Never have I screamed aloud YES YES and pumped my fist in agreement more at something @siracusa has written than this https://hypercritical.co/2026/05/29/ev-stupidity-checklist

[gneilyo@mastodon.online]

@glennf @siracusa This has all of my gripes plus a few I'd not considered. I've never driven a car with a rear view "screen mirror" so haven't experienced the focal depth-switching issue but knowing my eyes I would hate it instantly.

[djdarren@mendeddrum.org]

Re: LB: As someone whose car is 15 years old and barely has Bluetooth, let alone a big touchscreen, is this actually a thing in some new cars?

"Physical controls for air flow and direction. Grabbing a vent control and pointing it in the desired direction is much more obvious and efficient than navigating a touch-screen menu and then dragging your finger on a visualization of the car interior to try to direct the air flow. By all means, have electronically actuated vent controls to change the air flow for vents that are unreachable from the driver’s seat, but all vents should be physically controllable by the people who can reach them."

Do you actually have to control the vents through a menu, rather than just, y'know, moving them with your fingers?

Because if so, that's genuinely insane.

[harold@mastodon.social]

@glennf I drive a 2023 Hyundai Kona Electric and it checks all those boxes.
@siracusa

[sortova@redwombat.social]

@glennf @siracusa lots of goodness in that article.

The one trip to New Zealand where I rented a car demonstrated that using a turn signal stalk was so ingrained in my muscle memory that I hoped people knew I wanted to turn when my windshield wipers ran on a dry day

My newest vehicle is a 2016 F250. To turn on the heated seats you have to tap on a 1cm square icon. If you miss it, it brings up another screen where the icon is bigger but in a different location

[whombex@bne.social]

@MugsysRapSheet @glennf @siracusa my comments here are my thoughts and should not be taken as negative comments directed at anyone as that’s not my intention.

Battery swapping is about to become redundant. Emerging tech in cars for sale now in CN (and this year EU) can charge at 1.5mW, and it is being put into affordable cars. Example being the ‘27 BYD Yuan Plus (Atto 3 in my market). Flash charging 10-97% in under 10 minutes and in an affordable market segment.
Many EVs in my country are at or below price parity with comparable ice cars. Flash charging is not far behind.
Battery swapping is a good idea in the heavy trucking industry, but has already been solved in the passenger car industry.
Many EV manufacturers don’t dictate their batteries, they use what they can source from manufacturers like CATL, BYD, Panasonic, LG. Regulation in a few countries for swappable batteries may risk manufacturers walking away from those markets.

[photo55@mastodon.social]

@glennf @siracusa
The design teams from the core of car companies are now converging on the EV projects. Some of them hoped it wouldn't happen or tested it would fail. Others were busy.

Aerodynamics is important. A flushish mechanical pop out handle would be nice. It may come.

Comparator for battery cost is the engine, gearbox...and all the petrol it will ever burn. Minus by all means the electricity.

(Mine's a VW ID.3 which I like a lot.)

[siracusa@mastodon.social]

@Photo55 See the “1” footnote on my article on the topic of door handles.

[photo55@mastodon.social]

@siracusa article is still in my queue, I'll do that.

[rndanger@infosec.exchange]

@BillBraine @glennf @siracusa
My 2017 Bolt is the same. I'm still so happy with it almost six years after buying it used.
I rented a Tesla maybe four or five years ago and i hated it. It's fast and it got where i needed to go but the entire ride i felt like i was barely controlling a wild horse because it would attempt to drive me into things and the only thing that prevented an accident was the fact i was always holding that wheel like the car was trying to kill me

[papyrusbrigade@cosocial.ca]

@glennf First time renting a Tesla felt quite dangerous. I had to repeatedly pull off the highway to figure out how to operate various controls. And the lack of a physical manual in the car added to the frustration.

[aeberbach@mastodon.online]

@glennf @siracusa I will never choose a car that does not have an indicator stalk when there is one that does

[antonio106@ottawa.place]

@glennf @siracusa my Pacifica PHEV has a manual charge port, but an electronic gas door. And the detailers burnt out mine so I had to find a magic draw string hidden behind a panel in the trunk.

If they would just take my grandpa's 92 Caravan--blue cloth interior, tape deck, and all--but just made it run on electricity, I'd be fine.

[benjaminklein@mastodon.nu]

@glennf @siracusa this video was excellent on modern car design:

https://youtu.be/HauQtcj7UTM

[robdaemon@hachyderm.io]

@glennf @siracusa My EV (a Kia EV6) has most of these - but I would like a manual charge door, and better HVAC controls. You have to toggle a "screen" to switch between media and HVAC controls, but at least it has a knob for temperatures.

[kristofferabild@hachyderm.io]

@glennf @siracusa @dlundh Luckily almost all of these are not really a problem on most EU cars.

[derek_diy@mastodon.ie]

@glennf @siracusa
What I don' t like in all of this, is that we also don' t question which cars make sense to be build.

There are still a lot SUVs out there.
They have no teal use, are heavy (need more energy), need a lot of parking space and are highly dangerous for pedestrians, esspecially children.

Form follows function.

No need for driving bread boxes.
Even as EV.