Are there any good dumb EVs? No internet features, no tracking, just an electric car I can get in and drive?
I constantly see features built in to the car but artificially locked behind a paywalls, like heated seats or even speed, software that tracks you or staff able to watch you through cameras.
I just want a car.
(Plenty of modern ICE are the same, I dislike them too)
This is the exact reason I’ve been putting off buying a new car. Ever since I saw the video of the guys controlling cars remotely with a laptop, paysalled heated seats, no key slot to unlock the door, infotainment systems replacing buttons, and more, I don’t want to buy a new car!
I would absolutely love to start using the new technologies, as I studied them in school and even did a couple of research presentations on the newer battery chemistries, photovoltaics, and designed an on-site hydrogen generation process as an energy storage medium. But, if I can’t get stuff like it was in the good ol’ days of analog buttons, I dont really want it.
I have the MY2023 and it works perfectly as a dumb car but there are some creature comforts hidden behind a subscription. The BlueLink App which is around $7/month allows you to remotely see and control things from your phone such as:
Locking/unlocking the car from your phone no matter the distance
Getting notifications if you forgot to lock your car
Remote start the climate control
Diagnostics with codes so you don’t need an OBDII reader
Again, it’s a perfectly good dumb EV without those but they are trying the subscription model for luxury features. Hyundai, at least, gave me a 3 year free trail.
The Kia Niro is pretty close, although if you’re really serious about making it dumb you’ll need to pull the cellular modem. It doesn’t depend on any internet services, but it does connect to the internet to get nearby charger data.
Probably the Chevy Bolt? Its a pretty bare bones ev (which is has to be to maintain that cost). I drive a Rav4 Prime which doesn’t have a lot of the nonsense you see in a lot of evs (but some stuff is paywalled like the app/media stuff, though that’s nothing new)
Are there any good dumb EVs? No internet features, no tracking, just an electric car I can get in and drive?
I constantly see features built in to the car but artificially locked behind a paywalls, like heated seats or even speed, software that tracks you or staff able to watch you through cameras.
I just want a car.
(Plenty of modern ICE are the same, I dislike them too)
This is the exact reason I’ve been putting off buying a new car. Ever since I saw the video of the guys controlling cars remotely with a laptop, paysalled heated seats, no key slot to unlock the door, infotainment systems replacing buttons, and more, I don’t want to buy a new car!
I would absolutely love to start using the new technologies, as I studied them in school and even did a couple of research presentations on the newer battery chemistries, photovoltaics, and designed an on-site hydrogen generation process as an energy storage medium. But, if I can’t get stuff like it was in the good ol’ days of analog buttons, I dont really want it.
I have a Hyundai Kona Electric 2022 and it is a perfectly dumb electric car
+1 on the Kona Electric.
I have the MY2023 and it works perfectly as a dumb car but there are some creature comforts hidden behind a subscription. The BlueLink App which is around $7/month allows you to remotely see and control things from your phone such as:
Again, it’s a perfectly good dumb EV without those but they are trying the subscription model for luxury features. Hyundai, at least, gave me a 3 year free trail.
In Australia BlueLink is not even an option so it is perfectly dumb and great
The Bolt didn’t have any of that stuff. It was a pretty simple car, in a good way.
The Kia Niro is pretty close, although if you’re really serious about making it dumb you’ll need to pull the cellular modem. It doesn’t depend on any internet services, but it does connect to the internet to get nearby charger data.
Probably the Chevy Bolt? Its a pretty bare bones ev (which is has to be to maintain that cost). I drive a Rav4 Prime which doesn’t have a lot of the nonsense you see in a lot of evs (but some stuff is paywalled like the app/media stuff, though that’s nothing new)