I am quite keen on the idea of an electric car.

[nabeards@hachyderm.io]

@andygates @not_a_label @neil again, dependent on your needs. I travel usually at 30MPH, fastest is 45mph. I spend a lot of time on dirt roads as well. The safety advances seem to be focused on high speed travel. Of course, everyone’s needs are different. But even a car from 2005 would have better safety than my 1988. And you can buy cars from 2005 for US $5000 still.

[robparsons@mastodon.social]

@ross @neil Nissan is about to turn off the app that works with the older Leafs because it can't take all the functions they want their apps to do aka spy on you.

[slash909uk@mastodon.me.uk]

@neil I've had two Leafs (mk.i & ii) Both had an opt-in function when you switched on. Range on the mk. ii is fine (40kWh) mk.i was not so good!

Now I have an eCorsa which does not have an opt-in so I assume it is reporting to base... On the plus side it does not seem to have any features that depend on this.

HTH

[rail@snailedit.social]

@neil I for one cannot wait to read a blog post and/or updated Toot with ye answer

It's a question I would very much like an answer for but with not enough drive to replace my 2019 reg car; 5 years into owning a car from basically new feels far too early, maybe I'll actually do it in another 5, we shall see. Cars be expensive

[rupertreynolds@hachyderm.io]

@neil It's not EVs in particular. Modern cars are all moving toward spying on their 'owners', packaging them, amd selling them to the highest bidder. Or altering the deal, so as you go belting down an Italian mountain road you get a message saying time's up--enter your credit card if you wish to extend your membership to include brakes for another year*

And we have put up with so much shite in the recent past, you could almost say we voted for this.

*OK I exaggerated, but not too much.

[brouhaha@mastodon.social]

@etchedpixels @neil @artfulrobot @sborrill
The last car I purchased, in 2021, doesn't appear to have any "telematics" or any kind of data uplink. It has GPS and sat radio receivers, but AFAICT, no transmitters other than NFC for the key fob.
Since I just ordered a spectrum analyzer, I could maybe try to find any other transmissions it might make, though if they were very brief and infrequent, I might not be able to detect them.

[brouhaha@mastodon.social]

@etchedpixels @neil @artfulrobot @sborrill
I think if it did have any two-way communication, they'd have tried to sell me optional services that use them, but none were offered.

[brouhaha@mastodon.social]

@etchedpixels @neil @artfulrobot @sborrill
I've owned two 2006 model year vehicles with OnStar, and physically disconnected the OnStar boxes in both, though it became irrelevant when AMPS cellular went away.
People need to be aware that vehicle telematics systems can be used to spy on them even if they aren't paying for service.
Also, even without that, the "black box" functionality in cars records a lot about their driving. I'm not sure whether any record GPS data, but it wouldn't surprise me

[b5baxter@social.coop]

@neil
I drive several EVs all part of a car sharing co-op. I am assuming that 100s of people driving the same car really messes with the algorithm.

[neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk]

@Slash909uk Thank you!

[signs@kinkycats.org]

@mollysdailykiss @neil always happy to offer any insights