Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD
My wife and I had planned to buy a small electric SUV in the fall of this year, 2024. Our travel requirements changed slightly in the last few months, and it became clear that a new car was going to be needed sooner.
So, I started looking around at electric SUV's.
What I wanted was: An electric vehicle. Just a mid-size
SUV that was powered by a battery and looked like a traditional vehicle.
What I did not want was:
A vehicle that looked
like it had been rejected as the transport vehicle for a sci-fi movie.
What I also did not want was:
·
An
interior and exterior adjustable light show, with relaxing mood settings
·
An
advanced high end infotainment center featuring the best of the best sound
systems
·
A
dashboard that looks like a video game
·
Heated
and vibrating seats
·
A
front end with multiple lights and adjustable color features
·
LEDs
stuck everywhere.
·
An
interior that was designed by somebody sitting in their mom’s basement that has
never been near an automobile plant and doesn’t have a driver's license.
I also wanted something that was affordable.
The automobile industry has gone out of its way
to educate us on the fact that electric vehicles are going to be expensive. It
is their way of protecting the old profit margin.
To achieve the goal of maximum price for the useless
stuff they put on the vehicle, they go out of their way to over accessorize
these cars driving the costs through the roof.
Personally, I think the price of electric
vehicles in the United States is going to remain high until the domestic
battery plants get online and battery pack costs start coming down. I am also
pretty sure that the automobile industry is just going out of its way to not
create any base models of electric cars that are functional, useful, and
reasonably priced at this time. They just do not want us to get used to that
kind of thing.
So, for now we skipped the electric SUV and
bought a mid-sized Ford gasoline powered SUV.
There is obviously an early adopter market out
there for these overblown, overequipped rolling pinball machines, but the fact
of the matter is many of the features on today's modern vehicles go largely
unused by drivers.
One thing the automobile industry needs to come
back to grips with is the fact that most of us just want to get in the car and
go somewhere.
We do not want to spend 20 minutes fiddling
with the dashboard trying to figure out how to get the stereo off and the GPS
on and our cell phone connected. All those flashing and blinking and dimming
and color changing lights on the dashboard and in the doors are just that much
more stuff for something to go wrong with in the future. And more rage
inspiring the mood setting.
Henry Ford had the right idea when he started
building cars. He just built a car. It had a motor, four wheels, enough seating
for four people, and it got you where you wanted to be.
It is time to look backward rather than
continue this headlong rush into sci-fi insanity just to drive down the road.
Both Ford and Volkswagen had the right idea.
Build a car for the people. And you will sell a lot of them. Now what we need
is simply an electric version.
E-mail Doc at mail to: dr.gwebb@yahoo.com
or send me a Facebook (E.
Eugene Webb) Friend request. Like or share on Facebook, follow me on TWITTER @DOC
ON THE BAY.
