitsubishi (5,336).
Driving BYD's growth is the launch of the BYD Shark, which has become one of the best-selling utes in the country behind the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.
The car retails for $57,900 before on-road costs, with Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries data revealing it was snapped up by nearly 3,000 motorists in June, representing more than double its sales in May.
'With each month, you can see just how popular BYD vehicles are becoming in Australia because you can see them on our roads,' BYD chief operating officer Stephen Collins said.
'As we continue the transition to a fully-factory backed operation, we commend the foundation laid by our distribution partners as we strive to ensure this strong growth continues.'
Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids now account for nearly 10 per cent of new Australian car sales.
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Driving the 1988 Vonnen Porsche 911 Hybrid: Yes, You Read That Correctly
Driving the 1988 Vonnen Porsche 911 Hybrid: Yes, You Read That Correctly

Motor Trend

time33 minutes ago

  • Motor Trend

Driving the 1988 Vonnen Porsche 911 Hybrid: Yes, You Read That Correctly

No, there's no mistake. You read that correctly. This air-cooled 1988 Porsche 911 is a hybrid. Yes, it's a modern retrofit, and no, it has nothing to do with saving fuel. Vonnen has retrofitted a 1988 air-cooled Porsche 911 with its Shadow Drive hybrid system, enhancing performance with an electric motor adding 150 hp. The system, costing $69,000, doesn't improve fuel economy but boosts driving dynamics with multiple drive modes for varied driving experiences. This summary was generated by AI using content from this MotorTrend article Read Next This is the work of Vonnen, an offshoot of the well-known Porsche suspension engineering shop Elephant Racing. If any of it sounds vaguely familiar, it's because this is far from the first Porsche the company has electrified. You may remember the water-cooled, 991-generation 911 where this system was pioneered a few years back. What in the World is Going on Here? Now, Vonnen has made good on its promise to adapt its water-cooled hybrid technology, dubbed Shadow Drive, to an older, air-cooled 911. The system's electric motor has been necessarily downsized to fit the smaller bellhousing of the much older transmission, but otherwise the technology is the same. We're only talking about a 3mm difference in the diameter of the axial flux motor, so peak power is still 150 hp like in the water-cooled cars, but peak torque drops to 120 lb-ft (down from 150). As before, the hybrid system fits between the engine and transmission, and if those are stock, it requires only new mounts but not any cutting. The car's starter, ring gear, and flywheel are also replaced in the process, helping to offset weight gain. As for the inverter, it can be mounted in several spots, though tucking it into the engine bay helps hide the upgrade and maintain the car's stock appearance. A few holes do need to be drilled to mount it and pass the cooling lines and high voltage cabling up to the coolers and battery in the front. As for the coolers, there's the stock oil cooler mounted ahead of the front passenger wheelwell, while a second powertrain cooler is matched to a second oil cooler ahead of the driver-side front wheelwell—each backed up with electric cooling fans. The battery is a 400-volt lithium-ion job holding just 1 kWh of usable power. It's smaller than Vonnen's earlier efforts thanks to a new, more energy-dense chemistry, which cuts weight by about 20 percent. Mounting it in the frunk requires losing the spare tire and cutting the gas tank down by about a quarter, from 20 gallons to 15. All in, the system adds about 150 pounds to the car's total curb weight. Because Shadow Drive is self-contained, it's also compatible with other power-adders like turbos or a supercharger. It works with rear- or all-wheel-drive powertrains and manual or automatic transmissions (the car we drove was a manual), and it probably shifts the car's weight balance forward slightly given the battery and extra coolers up front. Of course, there's a little more to it than simply setting up the motor and battery. The car's nearly 40-year-old electronics couldn't handle all this modern hybridization, so other bolt-on modifications were necessary. Included on the list are a throttle position sensor, brake pressure sensor, clutch switch, crank position sensor (integrated into the motor), and a can bus system to make them all talk to each other. A stronger clutch is also a wise investment. No need for screens, though. An app on your phone controls the whole thing, allowing you to select the drive mode and monitor vital system statistics like power output and temperature. We recommend investing in a good, strong phone mount so it doesn't fly off the dash every time you drive this car like Vonnen intends. Super Shadow There are now five Shadow Drive drive modes, one more than when we last tested a Vonnen creation. We started in self-described Off mode to reacquaint ourselves with the nearly 40-year-old Porsche's behavior. It was a stark reminder of how slow old sports cars feel compared to modern ones. By today's standards there's precious little torque, and nothing fun really happens until you're into the top third of the odometer. Stealth is your default around-town mode. It kicks in when you push the gas pedal 30 percent or more, ramping up electric torque to 80 lb-ft initially, and when you push the pedal past 50 percent, it bumps up further to 91 lb-ft. It's intended for local city and highway driving when you might want to win a short stoplight drag or make a quick overtake. Because of the lower output, it comes on more like a supercharger or a perfectly sized turbo, usually around the time the engine hits 3,000 rpm—a nice little shove in the back that ramps up perfectly in line with the gas engine's output. If anything, we'd like to see it arrive at a lower threshold. There are times when traffic is accelerating slowly enough that you'll never get to 30 percent throttle before the next light. The extra power is addictive, and we want it immediately. Although it's not intended for performance driving, we actually found Stealth quite useful on the mountain roads above the company's Santa Clara, California, headquarters, too. Sport mode provides more power, but it doesn't kick in until you're at 80 percent throttle. On the tight, technical roads of the Santa Cruz Mountains, you're rarely that close to wide-open throttle between corners, so the earlier activation in Stealth mode can be more helpful with quick, short bursts of moderate acceleration. But when the road opens, you'll want Sport. Peak torque is actually lower at 80 lb-ft, but it comes on much more quickly when you floor it. Why? To reduce the strain on the battery and cooling system and allow the system to last longer before depleting the former or triggering a cooldown period for the latter. Both recharging and cooling down happen quickly, but losing all your boost even temporarily spoils the fun until it returns. Those bursts of full-throttle acceleration, though, are worth the rarely encountered penalty. The combined power is about as much as you want on roads like these in an old car like this, even one upgraded with parent company Elephant Racing's suspension and big brake kits. When you want even more power, there's a new semi-secret Sport Plus mode activated by tapping Sport three times. It bumps the initial torque application to 112 lb-ft for 0.5 second when you drop the hammer for that extra kick before ramping back down to 80 lb-ft. It'll deplete the battery and heat up the system quicker, but it's worth it. Then there's the showoff mode, called Overboost. That's how you get the full 120 lb-ft, and like Sport, it only kicks in above 80 percent throttle. Think of it as your dragstrip mode. It's the most fun in the right environment, but it's also the quickest to run down the battery and reach the cooldown threshold. Whichever mode you prefer, the Shadow Drive difference is palpable, and once you've tried it, you'll never turn it off. The car just feels too slow without it. What's more, its overall tuning is so good, you'd think it came from the factory this way. There's no light switch moment when the torque comes on, and the tiny amount of regenerative braking it does to recharge the battery is completely imperceptible. Most people you give rides to will just assume the engine is built, not hybridized. What it won't do is increase your fuel economy. Vonnen's system is a pure performance enhancer. Theoretically, you might not burn fuel quite as quickly driving at wide-open throttle as you would without the electric motor, but it would be hard to measure. There's no engine stop-start system, and the electric motor never drives the car with the engine off. Until you're gunning it, the only sign it's even there is the nearly instantaneous engine startup rather than the usual old car crank over. Big Power Is Never Cheap Like the water-cooled system, the new air-cooled variant runs a cool $69,000 for the kit, plus installation at Vonnen or an authorized installer. You can save a few bucks ordering the half-power system for $54,000, but at that point you might as well just spend the money for the full monty. If you've got money not just for old Porsches but for modifying them, why go halfway?

Trump calls Musk a 'train wreck' and dismisses the idea of a third political party
Trump calls Musk a 'train wreck' and dismisses the idea of a third political party

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Trump calls Musk a 'train wreck' and dismisses the idea of a third political party

Elon Musk announced the formation of his new political party, the America Party. But President Donald Trump said Musk's party won't succeed. Trump said third parties "have never succeeded in the United States." President Donald Trump said on Sunday that it is unlikely Elon Musk's new political party, the America Party will succeed. "I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States - The System seems not designed for them," Trump continued. Trump said having a third political party would create "Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS." He added that the GOP, in contrast, is a "smooth running 'machine'" that passed his "One Big Beautiful Bill" last week. Musk announced the formation of the America Party on Saturday, a day after Trump signed his signature tax bill on July 4. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO had publicly criticized Trump's bill and floated the idea of starting his own party last month. "It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country — the PORKY PIG PARTY!!" Musk said in an X post on June 30. "Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people," he added. Musk revisited the idea on Friday morning, when he conducted a poll on X. The poll obtained over 1.2 million votes, with over 65% of them supporting the creation of the America Party. "By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!" Musk wrote in an X post on Saturday. Musk previously said on Friday that he envisioned having the America Party "serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws" given the "razor-thin legislative margins" in Congress. "One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts," Musk wrote on X on Friday. Trump's dismissal of Musk's America Party is not without basis. Past attempts at developing a third political party have faltered. Billionaire Ross Perot ran as an independent presidential candidate for the 1992 election. While Perot did get nearly 19% of the popular vote, he was unable to obtain any electoral college votes. Perot made a second attempt in 1996, when he ran under the Reform Party ticket, a party he founded in 1995. This time, Perot's share of the popular vote fell to about 8% and he did not receive any electoral college votes. Perot's party didn't manage to win any House or Senate seats in subsequent elections, though its candidate, Jesse Ventura managed to win the 1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election. Ventura, however, left the party just a year after taking office. Musk and the White House did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Read the original article on Business Insider

Musk puts Trump beef back on the front-burner
Musk puts Trump beef back on the front-burner

Politico

timean hour ago

  • Politico

Musk puts Trump beef back on the front-burner

In addition to announcing plans for his own political party, Musk spent the 4th of July long weekend bashing the Republican megabill Trump signed into law on Friday, praising Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) for opposing that bill, and lamenting his work leading the Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year. 'What the heck was the point of @DOGE if [Trump]'s just going to increase the debt by $5 trillion??,' he wrote on Sunday on X , the social media website he owns. The world's richest person seemed to have gotten under Trump's skin. The president said in a lengthy Truth Social post on Saturday that Musk had gone 'off the rails' and chastised his former ally's bid to launch a third party. The president further suggested that the source of Musk's frustration with the so-called 'big, beautiful bill' stemmed not from its overall government spending but from something more self-serving – its elimination of tax breaks for electric vehicles like the ones produced by Musk's automaker Tesla. The social media flurry further cemented the demise of what was once a historically powerful political alliance. Musk spent nearly $300 million to help Trump and other Republicans get elected last year. Once elected, Trump allowed Musk to lead DOGE, spearhead the mass firings of federal employees and install loyalists in various positions throughout the administration. One of those Musk allies, Jared Isaacman, was tapped to lead NASA before Trump pulled his nomination because it was 'inappropriate,' citing Musk's SpaceX and its close ties to NASA, the president said on Saturday. Musk's attacks on Trump continue despite the mounting downward pressure on his business. On Monday, Tesla stock fell sharply on the news of his intent to form a third party. Tesla's sales took a significant hit this year as Musk dabbled in politics, but the company's stock trended upward as he stepped away from the Trump administration in May. Musk has also continued to suggest that Trump and his Department of Justice are withholding information about the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose arrest and suicide have been the subject of conspiracy theories popular with the online right. The accusations follow his previous claim that files related to the investigation are being withheld because Trump is referenced in documents connected to the case. The Justice Department released a tranche of documents connected to the case in February, but has yet to release all files connected to the case. Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein. For Trump, a determined effort by Musk to launch a third-party could pose problems in next year's midterms. Aside from his pledge to back Massie against Trump's effort to primary him, Musk's third party appears calibrated to eat into a segment of Republican base voters — he indicated in social media posts the party would stand for shrinking the national debt, reducing business regulations, protecting free speech and treating the Second Amendment as 'sacred.'

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