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Actually your recipe for an electric car is what US manufacturers tried to do because it didn't require as much retooling. Turns out it is a pretty bad way to make an electric vehicle from scratch. The batteries are big and heavy and need their own space. The best place is in the bottom for weight distribution but instead they had to cram them in the existing engine compartment along with the motor. It's just not as good as designing it to be electric from the ground up. Most of them were compromised and thus didn't sell well.
Regarding the rolling data center, that's actually a different problem that applies to pretty much all new cars. There is a growing backlash against all of these features (and lack of buttons). Unfortunately, it kind of falls on deaf ears. I think this is why US manufacturers are scared of Chinese EVs. They take a more practical view of the vehicle. Although, I don't actually know how much spying these Chinese vehicles do. It wouldn't be like the Chinese to miss that opportunity.
For the laughs, look up Ford Fusion Energi [sic]. It's a PHEV retrofit, so it has a plug, very short EV range (12 miles? - that is if you can make it run in EV mode), but the best part is the trunk - the entirety of it is taken up by the battery, with enough space for maybe a briefcase, not even a bag of groceries.
Less spying is absolutely not why US manufacturers are scared of Chinese EVs, it's cheap labor and long term state backing. I have a bridge to sell to anyone who thinks Chinese EVs aren't spying, hahaha
I’d rather have China spy on me than US corporations or state. I don’t live in China and have no fear that their surveillance will result in a fascist goon at my doorstep.
Then you're an idiot.
because that information is gonna end up in the same markets as the information from anywhere else, and its going to fuck you over in the long term.
You're too obsessed with government jackboots coming to your door to even consider your car and health insurance premiums skyrocketing at best, or getting dropped at worst, because your driving data was sold to them and they decided you were too much a risk despite a clean driving record.
and thats only a small example of what can be done with this data. it could affect a lot more as companies try to analyze you and your actions and catagorize you. or even better, explode your phone with advertising with every store you're driving past.
I mean, I’d rather not be spied on at all, but at least a Chinese collector has to find an American buyer, whereas the American collector is the American buyer. But I agree with you, mass surveillance is bad no matter who is doing it.
That's where I'm at. What's China realistically going to do with that data?? If I'm going to be spied on no matter what I'd rather have it be done by a country across the world and get a reasonably priced EV too.
Sell it to the same people that ford and everyone else are, so it can be used to fuck you over on jobs, insurance, etc etc.
Well... Yes.
There's a startup that is making a totally bare bones car called Slate. I really don't understand why every car has an ipad when I just need a place for my phone and it will accomplish the same thing (minus a back up camera which I find completely unnecessary).
The problem is they have over done it. To add just one little thing you want boosts the price into the range of say a Chevy Bolt, which is a much more polished vehicle. But I do like the look and the idea. The fact that Amazon (or was it just Bezos?) is involved is as little troubling.
Jeff Bezos is one of their prime investors and is selling you a vehicle that requires you to plug your phone into it directly in order to function.
As cool as the rest of the idea sounds that makes it an instant and permanent non-starter for me.
In the US, backup cameras are mandated by law as a safety feature. It’s not an “add-on” or perk like some automakers try to imply.
Same with front end collision avoidance cameras/sensors. Those need to be in all cars manufactured for the US market by 2029.
I have actually converted an old diesel land rover to electric. NDA so I can't disclose the company, but we replaced the transmission with an electric motor that had an adapter plate to the original transfer case. The engine was replaced with a large battery pack and some electric pumps, handfull of heat exchangers. As you said, converting is never as good. A big heavy pack where the motor was makes it more front heavy than with the diesel 4 cylinder, range was about 120 miles which is pretty piss poor compared to what it could do with the diesel powertrain. It was very cool in theory, but not a practical vehicle. Another company has done a different ev conversion on some of the LR's and they used a Tesla drivetrain if I'm not mistaken, and had to split up the battery pack and spread it across 3 different locations in the vehicle. Purpose built evs are definatley the way for packaging, although repowering classics that only get tooled around here and there to get ice cream or go golfing on the weekend is a neat concept. The weight distribution of the components is just so different from an ice that it necessitates a ground up design. Electric motors are far lighter than ice engines, but they need FAR more weight in battery packs than a tank of fuel for comparable range so u cant exactly just replace the fuel tank with a battery pack and expect it to go far.
why would such work require an nda?
Because the company that "builds" the ev converted vehicle actually just designs and sources parts + the vehicle, our shop is the one that actually built them (at least for the USA based clients). I'm not sure the buyer knows it was done by us or not, I'm sure it doesn't much matter. There's only a handful of companies that offer this so it wouldnt be too hard for u to narrow it down to a couple!
Ah. So it's kind of a secret that they don't do their own work...
Is it just fancy and expensive cars that do this? I have an old hatchback I'd like to convert, but otherwise it would go to the scrapyard.
Not the same guy, but I've been around a DIY conversion. You can do it to any vehicle you want, but some make more sense than others. Assuming your 'old hatchback' is 80s-90s, probably not a great fit. Like he said the whole thing is really a packaging problem, and that's gonna be rough on a unibody compact. Older, bigger stuff is easier, and I probably wouldn't bother with something that wasn't body on frame. The one I observed myself was a 2000-ish Ford Ranger, and that worked out really well. Two large rectangular battery boxes parallel with the driveshaft between the frame rails under the bed, motor in place of engine, controllers etc in extra space under hood. Total cost ~10k, hours hard to guess but a good winter's worth of weekends