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I'd like to see a bare bones EV with minimal sheet metal curving and an overall minimalist approach. No need for massive torque and the battery should be upgra

I'd like to see a bare bones EV with minimal sheet metal curving and an overall minimalist approach. No need for massive torque and the battery should be upgradeable. Oddly cars in the US have become absurdly over-designed to the point where people pay thousands for a "trim level" upgrade to get nonsense like heated steering wheels and better floor mats. Sooner or later people will have enough of this overpaying. Car prices are inflated beyond what is reasonable. How could a reasonable, high quality EV cost more than $20K?

kingkongjaffa 3y ago
> metal curving Never going to happen on the simple basis of pedestrian protection regulations, everything else is an afterthought.
542458 3y ago
Sheet metal curving is probably cheaper than flat panels. A flat panel is wobbly, adding 3D curves to it can stiffen it significantly. A flat panel in any non-matte finish will also display any imperfections like mad (ever looked at the reflections on windows and noticed how uneven they are?), a curved surface is more forgiving. And using a matte finish isn’t a solution, that introduces a ton of other issues. > No need for massive torque and the batter should be upgradable Massive torque is just sort of the way these motors are. It’s not necessarily a big cost driver. And upgradable batteries sounds expensive to me. I do agree that people spend ridiculous amounts of money on cars though. But on the flip side… I’ve designed some larger (not quite car size, but pretty large) products, and boy do the costs add up quickly. I suspect that once you’re talking something as niche as a US road-legal minimalist electric vehicle you’ve killed your volumes, so 20K is probably way out of reach as a price target.
dingaling 3y ago
Closest to that is currently the Dacia Spring: https://www.dacia.co.uk/hybrid-and-electric-range/spring-city-car.html https://www.dacia.co.uk/hybrid-and-electric-range/spring-cit... From £15k
bryanlarsen 3y ago
Do you want fast charging? 90% of the cost of massive torque is high voltages and currents. And high voltages and currents are necessary for fast charging.

kingkongjaffa 3y ago

> metal curving Never going to happen on the simple basis of pedestrian protection regulations, everything else is an afterthought.

542458 3y ago

Sheet metal curving is probably cheaper than flat panels. A flat panel is wobbly, adding 3D curves to it can stiffen it significantly. A flat panel in any non-matte finish will also display any imperfections like mad (ever looked at the reflections on windows and noticed how uneven they are?), a curved surface is more forgiving. And using a matte finish isn’t a solution, that introduces a ton of other issues. > No need for massive torque and the batter should be upgradable Massive torque is just sort of the way these motors are. It’s not necessarily a big cost driver. And upgradable batteries sounds expensive to me. I do agree that people spend ridiculous amounts of money on cars though. But on the flip side… I’ve designed some larger (not quite car size, but pretty large) products, and boy do the costs add up quickly. I suspect that once you’re talking something as niche as a US road-legal minimalist electric vehicle you’ve killed your volumes, so 20K is probably way out of reach as a price target.

dingaling 3y ago

Closest to that is currently the Dacia Spring: https://www.dacia.co.uk/hybrid-and-electric-range/spring-city-car.html https://www.dacia.co.uk/hybrid-and-electric-range/spring-cit... From £15k

bryanlarsen 3y ago

Do you want fast charging? 90% of the cost of massive torque is high voltages and currents. And high voltages and currents are necessary for fast charging.