For a long time, I’ve always been fascinated with electric vehicles. While I wasn’t necessarily intersted in cars in general, something about a vehicle being powered by a large battery like a giant RC car was always amusing to me. One of the earliest EV’s that I followed was, of course, the Tesla Model S. At the time, I didn’t really know anything about Elon Musk, and I was much more interested in the technology. Nowadays, I’m very leary of Teslas, given both their shoddy build quality and their problematic owner. In more recent years, as I’ve learned more about Teslas and their competition, I’ve developed some thoughts on the worrisome state of electric vehicles in the United States.
The technology
One of the things that drew me towards Teslas in my younger years was definitely the “self-driving” technology. Although now we know that it never really could safely drive by itself, the idea of a car that could completely drive by itself captivated my younger self. While looking at some of the other offerings, it’s become clear to me that EVs are usually the test bed of many car manufacturer’s “advanced” technology. Take Nissan, for example. When the Leaf was their only EV, they marketed it as a car that was filled to the brim with driver assist features. On the highest trim packages, you could get the Pro Pilot Assist, which is fairly similar to Tesla’s Autopilot system.
Modern EVs also feature more advanced driving options, most notable regenerative braking. The use of regen braking allowed for the creation of one pedal driving modes, called by various different names by different companies. However, this is not strictly EV-exclusive technology. Hybrids can and often do use regen braking to help slow the car down from high speeds. Like an EV, the mechanical brakes must be used to bring the vehicle to a complete stop. What I find most interesting, though, is that (as far as I know), there are no hybrid or ICE cars that offer a one-pedal driving mode. In theory, this should be completely possible, given that modern cars are all computer-driven. One-pedal driving would be as simple as activating the brakes lightly when the accellerator pedal is being released. This would be even easier on hybrids, as they can use the electic motor exactly the same as how their fully electric counterparts do. It really is a shame that companies aren’t willing to put the research and development into bringing some EV-exclusive features to other (and cheaper) cars.
The Price problem
Modern Cars are expensive. No matter what kind of car you are getting, you’ll be spending at least around $18,000, and if you want any features other than AC and power windows you’re going to be spending a lot more. A car with some nicer features and decent gas mileage might set you back almost $30,000. One thing that I often see advertised on EVs is the amount of money you can save on fuel. However, the people who would most often need a more efficient car simply cannot afford any new EVs.