Just make a ducking dumb electric car already! We don’t need 4 screens in every car. Mirrors, speedometer, battery gauge. CarPlay/android auto as an accessory.
I will say that Kia niro ev came pretty close to this.
I will say that Kia niro ev came pretty close to this.
> I will say that Kia niro ev came pretty close to this.
A friend has a Kia Niro and bought it specifically because of how loaded it was with features and gadgets for the price. It has a veritable sea of buttons on the wheel and center console, and two screens. Come on, dude.
If you want a basic EV, the Chevy Bolt is about the closest you'll likely get. With no options it'll come with very few "toys."
The whole "why don't they make a very basic car" has been rehashed over and over here and elsewhere. There's no market. Most of the expense is in development, emissions, crash testing, and tooling - not tacking on bits and bobs. People want bits and bobs, which is why they pay lots of extra money for them.
The whole "why touch screens" has been rehashed over and over as well. Touch screens are cheap to manufacture, can be heavily reused (Ford uses the same small handful of screens in a number of its vehicles for example), easily localized, and can be updated in functionality. Yes, they're terrible from a UX standpoint. Car companies don't care.
I don't give the tiniest amount of a shit about having the 0-60 time of a bomb going off. I never ever need to accelerate from a standstill to 60mph as fast as possible, and I can't imagine a situation outside of drag racing where I'd need to. I don't feel much of a need to ask Alexa to turn on the windscreen wipers. If you want to travel but not actually touch controls, take the train - a train ticket is far more of a Veblen good, ideal for a flash git.
https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1134053_1978-ford-f-100-...
I'm on board.
The drive/power train are incredibly expensive and manufacturers are looking for ways to cut costs. The incumbents might be able to do save money by reusing components out of other cars but the reality is that all the little switches, knobs, levers, and such cost money.
What Tesla did to reduce cost in the 3/Y was omit all the custom interfaces and inherit tooling costs, replacing it all with what's basically an Intel Atom based Tablet you can get from Best Buy for $100. This allowed them to use more premium materials to trim out the interior.
Until they can bring down battery costs, we're probably going to see more of this.
In my experience, every ~2 hours of driving at 75 mph requires ~15 minutes of charging, so an 8 hour drive is 1 hour of charging, and if you plan your charging stop(s) around meal time(s), then it adds almost no time at all.
I drive from Portland, OR to Eugene, OR (About 110 miles) on a regular basis. I can make the round-trip without charging (barely), but I charge while I eat a quick dinner for the peace of mind.
I've driven to Seattle and back twice. I eat lunch while charging in Lacey, WA.
It's true that you'll want to plan your stops ahead of time during a road trip to minimize time spend only charging, whereas you can easily wing it in an ICE, but it's not too bad. You can use apps like A Better Route Planner to simplify it.
Unlikely to see a US relative anytime soon though.
Of course Ford cancelled the line in 2019.
That's a shame, because as you've pointed out, it was a perfect balance of a modern EV powertrain with classic simple function. For the dozens of us who'd prioritize that above all else, it was a perfect fit, but I don't think we're big enough market.