So, an electric car whose battery is essentially a bet on a startup being able to figure out how to make a solid state battery. Cars are becoming a commodity that relies on battery tech from some key suppliers and media tech from Apple/Google. VW and others will soon look like case manufacturers competing against each other with very little spec to differentiate. Interesting times ahead.
Hopefully, we will see a modular system where the skateboard style car platform could be fitted with several “car body”.
Electric vehicles would have fewer moving parts so in theory it should be possible to make them more serviceable, however as others have pointed out the trend is to make cars less serviceable so it's an unlikely outcome.
I'm afraid of the future with regards to electric cars.
The simplicity and efficiency of current designs means that any further improvements in car quality are pretty unlikely, save for battery improvements.
This suggests that electric cars of the future will be like the smartphones of today: containing largerly the same, or equivalent components with very little to differentiate between them, which means the competition largely boils down to price. And low prices can be only achieved through economies of scale, leading to a winner takes all situation.
I'm a big Tesla fan, but I disagree. The only way electric cars can possibly make sense is if the batteries are swappable. The electric cars being built now are evolutionary dead ends, IMHO.
Definitely, if they were legal in the countries where those tinkerers live. I can see replacement electronics and batteries and motors being done to try to extend range and improve performance.
The use of commodity rather than special automotive parts is not a problem - most experimental electric vehicles (include e-bikes, skateboards, etc) don't use automotive specific parts, because those are usually too expensive, too specific purpose, and occasionally proprietary.
If these cars were sold with schematics or even block diagrams I could see lots of people buying one just for local use or modding.
IMHO electric cars are more like "horseless carriages"--an attempt to shoehorn a new power source into an outdated form factor, rather than creating a new form of electrically-powered vehicle. E-bikes and e-scooters seem much more promising in that regard.
To make electric cars really mainstream, I think it would help to make some standard, easily removable battery modules that different manufacturers use. Then they sell the electyric car without battery and you lease the battery from providers something like a gas stations.
It's not a new idea. I think it is just a matter of waiting for the market to be ready. But its kind of a chicken and egg problem.
It shouldnt, the concept of an EV is simple, but car companies add to much gadgets.
Just look to electric remote toy cars how simple the basics are for an EV.
Lets make EV cars just as simple as electric toy cars.
Keep it simple, dont make driving gadgets.
While I'd been a Tesla fanboy in the past. I have serious doubts about the role it would play in Mankind's future.
Electric cars themselves require massive battery packs, most of which emanate toxic materials and/or require many toxic materials in its production and it's ability to be recycled is doubtful at best.
A better alternative would be having Public transit systems (alternately fuelled?) in place, so that fuel/road volume is used efficiently.
While I look forward to having an electric car someday, the trend in new cars does not look promising. Far too many instances of car companies having too much control, because of the advent of internet-connected vehicles.
Is there a solution to this? I don't know. Especially because I can see legislation cementing these sorts of practices in very much convoluted ways.
One can only hope competing car brands emerge whose competitive advantage is along the lines of "Your car, you can do whatever the fuck you want with it".
I've read fairly similar takes comparing EVs to the digital camera. I'm very interested to see what ends up happening, but my guess is the car market will be quite unique.
I do think the author is overestimating the importance of peripheral functions of cars.
Building future cities around electric scooters, EUCs, etc - yeah, I can see that.
Electric car-shaped objects - not really. The current car-shaped infrastructure will have to change in any case.
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