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Ask HN: Why is nobody manufacturing low tech electric cars in 2024?

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Re: Ask HN: Why is nobody manufacturing low tech electric cars in 2024?

#201

Post by AtlasBarfed »

nottorp wrote: post #174
AtlasBarfed wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As crappy and annoying Tesla's UI can be, just keep in mind Tesla's software capability is 10x better than any other auto company (or more correctly their OEMs) were capable of.

Oh yeah, but what does that help with when you can't change your a/c to recirculate and back without stopping the car? Or when you simply can't ... figure ... out ... the "smart" turn stalk?

I'm certainly not going to defend minimalism-to-the-extreme design that gave us the ribbon in macbooks, removed the stalk/buttons in cars, or other movements that pretend that palpable controls using one of our fundamental senses (touch) are superfluous.

They're from the same "material design" hipster insanity that removed shadowing and numerous other visual cues from UI design that we still suffer today.

Re: Ask HN: Why is nobody manufacturing low tech electric cars in 2024?

#202

Post by uyzstvqs »

mushufasa wrote: post #31

So the unit economics of electric cars are quite different from gas cars (ICE = internal combustion). Electric car companies don't make money on low cost cars -- and neither can ICE cars! Basic ICE cars are essentially sold at cost, sometimes as loss leaders, because the manufacturers make a long-tail of money supplying parts and maintenance for the cars over their lifetime; for 10-20 years they now have a (variable)…

> Electric cars inherently have much less of a maintenance burden because there are way fewer moving parts in a motor versus an engine

They sell you battery packs for $20,000 around every 8-10 years.

Re: Ask HN: Why is nobody manufacturing low tech electric cars in 2024?

#203

Post by enceladus06 »

kube-system wrote: post #38
edent wrote: post #19

Citroën Ami is about as low tech as you can get. If you want something more car-shaped, the Renault Zoe has very few tech feature. Similarly, Kia Soul has a reversing camera… and that's about it! No radar, lane assist, carplay or anything like that. Cstomers only want 3 things. A comfortable ride, a safe journey, and $thing. The problem is, everyone's one more thing is different. I want DAB radio, you want cruise con…

> Cstomers only want 3 things. A comfortable ride, a safe journey, and $thing. The problem is, everyone's one more thing is different. I want DAB radio, you want cruise control, she wants lane assist, he wants automatic parking. This is the correct answer. And on top of this, new cars also compete with used cars. The very few people who don’t want any $thing are often not picky buyers and are more likely to just buy…

For some reason new electric cars have to be expensive. A 2024 leaf with the 212mi-range battery starts at 36k, a Model 3 starts at 38k. I want cheap and minimal, like a honda fit without the infotainment garbage and manditory data collection.

Re: Ask HN: Why is nobody manufacturing low tech electric cars in 2024?

#204

Post by shiroiushi »

dyauspitr wrote: post #175
shiroiushi wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, when this happens, we just use the voice or video-calling function of whatever chat app we're using texting through. We don't use phone numbers. I've never actually even called my girlfriend, for instance; I only have her phone number in my contacts list for emergencies, but when I've talked with her, it's been through our chat app (LINE), since we can use video there.

Sure, but that’s just semantics. What matters is voice conversations happen a lot.

It's not semantics at all. Voice conversations on Messenger or WhatsApp are completely different and unlike voice conversations over a regular phone number. The latter you can do with a flip-phone; the former, you cannot.

Re: Ask HN: Why is nobody manufacturing low tech electric cars in 2024?

#205

Post by shiroiushi »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #163
shiroiushi wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, buttons are not that expensive, that's silly. Cars have had buttons for ages, and they certainly weren't more expensive decades ago. The big reason touchscreens are so favored is because they don't require that you finalize your user-interface design decisions so early in the design cycle. With physical buttons, you have to design molds etc. to have the parts ready for final assembly. What if you want to make a c…

Buttons are a lot more expensive than they used to be because they are require human labor for writing.

I assume you mistyped, and meant "wiring". I don't think so: usually, the buttons will be on assemblies with many buttons together (such as the A/C control panel on my 2015 car), with a PCB inside and probably a small microcontroller to talk on the CAN bus, so in the factory, the worker only needs to plug in one electrical connector. That's really no different than a touchscreen system, which also would presumably have a single connector for the whole assembly.

Re: Ask HN: Why is nobody manufacturing low tech electric cars in 2024?

#207

Post by ted_bunny »

doix wrote: post #16
ted_bunny wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if people know exactly how much they're psying for each little gizmo that rolls down their windows, adds a PIN to their door, etc. I bet you could cut about 25% of the price off by removing goofy crap you don't need.

> I bet you could cut about 25% of the price off by removing goofy crap you don't need. Most of those things are low cost, high margin extras. Removing them wouldn't really decrease the cost of the car for the manufacturer. A lot of the time, if you don't pay for the extra's, they are included in the car anyway because it's not worth the effort of customizing the build. They are just disabled in software.

I meant, if a modern line of cars were made without the bells and whistles in the first place.
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