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I'd really like to see a simple EV for a change. No screens, no AI, no Autopilot, just a 5-seat vehicle with a reasonable range (400+ km) and AC.

maxsilver 7y ago
So, a Chevy Bolt? It does have an infotainment screen, but otherwise: no AI, no Autopilot, 5 seat vehicle, Air Conditioning, and a 416km range
- thebruce87m 7y ago
  If they made them for the UK I’d have one already.
jazzyjackson 7y ago
I drive a plug in Prius -- it has an EV range of 40 km and a gas range of 800 km, I enjoy having a silent EV most of my in town driving, but if I want to do a day trip with 6 hours of driving in a day I don't have to plan where I'm going to park it. It's still pretty computerized of course, lane keep assist and radar cruise control. I also have wanted an EV truck that's more old fashioned -- it's not like you need ASICs and GPUs to move charge between wheels and a battery. For getting something that's built to last and won't make decisions for you I would check out Bollinger -- I read somewhere they were keeping it as much of a self-service architecture as possible to appease customers who need to maintain the vehicle 'in the field' From their website: "the Bollinger B1 might well be the last truck you’ll ever need to buy" https://bollingermotors.com/ https://bollingermotors.com/
- Kirby64 7y ago
  Unless you want a box that costs way too much money, the Bollinger B1 just seems silly. It's the Hummer H1 of EVs... in fact it's so heavy it legally isn't mandated to have airbags. If that old-school minimalist aesthetic really appeals to you, more power to you... but it definitely doesn't seem to be meant for the majority of folks.
  - jazzyjackson 7y ago
    I mean even more than that I would love something like the 70s vw bugs -- simple to maintain and cheap to build, but the market for a back to basics small EV seems to be even more niche than Hummer H1s ! If you ask me, Bollinger is competing with Mercedes G wagons and Lamborghini LM002 in creating a status symbol, like the Tesla Roadster did -- at small volumes you have to pick an audience that will be happy to pay up.
    - Kirby64 7y ago
      Sure, low volume status symbols are a thing. But neither the G wagon nor the Lambo Urus are what anyone would consider low-maintenance/easily maintainable vehicles though. As for simple to maintain... isn't that the appeal of EVs already? Unless you have to do maintenance on the battery or motor... but that isn't going to change any time soon. 400V isn't anything to mess around with.
Kirby64 7y ago
What advantages are you looking to get for a super stripped down EV? Less potential maintenance cost? Cheaper? It's pretty clear for more car buyers the market has spoken and folks want more infotainment/screens/AI/whatever, so it seems that type of vehicle is definitely going to become less and less common.
- crocodiletears 7y ago
  I don't think there are any strict advantages to such an EV with respect to day-to-day use. In fact, there are probably some disadvantages Mantainability is a plus. But the big feature would be not worrying about your car getting remotely bricked for some arbitrary reason, or losing some essential function because your OEM's servers are down. If a company is capable of constantly monitoring your machine, and updating it OTA, I don't doubt that their liability with respect to whatever you do to your car increases significantly. Depending on how you like to drive, and where you drive, not fighting the smart driver 'assist' features of vehicles could be a feature as well. I read a commenter on HN some time ago about GPS-assisted headlamps preventing them from providing much needed illumination to something (wrecked vehicle, iirc) off the side of the road. Personally, I've played enough Assassin's Creed and GTA to know I wouldn't trust a smart system to predict my intent in a life/death scenario.
  - Kirby64 7y ago
    If you really want to remove the 'big corp spying on you' aspect of Teslas, you can always pull the SIM card or ask for the non-SIM version. It's apparently an off-menu option, but you can request one without a SIM card, so effectively all the cell network stuff is disabled. Then, if you are worried about updates bricking something... just don't update it and never connect it to the WiFi? Seems like that gets you most of the way there.
    - Tilian 7y ago
      It's still a big pile of black-box systems where it's unclear what kind of data they collect and where they send it to whenever you connect it to a network. Never connecting it at all does defeat most of the points people like about Teslas.

maxsilver 7y ago

So, a Chevy Bolt? It does have an infotainment screen, but otherwise: no AI, no Autopilot, 5 seat vehicle, Air Conditioning, and a 416km range

thebruce87m 7y ago
If they made them for the UK I’d have one already.

jazzyjackson 7y ago

I drive a plug in Prius -- it has an EV range of 40 km and a gas range of 800 km, I enjoy having a silent EV most of my in town driving, but if I want to do a day trip with 6 hours of driving in a day I don't have to plan where I'm going to park it. It's still pretty computerized of course, lane keep assist and radar cruise control. I also have wanted an EV truck that's more old fashioned -- it's not like you need ASICs and GPUs to move charge between wheels and a battery. For getting something that's built to last and won't make decisions for you I would check out Bollinger -- I read somewhere they were keeping it as much of a self-service architecture as possible to appease customers who need to maintain the vehicle 'in the field' From their website: "the Bollinger B1 might well be the last truck you’ll ever need to buy" https://bollingermotors.com/ https://bollingermotors.com/

Kirby64 7y ago
Unless you want a box that costs way too much money, the Bollinger B1 just seems silly. It's the Hummer H1 of EVs... in fact it's so heavy it legally isn't mandated to have airbags. If that old-school minimalist aesthetic really appeals to you, more power to you... but it definitely doesn't seem to be meant for the majority of folks.
- jazzyjackson 7y ago
  I mean even more than that I would love something like the 70s vw bugs -- simple to maintain and cheap to build, but the market for a back to basics small EV seems to be even more niche than Hummer H1s ! If you ask me, Bollinger is competing with Mercedes G wagons and Lamborghini LM002 in creating a status symbol, like the Tesla Roadster did -- at small volumes you have to pick an audience that will be happy to pay up.
  - Kirby64 7y ago
    Sure, low volume status symbols are a thing. But neither the G wagon nor the Lambo Urus are what anyone would consider low-maintenance/easily maintainable vehicles though. As for simple to maintain... isn't that the appeal of EVs already? Unless you have to do maintenance on the battery or motor... but that isn't going to change any time soon. 400V isn't anything to mess around with.

Kirby64 7y ago

What advantages are you looking to get for a super stripped down EV? Less potential maintenance cost? Cheaper? It's pretty clear for more car buyers the market has spoken and folks want more infotainment/screens/AI/whatever, so it seems that type of vehicle is definitely going to become less and less common.

crocodiletears 7y ago
I don't think there are any strict advantages to such an EV with respect to day-to-day use. In fact, there are probably some disadvantages Mantainability is a plus. But the big feature would be not worrying about your car getting remotely bricked for some arbitrary reason, or losing some essential function because your OEM's servers are down. If a company is capable of constantly monitoring your machine, and updating it OTA, I don't doubt that their liability with respect to whatever you do to your car increases significantly. Depending on how you like to drive, and where you drive, not fighting the smart driver 'assist' features of vehicles could be a feature as well. I read a commenter on HN some time ago about GPS-assisted headlamps preventing them from providing much needed illumination to something (wrecked vehicle, iirc) off the side of the road. Personally, I've played enough Assassin's Creed and GTA to know I wouldn't trust a smart system to predict my intent in a life/death scenario.
- Kirby64 7y ago
  If you really want to remove the 'big corp spying on you' aspect of Teslas, you can always pull the SIM card or ask for the non-SIM version. It's apparently an off-menu option, but you can request one without a SIM card, so effectively all the cell network stuff is disabled. Then, if you are worried about updates bricking something... just don't update it and never connect it to the WiFi? Seems like that gets you most of the way there.
  - Tilian 7y ago
    It's still a big pile of black-box systems where it's unclear what kind of data they collect and where they send it to whenever you connect it to a network. Never connecting it at all does defeat most of the points people like about Teslas.