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Big oil forced that shit onto you instead of going the far superior EV route from the beginning. Now EVs are finally taking over and I'm happy my kids never have to get fuel grease on their hands and suffer those nasty fumes at gas stations. Shifters were needed for an inferior technology to work. I liked it as an experience when I learned to drive. But cars are mostly transport due to failure of better public transport infrastructure. I don't care whether they're fun. I drive for fun on the Xbox or maybe in a GoKart every few years.
Oh that felt good to rant.
EVs weren’t viable for long distance travel before though. Like batteries didn’t have the energy density they have today. The advancements in battery tech relied heavily on the advancements in computing tech. Like for battery research, manufacturing, battery management. And research in computer technology has never stopped.
Even if they never stopped making electric cars, they would have stayed short distance vehicles for a long time since battery tech didn’t advance fast enough. We might have gotten long distance EVs a decade sooner but definitely not decades. And fast charging is also only possible because of miniaturization of computer chips, nobody would’ve bought an EV that can travel less than 100km and take a full day to charge for their primary mode of transportation .
I'm sure batteries would have progressed more quickly if they had been chosen as the preferred path 100 years ago.
Except they made sure you couldn't repair it so You'll end up dropping that 50k once every 5-10 years anyway 🤪
(Im pro-EV btw. just wish EVs were pro-me)
You know that there's shops all over the place who will fix cells in bad packs? Replacing the whole battery is FUD similar to warning someone they need to replace their whole engine if there's any issue.
Not talking about replacing the battery, I'm talking about every part having an encrypted module that only the dealership has the key to, meaning only the dealership can replace the part.
edit: and also the fact that most of them have that stupid giant tablet instead of buttons, and spy on you without consent.
edit 2: the other reply proved my point. you shouldnt have to take your car to the dealer for repairs. You should be able to do it yourself if you wanted to. The dealer shouldnt own a repair monopoly.
How is that any different from a modern gas car?
It isnt, but unless you sink the price of a new car into an EV-conversion kit, the only options are older gas cars for consumer-friendliness unfortunately.
IME, (2019 Volt) maintenance costs are lower with a PHEV. I have needed to take it to a dealer to deal with a OBD2 code that neither I nor my local mechanic could resolve, but the replacement part and labor was reasonably priced.
As a right to repair advocate, the fact you had to take it to the dealer is a turn off for me. I'll be driving my 03 shit box til it dies or I move to a country with good public infrastructure
Eh, I had to take my Saturn (previous vehicle) to the dealer several times. The car before that was ruined by a "shade-tree" mechanic, so when I lived in the same city as the dealer I preferred that.
I'm with you on right-to-reapir tho. It would have been better if the diagnostic methods and parts were available from other than the dealer (and maybe they were and the local guy just didn't want to mess with it, doesn't do a lot of EVs at his shop). But my experience with cars is mostly that dealers have that advantage whether you go electric or not, and I prefer electric.
Still let me know if I can do something to improve right to repair for me or others.
Other than writing your Congress-people (lol) or donating to non-profits that support Right to repair I have nothing at the moment. In my (limited) experience it seems that most cars built after 2010 have some sort of "only the dealership" type thing built in, so at the moment its kind of just "buying used". Ive been considering getting an early model Prius when my car goes (pre 2015) but, depending on how the rest of this presidency plays out I may not even be in the country.
With Tesla burning right now (sometimes literally), I'm concerned for the future of EVs.
There are other EV-only makers, most notably in my mind, rivian, but not many others come to mind.
Most other manufacturers have either stopped making EVs entirely, or switched to hybrid, or hybrid adjacent technologies. Honda is a good example of this backpedaling. They dipped their collective toes into EVs with proper hybrid vehicles during the pre-pandemic years. Between 2015 and 2020 (ish) they had a PHEV, the clarity. It was discontinued in 2020. I forget if the last model year was 2019 or 2020. Either way, I still kind of want one.... Regardless, they took everything they learned and put it into their fancy new e-CVT, which essentially, at most speeds, turns the gasoline motor of the vehicle into a generator, powering an electric motor that drives the wheels.
Don't get me wrong, that's still more efficient than burning the Jurassic forests to drive motion, but it's not as efficient as running the drive motor from batteries that were charged from green sources.
Most other manufacturers have done something similar in abandoning BEVs for HEVs or whatever Honda is doing. There's a few stand out exceptions, like the F150 lightening. Good on you Ford... But the list is pretty short, especially compared to the fuel based alternatives.
It's a good time for other companies to pick up the ball that Tesla dropped here, and I'm hoping they do. .... I mean, they won't because they're too busy buying yachts with all that fossil fuel bribe money they get, but I can dream.
BYD is doing just fine, your shitty protectionist government just won’t allow you to buy them.
... Which is probably why I had no idea they exist.
BYD and xiaomi produce more EVs than American manufacturers produce vehicles in total.
The future of EVs is secure and the majority of drivers on earth will be driving one by 2050. Just not in the US, Canada, UK or other failed states.
Apart from China, Hyundai/Kia is producing really great EVs. And the German brands have viable ones that might eventually catch up to Korea and China now that they're taking it more seriously. Renault is really getting it lately and even Stellantis is coming with new platforms that are pretty good. The Japanese have invested more in anti-EV-propaganda than in EVs.
We have a Hyundai Kona from 2019 and it's an amazing car. Every single person who ever tried it never wants to drive an ICE again. And this is an old low-to-mid-end vehicle. Our next EV is definitely going to be a lot better.
My only real personal problems with EVs, have nothing to do with them being electric.
Early EVs all looked like science experiments..... I'll give some examples. The Nissan leaf. The BMW i3. And a more recent example is the VW ID.Buzz mini bus thing.
I want a car, not a statement piece, and until recently, Tesla seemed to be the only ones selling EVs that didn't look dramatically different than other cars on the road. I just want a car. I want it to use volts instead of gasoline.
The second issue I have has more to do with the automobile market than EVs.... Everyone seems to have a sport crossover or SUV converted to EV, but very few have just plain sedans, and those that do, a nontrivial number of them violate the first complaint.
I like EVs, I want to drive an EV, but I don't want it to look like it's straight out of someone's LSD trip. That's just not groovy man .... I'm not a fan of SUVs, I just want a small sedan or coupe that's normal except it uses batteries instead of Jurassic remains.
Well, our Kona is a weird crossover-y thing but otherwise literally identical to its ICE brothers.
Maybe Peugeot, Citroen and similar are what you are after? The new Peugeot 308 electric is pretty "boring" - it's not an amazing EV but better than what they had before
Unfortunately Peugeot and Citroen are not names I've ever seen for cars sold here.
I have, of course, heard of both mentioned at some point, but here in Canada, neither seem to be brands we can buy. I'm not sure why that is, I have never felt the need to look into it.
Our major players are GM, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, BMW, Mercedes, VW, Kia, and all their subsidiaries (off the top of my head). Not sure if I missed any major ones there.... There is of course some more niche companies but they're not really on my radar, so to speak.... I've also omitted Tesla on purpose for obvious reasons.
Hyundai only has hybrid sedans, some plug in hybrid, which is better than most, beyond that we're stuck with mostly SUVs and light trucks as EVs, or whatever designer-looking monstrosity someone wants to release... The story seems to be the same across all major players, to the point where I just kind of gave up the search a few years back, for the most part. Anything I've looked up or looked at since seems to follow the same trends.
Did you see the Hyundai Ioniq 6? Or the very new Kia EV4? They look very "modern" but then again I'd say ICE cars are constantly changing design too.
ICE cars are absolutely changing designs all the time. There are plenty of ICE car designs that I don't like too.
The difference is that generally there will be a couple of EV designs, but there will be a dozen ICE designs. There's simply more to pick from on the ICE side. So if I want something that fits a design aesthetic, I have a much better chance to find it as an ICE car than an EV.
I widely considered the model S to be a great EV design for a really long time, though I swore I wouldn't buy one. Before the whole Elon Musk drama recently, my main reasons were about how they treated after market/used/rebuilt vehicles, owners, and anyone with the gall to dare try to fix their own vehicle.... And also the "walled garden" of Tesla. Making it difficult or impossible to get something like a third party charger for home, among a long list of other complaints.
I've been aware of the writing on the wall with Tesla for a while, and I reserved judgement for the most part, only committing to not placing myself in that situation, and thinking that anyone who can accept what I will not, does so at their own risk. It brings me no joy to see that I was right on most fronts. They still have some wonderful designs.
Largely, the S stands out... Especially early S models. More recent models started to trend into basically being larger model 3 vehicles; I don't like a few of the key design features of the model 3. Specifically, I don't like that you have a barren dashboard. There's nothing in front of you. The S had a driver information screen that showed all the usual things, like your speed, energy remaining, trip, odometer, etc. All the things that you would expect from an instrument cluster. I wasn't a HUGE fan of the middle screen for infotainment, but as long as it was limited to noncritical features and infotainment, I'm mostly okay with it (mainly that it has no physical buttons) provided that the critical driving components, features and controls were separate.
I acknowledge that this is entirely a personal preference.
Bluntly, if Tesla as a company wasn't as exclusionary to other EVs and manufacturers, and treated DIY/used/repair markets fairly, I might already be driving one. Obviously, even if they completely change all of their policies and evict the guy at the top, I'm not going for a Tesla... Even then, I'm pretty on the fence given that they're burned at this point (aka cancelled).
I'm keeping an eye out for something, I'll probably stick with the vehicle I have four now unless I can get a great deal on a used PHEV like the Honda clarity (which is now discontinued, RIP). There's a few oddities about the clarity I don't like, but on the whole it looks like a solid car. The rear tires being partially covered is odd IMO.
In any case, I can't really afford to get a new car at this point, maybe late this year things will change on that front, but given the state of the economy, inflation and average earnings, things might get worse too. Financially I have two major events happening around October that might make it possible to buy a new car: we will be able to update our mortgage (hopefully with a lower cost), and I'm on track to pay off a major debt I have. If I have my finances under control and in a good place when both of those happen, then I may start looking around for a vehicle again, provided the economy doesn't go down the toilet by then.
I don't have confidence that the economy will be good by then because since I'm in Canada, the United States and their insane commander and chief, can absolutely put our economy into a downward trend.
I'm not putting my money on it being fine. I'm going to get myself into a better position before I reassess.
Regardless, if you've read my ramblings this far down, you have my respect. I hope you have a wonderful day, and I look forward to talking with you again in the future on here. Be well.
That was quite the read! May you find the vehicle that suits you when the time comes. I hope to buy one more EV and for society to figure things out so I won't need another one after that. Managed until my 30s without a car and starting a family made it necessary. I hope that will end eventually.
shock
YOU WANT YOUR FAMILY TO END!??!
I jest. (:
I have a lot of thoughts and sometimes they spill out in the form of a rambling, book-like post on some platform. I try to stick to a blog.... Since, you know, nobody really reads blogs, they're just kind of there.