Make a dumb EV and you immediately get a lot of clients.
An EV doesn't need internet access, doesn't need mics and cameras inside, doesn't need a touchpad or a big screen.
this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2026
359 points (96.1% liked)
Technology
83784 readers
2652 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
It doesn't have to be a "dumb" car. Just don't route everything through a stupid touchpad. I know it costs more to install buttons but I don't want to have to hunt and peck through dropdown menus to turn on the radio or air conditioning. And I definitely don't want a subscription service, that will be canceled eventually, to access remote start.
Its worse than that. The whole car usually runs through that computer, so when it goes out the whole car goes out and is expensive to replace.
This is what Slate Auto is doing with their truck.
That's why the Slate is the only EV I am even remotely interested in at this point. I hope it actually comes out and doesn't suck.
load more comments
(3 replies)
Unfortunately with the US EV incentives gone the Slate is way overpriced for what it is. 150 mile range and manual crank windows and no radio or speakers at all on the base model for $28K. I can understand wanting a low tech vehicle but I think they might have gone a step too far.
You're not wrong, but it's important to point out how overpriced ALL new cars are too. Within the existing pool of overpriced options, it is fairly "cheap".
Personally I am willing to pay more specifically to avoid the surveillance nightmare that is every new vehicle, and I value simplicity over farkles, so I'm exactly Slate's target audience. I do worry whether there are enough luddites like me to help them succeed though.
I want them to survive so bad.
I don't need my vehicle to be a third place. I don't want a molded dash with an entertainment center that will be obsolete when it's new and unable to be modified because they abandoned the DIN standard so you could only buy factory replacements. I just want a thing that can do ~50+ miles a day and recharge that overnight. Which Slate could do with just a regular 120v outlet.
Who knows if they'll actually make it to market or if it'll be $40k+ by the time it does, but even without the EV incentive $28k puts it among cheapest new cars in the US. I'm just severely unenthusiastic about any other newer cars on the market if my current one dies.
load more comments
(3 replies)
I just Bezos wasn't invested in the company. I'd hate to give that fucker any more money if I can help it.
The problem is tracking you provides them revenue since they can sell the data, so they make more money with a vehicle that tracks you vs one that doesn't. A non-tracking vehicle is less competitive if it has to be sold for the same or less money than one that tracks you.
Selling vehicles gets you more money than not. Build a car that people can afford and want to drive will earn you money. Tracking you is worth nothing if you don't buy it in the first place.
The problem is all the manufacturers have decided to track you, theres little to no alternative. I dont know if its proper collusion or convergent shittiness but thats whats happening
load more comments
(1 replies)
Someone on here turned me on to removing the sim from my electric. Gonna take 15 minutes when I remember to do it when I have time.
load more comments
(6 replies)
I need a golf cart that can go 80+mph and passes us safety standards.
Agreed. Where's the modern equivalent to my 95 honda civic? Zero smart features and it was the cheapest AND best car I've ever owned.
Renault Twingo EV. <$20,000. Not with US tariffs.
But Americans don't buy small cars.
load more comments
(3 replies)
load more comments
(3 replies)
Just give me a damn conversion kit... I love my current car and like none of the modern ones, with useless features and annoying stuff like the mandatory lane assist, but I'd gladly stop polluting if I could.
There's a small company party near to where I live that converts ICEs to EVs.
Bottom line is that it's expensive as fuck to do so and the clients are either well-off folks that want an electric version of their favourite historic car (DeLorean or 2cv or something like that) or companies that calculate much differently, with six digits worth of km on their delivery vehicles. It's not economical to do that to an ordinary car with ordinary kilometres per year.
load more comments
(1 replies)
No car needs that shit, but how else can they justify $60000?
The sad truth is that 99.99% of customers (citation needed) don't give a shit about getting tracked or having stupid "smart" features
they'll come eventually
The first wave where the tech bros were you can leverage $ off them. Car manufacturers themselves said they were initially going after the high margin paying customer. You cant sell a new car here in Aus without all sorts of passive monitoring stuff,so that's an issue for a simple car.
now you're at the family level, mid size SUVs are prevailing here in Australian the BYD Atto 2 and similar models from Geely and KIA etc. Telsas are still unfortunately popular and we only get the 3 and the Y
most people want connected cars, my gf loves preheating our BYD when she heads off on an early morning start before she hops in, seats and cabin have been prewarmed etc. she likes the 360 birdseye cameras and I must admit they are very good.
When it's at a public charger you can monitor it while you're away so you don't get hit with idle fees etc albeit 90% of our changing is at home off solar panels. The biggest complaint from Cupra and VW EV owners in Australia is the lack of connected services though there is possibly a bunch of folks who bought them for that reason who aren't complaining.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(6 replies)
North American car companies are doing the LAMF thing. They have spent the last 4 decades stifling innovation in EV or fuel efficient cars to appease the gas lobby and create monster sized vehicles that they can convince a gullible consumer are necessary. If they had spent even 25% of their R&D on what comes after fossil fuels, they would be able to compete with China now. Same as Africa skipped the whole phone lines thing and went strait to cellular, China is now skipping ahead to the next generation not wasting time on producing past generations stuff. Wind and solar power, batteries are the same. Do I feel sorry for industries that pegged themselves to gas when consumers asked for different? Not it the least. They reaped what they sowed, or failed to sow.
Then fire him and hire someone with a plan to match.
The problem is Japan doesnt refine any materials while China refines all the materials, and electric vehicles are relatively simple relative to combustion engines so theres less barrier to entry. The largest barrier is the battery, which is also manufactured in China.
This article seems to be focused on manufacturing for the Chinese domestic market, not the export of cars. They are worried about being shut out of the Chinese market.
And they are 100% right about their assumption. China isn‘t letting anyone in anymore. They use their entire state capitalist machine to reject foreign companies completely. Global companies should forget about China and decouple.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(3 replies)
Not with that attitude you don’t.
I swear to god this and the Ford CEO saying basically the exact same thing have some benefit for them that isn't obvious. CEOs won't even admit anything bad even when it's their own company doing something wrong that has everyone pissed at them. There's no chance in hell a CEO is going to publicly announce that "we have no chance" against a competitors product.
There's probably some backroom deal with China where these guys "play the fool" for a day and then get access to something, whether domestic manufacturing in China, access to tech, access to rare earths, or some other thing.
They're saying they need more taxpayer money.
They're probably angling for more restrictions on Chinese cars in the US/Japan. Then they can enjoy their monopoly over the domestic market without having to actually invest anything to actually compete with Chinese auto companies
I am genuinely shocked reading this from a Japanese car CEO. A German or an American, well they suck in terms of quality (yes also German cars, read the tests, very bad performance in repairs/km driven). Japanese cars usually score high in quality and innovation.
Japanese companies cornered precision manufacturing which is really useful when producing reliable and efficient internal combustion engines. Electric cars are less dependent on precision manufacturing which is probably why Japanese companies failed to invest in them. They wouldn’t have any strategic advantages in the EV market. It was a total lack of foresight on their part. Chinese companies invested so much in battery and electric motor research and manufacturing that they now have a pretty sizable advantage over everyone else.
what these car companies fail to understand is, at this point, many potential buyers want CHEAP cars that have features you find at luxury prices. unfortunately, all these car companies have split their business into two different brands: economical (Honda) and luxury (Acura).
I believe if this was not the case, it would be much easier to have r&d begin to compete with china, as they are able to put these high end features into affordable cars (as the xiaomi su7 has already proven).
these car manufacturers have coasted on their success with no true innovation for too long. I personally hope Honda can make it through, but I just don't see it... I would have loved to own an Acura ZDX if it wasn't for the insanely high price (which I believe they discontinued as of last year...?)
I want a car that doesnt guzzle gas, blows hot and cold and is relatively easy to maintain.
Every other "luxury" feature like touch screens, heated seats, backup cams, I don't necessarily need. I do like having a backup camera though. My 2015 Toyota Camry does everything I need it to, aside from the stupid touchscreen and the obnoxious way it plays whatever was last playing when my phone connects. Thankfully it still has physical buttons and dials for things.
I'll go one farther, and say I actively do not want those luxury features. I like maintaining my cars, and the addition of all these systems makes it that much more complicated.
All I am looking for is reliability! The only fancy feature I'd add would be a beeping backup sensor. But no camera. Heck, I'm fine with manual door locks and no AC.
I would have purchased an electric vehicle long before now if I could get one without a touchscreen. But alas, I am stuck in thee land of mega trucks known as the US.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Heated seats are pretty nice for long distance driving. But fuck adding it to the infotainment system.
And back up cameras are mandatory now, so it's no longer a luxury feature.
The other guy who went to China and was shocked was the CEO of Ford. He is driving a Xiaomi SU7 that he's refusing to give up. Read the interview he gave after he visited China. https://insideevs.com/news/764318/ford-ceo-china-evs-humbled/
Ugh... He's not impressed with the gasoline free, infinitely superior propulsion technology - he's impressed by how much the in vehicle systems are like smartphones.
I threw up a little. We're never escaping this bullshit.
I hate this chasing of overly complicated and excessive software in cars. The only touchscreen I want in my car is the one that let's me run Android Auto for GPS and music. Everything else should be tactile analog switches and dials. Whichever person thought touchscreens are a safe UI choice in a fast moving death machine is insane.
Having been in many a Chinese Didi, the touch screens aren't just bad for UI, they also have things like video backgrounds and advertising built in. Distracted driving waiting to happen.
Amen.
Stop providing distractions to the assholes around me, they are dangerous enough as it is.
load more comments
(11 replies)
A few, like Tesla, have successfully made cars that act and feel like consumer devices—vehicles with lots of tech features, **** and a steady stream of meaningful software updates. Most are playing catch-up.
"smooth digital interfaces"
Nobody actually fucking wants this!
load more comments
(9 replies)
load more comments
(4 replies)
They were warned. It is the classic disruption model that played out repeatedly over the last century, with Kodak as the often cited example. But innovation gets in the way of short term profit and The Way We Do Things.
See also: Sears pioneering the concept of ordering things through the mail from a catalogue, and then getting demolished by Amazon's online ordering system. Way to go guys, you got destroyed by some upstart punk doing what you got started doing, but doing it better and cheaper than you could.
Once again, China is the new Japan in so many ways. /s
He really does look like Winnie the Pooh doesn't he.
Imperial ambitions? /s
view more: next ›