I'm not impressed by this article. Most of the things that he sees as "different" about these electric cars - push-button gearshifts, automatic parking brakes, programmable suspension - are available in internal-combustion cars now. Even the very aggressive engine braking is a feature of some ICEs (though, I will admit, not all the way down to a stop). The only real electric car feature he's caught onto is the silence.
On another note, I don't like silence in cars either as a driver or as a pedestrian. As a driver, engine sound offers feedback, it's part of my control loop, allowing me to gauge speed without taking my eyes off the road. As a pedestrian (or a cyclist, or even the driver of another vehicle), engine sound is a safety feature. It helps me notice cars and helps me keep track of where they are when I can't see them. A few years ago, I had a job in Manhattan and I commuted via bicycle. This was around the time that all the city's taxis (and plenty of other cars) were switching to hybrids - entirely silent at low speeds. I found it entirely unnerving (especially given the reputation of New York drivers) to know (from having looked back earlier) that there was two tons of metal moving behind me but not be able to tell where it was or how fast it was moving. I could hear cars with internal combustion engines and keep decent track of how far behind me they were, but the only noise these electrics made was from the rolling of their tires, which was completely drowned out by the bustle of the city. At times, I got a feeling of real danger - far more than typical as a cyclist.
Push-button gearshift is different than what the article mentions: no gearbox. There's no shifting which means everything is way smoother.
Also, engine noise is only a feedback mechanism because we rely on it. If it was eliminated overnight, then we'd have to rely on other mechanisms (probably tire noise). Tire noise is actually dependent on vehicle speed, unlike engine noises. All engine noise really tells you is that something is there, or that something is trying to look like/seem like it's accelerating fast (from high revs). Not really a lot of information you get over tire noise.
I'd love to be in a place where all engine noise is eliminated. That being said, just as another poster mentioned, the bigger challenge is tackling heavy vehicle noise concerns. For the most part, cars today are quiet in comparison. I just want semi trucks/dump trucks/delivery vehicles to be quiet since they tend to be many orders of magnitude louder than regular cars.
He spends way more time talking about the "gear shift" mechanisms than about the actual gears. The one time he mentions the fixed ratio (something that combustion engines can do and have done, btw) it's in the context of the driver not having to actuate a shift.
Engine noise is an excellent feedback source because it utilizes a sense that is otherwise mostly idle when driving. Tire noise is much quieter, harder to hear over other sounds. And, engine noise is directly proportional to vehicle speed unless I intentionally and consciously change gears.
I'm all for electrifying the loud trucks. I just don't like being snuck up on by anything that weighs an order of magnitude more than me.
Teslas just have a gearshift lever. that's it. I have never driven a car with as few controls as the Teslas. ICE cars have the idea of on and off. With the tesla (s/x), you approach the car, the car wakes up as you near, you get in, move the gear lever into drive or reverse and that is the only control you touch.
I do disagree about the internal silence. The teslas are supremely silent inside (aside from A/C fan noise) and it is magical and modern. I have driven electric cars with added internal noise, and it really cheapens the experience.
I'm always mystified by people, especially people who live in cities, that want to require cars to emit noise pollution.
Thankfully, the "mandatory noisemaker" impulse seems to have died out at least for now. I know if my vehicle is ever required to have a noisemaker I'm going to have it be the Ghostbuster's Ecto-1 broken ambulance sound.
To me the thing that is most noticeable about electric propulsion cars is the smoothness of the drive train. No revving, lurching to shift, then revving again. No coasting, then a lag when you step on the accelerator, then a lurch in to acceleration. Just pure smoothness. It is luxurious, quite apparent, and different.
Having lived in manhattan I can attest that the cars are just about the last source of noise pollution I noticed when contrasted with larger vehicles and construction.
I think a 1% increase in taxes would be totally justifiable for quality of life to replace all the garbage trucks with electric vehicles (or at least buy em some damn mufflers!)
Maybe we can divert some R&D funds to engineering a quiet jackhammer.
If I had stayed in the city any longer I would have become a politician running on the platform that we use all the subway trains as garbage / freight / delivery haulers, and put light rail up and down the avenues. cars banned below 110th st (you too deBlasio !)
The vast majority of people drive because they need to go some place. You're in the minority here if you want a car that's doing that sort of thing during their morning commute. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good manual transmission car, but if I'm just putting around, I'd rather not deal with that.
Has anyone built an electric car that has no network connectivity? That is the barrier to entry for me. I will not buy one that can talk to any network outside of the physical vehicle.
Tesla offers an 'off-menu' option where they can not install a SIM card for you. The only network connectivity left at that point would be the wifi, which you can just choose to not connect to.
The gen 1 LEAF I had did have some minimal wireless connectivity. It did allow remotely starting the heater/cooler among other things. However, it used a 2G modem and those networks are mostly shut down now so it would be unable to connect anymore. I expect that the current one uses LTE for its wireless, now.
I don't want remote surveillance or control of the vehicle, otherwise it isn't my vehicle. My coworkers and I also hack into things that are said to be impossible to hack in to, so I never accept the word of a vendor.
Parent can buy ours, which has had the GPRS modem removed by the dealer. I figured if they're turning the towers off, and Nissan would remove the radio for free, might as well remove a threat surface. Point being, even if a first-gen Leaf still has the cell radio, there's nothing for it to connect to. AT&T turned all that off, and maybe Nissan quit listening even if AT&T left it on.
That, and CarWings was useless. It was quicker to walk out to the garage and turn the heat on than it was to use the app.
I still have some life left on my current vehicle, but I appreciate the extra information. I suspect most of the electric cars have some aspect of network connectivity.
My two thoughts, it's not just electric cars that have tracking spying capability, it's most new models. Especially higher end ones.
What I think is the number of new electric car models will increase dramatically in the next two years. At some point as battery prices drop EV's will hit price parity with gasoline/diesel cars. I'd expect you then see more bare bones cars, which are less likely to have tracking.
EVs need an 'airplane mode'. Not just so you can avoid being surveilled, but also so you can visit areas that require radio silence e.g. radio telescopes — I was thinking of visiting Parkes Observatory recently and realised it would not be possible if I drove a Tesla.
1. Silent: nope. Most noise from modern ICE cars is tire noise. Still have tires? Not silent, or even signifigantly quieter.
2. No Gears: maybe no changing array of reduction gears, but with the exception of hub motors, there are, in fact, gears. ICE cars exist with single speeds, they are just more efficient with more.
If you cant even get through a title without lies, how am I supposed to take the rest seriously? This abrasive 'did I mention that Im Vegan and im saving the world and you arent?!?' attitude is why many prospective ecar buyers avoid them. Just sell them on their actual merits, which exist. Unlike the merits expounded here and elsewhere by well-meaning fans.
On another note, I don't like silence in cars either as a driver or as a pedestrian. As a driver, engine sound offers feedback, it's part of my control loop, allowing me to gauge speed without taking my eyes off the road. As a pedestrian (or a cyclist, or even the driver of another vehicle), engine sound is a safety feature. It helps me notice cars and helps me keep track of where they are when I can't see them. A few years ago, I had a job in Manhattan and I commuted via bicycle. This was around the time that all the city's taxis (and plenty of other cars) were switching to hybrids - entirely silent at low speeds. I found it entirely unnerving (especially given the reputation of New York drivers) to know (from having looked back earlier) that there was two tons of metal moving behind me but not be able to tell where it was or how fast it was moving. I could hear cars with internal combustion engines and keep decent track of how far behind me they were, but the only noise these electrics made was from the rolling of their tires, which was completely drowned out by the bustle of the city. At times, I got a feeling of real danger - far more than typical as a cyclist.