10 ms·

I know I'm preaching to the choir at HN, but I really wish there were more "dumb" EVs. Robert Downey Jr. recently hosted a giveaway for his vintage retrofitted

I know I'm preaching to the choir at HN, but I really wish there were more "dumb" EVs. Robert Downey Jr. recently hosted a giveaway for his vintage retrofitted electric cars (to clarify, he takes vintage cars and retrofits their engine to make them EVs), and I honestly wish I could just buy one outright.

Steltek 2y ago
I feel the same way about e-bikes: expensive, proprietary parts and form factors everywhere. Oh, your battery is worn out? You need one that's custom molded to your downtube? That's too bad. Thankfully they're easier to DIY than an EV car.
- evan_ 2y ago
  The battery case might be molded plastic but inside it’s probably just a wad of 18650s that can be replaced.
  - dreamcompiler 2y ago
    Can confirm.
  - AstralStorm 2y ago
    Unless you find out it's potted, the BMS needs to be reprogrammed and there's a custom mesh or holder that doesn't work with some standard cells because of tolerances...
- linsomniac 2y ago
  I've been expecting a ebike that could take the tool eco-system batteries: DeWalt 60v, Eco 58v, Milwaukee 18v. Probably would need to dock several of them with the exception of the Eco.
  - xorcist 2y ago
    There's the Makita BBY 18V foldable bike.
- mikro2nd 2y ago
  I think that at least some of this comes about because it's still relatively early days for the form-factor. As the industry matures, as it becomes more cutthroat everything will become more comodified and therefore standardised. Look at some of the cars of (say) the late-19thC where not even the steering wheel was standard. So, while e-bikes are probably not quite that early stage right now, they've not advanced terribly far from the plain vanilla bicycle yet.
- dreamcompiler 2y ago
  There are thousands of e-bike manufacturers. Many use the so-called "dolphin" battery pack which is fairly standard and always removable. The dolphin doesn't look as sleek as an in-frame battery but it's replaceable and it will usually provide longer range. https://bafangusadirect.com/products/52v-11-6-ah-dolphin-ebike-battery https://bafangusadirect.com/products/52v-11-6-ah-dolphin-ebi...
zitterbewegung 2y ago
Retrofits for cars are around $50000 to make them barely street legal. You are looking at double the price for that retrofit and you might not get the range. You also have to buy a car (some retrofits on YouTube get around this by buying broken cars and restoring them) buying a broken car could be done if you don't have to do much work or if the engine is broken already.
- darby_eight 2y ago
  You don't need to retrofit, you can just build a reasonably-featured car to begin with. I imagine most people just want a corolla with a battery (or cheaper).
  - mikro2nd 2y ago
    Trouble with my ('95) Corolla is that it's the body that's showing its age. (Rust, and not the good kind.) The ICE is just fine and probably good for another 1/2-million km, but the whole thing has got to go soon.
    - datavirtue 2y ago
      Why let your vehicle rust?
      - mikestew 2y ago
        You assume that it is a matter of choice?
      - mikro2nd 2y ago
        "Let it rust"? If you live near the sea, cars rust and there's not a lot you can do about it. You can attend to visible rust timeously, but there are plenty of hollow spaces where it can fester for years, all unnoticable, before it pops out through the paintwork.
- gbear605 2y ago
  More realistically, a car manufacturer could make an EV that is basically a vintage car but made to modern standards. Obviously you can’t make the exact same car if you want to have things like crumple zones, but a lot of the changes to car designs have been for fuel efficiency and that’s not as important in an EV. And things like huge internal displays or automatic doors are just preference.
johnnyletrois 2y ago
I love my Chevy Bolt EUV. Normal door handles inside and out. Manual open/close trunk. Normal window controls. Normal infotainment unit with carplay/AA. Buttons and knobs for volume, HVAC, and hazard lights. Normal stick controls for turn signals and wipers. It’s a great, simple EV and my only knock against it is the slow max charging speed making it not ideal for multiple stop road trips.
- DamnInteresting 2y ago
  I have a 2017 Bolt EV, and I feel similarly. GM accidentally made an ideal EV for a reasonable price, and now they are correcting course by ruining future models.
- webdoodle 2y ago
  What about navigation, bluetooth radio, wifi or other systems that leak signals everywhere?
- AlotOfReading 2y ago
  Note that carplay/AA is already killed for the next model year of the bolt (2026) and you can probably also expect regressions in the number of physical interfaces from the first gen you own.
- nunez 2y ago
  I'm a huge Tesla fan, but the Bolt is amazing. I love renting them. I wish they could charge faster than 50kW; that would make them useful for road trips.
semanticist 2y ago
Companies that specialise in this do exist, the one I'm most aware of is Electric Classic Cars in the UK (https://www.electricclassiccars.co.uk https://www.electricclassiccars.co.uk), who started/specialise in rear-engine VWs, original Minis, and original Land Rover Defenders. Obviously very tailored for a nostalgic UK market, but if there's not equivalent companies in the US and elsewhere I'd be surprised!
trainsarebetter 2y ago
There’s a quickly growing ev conversion industry. Lots of shops that will take your vintage ride and convert it. the amount of wrecked evs showing up in wrecking yards is resulting in a new era of hotrodding. check out www.openinverter.com
- blackfawn 2y ago
  FYI for anyone trying to go to the above link, it is actually https://openinverter.org https://openinverter.org
dzhiurgis 2y ago
I thought the same until you drive Tesla for few weeks and then think - why the heck you need to pull handle to open doors? This is so archaic. Glad you wanna stay behind. Enjoy your horses.

Steltek 2y ago

I feel the same way about e-bikes: expensive, proprietary parts and form factors everywhere. Oh, your battery is worn out? You need one that's custom molded to your downtube? That's too bad. Thankfully they're easier to DIY than an EV car.

evan_ 2y ago
The battery case might be molded plastic but inside it’s probably just a wad of 18650s that can be replaced.
- dreamcompiler 2y ago
  Can confirm.
- AstralStorm 2y ago
  Unless you find out it's potted, the BMS needs to be reprogrammed and there's a custom mesh or holder that doesn't work with some standard cells because of tolerances...
linsomniac 2y ago
I've been expecting a ebike that could take the tool eco-system batteries: DeWalt 60v, Eco 58v, Milwaukee 18v. Probably would need to dock several of them with the exception of the Eco.
- xorcist 2y ago
  There's the Makita BBY 18V foldable bike.
mikro2nd 2y ago
I think that at least some of this comes about because it's still relatively early days for the form-factor. As the industry matures, as it becomes more cutthroat everything will become more comodified and therefore standardised. Look at some of the cars of (say) the late-19thC where not even the steering wheel was standard. So, while e-bikes are probably not quite that early stage right now, they've not advanced terribly far from the plain vanilla bicycle yet.
dreamcompiler 2y ago
There are thousands of e-bike manufacturers. Many use the so-called "dolphin" battery pack which is fairly standard and always removable. The dolphin doesn't look as sleek as an in-frame battery but it's replaceable and it will usually provide longer range. https://bafangusadirect.com/products/52v-11-6-ah-dolphin-ebike-battery https://bafangusadirect.com/products/52v-11-6-ah-dolphin-ebi...

zitterbewegung 2y ago

Retrofits for cars are around $50000 to make them barely street legal. You are looking at double the price for that retrofit and you might not get the range. You also have to buy a car (some retrofits on YouTube get around this by buying broken cars and restoring them) buying a broken car could be done if you don't have to do much work or if the engine is broken already.

darby_eight 2y ago
You don't need to retrofit, you can just build a reasonably-featured car to begin with. I imagine most people just want a corolla with a battery (or cheaper).
- mikro2nd 2y ago
  Trouble with my ('95) Corolla is that it's the body that's showing its age. (Rust, and not the good kind.) The ICE is just fine and probably good for another 1/2-million km, but the whole thing has got to go soon.
  - datavirtue 2y ago
    Why let your vehicle rust?
    - mikestew 2y ago
      You assume that it is a matter of choice?
    - mikro2nd 2y ago
      "Let it rust"? If you live near the sea, cars rust and there's not a lot you can do about it. You can attend to visible rust timeously, but there are plenty of hollow spaces where it can fester for years, all unnoticable, before it pops out through the paintwork.
gbear605 2y ago
More realistically, a car manufacturer could make an EV that is basically a vintage car but made to modern standards. Obviously you can’t make the exact same car if you want to have things like crumple zones, but a lot of the changes to car designs have been for fuel efficiency and that’s not as important in an EV. And things like huge internal displays or automatic doors are just preference.

johnnyletrois 2y ago

I love my Chevy Bolt EUV. Normal door handles inside and out. Manual open/close trunk. Normal window controls. Normal infotainment unit with carplay/AA. Buttons and knobs for volume, HVAC, and hazard lights. Normal stick controls for turn signals and wipers. It’s a great, simple EV and my only knock against it is the slow max charging speed making it not ideal for multiple stop road trips.

DamnInteresting 2y ago
I have a 2017 Bolt EV, and I feel similarly. GM accidentally made an ideal EV for a reasonable price, and now they are correcting course by ruining future models.
webdoodle 2y ago
What about navigation, bluetooth radio, wifi or other systems that leak signals everywhere?
AlotOfReading 2y ago
Note that carplay/AA is already killed for the next model year of the bolt (2026) and you can probably also expect regressions in the number of physical interfaces from the first gen you own.
nunez 2y ago
I'm a huge Tesla fan, but the Bolt is amazing. I love renting them. I wish they could charge faster than 50kW; that would make them useful for road trips.

semanticist 2y ago

Companies that specialise in this do exist, the one I'm most aware of is Electric Classic Cars in the UK (https://www.electricclassiccars.co.uk https://www.electricclassiccars.co.uk), who started/specialise in rear-engine VWs, original Minis, and original Land Rover Defenders. Obviously very tailored for a nostalgic UK market, but if there's not equivalent companies in the US and elsewhere I'd be surprised!

trainsarebetter 2y ago

There’s a quickly growing ev conversion industry. Lots of shops that will take your vintage ride and convert it. the amount of wrecked evs showing up in wrecking yards is resulting in a new era of hotrodding. check out www.openinverter.com

blackfawn 2y ago
FYI for anyone trying to go to the above link, it is actually https://openinverter.org https://openinverter.org

dzhiurgis 2y ago

I thought the same until you drive Tesla for few weeks and then think - why the heck you need to pull handle to open doors? This is so archaic. Glad you wanna stay behind. Enjoy your horses.