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Massive fan of electric vehicles, but… This will be the enshittification of the car, planned obsolescence, data harvesting, stranded assets with security flaws

Massive fan of electric vehicles, but… This will be the enshittification of the car, planned obsolescence, data harvesting, stranded assets with security flaws, lobbying governments to prevent owners from modding and repairing vehicles. A 1989 toyota camry can still function as a perfectly useable car. I can’t think of any heavily computerised products that have the same sort of staying power, though it’s not a very fair comparison. I coul imagine manufacturers are suss on electrics because they don’t wear out like ice vehicles do, imagine a consumer decides to just replace their battery, brake pads and shock absorbers every 5 years instead of buying a whole new car.

_hypx 3y ago
When the battery dies, the replacement cost will exceed the value of the car itself. As a result, used BEVs that have gone past the warranty period are basically disposable cars. This is much worse than ICE cars that can be repaired. In reality, BEVs are an even older idea that ICE cars. They were "disrupted" and literally driven out of the market by ICE cars in the 1910s. What people are saying is that the car industry will move backwards towards an inferior business model. This is an absurdity. Conventional car companies will do to Tesla what they did to EV companies of a hundred years ago. Articles like these are the peak of SV worship. It is a technological fantasy that ignores all history and real-world economic realities.
rasz 3y ago
>imagine a consumer decides to just replace their battery, brake pads and shock absorbers every 5 years instead of buying a whole new car. funny, this is the sales model most luxury brans used pre WWII, except in reverse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentley_3_Litre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentley_3_Litre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentley_4%C2%BD_Litre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentley_4%C2%BD_Litre Client would buy rolling chassis and pick his favorite coach builder. Family grows - rebuild to a bigger saloon. Being promoted to diplomatic post in sunny country - commission a cabriolet body and swap over. Fashion changed - upgrade instead of replacing. Cars like Bentleys were multi generational.

_hypx 3y ago

When the battery dies, the replacement cost will exceed the value of the car itself. As a result, used BEVs that have gone past the warranty period are basically disposable cars. This is much worse than ICE cars that can be repaired. In reality, BEVs are an even older idea that ICE cars. They were "disrupted" and literally driven out of the market by ICE cars in the 1910s. What people are saying is that the car industry will move backwards towards an inferior business model. This is an absurdity. Conventional car companies will do to Tesla what they did to EV companies of a hundred years ago. Articles like these are the peak of SV worship. It is a technological fantasy that ignores all history and real-world economic realities.

rasz 3y ago

>imagine a consumer decides to just replace their battery, brake pads and shock absorbers every 5 years instead of buying a whole new car. funny, this is the sales model most luxury brans used pre WWII, except in reverse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentley_3_Litre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentley_3_Litre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentley_4%C2%BD_Litre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentley_4%C2%BD_Litre Client would buy rolling chassis and pick his favorite coach builder. Family grows - rebuild to a bigger saloon. Being promoted to diplomatic post in sunny country - commission a cabriolet body and swap over. Fashion changed - upgrade instead of replacing. Cars like Bentleys were multi generational.