From time to time, something comes along that’s interesting but doesn’t rate a Display Daily all to itself. Here are a pair of them.
DRIB
I am continually amazed that we can now buy an off-brand 4K, HDR LCD-TV for less than $400, and premium-brand version for less than $500. I would love to see the bill of materials for these sets. How can this be done at a positive margin – even a very small margin? If anybody would care to do a tear-down and analysis, I would happily publish the results here. These sets are, of course, the bottom of the line, and prices go up from there. But the vast majority of consumers buy these sets rather than than the more highly specified models that you and I might buy, and they are completely happy with their purchases.
OLED sets, on the other hand, still maintain their image as offering the best picture quality, and they offer high prices to go along with it. LG Display’s OLED-TV panel business has finally turned profitable, and the company is working hard to increase manufacturing capacity and reduce both cost and price. So we would also expect the cost of OLED-TVs to drop, but maybe not this much.
LG has declared an “LG Holiday Savings Season” during which “Black Friday prices” will apply. LG’s bread-and-butter — better make that croissante-and-buter — CX line is reduced by as much as $1500 from the previous MSRPs. The 77-inch goes from $4999.99 to $3499.99; the 65-inch from $2799.99 to $1899.99; and the 55-inch from $2499.99 to $1899.99. The prices P.C. Richards, a small regional chain here in the tri-state area, closely track’s LG’s advertised prices. (P.C. Richards sells each model for 8 cents less.) My personal ceiling for a 65-inch set is $2000, and LG is there.
DRAB.
This one isn’t about displays, but I’ll slip it in as an important platform for displays. When I first saw the strikingly designed Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV) at CES in 2015, I knew it couldn’t succeed. The selling point was that you could refuel it in five minutes, compared to charging a battery electric vehicle (BEV), which in 2015 took much longer. But propelling a 4000-pound car with a 152 hp (113 kW) motor was not promising. In 2016, Honda introduced its second-generation Clarity FCV, and Hyundai released its Nexo FCV in 2019, bringing the number of significant FCV models available in the U.S. to three.
You can buy this newly redesigned 2021 FCV Toyota Mirai if you’re willing to spend $64,000, accelerate 0-60 at a leisurely 8.9 seconds, and you live in California or Hawaii, the only states where (sparse) hydrogen fueling networks can be found. The price of the 2020 model included $15,000 worth of fuel, and the same will likely be true for 2021. (Photo: Toyota)
But the reason FCV vehicles must fail is that nobody is going to invest in a complicated nationwide hydrogen supply infrastructure when BEV vehicles sell in much, much greater numbers, and the charging infrastucture for them is much simpler, already well established, and growing rapidly.
Now, Luke Gear has added to the case against FCVs in an article published yesterday by by IDTechEx. Among the points he makes are:
- Batteries are heading towards million-mile life and 1000-mile range.
- FCVs use Li-ion batteries for high power requirements and energy harvesting, which adds complexity and cost.
- Fuel cost is $0.03 per mile for a BEV; $0.10 for an an internal-combustion-engined vehicle, and $0.27 for an FCV.
- There are approximately 88,000 public chargers in the U.S., and 44 hydrogen supply stations.
If you could get anybody to make a significant investment in hydrogen delivery infrastructure and FCVs, and if you could convince lots of people to buy FCVs — big ifs — hydrogen fuel cost would go down, but it would be like chasing LCD cost with a new display technology. When it comes to cost, nobody catches an LCD.
As Luke Gear concluded,
“if a battery can do it, it is currently the best value option for the consumer and environment.”
(KW)
Ken Werner is Principal of Nutmeg Consultants, specializing in the display industry, manufacturing, technology, and applications, including mobile devices, automotive, and television. He consults for attorneys, investment analysts, and companies re-positioning themselves within the display industry or using displays in their products. He is the 2017 recipient of the Society for Information Display’s Lewis and Beatrice Winner Award. You can reach him at [email protected] or www.nutmegconsultants.com.
