Ask Lemmy

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.

Because the modern electric car is from an era where laws mandate technology in cars that can surveil the occupants and shutdown the vehicle.

You can swap electric drivetrains into existing cars. Companies such as Felten offer kits for classic Mini's, Porsche's, Defender's. This is likely your best bet.

If emissions is your concern rather than other aspects that electric cars can deliver then look into retrofitting an ICE engine with a thunderstorm generator

My FIL has a 2021 Smart ForFour EV that's as barebones as it gets. No screen, buttons and knobs for the climate control, popout rear windows AND an actual key you have to put into an actual hole.

It also looks like manufacturers are catching on and making EVs for normal people. Renault. Kia and Hyundai all have nice selections plus some of the Chinese models from Leap and BYD.

So it's definitely getting better on the EV front.

These definitely exist. They are typically referred to as 'compliance cars' - i.e. the manufacturer is obligated, usually by regulations, to produce an EV, but they don't want to spend money designing a new platform for it - so they take an existing model, rip out the engine, cram a motor and batteries wherever they will fit and call it good. Examples: Volkswagen eGolf, Fiat 500e, Mercedes B Class EV. Ford Focus Electric...

However, doing this means you are constrained to the shape of the combustion vehicle it is based on. So the aerodynamics may not be optimal to get the best range, you may have a transmission tunnel taking up space in the interior that is no longer necessary, directly swapping the position of the engine and the motor/inverter means you lose the opportunity to repurpose the front of the car for additional storage - ultimately it ends up compromised in one way or another.

If on the other hand you design the platform from the ground up to handle an electric drivetrain then all of these points can be taken into account.

(And regarding cars in general becoming rolling computers: this is not an EV specific issue, unfortunately.)

So three issues.

An ICE drivetrain is a certain size and shape- you have a big lump of engine under the hood, a fat cigar of a transmission under the center of the car, a gas tank in the back, etc.
An EV drivetrain has a VERY DIFFERENT size and shape- the entire battery and drive system is essentially a skateboard on top of which you can build the rest of the car.

So you can't just take an ICE car and swap out the ICE for batteries and motor. The whole car needs a redesign. And if you're making the car for modern, tech-savvy buyers, why would you make a boring old low-tech car?

Second- EVERY car is turning into a rolling datacenter like a smartphone. Try to buy a base model car with no screen and manual windows or whatever- it doesn't exist anymore in many brands. Automakers go for the high profit items, and that's NOT the base models.

Third- a lot of the tech is now mandatory. Backup cameras, and soon driver attention monitoring among other things.

Sad thing is- I think there's a demand for it, if the price is right. If getting rid of most of the tech dropped $10-20k off the sticker price I think whoever tried it would sell millions. I'm not sure you're allowed to anymore though.

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.

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.

Because the overlords want data. So data collection must be in everything because top dollar is being paid for it.

They couldn’t build them fast enough if there were, they would run out of batteries.

People buying cheap basic cars aren’t going to pay extra for it, or mess around with putting in L2 charging at home.

Why make 2 budget EVs and make $5k each when you can make 1 expensive one and make $10k?

In the past the marketers were likely convinced that EV drivers wanted something different, that looked different, that everyone would see as different, that would stick out. Because why else would you possibly want an EV?!? It's obviously because you want to stick out. It's called product differentiation and the product developers are all over it. Nowadays it's also like that but along a different wave, now you have to differentiate with more screens! More gadgets! Have to differentiate from normal cars or why else would anyone buy from us instead of them! It's funny one business podcast I listen to says of Tesla "they haven't updated it in years! It feels old! It's a failure!" They feel the need to one up every time and differentiate and now we can't just buy a normal car.

You should check Chevy's lineup. They're pretty ok, the truck is expensive, but what truck isn't?

You can buy Hyundai, Renault, BMW, VW. .. all pretty good "normal" electric cars.

Driving a kia e-niro. There's nothing gimmicky about it except for the melody that plays when you start the car. Everything else is pretty much down to earth regular car stuff. And with a price below 40k, in 2021, I think it wasn't even that expensive for a EV.

Well, there were attempt of this like VW e-golf for example. Not really a terrible car, but due to limited battery space and EV knowledge at the time its range was abysmal (like 100 miles), charging speed was atrocious and it still cost way more than ICE variant. It's a pretty good car for city commute, but nothing more as highway speed range is even worse due to power draw...

So, it's not enough to take ICE and do simple "conversion". But I'm all for dumber EVs!