Re:GM, Honda scrap plans to co-develop 'affordable' sub-$30k...
by ImPostingOnHN on Wednesday October 25, 2023 @03:47PM
(#38017346)
they're different batteries, and also a car manufacturer can't stop a bike manufacturer from making e-bikes with their own batteries, but they can decide for themselves that their batteries go to higher margin products
Of course, one answer could be that e-bikes don't use the same types of batteries that cars do, or that one could make 50 e-bikes for less than the battery array required for a low-end car. Another answer could be that the margins on luxury doo-dads are extraordinarily high, and it's the quickest way to recoup the R&D expenses invested in first version EV's - it's nothing to do with batteries being a limited resource.
Also, there's the idea that if a customer invests in a futuristic vehicle (EV), it should reflect that in all aspects of the vehicle (touchscreen, cameras, all the electronic things). This may or may not be valid, as personally I find myself inclined in the opposite direction, but I'm also not someone who rushes to buy latest tech anymore (so I may be an entirely invalid datapoint insofar as car buying market is concerned).