Are the more mainstream car companies just waiting for other companies to make all the mistakes before heavily pushing EVs? Honestly I don't think I'd make the switch to an EV before a well established car company makes one that looks good to me. Tesla seems like a death trap of poor software and bad manufacturing that I wouldn't trust my life with.
> Tesla seems like a death trap of poor software and bad manufacturing that I wouldn't trust my life with.
Don’t believe the hype.
Teslas get very high safety ratings from IIHS and NHTSA.
Any sort of failures (frequently corner cases or user-induced) get heavily reported due to Tesla in the title being click bait.
I recommend taking a test drive if you have any doubts. Teslas are quite good cars.
Are they as good as or better than other cars in the same price range? That’s debatable, especially with the S and X.
The biggest reasonable complaint that I have is that some features are inappropriately labeled. FSD is good, but it over promises by a lot. Auto Pilot is more like advanced cruise control — and it’s good at it — but it’s not a set it and forget it feature.
This company has “full self driving” and thinks it’s a good idea to require touchscreen interaction for nearly everything. Safety clearly is not its primary concern. I would give them a little more credit if they didn’t use the ridiculously misleading name of “autopilot” for something that will readily steer the car straight into danger.
> thinks it’s a good idea to require touchscreen interaction for nearly everything
I use voice control for almost everything that I adjusted with physical controls on my previous car.
If voice control isn’t your jam, then I humbly suggest that the screen is very easy and fast to use once you get accustomed to the different UI. There definitely is an adjustment period, but it’s not long, imho.
> would give them a little more credit if they didn’t use the ridiculously misleading name of “autopilot”
I think we agree that it is inappropriately named. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t do some things extremely well (it does).
> for something that will readily steer the car straight into danger
This has happened to me approximately never, and I use AP a lot.
It will turn off if it can’t see the lines, which is why I think it is grossly misnamed, but that’s why you are supposed to be ready to resume control at any moment. This is what the user manual tells you to do.
Voice control isn't my thing. Touchscreen is not accepable as a substitute, I need buttons where I can feel that i'm hitting the right one without taking my eyes off the road.
I'm not even very old, but I refuse to talk to a computer. That is not a real world use-case to me. At best it is a neat gimmick. Cars need buttons, dials, switches or whatever else has some tactile response to being used.
Most/all of the mainstream brands do have EVs already available or coming soon. A lot of them have gotten over the weird EV stylings of yore and made very approachable designs.
Ford: F150 and Mustang Mach-e
BMW has several
Mercedes has several in the EQ range
Toyota has finally gotten on the bandwagon as does Lexus.
VW has EVs for VW, Audi and Porsche.
GM and Chevy have a few models lined up.
Hyundai and Kia both have multiple EVs.
I’m sure I’ve missed a brand but I’d be curious which brand you’re waiting for?
I am in market for an EV and tried the Model Y and the Audi E-tron and the difference is massive. The Audi is so much nicer and only slightly more expensive. It was an easy decision with the new Q8 coming now which passes my “more than enough range” threshold
Other than Toyota and Dodge, what mainstream car maker isn’t offering an EV today? You have Ford, Nissan, Kia, Hyundai, BMW, GM, VW, Porsche all with EV offerings.
Generally speaking no company will willingly canabalize it's current product line for an unproven and premature technology in a new product line.
That's also usually how companies get displaced. I'm not sure we'll be driving any cars from established manufacturers if EVs gain wide adoption and reach a price level that's affordable to the average person.
I don't think so there's some really nice options like the bolt out there, the biggest issues with adoption is probably customers needing reassurance regarding things like charging network coverage which will charge over time
I'd be willing to be that in 10 or so years most new cars sold to consumers will be EVs from the 'mainstream' automakers
