A 1980s small toyota pickup would do very poorly in modern crash tests. We have added way more airbags and much stronger roof pillars and side reinforcement wh

A 1980s small toyota pickup would do very poorly in modern crash tests. We have added way more airbags and much stronger roof pillars and side reinforcement which dramatically improves safety in a crash but also steals interior space, making vehicles inch larger to keep the same interior room. Also if you want a battery electric vehicle with good range, you need a big battery. That's easier to fit into a larger vehicle (ie Tesla Model X) than a small vehicle, and the extra energy usage of the larger vehicle doesn't scale as fast as the larger battery capacity that can fit within. I think the US could use something like Japan's Kei-car classification. Vehicles that are meant to use around town <= 45mph without going on the highway or needing to handle a 75mph rollover crash. This could be incentivized by cities with parking costs for larger vehicles. But it's difficult to sell when you might still get T-boned at 45mph by a 6,000lb Chevy Tahoe. Edit: Another big reason for the tech and data connection on EVs is navigation. If you want to travel outside of your home charging radius, you're going to want to know what charging stations are along your route, what speeds they deliver, and what their current availability is. A lot of Tesla's secret sauce is the "Just type your destination into the nav screen" where the car figures out your energy usage and charging stops to get wherever you want to go.