Electric car thread

[old man emu]

Some things are good, like the block on the gear selector by the footbrake. A lot of things that are controlled by modules receiving data from sensors can cause difficult to correct faults. 

 

I'd say that alot of gadgets on the dashboard are marketing gimmicks. Remember when all we needed was a couple of warning lights, a speedo and a fuel guage? Cars got us fron A to B with those simple things. 

[Marty_d]

Our new MG5 will have all that assistance.

However if I want to go back to basics, I jump on the bike.

Manual gears, only 1 dial (speedo) and even the indicators don't turn off automatically. 😄

[red750]

BYD is currently executing a massive logistics surge to Australia, having committed to tripling shipment volumes to 30,000 vehicles for May and June 2026 to address record demand driven by high fuel prices.  The first special shipment of nearly 5,000 vehicles has already departed Shanghai aboard BYD’s proprietary carrier, the BYD Zhengzhou, and is scheduled to arrive in Melbourne on June 2, 2026, before proceeding to Sydney and Brisbane.

[onetrack]

BYD has a dedicated RHD assembly line in one of their factories. It churns out a new RHD BYD car, every 52 seconds. Trump has handed ownership of the car market to the Chinese.

 

https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/an-enormous-ship-docked-in-melbourne-today-its-cargo-could-permanently-change-australian-motoring-20260531-p602f6.html

[kgwilson]

For the first time ever an EV is the top selling vehicle in Australia for May and it isn't Chinese but the Tesla Model Y.

 

https://www.drive.com.au/news/australian-new-car-sales-in-may-2026-tesla-model-y-is-first-ev-to-top-vfacts-charts/

[onetrack]

The move to ensure new cars have familiar buttons and switches for the primary basic controls in a car is gathering pace, and it's being pursued by safety authorities. It's long overdue.

Every car should have a similar familiar layout, to enable easy transition from one vehicle to another, without confusion or distraction.

The safety authorities are becoming concerned that touch screens with many of the vehicles primary controls on it, are a safety and distraction hazard.

Manufacturers are starting to agree that they went too far in trying to make cars into mobile phones on wheels.

 

The comment from Aston Martin director of design is very relevant. He speaks of how touchscreens take away from the driver, the feel to be able to properly use the car.

It's interesting to see that the ultra-conservative Toyota is still using the approach of retaining buttons and switches for the basic vehicle controls.

Numerous Chinese and European and Korean vehicles have gone too far in making touchscreens the primary control device in cars, and now a number of them are admitting, they have to return to a Toyota-like, controls design.

 

https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news/big-touchscreens-to-give-way-to-physical-controls-as-car-brands-ditch-annoying-feature-and

 

Edited Tuesday at 10:57 PM by onetrack

[old man emu]

The problem with fitting all sorts of electronic whizz-bags to cars is that when the whizz goess bang, the car stops working. I can see the benefit of a GPS, but with a small screel, not a dash-wide screen that could be used to watch a Cinemascope epic. I remember when portable DVD players arrived. It was illegal to have one in a vehicle within the view of the driver. 

[facthunter]

You don't see too many modern Cars on the side of the road these days. The screens are not to distract you. They give you real time information relevant to where you are and where you are seeking to go. The alternative would be to use a road Map. I know which I would rather do.. Have you test driven an electric car Yet? Nev

[onetrack]

Nev, my take is that LCD/LED screens are the manufacturers taking the cheap way out, as a screen and software would only be a fraction of the cost of the buttons and switches. 

 

Add in the fact that these screens have a vastly increased failure level and increased susceptibility to damage, as compared to switches and buttons, and I know what I'm going to buy in any future vehicle purchase. 

 

No, I haven't driven any EV yet and I'm not rushing into doing so. I consider current EV technology is still in the "further development required" category, and I'll wait a while yet before I try out the technology.

 

I'm conservative by nature, and have always abided by a policy of never being an early purchaser of new technology or new models, until the bugs are sorted out.

 

Edited yesterday at 05:16 AM by onetrack

[pmccarthy]

The main problem with a screen is having to look over at it and move your finger to make something happen. It is very distracting. Not like knobs and buttons that can be found by feel.

[nomadpete]

4 minutes ago, pmccarthy said:

The main problem with a screen is having to look over at it and move your finger to make something happen.

If I recall correctly (I often don't), Morris Minors and Austins had their instruments and switches halfway across the dashboard. Drivers seemed to cope with it.

 

Seriously, though, Old style switches seem to last half a century, and are easily replaced if they break.

 

I have had a Subaru with electronic dashboard. When the speedo failed, no replacements were available, and the car was instantly unroadworthy. 

 

I know that touch screens don't have a great longevity. I'm a fan of steam gauges in planes for the same reason.

[octave]

1 hour ago, onetrack said:

Add in the fact that these screens have a vastly increased failure level and increased susceptibility to damage, as compared to switches

 Do they? Screen tech has been used for many years now in critical areas such as aviation.  As I intend to buy an EV next year, I have spent a long time researching.   I can't really find any evidence of screens failing.  I have seen evidence of faults that tend to be fixed by a system restart.   Other common faults are the failure of the 12-volt battery. Manufacturers tend to supply crappy 12-volt batteries to save money. A lot of EV owners upgrade.  The good news is you can easily jump-start an EV if the battery fails.  

I don't really agree that EVs are still at an early stage of development.  Whilst the number of EVs in Australia is still low, sales in May were 20% of new car sales and if you include hybrids, almost 50% of the new car market.  In countries such as Norway, where 32% of the fleet is pure EV and 98% of new sales are pure EV.   If these cars are unreliable, you would expect this to show.   

1 hour ago, onetrack said:

I'm conservative by nature, and have always abided by a policy of never being an early purchaser of new technology or new models, until the bugs are sorted out.

I am not sure what bugs you mean; however, even new models of IC vehicles have problems.  There is no reason you should buy an EV. For me, though, I am not conservative. I want to sample new things.  There is nothing I love more than while visiting my son in NZ and having the full and free use of his Tesla.   Whilst I have no wish to buy a Tesla (fvcken Elon), I would have to say that it is the easiest car I have ever driven. This is very helpful when driving on roads I am less familiar with.  I'm not sure I have even interacted with the screen whatsoever, other than for GPS. It does have a great rear view for lane changing. This does not mean staring at it, but when changing lanes, you can see it as you check the passenger side external mirror.

 

I have always enjoyed change and adapting to the new.   I bought my first computer quite early on, as well as digital photography, etc.  

[old man emu]

47 minutes ago, pmccarthy said:

move your finger to make something happen

How many of us are right-handed? Cars are designed for countries which drive on the left right side. That means that dashboard layouts are suited to a driver who has controls accessible by the right hand. Here, that same dashboard layout is on most people's left hand side. Those people aren't used to doing accurate things with their left hand.

[octave]

5 minutes ago, old man emu said:

Those people aren't used to doing accurate things with their left hand.

When I learnt to fly, it did initially bother me that the throttle was operated with my right hand and the fine work of controlling the plane was with the stick and my left hand.  The 10% of the population that are left-handed seem to learn to drive OK.

 

 

[facthunter]

It's pretty much assumed you use both hands when flying a Plane.  Control wheel in Left Hand. Throttles in right. Like a  C-172  NOT like a Spitfire

 onetrack I put the question to OME, who immediately preceded me.

  It's hard to write with the Hand you are not used to.  You play a Piano with both hands.  I even type with both Hands but the right one has Nerve issues.  Improved a bit Lately with the steroid injection. Nev

[old man emu]

Rule No. 1 for safe driving: Keep your eyes outside the vehicle.

 

That doesn't simply mean looking a car length ahead. It means looking as far as the eye can see In that 120 degree arc in front of you. You should not divert your eyes from that view ino the vehicle for more than a split second. That's why it is safer design to place controls where muscle memory lets us find them. A driver should not have to seek visual clues to locate and operate controls while operating the vehicle.

[octave]

I think there is a perception that on-screen controls are like going through a seemingly endless series of menu options.   The reality is that these things are often better thought through than that.   On the BYD vehicles, adjusting the heater or aircon is as simple as swiping 3 thingers accross the screen for fan speed or straight up and down for temperature.  This does not require looking at the screen.    You can also use voice controls.  On my trusty old Ford Focus the heater and aircon controls are set quite low and there are 3 identical knobs.   Not using these regularly, I can never remember which one is which without looking.

 I think there are valid questions about new methods, but I think often people who have never driven an EV tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater.  I am sure there are valid criticisms of the layout and method of operating controls in both older and newer cars. 

 

 

 

[nomadpete]

In your example, Octave, the driver still has to focus on the screen popup temp. Certainly not something that a non BYD driver could accomplish easily.

 

Unlike conventional controls, there is no tactile feedback to confirm the desired action has occurred.

Edited 3 hours ago by nomadpete

[onetrack]

Kia has already issued a worldwide recall notice for a wide range of their models, whereby a software error causes the screen in these vehicles to go blank. The old Windows problem recurring? 😄 

 

As Kia and Hyundai use a lot of common design and components, I would expect Hyundai to start having similar problems soon. Give it a year or three, and I'll wager we'll see quite a number of reports of screen failures in Chinese cars. As parts supply is poor for most Chinese cars, I can see major issues, and customer dissatisfaction, looming in this area.

[octave]

1 minute ago, nomadpete said:

In your example, Octave, the driver still has to focus on the screen popup temp. Certainly not something that a non BYD driver could accomplish easily.

If you want to literally see the actual temp in degrees, then I suppose yes, however, I think most of us would think, "it is too cold"  and then give it a swipe upwards, perhaps a small swipe or perhaps a big swipe. Compare this with the Ford Focus switches. Three identical switches are relatively low down near the gear stick.

 

Then there is the voice command "Hey BYD, increase heating" nbo need to take eyes off the road even for a second, and both hands can stay on the wheel.

[onetrack]

I have enough trouble trying to get my new Samsung phone to work properly with a screen swipe. It often fails to respond to a finger swipe. It's the most dubious activation of any operation you can devise - as compared to the accuracy and positivity of a switch.

 

As regards voice commands - they are also on a par with screen swipes. I never use them, because I have poor hearing, and verbal communication is always a hassle for me. I don't use sat nav because I can't hear the womans instruction. I have great difficulty in understanding women speaking, due to the pitch of womens voices, which pitch is where I have greatest hearing loss.

 

In addition, I do not trust any global corporation taking a record of my voice, and doing all sorts of things with it, in that they refuse to tell me what they are doing with it. 

Then there's the problem of several people talking, while you're trying to talk to a voice-activated screen, and the screen microphone picks up activation commands that weren't directed at it.

 

I often hear SWMBO talking to our smart TV, trying to get it to carry out some action, and then she resorts to the remote control.

AFAIC, touchscreens in cars are anathema to what driving is all about. It means distraction from the road, and other vehicles around you, and safety authorities have long treated screens inside vehicles as a major road safety problem.

[old man emu]

Regarding cabin temperature control, wouldn't one simply set a desired temperature before starting a journey as one would to set the temperature in a house?