German automakers who once laughed off Elon Musk are now starting to worry

Re:German automakers who once laughed off Elon Musk are now ... by stcredzero on Friday April 22, 2016 @01:40PM (#11550916)

My lowly W124 1995 Mercedes 300 was meant as an ordinary family sedan, with just a bit over 150hp. The tradition is that even ordinary cars in Germany be able to hang on the Autobahn.

I'm not saying German carmakers shouldn't worry. I'm saying that they have a bulwark in their domestic market for a little while longer.

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Re:German automakers who once laughed off Elon Musk are now ... by drawnwren on Friday April 22, 2016 @06:22PM (#11552950)

To be fair, a 1995 Honda Accord comes with anywhere from 130 to 170 hp, depending on trim. A Taurus started at 140.

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Re:German automakers who once laughed off Elon Musk are now ... by stcredzero on Friday April 22, 2016 @07:27PM (#11553255)

The Honda CRX was famously cited by auto journalist David E. Davis as a minimal car he'd be willing to drive on the Autobahn with. That only had just a bit over 100 hp and could just barely make it past 100mph. My point isn't that German cars are overpowered. My point is that they aren't really, but they're still expected to be able to hang with it on their highway system. If an EV is going to have a sharply reduced uninterrupted highway driving time, then the unavoidable minimum charging stop time of 30 minutes is going to have a proportionately larger impact on travel times there.

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