When are you going fully electric?

Soldato
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Of course it’s the same in order to use a touchscreen you need to use the same hand you would use to hold a phone. Anyway as you say it’s not technically illegal and I highly doubt they could prove it but never the less it is a distraction and could lead to an accident.

What vital function would you need the touch screen for? The only vital functions to operate a car safely are the pedals and the steering wheel. Climate control, radio, satnav etc are not vital controls.



I wonder how people would react if someone was to have an iPad mounted from the centre console and deemed to have caused an accident whilst checking their emails?

I think you missed my point, it’s not the same because you are not physically holding the device, if you don’t see how’s that’s very different to pressing buttons software or physical then the rest of the post is lost.

Your right that reading email on cars infotainment screen is clearly not driving with due care and attention but that’s not what we are talking about and I have no idea why you even bought it up. No one suggests that is appropriate, far from it. Same goes for doing your emails on an iPad, please keep the conversation realistic.

There are vital ‘must use and change’ controls on the model 3 screen, for example window wipers, fog lights and screen de-mister. The latter is a touch screen/touch button on many cars these days.

The difference is those buttons can be accessed easily and once you get used to their placement you can access them while maintaining your awareness of the road.

TLDR, it’s not illegal, shall we move on?
 
Soldato
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Audi's are tediously dull though. :p

Yep, the even managed to make their very first EV exceptionally dull and boring. However I guess many people like dull and boring, and it's all relative, the number of people who seem to think a car 'has to look like this' or 'isn't exciting' or 'doesn't look normal' and the classic 'not getting in that thing someone might see me' type comments.

Hoping to see some exciting new cars over the coming decade, once they get over the ICE design era, which some will be come timeless classics and others will be looked at with confusion and disgust.
 
Soldato
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@Journey, I think you are spot on there.

One of the reasons I really like designs like the i3, iPace and cybertruck is because they rip up a lot of the ‘traditional car’ design ideas. They are not constrained by having a huge ICE lump in the front.
 
Soldato
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For early adopters, it's not uncommon that they want to stand out and want something interesting. For EVs to go mainstream the majority of buyers will probably want a car that looks just like the ICE version (a la Corsa-e, e-208). :)
 
Soldato
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@Journey, I think you are spot on there.

One of the reasons I really like designs like the i3, iPace and cybertruck is because they rip up a lot of the ‘traditional car’ design ideas. They are not constrained by having a huge ICE lump in the front.

Cybertruck for me is a stand out vehicle. If it does what they say it will do, and they can make enough of them and sell them for the costs stated they are going to have a pivotal 'world' (read: USA) changing vehicle. It takes a bold, and somewhat crazy(?) thinking process to allow a concept like that to become reality, but hopefully other companies will follow with other types of vehicles.

I also agree with the i3, from a company like BMW I am shocked they haven't continued to expand, and seem to have gone backwards. They are one company given their customer base, and current financial situation that could disappear in the next 10-15 years, or be swallowed up by another group.
 
Soldato
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For early adopters, it's not uncommon that they want to stand out and want something interesting.
it needs to be safe too, if you look up nhtsa guidelines on car touch user interfaces (posted before), many are broken
target button sizes, response time which is too fast so users eyes remain glued on screen, positioning/location within eye-line
but, there is, currently, no (usa/uk) legislation ... legal responsibility is on the customer. ... until a litigious usa customer has an accident. (japan I thought, did have some legislation)

For right hand drive too, I'd say we are at a dexterity disadvantage, manipulating screen with non dominant hand.

Can't see any videos of how the tesla media/music interface looks at night time, which is the most 'challenging' time


One of the reasons I really like designs like the i3, iPace
yes I like the ipace aerodynamic idea where it take some air through the nose which comes out half way up the bonnet, so you still comply with pedestrian safety.
 
Soldato
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I also agree with the i3, from a company like BMW I am shocked they haven't continued to expand, and seem to have gone backwards. They are one company given their customer base, and current financial situation that could disappear in the next 10-15 years, or be swallowed up by another group.

This. I've been a BMW fan my whole car career, had 3 in a row over 6 years but they have fallen off the wagon now in my opinion. The i3 and i8 came out nearly 7 years ago, and they've done nothing since. It's pretty obvious to me they don't want to make BEV or even PHEV vehicles good because they know it breaks their dealer/service/maintenance model. Absolutely no innovation from them, even the M cars have become boring. They're just the 3/5/* series turned up to 11, not something properly bespoke and groundbreaking like they used to be.
 
Soldato
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Agreed to buy an e-Golf SEL Premium today, $30,000 out the door less the $7,500 Federal tax credit less the $3,125 NJ EV rebate = a net cost of $19,375. Seems very good for a brand new car and will be ideal for local journeys.

Hopefully picking up on Saturday but it's 220 miles away in Maryland so I'll have to stop to charge once or twice on the way home - luckily there seems to be plenty of DC fast chargers along I-95.
 
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Soldato
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Yep, the even managed to make their very first EV exceptionally dull and boring. However I guess many people like dull and boring, and it's all relative, the number of people who seem to think a car 'has to look like this' or 'isn't exciting' or 'doesn't look normal' and the classic 'not getting in that thing someone might see me' type comments.

Hoping to see some exciting new cars over the coming decade, once they get over the ICE design era, which some will be come timeless classics and others will be looked at with confusion and disgust.

It's not that people like dull and boring, it's that they like an Audi badge above all. So Audi can just make a million variations of the golf and it sells.

Problem is modern pedestrian safety regulations make it quite hard to make a good looking car. Unless it's a low volume production, which have some exceptions to the rules.
 
Soldato
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Indeed, Jag can't afford to be too aggressive after all the iPace is their first all electric car built from the ground up and they don't have the knowledge or experience of the likes of Tesla. The Jag BMS system is supposedly very, very conservative, and as such there are a number of people saying that the car will end up on a scrap heap long before the pack degrades enough to need replacing. The question is therefore put, why spend all that money to put a 90kWh pack in a car if you aren't going to get the use out of it? If the packs last 10 years and still has 95% of the rated capacity, what is the point? In 10 years there will be cars way better than the iPace for a fraction of the cost it is new now, and will have better everything. Meaning you'll have a great pack that never really got used, unless you are doing rep-mobile mileage in it.

It’s nothing to do with that, more likely the parameters agreed with LG to maintain the supply and warranty agreement. Like most OEM suppliers. Don’t forget Tesla assemble Panasonic cells.

Software over the air might mean more is used in the future, just like the recent H264 update , including other parameter that may be tweaked to open up the pace at which it can charge on CCS.
 
Soldato
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Tesla now signed an agreement with LG plus chinese all-chem(was it) so oem batteries maybe just as good, and the myth of panasonic superiority dispelled.
The tesla softwer powerboost for £1500, does seem like tesla putting aside some dollars for potential battery claims and allowing you to stress the batteries a bit more, too.
 
Associate
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For me I guess I'll be going electric when it's more affordable, if it ever is...

I love the Honda E, Tesla's and even the Nissan Leaf. I just think the tech is great, but they are still expensive. I don't normally spend a huge deal on cars and I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable with a lease or or loan longer than around 3 years, so that leaves me fronting a higher cash sum in order to fund it.
 
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