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Comment by giantg2 | Hacker News Reader

It's not really buggy software. The real part is cost.

The reason EVs are loaded with features is to increase the price they can charge and diffuse the cost of the battery. I do not want most of the features in the current EVs, even if they aren't buggy. I want an EV that's the equivalent of a work truck.

That doesn't mean it has to be a truck, but basic radio/usb, power locks/windows, basic seats and rubber floor, etc. Typically only work trucks are stripped down like this, but similar options for cars or SUVs would be nice. Not everything should sync with my phone and blow hot (or cold) air up my ass.

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You say that, but then you look a bit and realize you can buy a few year old luxury car with all those options for similar money so you don't buy the new basic car.

Personally, as someone who buys used cars, I always look for the simpler ones. I never consider anything luxury. From a practical standpoint, that just seems like many more features to go wrong on the used car.

That's the opposite. I was able to buy a basic vehicle for about the same price as one with all the options. I bought the new one for the better warranty and the fact that it didn't have 50k miles on it already.

The now-sadly-cancelled Bollinger project was the electric vehicle I really wanted.

Related to high-cost and EVs, I've noticed this phenomenon of automakers hyping EVs with low announced starting prices, but initially only selling the expensive, high-end versions of the car, then eventually (maybe) releasing the cheaper version much later. I first noticed this with Tesla, then Rivian and Lucid followed suit, which isn't terribly surprising. But now Chevy is doing that with the Blazer EV: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a44723787/2024-chevy-blaze...

I don't know if they really just can't conceive of how much these things are going to cost to make ahead of time, or if they're just trying to grab headlines with attractive pricing or whatever, but it's annoying.

I mean, cars have always been expensive to build, but I don't really remember say, the new Civic coming out and Honda being like "yeah, we're only going to build Touring trims at first, then EXs when the demand drops, and finally maybe a couple of years from now we'll build you an LX model".

Honda puts features on the Acura line. Toyota has Lexus. They bring features to the basic line if they become popular.

And GM has Cadillac. It’s one thing for some features to debut on the luxury line and trickle down to the mainstream. It’s another to be like “here’s our new $40k mainstream electric SUV” and then only sell the $60k version for an entire model year. Just be honest about what you’re putting on sale.

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