this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2023
100 points (94.6% liked)

Technology

59446 readers
3601 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Business Insider's reporter and his disastrous experience with GM's Blazer including the infotainment system:::When the Chevrolet Blazer EV stranded Kevin Williams, a 7-hour drive turned into a 14-hour ordeal.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago

Someone tell me please why I can’t find an EV with manual door locks and manual windows, rear view mirrors with maybe just one rear-view camera/sensor in a cost-affordable repaceable spot and only a radio.

Counterintuitively, having those alternatives would likely RAISE the cost of that car.

What is being discovered is that the most expensive component of the car isn't any specific tech. Its the labor to put it together. Making a design decision which shaves off 60 seconds of human assembly saves millions of dollars, and allows the car to be priced lower.

Ways to decrease assembly time include making modules with multiple functions together into one unit. This is one reason why your HVAC, infotainment, backup camera are usually one unit in the car. If your requirement of a replaceable radio is introduced, you've now doubled the modules that need to go into the car and drastically increased the wiring needed (wire looms are time consuming to assemble).

Further, your desire for a car with manual door locks and windows is likely not very common. So if this variant of a car were produced it would now have to have a separate logistical change and assembly line. This means more factory space, additional training for workers (there's that labor again), etc.