I just think they're neat!
No touch screens, no telemetry, no cellular modems, no wifi, no apps, no subscriptions, no infotainment.
The Smart ForTwo EV was just what you asked for. It did have a cellular modem. But you could just unplug it very easily.
And make it small on the outside and as big as possible on the inside, with the back seats level with the trunk when folded down
My first car was a 2003 Suzuki Ignis and the way the rear seats folded down was the absolute best. It made it act like a small van!
Honda-san I beg of you, revist your classic designs and drop an electric motor in to them. You will become more rich
Bonus points if you can make it so that all the aftermarket suspension parts that already exist for those classic designs still fit. Ultra-bonus points if the body is externally identical so aero and body mods still fit.
One of the most appealing things about Slate motors is that they seem to lack all the telemetry bullshit.
The least appealing thing about them is that Jeff Bezos is a primary investor.
Slate EV
Gas?
Accelerator!
From my point of view the steering wheel and brake pedal are accelerators as well.
You are technically correct. The best kind of correct.
Acceleratrix!
Don't forget honk honk punch, Gas gas gas.
Steering. You also want steering.
Heated seats are a must if you drive anywhere that gets cold. Saves you a lot of miles. Backup cams are mandated on cars in the US now, and if you're gonna have a screen, you should probably include some navigation so the car can pre-condition the battery before you get to a charger.
Well, if you're gonna do those (pretty necessary IMHO) QoL concessions, you might as well give the user the option to integrate it with their phone, so they don't have to wonder if the car got enough charge, or if some asshole yanked out the plug. If you're reporting that info to the phone, you can include some controls to start/stop charging or set certian charging targets for certain charging stations. If you're including controls, you might as well piggyback some basic lock, unlock, pop trunk features to the phone, and if you're already letting the phone unlock the car, you can pretty easily include proximity unlocking. Since you've got a data connection to the phone, you can stream music and data from the car to the phone and vis-versa. You could put in another screen and physical controls for managing the music, but you already have one in the car for the rear cameras anyway, so why not just integrate the whole damn thing and now we're at most modern features of EVs, minus the goofy handles and driver automation.
I could forgo heated seats before I could a heated steeringwheel
Yes. And steering.
No one uses steering anymore. Too busy watching tiktok on my phone while trying to do my makeup during my morning drive.
Hitting the gas in an EV is like filming with a digital camera.
My phone has a system app known as a "dialer" despite not having a round dial.
Yeah. Gas [pedal] is used here in the same way the "save" icon is still a floppy disk.
it's easy and convenient?
For about $8k you can convert a VW beetle to electric.
On a broader note, this is a failure of capitalism in which products can never be perfected.
There are sooo many technologies that we fully figured out years ago but they can’t just make it optimal and move on.
This is why we have washing machines using internet for whatever reason.
Come on what is this image's original context what is this
Backed by amazon? LOL if you think it won't still have a cellular radio and full tracking suite installed.
Slate has stated that they will not have a cellular or other type of connection. It does need some type of connection to do software updates, and that will be from your phone using their app to the truck via USB.
They've also stated they won't track your driving data. You can opt in to share data about the truck's health through the app for servicing purposes, but that's all. They've also promised not to sell any kind of data to third parties.
That could always change, but I'm on the wait list for one and there are people on the slate forums who are serious about privacy and are watching this and seem pretty happy for now.
I would also like "turn" please
That requires a premium subscription.
