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Originally Posted by arpad_m
You guys seem to be of the "change for the sake of change is a good thing" persuasion. While that in itself is debatable already, the real problem and the bulk of the reason many resist here is not the electric drivetrain but the accompanying additional, and massive, encroachment on personal freedoms by corporations, big brother style. Why should we just lie down and accept it as 'fate'?
These are very good points, the cycle speed of the feedback loop is an important advantage, so is AWD and the more favorable weight distribution. Not too much to do with electric drivetrains, though.
Again, this is simply reluctance on GM's and other automakers' part to actually serve their customers. Why wouldn't the same be possible by means of tune updates for our vehicles? Clearly the electric drivetrain is overprovisioned in those cars so that the manufacturer can send "updates" that basically flip a bit or change a number and they charge $2k for it. Smart business model, but nothing new conceptually or in terms of technology.
The useful lesson here for the incumbents would be to open up their software update process, and newcomers are definitely showing the way in this area. Yet again, nothing to do with the electric drivetrain.
I for one am not a huge fan of the single pedal, theme park bumper car driving experience, but that (and only that) is fully subjective, I do understand the fascination with instant torque.
Zero maintenance is nice, until you realize you have to get in line for service and wait several weeks or months. Parts are hideously expensive and hardly available. Tires will still have the same maintenance schedule. Also, the buy-in cost for these vehicles is so much higher at the moment that a few oil changes at $80-120 a pop once a year won't really tip the scales. This will definitely need to change if these companies want to see their market share of electric vehicles increase.
All in all, I think there would be much less resistance to this sort of change if it weren't for the political undercurrent and its forced nature. Who wouldn't like a pair of auxiliary electric motors on the front axle to help with the launch, for example—it's the bait-and-switch in terms of cars being converted to remote controlled appliances that I, and probably many others, are objecting to.
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Yeah, EVs only account for like 2% of the vehicles on the road so we are just in the very early stages. I wonder if GM and other will shift their business models as a result of companies like Tesla and Rivian. Get away from dealerships and go with a direct model.
The one big thing that needs to improve is the software in the ICE based vehicles. The infotainment systems seem outdated the day you drive them off the lot and the lack upgradeability just seems archaic. The software OTA updates in EVs control all the sub-systems which is a huge advantage to enabling improvements after you buy the car.