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Originally Posted by David70
With electric cars the drive train is talked about as hp, number of motors and range. Anything else?
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Efficiency is most important. Hyundai actually has the most efficient motors IIRC - I think they and Tesla are somewhat neck and neck.
Another important upcoming factor will be the number of moving parts in the drive system. This one has four:
https://lordstownmotors.com/pages/tech
Of course, hub motors are far from proven in real world car/truck applications, and they have the drawback of increasing unsprung weight (by more than 100% using current state of the art tech). But if this type of system proves to meet customer demands, continues to be refined, and proliferates, well, you can also count single speed step-down transmissions, differentials and half shafts among your mechanical casualties as well.
All of this, by the way, is happening for the same reason that your phone went from being a messy keypad with a bunch of buttons you don't care about and a postage stamp screen to just screen with no buttons (almost - they'll all be gone soon) - humans want shit to be simple because we hate f**king around with fiddly nonsense that has forty ways it might break at any moment. That desire - which is rooted in increasing quality of life - for the vast majority of us, trumps any nostalgia for obsolete technology.
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Assuming an electric Honda with same hp & range will be extremely similar to everyone else's? Seems like the reasons to buy one brand of car over another are getting smaller as the drive train gets more generic.
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There will be fewer USPs as time goes on, yes.
Still, even if we took every ICE vehicle on the market and gave them all the best engine/transmission in their class, consumers would find plenty of reasons to prefer one make/model over another. Expect that to continue to be the case in the era of electric and increasingly automated vehicles.
Even if we are saying the industry is shifting toward appliances, plenty of folks are going to want the appliance with the BMW badge, right?