So I have always hated Tesla and don’t like that they’ve in a lot of way tarnished the name of electric cars. The second you say electric cars every person and their mom says OHH you’re getting a tesla! Quite annoying.
Anyways, I’d like to hear from some of you folks some models of electrics you like. I have always been a gearhead deep in the gas and oil, and I still enjoy my cars, but an electric would be fun and a cost savings for me, especially since I have a ton of roof space for solar panels if I wanted to.
It sounds superficial but a big reason I used to hate electric cars is they are for the most part, hideous. Then again, to me, most new cars are hidous, the designs are just not good. But I think i can look past that.
It would also be a huge bonus if there were any models out there with the least possible features. I prefer cars with manual locks/seats/doors and no screen, which is of course impossible with current cars (sadly). But the less digital garbage the better.
My neighbor has a Volvo EX90, and he swears by it. It replaced his older Tesla S, and he says the build quality is leagues apart.
EX90 is far from a “simple” car, though. And a lot larger than most people need.
The EX90 is the largest in that model line. I’ve personally been looking into the EX40. I just haven’t researched the tracking, if any, involved with this model.
I cannot speak to the tracking of other models, but it is my understanding that it mostly comes down to time and position, as mandated by the SOS-system that all modern cars have. Beyond that, there’s the mobile app (optional, but recommended) that doesn’t seem to require any permissions that aren’t expected.
The above should mostly be considered an opinion as it’s based on my 2019 XC90. The firmware seems to be the same as the newer models, though. And I doubt that the leap from XC to EX is very long. As for the smaller models, I co sider them to be in the same family, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the tracking is more or less the same across all of them.
That’s a bit of a problem with eclectic cars. Most of them are huge SUV’s or tiny city cars. Is there even an electric estate car?
BMW i5 Touring and Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo are the only electric stationwagons I know of. I share your dispair at the lack of “medium” size electric cars. For a decade there was only one sedan, the Tesla S. And later a second sedan, the Tesla 3. At least these days there’s greater selection of sedans, though still not many wagons. Although to be fair there’s hardly even fossil wagons for sale these days.
The prevelance of tiny or massive EVs kinda make sense. Small city cars are usually used for shorter journeys so they can get away with a smaller lighter batteries. Big SUVs are heavy to begin with, so the heavy battery doesn’t make that a massive difference. Fossil sedans and estates can be relatively light but are still often used for long journeys, but a longrange sedan EV will be very heavy.
Going by Volvo, as those are the cars I know best (recently replaced my tank of a 940 with an xc90), maybe ex40 or ex30 is your thing? Or is that still too big?