I suppose millions are technically thousands
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I think this, among other things, is harming EV adoption. I think that EVs, inexplicably, are still in their novelty phase. What I mean by that is that car manufacturers are creating EVs that arenāt just cars wot are electric, but creating entirely new car lines that bear little resemblance to existing lines. Add in gimmicky features like electric door handles, and youāre really only appealing to people who are at least tolerant of this aesthetic. Tesla was more immune to this than others, I think, due to the fact that they didnāt produce other cars at all. Of course, their appeal was still limited among the mainstream audience.
Hereās an example of a 2010 Nissan Versa:
Hereās an example of a 2010 Nissan Leaf:
Nissan could have just made an EV Versa, but instead they took it further and made something that is not entirely unlike a Versa, but different enough. Itās also a commuter car (and a Nissan), which is a style that doesnāt exactly sell well in the Truck and SUV obsessed USA.
For completeness, hereās what a 2025 Nissan Leaf looks like:
Many of its eccentricities have been toned down over the years, which I think is to its benefit.
Similarly, hereās a 2020 Ford Mustang:
And hereās a 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E:
These are not the same car, and someone looking to buy a mustang is unlikely to buy a Mach-E, in my opinion.
Going back to the novelty phase for a moment, this is what my first digital camera looked like:
Hopefully car manufacturers can grow out of this phase and start producing cars that people want, rather than trying to sell us the future.
Side note. I believe this is due to fact that the main battery pack is physically disconnected when the car is off. That ignores the superfluousness of the electric door handles to begin with, of course.
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MACO just doesnāt have the same ring to it.
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Muskās comeback sounds like something from a hammy villain in a video game. I could see Musk stroking his chin as the message went out.
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You need to add another āa.ā
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I get redesigning door handles to lower the CD of the vehicle, as better aerodynamics make for better efficiency. What I donāt get is the stupid novel door handles that just donāt work like regular door handles.
Even BMW who in the German automaker tradition makes everything absurdly complicated whether or not itās necessary just uses flush mounted door handles on the exterior and regular door handles on the interior on its EVs. Even the 7 series where you can opt for the opulence of auto opening/closing doors, thereās still a mechanically operated handle exactly where you expect it if you want/need to use it.
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The Tesla 3 has a flush external door handle but it works with a simple lever. Not hard. The internal emergency handles are not obvious so I added RESCUE stickers to ours. The missus made them on her Cricut machine.
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Well, the Big Beautiful Disaster has passed. Now, Elon, where is the āAmerica Partyā of which you spoke?
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Heās not gonna do itā¦ heās gonna grandstand until Trump threatens his contracts, and then will instantly back down like the fucking shitty coward that he isā¦ Hell, all of the āfeudingā going on might not even be real, but might be kayfabe meant to fool the rubes into thinking the GOP isnāt as fascist a party as we know it isā¦
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Sounds about right.
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First time I got a Tesla 3 as an Uber, the driver had to explain how to open it, so I donāt know that itās necessarily obvious.
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Itās right there beside full self driving.
Heās going to do shit. Like that quote above about not responding to Trump shows - he knows that even billionaires can be wrecked by dictators.
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If you have anything that requires pulling inside the vehicle in order to escape, you could attach a āremove before flightā tag to it, sold on amazon. Our spare key has one of those dangling on it.
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A while ago I observed that there are only two design languages available for electric vehicles.
1: Tron.
2: Nerf.
I think just about every electric car available in the US market today could be placed somewhere on the Tron-vs-Nerf spectrum. But if you want something that looks like a Civic, youāre out of luck.
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With Putin interested in his own āStarlinkā, and at least one Russian lawmaker offering asylum to Musk if needed, and Trump āinvitingā Musk to leave the US, I wonder if Musk can get aroundāand get back atāTrump by having Putin do his dirty work. I donāt think that would happen, but I believe that even Trump understands the existential threat of a weaker enemy having a much stronger friend.
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When I used to make 1/48 scale jets in my youth, I hung tiny versions (aftermarket accessories) of those on them where appropriate.
We also have a few of those (not the 1/48 scale ones 
) on our numerous thumb drives. Cooler than lanyards.
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