EV Stupidity Checklist
hypercritical.co
hypercritical.co
The powered charger port door would make sense if there were robot chargers that used it. Tesla demoed that, but people disliked the snake robot approach. Technically, a snake robot is ideal for that, but too many people fear snakes and tentacles.
Rear view cameras are better than rear view mirrors. The field of view is better.
Cameras will prevent a lot of unnecessary property damage, and more importantly, fully mitigate risk of killing humans/animals that are behind the car and outside the field of view.
The various cameras on my polestar2 are routinely getting caked in salt and dirt in the winter 30 seconds after I start driving down the road. I fail to understand why I'd want this for a critical system like rear or side view mirrors.
I drove in a Polestar4 with its rear view camera only view the other day. Did not like. Would not want as my only option.
I did drive in a Bolt that had dual mode and that was fine.
Rear view cameras are useless when mud/rain get on them. Mirrors continue to work just fine.
Try living in Seattle.
Oh yes, we are
I would not mind rear facing cameras for checking blind spots on the highway.
(Personally, I didn't know that was a thing, but I do know people in older cars buy rear view camera mirrors where they replace the analog one).
I’d think lacking an analog mirror would run afoul of some regulation, but then there’s that Polastar that doesn’t have a rear window:) Cheers.
As long as they work, yes. This is part of the trend to make everything more fragile with lots of failure conditions. There are many electrical parts + software needed to make that camera+screen work, any of which might break eventually.
A mirror is just a mirror, failure modes are few and unlikely. Even if it cracks it still works.
Are your side mirrors adjusted properly? Do you know the SAE standard on how to adjust your side mirrors? [1] (The actual paper is paywalled.)
[1] https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15131074/how-to-adjus...
But you lose the natural depth perception and need to focus differently
"Possibly dangerous" is a vast understatement. There is an ongoing lawsuit claiming that a cybertruck's door stopped working after a crash, trapping three occupants who burned to death.
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/piedmont-cybertruck-cr...
A very similar case in China was caught on camera. Car crashed, caught fire and the doors stopped working. At least in this incident everyone made it out alive.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SweatyPalms/comments/1qwao0m/ev_dis...
Now go read Tesla’s own manual instructions on how to open doors when the power is off. There is no way I could reliably do it if the car just crashed and there is smoke filling the cabin. I don't know how any engineer could have thought this is safe to be put in a vehicle.
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/models/en_us/GUID-AAD769C...
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-A7A60DC...
While we're at it one thing to add: Keep your turn signal at an on-off pattern.
I don't wan't to have to parse your cute turn signal animation. It's a warning light and should be somewhat irritating/eye-catching.
If you want to add cutesy features then have the turn signal automatically synchronize blinking with the car in front/behind it. People would love it.
I'd like to orange turn signals come back! They could even have an arrow inside them and toggle between inside and outside. Maybe thats too goofy, but at least something would always be illuminated. Here's a goofy SVG to show the concept
https://www.thedrive.com/guides-and-gear/u-s-amber-turn-sign...
The US is wild in terms of its commitment to "maybe the brake lights are faulty" style.
While we're at it, keep them orange. Nobody wants to spend a second of uncertainty trying to figure out if you're signalling or braking.
On my 2019 Model 3, a stress fracture showed up overnight and everytime I look up I see a 3000$ fix for a car that is worth 10k max.
I have no idea who wants it. It is hot in the summer, cold in the winter and you can have a sudden bill related to a rock on the street.
Somehow everyone, from Tesla to Ferrari has this insane design decision and for something that only makes sense in a very small part of the world.
Please stop.
Hyundai, Ford, etc have it as an option.
Just a nice metal roof that won't make me expend more electricity for nothing would be nice.
(Never heard of Fisker).
With the cost of the bespoke glass, damage to it basically means the car is guaranteed to be totaled even in a less extreme scenario.
Lots of cars have followed Tesla's lead: Ioniq 5, Mach E, etc.
I'm claiming that Tesla is an outlier in that they're not giving a choice. With the Ioniq 5 and Mach E, you can choose whether you want the glass roof or not.
Natural light makes the driving (and passenger) experience much more pleasant for me.
For what its worth I've had a crazed man preach from on top of my Model 3 roof and it still looks brand new :)
He was clearly off his meds or something. Preaching about "people following him", that he "was a man of god", and that we needed to believe him.
The cops then dragged him off the car (as per one of the videos!).
Because it eliminates the headliner and insulation, which allows the roof to be an inch shorter while maintaining the same interior headroom. The has a direct impact on frontal area, which, in turn, has a direct impact on aerodynamic drag.
Reduced drag means greater range (or the same range with a smaller, less expensive battery).
> It’s fine to have the door handle activate an electronic door opener, but...
> ...they all-too-frequently decide that the door that covers the charge port should be entirely electronic, opening and closing under its own power in response to a touch-screen input...
> ...a glove box that can only be opened by using the touch screen
What's the deal with making all kinds of simple doors, lids and flaps motor-driven and computer-controlled? Did someone watch the Zorg scenes from The 5th Element and thought "yes, that's the pinnacle of design"?
More generally: I can understand replacing arrays of physical switches with a single touchscreen from a cost maintenance standpoint. But replacing simple mechanical linkages with auxiliary motors? Replacing mirrors with cameras and more screens? Those components can't possibly be cheaper than the original solution.
I miss those so much! Here's John talking about ending them in 2015 https://hypercritical.co/2015/04/15/os-x-reviewed where he said "Someone else can pick up the baton for the next 15 years" - but sadly nobody even came close.
Had to do a bit of digging to disable the OnStar tracking though.
1. It allows for having "presets" for everything configurable in the car. If you've ever shared a Tesla, you understand this: the driver's seat adjusts itself to the right position, as does the HVAC, etc. Everything being digitally mediated means I can loan my car to someone and when I get it back, all of my settings will be exactly as I left them.
2. It paves the way for "robotaxi". You don't need physical buttons geared towards maximum ergonomics of the driver if there is no driver. Obviously Tesla hasn't quite achieved that goal yet, but that is what they are aiming for so it makes sense they wouldn't invest much at all in driver ergonomics.
Similarly, the doorhandles being flush is not entirely about "looking futuristic", but is instead another way to squeeze every last drop of aerodynamics out of the vehicle, which is incredibly important for EVs.
And these touch screens are cute until a product manager wants to show their marginally questionable value to the universe by changing the UI, buttons, placement etc. and now you are searching for the crucial functionality that you forgot to set or check, after the last OTA update occurred, before you started moving, and are now careening down the highway at 60 miles an hour...
The top of the list is "Maintain a constant (vent) fan speed".
With all the EVs I've tested, if I want to get warm air on my face at a consistent speed ... it's just not possible. "Auto" is disabled, I've set the fan at a certain speed, and set it to blow only in the top vents. Dial up the temperature, and the fan speed can drop markedly.
Such a simple thing that's worked for decades. And they've made my driving very uncomfortable. I've had an EV for only a few months, and I keep thinking of trading it in for an older Honda. I've installed a USB fan, but ... why? Why am I paying so much more to get an experience I hate?
The key is to set the temperature to something much higher than the ambient. If you're already in a warm place, the experiment won't work. I've had multiple EV owners claim as you, and then demoed it to them on a cold day.
I thought having the glovebox only unlocked from the screen was dumb when I heard about it but I'd rather have the ability to lock it than not. And it's consistent with the move to using your phone instead of a keyfob.
MZS5 EV[1] checks most except the physical buttons, which is a half tick. There’s some physical buttons for some important things, but could do better. The previous model of had more buttons but essentially the same checklist-wise.
1. (Maybe) The door handles protrude like God intended, and it is obvious what you are supposed to do since there is an impossible to miss button.
However, the button only unlocks the door if you have the key fob, and sometimes it can take a couple pressed for it to work, so that might disqualify it.
If you want to unlock it without that key fob (and without using the app) there is a physical key, but the keyhole is behind a cover that is not obvious.
2. Yes to physical door opening mechanism.
3. Yes to door handle affordances.
4. Yes to physical charge port mechanism. Simple push to open latch mechanism, which is the only way to open it.
5-10. Yes to turn signal stalk, physical controls on steering wheel, physical temperature and fan controls, physical are flow and direction controls, and physical glove box opening mechanism.
11-13. Yes to rearview mirror, rear window, and side-view mirrors.
It is basically the same as a non-EV Kona at the same trim level except for things that have to be different.
Is there really an EV that replaced the turn signal stalk with steering wheel buttons? You may as well just remove the turn signal entirely at that point.
Also different people use the same car at different times, etc.
Because sometimes it is hot.
I want more cold air blown on me at a higher velocity until I cool off, and then to be a steady state. Even if I had remotely started my car with air conditioning, which although my vehicle has the capability I never do, the seats and steer while and other things I touch will be hotter than the ambient air temperature and make me feel hotter until the car has been moving a while.
My partner enjoys ambient temperatures about 3°C warmer than I do
Depending on which of us is currently in the sun, or which of us is alone, you need to vary it quite a lot in summer
In winter, you want the AC for defogging but not on otherwise, which is even more fiddly if you don't just leave it on permanently and use like 10% more fuel
And that's assuming climate control works. It doesn't in any car that I've ever been in. The car doesn't want to sound like an airplane at lift-off once the temperature goes 2° above the set point, while I may just have come from a long walk and am super warm and want this blast of AC air. And then after 5 minutes it gets chilly and maybe I want it to cool the car instead of blowing at me directly, or maybe I just turn the loudness down. There are so many permutations... I suspect we may be built differently if you are happy with a single set point!
(And as others have alluded to, a house is a much more stable environment than a car. It takes a LONG time to make most houses significantly warmer or cooler, a car's internal temperature can change drastically in minutes.)
Because people are ... different?
I'll start with your home example. I grew up in a hot environment. Everyone had window ACs and fans (way more efficient than central AC for many types of homes - but that's for a subthread).
With a separate AC and fan, you have two variables you can tweak to get your comfort: Speed of air, and temperature. Believe it or not, some people are not comfortable in a cool room if they're not getting air (and likewise, many/most people are comfortable in a warmer room as long as they get air).
Then you move into a house with no fans and just a central AC and ... it sucks. So you buy pointless table top fans to compensate.
Same with cars. It's not just about the temperature. It's about air. With modern EVs, as I pointed out here[1], it's (almost) impossible to get warm air blowing on your face in cold weather.
Finally, there's the "obvious" reason that applies both in homes and in cars. The temperature you need to feel comfortable keeps fluctuating, and depends on outside conditions. In cold weather, I need to set the car at 70-71F to feel nice. In hot weather, I'll throw up if I drive at those temperatures - I need 60-65F. Same with my house: In winter, I set it to 68-70F to feel comfortable. In summer, I just get cold at those temperatures.
Having a constant temperature in the car doesn't help me if I make a turn and suddenly the sun is coming on my half of the car. Being able to quickly dial down the temperature and have air on my face will cool me in under 10s. Merely dialing down the temperature will take several minutes. Similarly, 10 minutes later when the sun goes behind the clouds, I'm suddenly cold because I don't have the sun compensating for the AC. Merely turning the fan away doesn't help. I need to raise the temperature and keep the air on me to normalize (again - the difference between seconds vs minutes).
If you've never gotten used to that, I can see why you'll settle for something vastly inferior.
A simple example: With my car, I can remotely start the AC. When I've parked the car in the sun, I can start the AC (max cool) 10 minutes before I get in, and it's still a bit warm (but at least not hot). If instead I get into a really hot car with no AC pre-conditioning, it will take at most 1 minute for me to feel cool if I have the AC blowing right at me.
I'll set the temperature differently if it's cold vs hot out, and in some weather have to tell it to unfog the windshield.
So is the only one in the list that is actually EV specific? It also has a direct counterpart on an ICE vehicle so even it doesn’t count.
The physical key triggers an electronic switch. There's no mechanical link. There's no way at all to enter the vehicle if the battery dies. Which is problematic because you can't charge the battery without accessing the hood release inside the electronically locked cabin.
The Nissan engineers must have been smoking something great that day
Take the mirror thing. Yes a good mirror is great. It's the gold standard for 2026. I can totally envision a 2030 world where an artificially stitched together view of what's behind you dramatically outperforms a simple what can mirrors and angles do. A stitched together hybrid view possibly enhanced with other AI overlays is going to outperform normal users.
This is happening..OPs views on stupidity are not gonna stop it
I have set temperature to 21 C in Tesla when I bought it and never changed since. Why would anyone frequently change a thermostat set temperature?
One reason why you want warm air in the car is defrosting your windows.
It’s a good car in the sense it’s good at car things, even some EV things - but dear Lord is Toyota bad at making software.
The software is consistently unreliable, unstable, and feature incomplete- which they still have the gall to charge for.
The number of times I would curse the EV I drove previously, when I saw a person in front with no lights on, or to signal a semi that it was safe for them to switch lanes....flashing the hi-beam sends exactly the wrong message.
Another annoyance: these days, even low end cars have an `AUTO` setting for lights, that ensures that headlamps and rear tail lights come on when dark, or in the rain, when wipers come on, only to have ppl disable them because they belive they extending their battery life....bah!
Shoutout here to my new car (Ford mustang, not the EV version). Lights are a knob; making changes flashes a toast on the front dashboard so I cna see what it gets set to without taking my eyes off the road; and, to boot, regardless of what I set it to when I drive, resets to `AUTO` when I turn off and turn on the car again.
Plus, working around very bright lights, especially if the car has been elevated, can be really annoying.
Also, in Canada "Older cars don't have automatic headlights" has not been true since the 90's. It's only recently we even allow them to turn off when it's running.
The point about not wanting lights in your eyes when working on it makes sense, but you're not going to have the car running very often when it's on a hoist.
A friend was teasing me the other day for using my mirrors while I backed up, ignoring the various screens and camera feeds dotting the dash. I reminded him that photons impinging my eyes reflected off the material world at the diffraction limit of the visible spectrum remain much higher fidelity than some shitty parts-bin screens.
Plus those rearview screens are always horribly bright. You know what has infinite levels of dynamic brightness? Light bouncing off a planar reflector.
So much of modern cars is cost savings and poor design decisions dressed up in the name of modern - but ultimately resulting in UX worse than an early 2000s Honda.
Sometimes I sit in a coffee shop and very often see people just using their side mirrors (no rear cam, not looking back) ... scary.
I say this as someone who learned to drive and drove for a long time with no cameras. People saying this are just usually just used to mirrors and never bothered to take the time to learn to switch to the cameras for backwards maneuvering, or their cars just are not equiped with the latest tech.
Using the rear-view cam in this context is definitely a lot safer (esp for kids!), though you really should also look around as well, the side mirrors are more for driving, not parking-lot type situations, and have a really limited field of view.
What I meant was: people backing up just using their side/rear mirrors are scary. They don't have good spatial awareness of what's around them. A rear-view cam for them adds a whole lot of safety though.
>>> But more importantly, current screen technology requires the driver to focus on the surface of the screen itself, which is mere feet away from their eyes. This is a large change in focal distance from looking at the road ahead.
If you’re over the age of 40 or so, it takes time, a few hundred milliseconds at least, to refocus your gaze distance. A screen is near. When driving, you’re looking far. A mirror is something to glance at.
I test-drove a Polestar with a screen for a rear-vision mirror (and no actual rear window) and it was completely undrivable for me. It takes longer for my eyes to refocus on the near distance than I feel comfortable removing my gaze from the road ahead. I turned around after 10 minutes and returned it to the lot.
Also, this conversation is about backing up and parking (read what I said). When backing up you are mostly looking backwards only, so the focal length adjustment point is moot. Even if you have to switch to looking forwards, this is at low speeds / standing still, so it doesn't make a difference.
I'll restate my point with emphasis because you seem to not have read it: Cameras are infinitely more useful for backing up and parking.
I don't remember having this issue in the past (we didn't have cameras in driving school), not sure why. My current approach is to stretch and strain a bunch more, start rolling verry slowly when I think the coast is clear and double check that nothing reveals itself, and then just hope for the best. If someone fell back there while I wasn't yet watching, it's simply tough luck I guess? Don't see a physically other option than, ehh, I dunno, adding a camera with a corresponding screen! ;)
> photons impinging my eyes reflected off the material world at the diffraction limit of the visible spectrum remain much higher fidelity than some shitty parts-bin screens
Consider that the camera can be ~2 meters closer than you are to the target, and/or have more pixels than you can see but that the alert system still uses, so I don't know about this diffraction limit fancy wording trying to put yourself above machines which can, in general, do so many things humans cannot
Good way to fail a drivers' test in a lot of places.
also, I WANT A PRNDL (drive select stalk). Even though they overloaded it with autopilot, I think the older model 3/y version was great. Removing it was dumb.
An super-easy-to-locate hazard light button (required by law) would be nice. Not out-of-the-way.
Why can't they just ask the us faa or us military - they have a century of experience with critical control design and placement that don't kill people.
Car manufacturers do too.
but not ∀ cars or ∀ manufacturers and not ∀ cars of any manufacturer
My 2019 Model 3 has been the most convenient car I've driven by far. Other companies saw Tesla get away with it and tried to replicate it, but given they had basically zero software UX experience and vision (and still don't, on both), the result ranges from kinda usable to absolutely terrible, with most trending towards the latter.