EV Stupidity Checklist • Hacker News Board

Re: EV Stupidity Checklist

#101

Post by cmrdporcupine » Sat, May 30, 2026, 1:03 AM UTC

BeetleB wrote: post #33

jbm wrote: post #27

Please eliminate the glass roof. Why do EV companies keep making this customer hostile decision? On my 2019 Model 3, a stress fracture showed up overnight and everytime I look up I see a 3000$ fix for a car that is worth 10k max. I have no idea who wants it. It is hot in the summer, cold in the winter and you can have a sudden bill related to a rock on the street. Somehow everyone, from Tesla to Ferrari has this insa…

Isn't Tesla the only one that made it mandatory? Hyundai, Ford, etc have it as an option.

On the Polestar2 (and other models) it's not mandatory, but you can't get other imperative things -- like the heat pump (major efficiency concern) -- unless you get the Plus package that has the glass roof.

Re: EV Stupidity Checklist

#102

Post by RajT88 » Sat, May 30, 2026, 1:08 AM UTC

BeetleB wrote: post #36

Animats wrote: post #2

China has already mandated an end to retractable outside door handles and electrical inside door handles. That takes effect January 1, 2027. There were two major incidents where people could not get out and could not be rescued. The powered charger port door would make sense if there were robot chargers that used it. Tesla demoed that, but people disliked the snake robot approach. Technically, a snake robot is ideal…

> Rear view cameras are better than rear view mirrors. The field of view is better. Rear view cameras are useless when mud/rain get on them. Mirrors continue to work just fine. Try living in Seattle.

Me and my wife's car have both rear mirrors and backup cameras. I use both. Cars should have both.

I would not mind rear facing cameras for checking blind spots on the highway.

Re: EV Stupidity Checklist

#103

Post by plorkyeran » Sat, May 30, 2026, 1:13 AM UTC

thebruce87m wrote: post #22

> Physical charge-port door mechanism. So is the only one in the list that is actually EV specific? It also has a direct counterpart on an ICE vehicle so even it doesn’t count.

That's a big part of why these things are stupid. There's a bunch of weird design decisions which shouldn't have anything to do with EVs but are a lot more common in EVs anyway.

Re: EV Stupidity Checklist

#104

Post by mattas » Sat, May 30, 2026, 2:07 AM UTC

> No experienced driver during normal driving has ever had to spend even a moment searching for the turn signal stalk to activate it, but this happens all too often when using turn-signal buttons on a steering wheel

Is there really an EV that replaced the turn signal stalk with steering wheel buttons? You may as well just remove the turn signal entirely at that point.

Re: EV Stupidity Checklist

#105

Post by skinfaxi » Sat, May 30, 2026, 2:34 AM UTC

BeetleB wrote: post #33

jbm wrote: post #27

Please eliminate the glass roof. Why do EV companies keep making this customer hostile decision? On my 2019 Model 3, a stress fracture showed up overnight and everytime I look up I see a 3000$ fix for a car that is worth 10k max. I have no idea who wants it. It is hot in the summer, cold in the winter and you can have a sudden bill related to a rock on the street. Somehow everyone, from Tesla to Ferrari has this insa…

Isn't Tesla the only one that made it mandatory? Hyundai, Ford, etc have it as an option.

No, Volvo has it mandatory as well. Probably others.

Re: EV Stupidity Checklist

#106

Post by [deleted] » Sat, May 30, 2026, 3:01 AM UTC

BeetleB wrote: post #36

Animats wrote: post #2

China has already mandated an end to retractable outside door handles and electrical inside door handles. That takes effect January 1, 2027. There were two major incidents where people could not get out and could not be rescued. The powered charger port door would make sense if there were robot chargers that used it. Tesla demoed that, but people disliked the snake robot approach. Technically, a snake robot is ideal…

> Rear view cameras are better than rear view mirrors. The field of view is better. Rear view cameras are useless when mud/rain get on them. Mirrors continue to work just fine. Try living in Seattle.

[deleted]

Re: EV Stupidity Checklist

#107

Post by Schiendelman » Sat, May 30, 2026, 3:04 AM UTC

pibaker wrote: post #76

> But electronic door mechanisms like these have also proven to be unreliable, and possibly dangerous. "Possibly dangerous" is a vast understatement. There is an ongoing lawsuit claiming that a cybertruck's door stopped working after a crash, trapping three occupants who burned to death. https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/piedmont-cybertruck-cr... A very similar case in China was caught on camera. Car crashed, cau…

The problem is child locks. The US doesn't allow you to have a manual override that overrides the child lock on rear doors. The same easy pull handles as the front door would be on the rear door if they were legal.

Re: EV Stupidity Checklist

#108

Post by labcomputer » Sat, May 30, 2026, 5:57 AM UTC

jbm wrote: post #27

Please eliminate the glass roof. Why do EV companies keep making this customer hostile decision? On my 2019 Model 3, a stress fracture showed up overnight and everytime I look up I see a 3000$ fix for a car that is worth 10k max. I have no idea who wants it. It is hot in the summer, cold in the winter and you can have a sudden bill related to a rock on the street. Somehow everyone, from Tesla to Ferrari has this insa…

> Why do EV companies keep making this customer hostile decision?

Because it eliminates the headliner and insulation, which allows the roof to be an inch shorter while maintaining the same interior headroom. The has a direct impact on frontal area, which, in turn, has a direct impact on aerodynamic drag.

Reduced drag means greater range (or the same range with a smaller, less expensive battery).

Re: EV Stupidity Checklist

#109

Post by BrunoBernardino » Sat, May 30, 2026, 6:39 AM UTC

I would add that the car should have ultrasonic sensors and ideally lidar, not just rely on cameras. Looking at Tesla, mostly, I think.

Re: EV Stupidity Checklist

#110

Post by tristanj » Sat, May 30, 2026, 6:56 AM UTC

slg wrote: post #14

Almost none of this is specific to EVs, manufacturers just see EV consumers as technology forward (which seems to largely stem from Tesla's design approach) so they have been more aggressive with technology than with their traditional ICE models.

Agreed, none of these are specific to EVs. A new Ferrari suffers from half the issues the author complained about. This article is pretty much "Gripes I have with Tesla design that I see making their way into other vehicles".