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There were technical components mentioned in the article. Yes, cost comparison was the main thrust.


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Still a good comparison to see the relative costs of the components involved.

Right - but when doing the price comparisons, did the article's author's include them in the comparison.

surely the 2 orders of magnitude cost difference suggests they are more different than alike?

Indeed. The pricing was just a reference to compare both offerings and draw parallels on the value offered by them.

I'm guessing that the underlying algos and tech are all roughly the same so the costs are probably also very similar.

Both technologies are proven. One has proven to be cheaper than the other.

Did you read the article? This was covered there, though as a less extreme price difference.

Was there a big cost difference?

Okay, that's fair. So "nearly equivalent maintenance costs but a whole lot cheaper on fuel" would seem to be a less click baity headline. (I know, I'm asking for a lot)

yeah, technical superiority matters very little when cheaper alternatives exist which meet requirements.

And how does cost compare?

Equipment, cables and materials still cost the same, so the comparison is relevant. Even adjusting for PPP, the difference is striking. And to explain the differences, you have to look at external factors, such as competition and regulation.

Do you have any insights into performance or cost difference?

Most of it is the R&D, but I’m sure tooling is in there, just likely a much smaller cost in comparison.

That's exactly my point. The comparison is not mine, but from the article.

> but my work at Sendwave led to saving well over 10x more money, because the scale of the product was bigger and the improvements I was making were more important.


It wasn't better. It was cheaper.

Cheaper is better, all other things equal. If the other systems were ten times more expensive, were they also ten times better in some other metrics to compensate?


And safety?

Most of these points make sense. But the article was bragging about them raising costs. Which made it sound like they were at parity, not that they undercut. Do they get extra subsidies from the government? Or are they cheaper to make?

If cheaper to make, why?


Can you give some numbers for some of the "vast" cost difference we're talking about (even if they're ballpark figures)?

The comparison doesn't work on manufactured products. You can really only compare commodities.

Anything that is manufactured has a multitude of factors that will reduce cost of a product significantly over time. If the circuitry in an Xbox were constructed in 1960 no government on the planet would have been able to afford it. It would also be difficult to find enough power to run it or a place big enough to build it with the technology of the time.

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