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.

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ActorNightly 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

>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.

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simondotau a day ago | parent | next [-]

> 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.

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reanimus 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> 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), though it's more of a truck/SUV form factor.

	▲	avel 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Also the Dacia Spring is exactly that.
	▲	ActorNightly 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Slate is nowhere near cheap. Base 27k with hand crank windows? No thanks.

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dalyons 17 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> 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.

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Rover222 a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sounds like you want a Nissan Leaf? They exist.

	▲	ActorNightly a day ago \| parent [-]
		Nissan Leaf is the same price as a Camry. Its not cheap.

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ethagnawl a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This sounds a lot like some of the BYD offerings which, regrettably, aren't available in USA.

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fragmede 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Unfortunately federal standards now require the backup camera, so the entertainment cluster comes along basically for free from that.

	▲	simondotau a day ago \| parent [-]
		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.

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dzhiurgis 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> 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 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		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.

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nicksergeant 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

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.