Take a car with an internal combustion engine and replace everything that is needed for an electric car. Now you have a no-nonsense car.
Instead, we have a rolling data center that feels like a smartphone.
My family has a 2019 Nissan leaf and the infotainment center feels like it’s from 2012, so I wouldn’t say it doesn’t feel like a smartphone.
Others mentioned it too, but a nissan leaf is as basic a car as it gets. There used to be many of them on the roads. I guess people who can afford having a car with a limited range that can only be charged in a facility or a garage (which excludes long range commuters and apartment dwellers), want to get a truck or a cool car with gimmicks, not a basic car.
Once you understand how cheap the components (battery, electric motors, some servos, some steel, a LOT of plastic…
If they don’t make them fabulous the fabulous people won’t buy them. As it is some wide track golf cart/pickup trucks would be far superior than any of the sleek stuff turned out. Better “volt” mileage too.
The batteries aren’t cheap. That’s still the expensive part of an EV, even though it’s nowhere near as expensive as it used to be.
But overall, the same issue plagues all new cars. There have been very few great innovations in the last decade or so, so now they just have to cram more techy tech into cars to get people to buy a new one. I mean no real innovations aside from the electrification itself of course.
Go look at high-end cars in 2016. Carplay/Android Auto was already a thing, though optional in most cars, and not available in all yet. Safety features like automatic braking, adaptive cruise, lane keep assist were already available. Massage seats were old news. There was just nothing new to add to a car to differentiate it from others. Tesla had just come along a few years ago with a slick UI and over the air updates, and people were blown away with it. What do you do? You start imitating the success of Tesla, going too far (too much tech) instead of integrating only the good things (actually responsive screen, for example).
Hell, I maintain that you can get 90% of what you’d ever want from a car, if you’re willing to own ICE, from a well-equipped 2005-2013 Mercedes S-Class by upgrading it with a AA/Carplay module. There’s little in its 2014-2020 successor that makes it truly a better car - only a slightly nicer infotainment system, better transmission (even that only in the facelift) and different (some better, some worse) engine options. So in 2020, with the new model, they went crazy with screens, making the interior actually uglier than the old ones. The electric equivalent, EQS, was even more screen-focused, only because it came out a year or 2 later, not because it’s electric.
Once we get to cheaper cars, however, it’s even harder to add any real new innovations. MB’s Magic body control (camera controlled hydraulic suspension that knows when to soften up for a pothole) is super expensive. 4 wheel steering is expensive. A large touchscreen is not expensive. A sim card for online services is not expensive.
OP is drinking the oil industry Kool Aid. All cars come with the same sensors and send the same data home. It has nothing to do with the engine.
We should have laws against it, but it certainly isn’t limitteed to EVs.
Toyota BZ. There’s a touchscreen in the center of course, but it’s amazingly low tech otherwise. The turn signals and other lights on the dash are literally incandescent light bulbs behind an arrow shaped hole (like all cars had in the 90’s).
We have the Subaru variant. It’s not low tech enough. The dash is awful and the infotainment could be better.
People want even cheaper tech. It’s possible, the Corolla hybrid was a good example that was ahead of its time. That ford escape hybrid was close too. A lot of hybrids get this right now that I think about it.
The slate is going to be the first real contender in this space. I hope it does well.
That ford escape hybrid was close too.
What the Escape may have hidden from its cabin interior it amplified in its power train for tech complexity (and cost to repair!). A very common failure on the Escape Hybrid was its ABS/HCU (Anti-Lock Brake System/Hydraulic Control Unit). The cost for this one part is $5500. I suppose that might be fine if it rarely failed, but that wasn’t the case. It failed often and just the cost of that part could economically total the vehicle.
I think that’s part of the reason BYD does so well in Australia.
Their cars look like normal cars.
We’re about to get BYD cars in Canada, they’re half the price of anything else on the market. If they can resist our winters and evil road salt I’m totally game for one to replace my gas-guzzler.
Not really, unless you mean giant SUVs. Where are the regular cars and hatchbacks? I hate this constant bigger and bigger vehicles nonsense that just puts people at risk.
Do you mean by this that Canada isn’t getting a range of cars, just the larger 4WD utes and SUV style car?
Today’s larger cars are actually safer… but for their occupants only. In a sea of trucks and giant SUVs it’s a little scary so everyone wants a big car. Even small cars are big now, look at a Fiat 500!
Not necessarily true. Bigger car doesn’t necessarily mean a safer car. It’s complicated and SUVs have made car accidents more dangerous because they are heavier and are much more likely to flip compared to a car with a low centre of gravity. They also are far more dangerous AGAINST sedans and hatchbacks due to the mass difference
https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/are-suvs-safer-than-smaller-cars/
Here’s an article that looks at some of the research.
SUVs do provide perceived safety because drivers are higher up and in a bigger car but that’s not valuable whatsover in an accident.
I don’t know about the rest of the world but in Australia SUVs were treated with less restrictive emissions standards as sedans or hatchbacks so car companies pushed them very hard, some fleets completely removing sedans and hatchbacks from their line up and replacing them with Compact SUVs.
I’m pretty certain most of the SUV craze is just very effective marketing.
I think that that’s kind of a problem with almost all new cars, not just EVs.
Slate’s a pretty stripped-down EV. It’s got a mount where you can stick a phone or tablet if you want, but nothing built-in.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate_(vehicle)
No cell radio. Doesn’t even have power windows in the base configuration; it comes with air conditioning and air bags and that’s about it.
Note that the range is shorter than, say, a Tesla Model 3 or something.
It’s got a mount where you can stick a phone or tablet if you want, but nothing built-in.
I’m not sure how that will be road legal in the USA because after the passage of a law in 2018 all vehicles under 10,000 lbs require a backup camera.
“Today’s final rule requires all vehicles under 10,000 pounds, including buses and trucks, manufactured on or after May 1, 2018, to come equipped with rear visibility technology that expands the field of view to enable the driver of a motor vehicle to detect areas behind the vehicle to reduce death and injury resulting from backover incidents. The field of view must include a 10-foot by 20-foot zone directly behind the vehicle. The system must also meet other requirements including image size, linger time, response time, durability, and deactivation.”
Yeah I might get a used slate someday.
The range is shorter than a Tesla but the price is about a third so it’s not so bad when you factor that in. I wish Slate success I really like their approach to the automobile, they remind me of Framework computer on wheels.
Estimated range: 205 miles.
It’s got a mount where you can stick a phone or tablet if you want, but nothing built-in.
I believe that is a mistake, carplay and android auto are designed to work well when driving, my phone automatically removes all text message notifications and makes me not even notice getting texted to prevent me from getting distracted.
I would like a stripped down car that still has Carplay/Android Auto.
This would be solved by putting space in the dash for people to install their own head units.
Interesting. Android auto always makes me more distracted vs if the phone was just normal.
You can install head units into older cars easily to do this. Did it with my old Ute. Android auto for a song.
What frustrates me most about my wife’s Kona is that the shift stick is gone & you have to use buttons. That & how confusing it was to figure out how to open the charging unit when she first got it.
My issue is that a lot of manufacturers have tried, incorrectly, to mimic Tesla in ways they don’t understand.
Tesla have a 16" screen in their car.
Ford: We put a 17" screen in our car!
Tesla: You can watch movies, play video games, browse the internet, etc. when you’re charging (as it used to take a long time - but we’ve kept the big screen).
Ford: You’ve got a bit ole screen! It’s bigger than a Tesla’s! Your driving map is huuuge. When you’re charging you can watch it charge - in HD!
Buttons and dials are coming back, at least.
Not sure where I read it, but the story goes that loads of manufacturers used touch screen controls “because Tesla” but Tesla didn’t do it because it was cool and fancy, they did it because it’s cheaper. Spinning up entire supply lines to get plastic buttons and switches just wasn’t feasible for them in the startup days.
It’s literally the opposite of premium.
Not everywhere. BMW stupidly are nixing more controls in favor of touch bullshit.
And that stupid tablet in the middle design seems to only ever quicken its pace.
Why are there no normal
electriccars instead of gimicks on wheels? is probably the first question.your statement goes well outside just cars too. all house appliances to start.
I haven’t bought appliances in a while. I get the feeling the high end stuff has mandatory tech crap on it, but the low end stuff is still mercifully free of it; I feel like it would be easier to by a fridge that does not spy on you than a car.
I find the Opel Corsa Electric and Renault Zoe to be pretty alright, regarding knobs and buttons. They still are very much tablets with wheels though.
While I hate the dimensions, shape and pretty much everything else about it, I belive the Citroën e-C3 is available with just a phone mount in the center, and no smarts whatsoever. I’ve only ever driven the model with an infotainment system though.
When i was looking for a replacement for my last car, i was aiming at an EV. Market hat nothing even close to my needs. Had to buy a conventional car instead. Get me something similar to my seat alhambra, but electric and at a realistic price, an i’ll have my next car.
What ICE car did you buy that fit your desire?
It’s all cars. It’s more profitable to sell fewer cars at a higher price. The tech bloat is used to justify the high price. Regulations requiring the tech bloat are designed to keep competitors from entering the market. Regulations are paid for by
bribeslobbying.Because the overlords want data. So data collection must be in everything because top dollar is being paid for it.
I drive an Opel Corsa E. It’s basically just a normal Opel Corsa with an electric engine.
Or is that not what you had in mind?Happy reddit can fuck off day
I owned an Opel Corsa once. I don’t ever want to get reminded again.
I was hit by an Opel Corsa once, it hurt like hell but I killed the car.
Are you a deer
Not anymore!
Lmfao I got a real good chuckle out of that
It’s got that “one easy trick/for a limited time only” energy
