The title says "EVs" but really it's "Teslas" they're not selling their Polestars.
The trim was basic, but the suspension was superior to a Tesla, especially on Italian roads.
Road noise was average at highway speeds with the cheaper trim.
A friend of mine rented a Kia Nero EV and it was excellent. It’s just a car that happens to be electric. I didn’t even realize it was an EV until the third day.
Anyway, they're a terrible choice for a rental fleet. You want rental vehicles to behave as much as possible like the average vehicle, so there's a minimal learning curve. Next to manual transmission vehicles in North America, Teslas have to be about the worst choice for that.
My 15 year old BMW:
Has seat memory tied to the key. I don't have to fiddle with a menu to save the setting. It just... remembers.
Has steering wheel buttons with labels. Using steering wheel buttons and three fingertip-reachable and physically distinct stalks I can run my (intermittent rain sensing!) wipers, cruise control, blinkers, headlights, radio, and phone (which can stay in my pocket!).
Has an iDrive knob that controls all non-driving-critical features but can still be safely operated when driving. This includes the navigation system but also things like car settings.
Keyless entry where I just grab the handle and pull (this is one operation, not two) and the car unlocks. This works on the front doors and the trunk. It also works to start the car. No phone interaction required. The key fob stays in my pocket. In 8 years of ownership I have changed the fob battery once. There's a physical lock cylinder in the door if my key fob or the car battery die. I can lock the car with a touch as well.
Has physical buttons for almost everything (except car settings and nav). Seats (including heaters), mirrors, windows, blinkers (including hazards), head lights, cruise control, radio (volume, tuner, track, presets), dual zone climate control, hill descent, etc.
The Tesla isn't just unfamiliar, it is worse.
I do largely agree with you re the Tesla, although the steering wheel controls I could argue both sides. They're multi-function, which allows you to customize their operation and do a lot more than you can with dedicated controls.
Edit: though I guess it's 2024 now. IIRC the 2009s had slightly less bad idrive.
No screen.
The seat memory does remember. Not just for the physical key, but for your phone. You do nothing. If my wife gets in the car, it sets up the car for her. If I do, it sets it up for me. Neither of us touch anything, it's automatic depending on where our phones are.
The steering buttons aren't labeled for a reason! Because you can remap them. Which is awesome, because I can set them up exactly how I like them. I can put all the functionality you mentioned on the steering buttons.
It doesn't need an idrive button. It has voice. I don't look at the car to navigate. I tell it what I want. Same with other non critical functions.
It needs zero phone interactions. I walk to the car and open the door. That's it. I don't look at the phone. Don't wait. It just works. For every door and the trunk. You just never think about it.
The Tesla does all the things you listed vastly better. You just haven't learned to set them up and use them.
Every car has voice, it just does not work well in the US because street and establishment names are often not real words in English, people don't know how they are pronounced and, even if they do, the car itself has different ideas about pronunciation. iDrive guarantees that you can get to the "Manet st" and not the "Monet st".
>The Tesla does all the things you listed vastly better.
Don't you need to get into menus to change the A/C air direction/temperature/pressure in a Tesla? How is it better than operating a physical dial/lever for example? Especially for the people on the rear seat? Also, the glove box latch is in the menu too, is not it?
And no. I never go into the menus for the AC. I do it though voice.
Well, good for you, perhaps you are the person the voice models had been trained on.
>And no. I never go into the menus for the AC. I do it though voice.
What about the passengers on the rear seat? And how is it "vastly better" to change the AC direction through voice than just to pull the lever until it's blowing in the right direction?
But you're spot on! The fact that people in the rear have no amenities is one of the big downsides of Tesla. And that rear seat heater? You need to pay extra to unlock it! I hope they choke on their $200
BMW is currently having all excellent EV cars, and that’s even with shared architecture with their ICE counterparts. Specially their electrical motors are above everyone else’s, due to the lack of permanent magnets, which allows for finer control of their power and instant disconnection. I am expecting to BMW to beat Tesla completely when they finally offer their dedicated EV platform in 2025-2026.
Maybe excellent, but they have nothing as affordable as what other EV makers are offering AFAICT.
Personally I care more about an elegant ride than a fast, jerky one.
The most painful part of the experience was attempting to charge it before returning it. Finding a compatible, working L3 charger was very difficult, even in Zurich and the experience of downloading an app to start the charging process was terrible. It of course, didn't accept my non-Swiss credit card and I had a get a local friend to help with the payment part.
If I can't use the vehicle without needing to carry a working cellular-connected computer running a specific operating system in my pocket and/or having a specific category of bank card, that's a hard 'no' for me. Either have the car negotiate payment with the charging network or give me the option of handing currency to a person at a register. Otherwise I insist on a dino car.
It's third-party chargers that are an endless source of frustration.
That's not the "just need to" that works for me. For privacy reasons I don't carry a device that constantly reports my personal information to Apple or Google. Can I install this app from F-Droid? Strike one.
Now supposing I decide I'm cool with being tracked by Apple or Google all the time and use a device I can get the app on. Do I need to register an account with the app? With my personal information? So the fact that I am driving a specific Tesla vehicle along with my location can be tracked by Tesla? Strike two.
Now supposing I decide I'm cool with being tracked by Apple or Google and Tesla, do I need to register a Visa or Mastercard with the app so I can also be tracked by the payment provider, who will sell my transactions to random third-party eReceipt brokers who will dutifully add my travel habits to the profile they keep on me? Strike three.
Nope. Not playing any of these games. Gas car, cash. Thank you very much.