Car prices seem to rise non-stop despite advances in manufacturing technology. But a TV, or smart home devices, or some other similar piece of home tech continually becomes cheaper from the time it is released. Why?
In: Economics
A lot of technology has become cheaper because mechanical parts have been replaced by computers.
For example washing machines used to have this long complex system of cams and switches to control the program (it was attached directly to the control dial which is why it would turn as the program ran). Carefully tuned electromechanical parts = expensive.
Now you just throw a 5 cent microcontroller and some relays in there and you’re done.
Cars with internal combustion engines are full of dumped mechanical parts that you just can’t get rid of, so they will always have a price floor because of that. Add to this increasing safety and emission standards and the price stays high.
With far fewer moving parts electric cars have the potential to be cheaper, but the material that the giant batteries are made of is expensive keeping the price up.
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