3 ms·

CarPlay and affordability. I was totally smitten last year with the R1S during a test drive. I'm not a car person but felt that spark people must feel when they

by cyode 10mo ago

CarPlay and affordability. I was totally smitten last year with the R1S during a test drive. I'm not a car person but felt that spark people must feel when they obsess over their vehicles. But it wasn't pushing-six-figures smitten, which is where you're at when you get a new one with customizations.

nicksergeant 10mo ago
Yep. I certainly wanted an R1S, but ended up in an EV9 due to CarPlay plus huge lease incentives. No regrets, and will probably get another after this lease is up.
ActorNightly 10mo ago
>afforadbility This 1000%. Electric cars are supposed to be simple. Give me something in a shape of a Civic, with the engine replaced with a motor and a battery good for 150 miles, and sell it for $10-12k new. Don't even need an entertainment cluster, give me a place to put a tablet or a phone and just have a bluetooth speaker. Instead, we are getting these boutique, expensive vehicles packed full of tech, but in the end, they still fundamentally suck as cars compared to gas alternatives, especially hybrid. I got a Prius Prime for my wife last year, the car is way better than any EV on the market in terms of usability. Driving to work and back can all be done in EV mode easily, and then when you wanna go somewhere, you can keep the car above 80 mph easily and get there faster without worrying about where to charge.
- reanimus 10mo ago
  > Electric cars are supposed to be simple. Give me something in a shape of a Civic, with the engine replaced with a motor and a battery good for 150 miles, and sell it for $10-12k new. Don't even need an entertainment cluster, give me a place to put a tablet or a phone and just have a bluetooth speaker. I think this is more or less the pitch behind Slate (https://www.slate.auto/en https://www.slate.auto/en), though it's more of a truck/SUV form factor.
  - avel 10mo ago
    Also the Dacia Spring is exactly that.
  - ActorNightly 10mo ago
    Slate is nowhere near cheap. Base 27k with hand crank windows? No thanks.
- dzhiurgis 10mo ago
  > Don't even need an entertainment cluster, give me a place to put a tablet or a phone and just have a bluetooth speaker. Illegal - backup camera is required. Speakers probably too for alerts. Also you are super naive if you think that's where actual cost is.
  - ActorNightly 10mo ago
    Most of the cost is in development and prototyping that the company has to make up for, followed by battery as those have a set $/kwh price. This is why the rest of the car has to be an already proven platform that is cheap to make.
- fragmede 10mo ago
  Unfortunately federal standards now require the backup camera, so the entertainment cluster comes along basically for free from that.
  - simondotau 10mo ago
    The cost of the entertainment cluster comes from the integration work. If it was just a backup camera and a carplay/aa head unit and absolutely nothing else then maybe it could be OEMed from the same companies who sell aftermarket systems for $100 or so.
- simondotau 10mo ago
  > Electric cars are supposed to be simple. The only part an EV doesn't have is the engine and gearbox. Admittedly, these are pretty major components, but it's a technology mature enough to be extremely reliable if the manufacturer cares to make it so. But what an EV has instead is a massive battery, charging electronics, a DC-DC converter keeping the 12V battery charged, and various electric motors and actuators for the air conditioning and coolant loops. These are significant more reliable than oily engines in lab environments, but the automotive environment tests the mettle of seemingly resilient components.
- ethagnawl 10mo ago
  This sounds a lot like some of the BYD offerings which, regrettably, aren't available in USA.
- Rover222 10mo ago
  Sounds like you want a Nissan Leaf? They exist.
  - ActorNightly 10mo ago
    Nissan Leaf is the same price as a Camry. Its not cheap.
- dalyons 10mo ago
  > still fundamentally suck as cars compared to gas alternatives i can assure you my expensive EV does not suck as a car compared to gas alternatives, its better in almost every way. insane performance compared to any gas car, superb handling, way better driving UX tech, silent, clean. & 400mil range is just fine for me thanks. Yes it cost a lot.
- vrinsd 10mo ago
  This.

by cyode 10mo ago

nicksergeant 10mo ago

Yep. I certainly wanted an R1S, but ended up in an EV9 due to CarPlay plus huge lease incentives. No regrets, and will probably get another after this lease is up.

ActorNightly 10mo ago

>afforadbility This 1000%. Electric cars are supposed to be simple. Give me something in a shape of a Civic, with the engine replaced with a motor and a battery good for 150 miles, and sell it for $10-12k new. Don't even need an entertainment cluster, give me a place to put a tablet or a phone and just have a bluetooth speaker. Instead, we are getting these boutique, expensive vehicles packed full of tech, but in the end, they still fundamentally suck as cars compared to gas alternatives, especially hybrid. I got a Prius Prime for my wife last year, the car is way better than any EV on the market in terms of usability. Driving to work and back can all be done in EV mode easily, and then when you wanna go somewhere, you can keep the car above 80 mph easily and get there faster without worrying about where to charge.

reanimus 10mo ago
> Electric cars are supposed to be simple. Give me something in a shape of a Civic, with the engine replaced with a motor and a battery good for 150 miles, and sell it for $10-12k new. Don't even need an entertainment cluster, give me a place to put a tablet or a phone and just have a bluetooth speaker. I think this is more or less the pitch behind Slate (https://www.slate.auto/en https://www.slate.auto/en), though it's more of a truck/SUV form factor.
- avel 10mo ago
  Also the Dacia Spring is exactly that.
- ActorNightly 10mo ago
  Slate is nowhere near cheap. Base 27k with hand crank windows? No thanks.
dzhiurgis 10mo ago
> Don't even need an entertainment cluster, give me a place to put a tablet or a phone and just have a bluetooth speaker. Illegal - backup camera is required. Speakers probably too for alerts. Also you are super naive if you think that's where actual cost is.
- ActorNightly 10mo ago
  Most of the cost is in development and prototyping that the company has to make up for, followed by battery as those have a set $/kwh price. This is why the rest of the car has to be an already proven platform that is cheap to make.
fragmede 10mo ago
Unfortunately federal standards now require the backup camera, so the entertainment cluster comes along basically for free from that.
- simondotau 10mo ago
  The cost of the entertainment cluster comes from the integration work. If it was just a backup camera and a carplay/aa head unit and absolutely nothing else then maybe it could be OEMed from the same companies who sell aftermarket systems for $100 or so.
simondotau 10mo ago
> Electric cars are supposed to be simple. The only part an EV doesn't have is the engine and gearbox. Admittedly, these are pretty major components, but it's a technology mature enough to be extremely reliable if the manufacturer cares to make it so. But what an EV has instead is a massive battery, charging electronics, a DC-DC converter keeping the 12V battery charged, and various electric motors and actuators for the air conditioning and coolant loops. These are significant more reliable than oily engines in lab environments, but the automotive environment tests the mettle of seemingly resilient components.
ethagnawl 10mo ago
This sounds a lot like some of the BYD offerings which, regrettably, aren't available in USA.
Rover222 10mo ago
Sounds like you want a Nissan Leaf? They exist.
- ActorNightly 10mo ago
  Nissan Leaf is the same price as a Camry. Its not cheap.
dalyons 10mo ago
> still fundamentally suck as cars compared to gas alternatives i can assure you my expensive EV does not suck as a car compared to gas alternatives, its better in almost every way. insane performance compared to any gas car, superb handling, way better driving UX tech, silent, clean. & 400mil range is just fine for me thanks. Yes it cost a lot.
vrinsd 10mo ago
This.