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I suppose I'm not the target market for this. To me this is just added complexity that increases cost and likelihood of something breaking. I'm still waiting fo

I suppose I'm not the target market for this. To me this is just added complexity that increases cost and likelihood of something breaking. I'm still waiting for someone to make a "battery on wheels", an electric car with no extra bells and whistles. I think it could end up being so cheap to own, and also extremely reliable, since electric cars need no transmissions, and almost no maintenance of any kind for that matter. My Leaf needs tires, and... that's about it until 100k miles.

willis936 4y ago
This comes up in every HN EV thread. Why not convert a mid 20th century car to EV?
- goethes_kind 4y ago
  For one, safety issues. Conversions only make sense when you want to have some kind of exotic classic, and then make it even more exotic with your custom powertrain.
- LBJsPNS 4y ago
  No air bags, seat belts, crumple zones, etc...
  - willis936 4y ago
    Not exactly a battery on wheels. I don't see the middle ground between "no smarts" and "enough smarts to keep me safe". If you want a backup camera, blindspot radar, rollover protection, and A-pillar airbags then you could just buy a new EV. Is a touchscreen you don't need to touch an issue?
  - rthomas6 4y ago
    Cars from the 2000s had all of this and were much cheaper than cars now.
- formerly_proven 4y ago
  A skateboard-style BEV sees significant benefits in crash performance from the battery, that's not something you get with hybrid platforms ("ICE and also BEV on the same platform") or conversions. Crash performance in cars has in general massively benefited from the trifecta of more stringent requirements, better processes and more compute in the last two or so decades.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
ytdytvhxgydvhh 4y ago
> I'm still waiting for someone to make a "battery on wheels", an electric car with no extra bells and whistles. Didn’t you already find it with the Leaf? Or is a base-model Leaf still full of lots of unnecessary farkle?
- rthomas6 4y ago
  Yes. But they stopped making it like that. The new Leaf base models are $28k minimum, have lane assist, auto braking, high beam assist, smartphone integration, 8" multi touch display, voice recognition, and more. I paid around $12k in 2017 for a used 2015 Leaf. You can't do that anymore.
  - mint2 4y ago
    > auto braking, high beam assist Many of those bells and whistles you don’t want are designed to protect other road users as much or more than yourself. Not wanting the bells and whistles that only effect the driver and not others is fine, but it’s a bit selfish to discard the others. And yeah Some people will be like “I am responsible and don’t need those” but 50% of those will be the ones that need them most and it’s hard to tell who is who.
    - rthomas6 4y ago
      What about the people who can't afford a car because of these features?
      - mint2 4y ago
        What about the people who can’t afford cars due to the expensive catalytic converters? Are those bad too?
        rthomas6 4y ago
        I understand your point, the features are useful and they do save lives. It's just... where do you draw the line? You can't practically prioritize life infinitely above every other concern. If you did, the solution would be to not drive at all. Like, maybe we can defray the costs of safety in a different way, such that cars, which are unfortunately a need for a lot of Americans, aren't outpacing inflation so badly. Such as increase licensing restrictions and make drivers' tests more comprehensive. Or lowering speed limits and enforcing them more strictly. These solutions do not have the effect of adding $10k to the cost of cars, which harms poorer Americans much more than wealthier Americans.
pjc50 4y ago
> an electric car with no extra bells and whistles You can have this, but you have to import it from China, and the minimum level of bells and whistles required to legally operate it on the roads in the US is incredibly high.

willis936 4y ago

This comes up in every HN EV thread. Why not convert a mid 20th century car to EV?

goethes_kind 4y ago
For one, safety issues. Conversions only make sense when you want to have some kind of exotic classic, and then make it even more exotic with your custom powertrain.
LBJsPNS 4y ago
No air bags, seat belts, crumple zones, etc...
- willis936 4y ago
  Not exactly a battery on wheels. I don't see the middle ground between "no smarts" and "enough smarts to keep me safe". If you want a backup camera, blindspot radar, rollover protection, and A-pillar airbags then you could just buy a new EV. Is a touchscreen you don't need to touch an issue?
- rthomas6 4y ago
  Cars from the 2000s had all of this and were much cheaper than cars now.
formerly_proven 4y ago
A skateboard-style BEV sees significant benefits in crash performance from the battery, that's not something you get with hybrid platforms ("ICE and also BEV on the same platform") or conversions. Crash performance in cars has in general massively benefited from the trifecta of more stringent requirements, better processes and more compute in the last two or so decades.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

ytdytvhxgydvhh 4y ago

> I'm still waiting for someone to make a "battery on wheels", an electric car with no extra bells and whistles. Didn’t you already find it with the Leaf? Or is a base-model Leaf still full of lots of unnecessary farkle?

rthomas6 4y ago
Yes. But they stopped making it like that. The new Leaf base models are $28k minimum, have lane assist, auto braking, high beam assist, smartphone integration, 8" multi touch display, voice recognition, and more. I paid around $12k in 2017 for a used 2015 Leaf. You can't do that anymore.
- mint2 4y ago
  > auto braking, high beam assist Many of those bells and whistles you don’t want are designed to protect other road users as much or more than yourself. Not wanting the bells and whistles that only effect the driver and not others is fine, but it’s a bit selfish to discard the others. And yeah Some people will be like “I am responsible and don’t need those” but 50% of those will be the ones that need them most and it’s hard to tell who is who.
  - rthomas6 4y ago
    What about the people who can't afford a car because of these features?
    - mint2 4y ago
      What about the people who can’t afford cars due to the expensive catalytic converters? Are those bad too?
      - rthomas6 4y ago
        I understand your point, the features are useful and they do save lives. It's just... where do you draw the line? You can't practically prioritize life infinitely above every other concern. If you did, the solution would be to not drive at all. Like, maybe we can defray the costs of safety in a different way, such that cars, which are unfortunately a need for a lot of Americans, aren't outpacing inflation so badly. Such as increase licensing restrictions and make drivers' tests more comprehensive. Or lowering speed limits and enforcing them more strictly. These solutions do not have the effect of adding $10k to the cost of cars, which harms poorer Americans much more than wealthier Americans.

pjc50 4y ago

> an electric car with no extra bells and whistles You can have this, but you have to import it from China, and the minimum level of bells and whistles required to legally operate it on the roads in the US is incredibly high.