Imagine how much faster electric car adoption would be if incumbent auto makers weren’t using them as dumping grounds for experimental, half-baked, and unsafe design experiments?

We never wanted their “electric cars” … we wanted their cars, but electric.

All of the German car makers, plus Hyundai, are very serious about making really good mainstream electric vehicles because they all believe that will be their core of their business sooner rather than later.

The Achilles heel of EV adoption, and why I think Tesla has had such a leg up, is that your classic dealership really doesn't like selling EVs.

The salesman aren't knowledgeable about them, they don't have ownership experience with them, and EV's generate dramatically fewer lifetime "service" visits and parts sales.

This was common with the f150 lightning, where salesman were pretty much "If you want it I can do the paper work, but let me show you the regular F150's we have here if you like to drive places without headaches."

VW tried that, particularly with the eGolf (which was pretty much indistinguishable from a normal Golf); it didn't really work. A lot of people thought VW didn't even _make_ electric cars until the weirder-looking id3 and 4 came out years later.

There are some where the EV is largely the same as the non-EV other than the necessary differences because it is in an EV such as instruments and menus.

For example Hyundai Kona EV differs inside from the Kona ICE and hybrid models by having the shifter on the column instead of on the center console and the floor is flatter from not needing to accommodate the transmission tunnel.

A mix of Googling and LLMing suggests that BMW, Genesis, Mini Cooper, Volvo, and VW also have some EVs that are very similar to their non-EV cars.

I don't know. Kia Niro is now 10 years old and looks completely normal and you could buy it as HEV, PHEV or EV

I remember when there were no mainstream EVs and everyone kept publicizing some EV concept that looks like it'd be a ride at Disney Epcot.

Did you stop looking at cars after 2015 ? Most electric cars look very normal.

Yes and no. The F-150 Lightning did a lot more poorly than expected and it’s the best selling vehicle in the US.

It is interesting with the current oil shock what will happen to US automakers that have all but abandoned fuel efficient cars.

What's galling is Tesla's influence. Why do electric cars need to have screens besides (or instead of) the dashboard? WHY? Or any other of Tesla's misfeatures.

I own a Kia Rio hachback. It was incredibly cheap for the features and has been incredibly reliable. I just want an electric version of that with as much range as possible and a heat pump for cabin climate control and battery management.

But nope, can't have that, instead we have a market full of cars 4+ times the cost with a bunch of stupid, useless, asinine bells and whistles.

I assume they'll eventually sell that, in about 10 years time, which makes me sad.