Overview:
Electric Vehicles are a key part of our tomorrow and how we get there. If we can get all the fossil fuel vehicles off our roads, out of our seas and out of our skies, we'll have a much better environment. This community is where we discuss the various different vehicles and news stories regarding electric transportation.
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The only things actually useful in this article are the frunk and the gear tunnel in the Rivian. The rest is all tech-bro BS that will just make your car more expensive to buy and repair, and benefits you very little.
What we actually need are less expensive cars that are easier to maintain.
I'm on my second EV now. 1st was Kia eNiro, now an MG. What matters to me for day to day, are basics like controls not hidden within menus on a touch screen. Buttons and knobs are the way forward.
All I ask is low-distraction operation. I actually think Tesla's implementation of screen controls is reasonably good at avoiding distractions - probably about as good as you can get with screen controls. (If you reply to this with a political comment I swear to fucking god I will find you)
That said, when I was car shopping in 2018, I bought a Focus 5 speed specifically because it was the car I could find with the absolute least amount of distracting horseshit on the dash. One tiny screen that only displayed the radio and backup camera and wasn't interactive. Button controls. No mpg nanny lights or color shifting shit. Just a car.
In hindsight, the Focus was a much more engaging experience and much calmer. Touchscreens really don't belong in cars.
BUT
Neither do massive keyboard-esque arrays of buttons. Controls must be intuitive, ergonomic, efficient, and operable by muscle memory. Regardless of form factor. I'm looking at you, 2010s Honda.
I regard my (still going strong) 2003 Honda as a peak in dashboard design.
Can’t upvote this enough. I’m on my 4th EV and god do I miss those physical buttons.
From my perspective, it's mostly useless gimmicks rather than innovative features and almost nothing that's really unique to the cars listed.
Yeah, the frunk (F-150 Lightning) and gear tunnel (Rivian) are the only ones I'd consider somewhat useful.
I think having digital controls for things like climate control is actually a negative.
One feature I also think is unique to EVs is home backup power, but that's not even listed.
Bah, they don't even go into the unique part of the f150 froot: it has a drain so any ice in there for tailgating beverages can melt away without being a conplete mess.
That headlamp washer looks like it will gum up with dead bugs in a few years. Also, all the gimmicky internal and external lighting features... pass.
The tunnel is the only feature that is remotely useful.
The gear tunnel is just under rear seat room... They took that extra room away and make it less useful. Not sure id like that....
I had an old 1993 Mercedes with headlight washers for a while and they were pretty reliable, and a great safety feature occasionally.