this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2026
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Make a dumb EV and you immediately get a lot of clients.
An EV doesn't need internet access, doesn't need mics and cameras inside, doesn't need a touchpad or a big screen.
It doesn't have to be a "dumb" car. Just don't route everything through a stupid touchpad. I know it costs more to install buttons but I don't want to have to hunt and peck through dropdown menus to turn on the radio or air conditioning. And I definitely don't want a subscription service, that will be canceled eventually, to access remote start.
Its worse than that. The whole car usually runs through that computer, so when it goes out the whole car goes out and is expensive to replace.
This is what Slate Auto is doing with their truck.
That's why the Slate is the only EV I am even remotely interested in at this point. I hope it actually comes out and doesn't suck.
It looks like it is. Slate has been doing lots of irl photo ops recently
so has Aptera... stans have been true believing since 2009, and now a bill is going to make them illegal.
Isn’t Bezos behind Slate though?
I know there were multiple kickstarter type funding schemes for Aptera, but it’s not like the influence a couple billionaires exert. The main problem with Aptera though is all the other vehicles on the road. We need legislation to start shrinking trucks and SUVs and stop killing us all so easily before smaller lighter cars can happen. Maybe someday.
Unfortunately with the US EV incentives gone the Slate is way overpriced for what it is. 150 mile range and manual crank windows and no radio or speakers at all on the base model for $28K. I can understand wanting a low tech vehicle but I think they might have gone a step too far.
I want them to survive so bad.
I don't need my vehicle to be a third place. I don't want a molded dash with an entertainment center that will be obsolete when it's new and unable to be modified because they abandoned the DIN standard so you could only buy factory replacements. I just want a thing that can do ~50+ miles a day and recharge that overnight. Which Slate could do with just a regular 120v outlet.
Who knows if they'll actually make it to market or if it'll be $40k+ by the time it does, but even without the EV incentive $28k puts it among cheapest new cars in the US. I'm just severely unenthusiastic about any other newer cars on the market if my current one dies.
I don't disagree. I think the issue Slate is facing is inflation and tariffs. I believe their president mentioned something about it. Even Mtsubishi pulled their Mirage off production, which I really liked.
I do wish it had a higher range for the base model. 150mi is fine commuting, but sucks for road trips. I love the barebones truck concept.
Don't get me wrong, I really love the idea as well and really hope for Slate to succeed and make the v2 even better. All previous EV pickups were targeting the full-size truck crowd, but I think a compact EV truck makes wayyy more sense!
Right! I think it's a good entry level for first time buyers into the EV market
You're not wrong, but it's important to point out how overpriced ALL new cars are too. Within the existing pool of overpriced options, it is fairly "cheap".
Personally I am willing to pay more specifically to avoid the surveillance nightmare that is every new vehicle, and I value simplicity over farkles, so I'm exactly Slate's target audience. I do worry whether there are enough luddites like me to help them succeed though.
I just Bezos wasn't invested in the company. I'd hate to give that fucker any more money if I can help it.
The problem is tracking you provides them revenue since they can sell the data, so they make more money with a vehicle that tracks you vs one that doesn't. A non-tracking vehicle is less competitive if it has to be sold for the same or less money than one that tracks you.
Selling vehicles gets you more money than not. Build a car that people can afford and want to drive will earn you money. Tracking you is worth nothing if you don't buy it in the first place.
The problem is all the manufacturers have decided to track you, theres little to no alternative. I dont know if its proper collusion or convergent shittiness but thats whats happening
yep
I bought a 2012 because it was the most palatable vehicle to replace my 2008
there's like nothing after that that remotely interests me, at least in a reasonable used price range. and there's certainly nothing new that interests me due to all the overcomplicated shit, touchscreens, bright dashboards, and LED headlights
Someone on here turned me on to removing the sim from my electric. Gonna take 15 minutes when I remember to do it when I have time.
Now do it with the new ones that have eSim
Just find the antenna and clip it.
Don't forget to swing it and make the swishy noise.
I'd recommend foiling it, rather than clipping. A grounded (0V) metal wrapping will become a Faraday cage. It's a bit more effort, but is reversible, if you so choose. E.g. when selling it. It is also less likely to trigger a fault sensor condition, and doesn't void the warranty if the computer craps out.
How well does clipping the antenna actually work?
If my FM radio antenna rusts and falls off, my FM radio still works. Reception will be shitty but it’s absolutely still usable for nearby or powerful stations.
When the GPS antenna inside my much-abused phone came loose, GPS got very unreliable but still often worked in a glitchy way.
If I clipped the external antenna on a car’s cell modem, would it not be the same way? Based on my experience with those other kinds of antennas I’d expect maybe the manufacturer would lose the ability to track me while driving in remote or mountainous areas, but generally in cities or highways it would still connect. Is it not so?
Nope, because your car's cell modem has to transmit. Your radio just has to receive.
I need a golf cart that can go 80+mph and passes us safety standards.
Agreed. Where's the modern equivalent to my 95 honda civic? Zero smart features and it was the cheapest AND best car I've ever owned.
Renault Twingo EV. <$20,000. Not with US tariffs.
But Americans don't buy small cars.
Geez, that looks nice. And the green is really a pretty color.
I wish we got small cars again. I'm going to be really sad when I have to give up my MR2 spyder. Fortunately, with an average of 1 to 2 mile a day, I think it'll hang on a while.
US vehicle weight tracks with the US obesity rate last 20 years. Maybe Ozempic will turn people back to smaller cars.
The US needs Ozempic for cars.
I want a new metro hatchback. If a 3 cyclinder could make it go and get 55mpgh then an electric engine would zoomzoomzoom.
That era of Civic/Accord was so good. Drove one until it had like 270k miles on it before the insurance company decided to junk it after some body damage
the best I've found stopped being made over a decade ago
Toyota Matrix / Pontiac Vibe
Hyundai Elantra Touring
Just give me a damn conversion kit... I love my current car and like none of the modern ones, with useless features and annoying stuff like the mandatory lane assist, but I'd gladly stop polluting if I could.
Yeah If I could get a conversation kit for my 01 Tacoma I'd be right fucken happy, I'd even sacrifice a quarter of the bed for battery space if need be. Would still have 2x the bed space of a cyberclunk as well.
There's a small company party near to where I live that converts ICEs to EVs.
Bottom line is that it's expensive as fuck to do so and the clients are either well-off folks that want an electric version of their favourite historic car (DeLorean or 2cv or something like that) or companies that calculate much differently, with six digits worth of km on their delivery vehicles. It's not economical to do that to an ordinary car with ordinary kilometres per year.
The sad truth is that 99.99% of customers (citation needed) don't give a shit about getting tracked or having stupid "smart" features
No car needs that shit, but how else can they justify $60000?
they'll come eventually
The first wave where the tech bros were you can leverage $ off them. Car manufacturers themselves said they were initially going after the high margin paying customer. You cant sell a new car here in Aus without all sorts of passive monitoring stuff,so that's an issue for a simple car.
now you're at the family level, mid size SUVs are prevailing here in Australian the BYD Atto 2 and similar models from Geely and KIA etc. Telsas are still unfortunately popular and we only get the 3 and the Y
most people want connected cars, my gf loves preheating our BYD when she heads off on an early morning start before she hops in, seats and cabin have been prewarmed etc. she likes the 360 birdseye cameras and I must admit they are very good.
When it's at a public charger you can monitor it while you're away so you don't get hit with idle fees etc albeit 90% of our changing is at home off solar panels. The biggest complaint from Cupra and VW EV owners in Australia is the lack of connected services though there is possibly a bunch of folks who bought them for that reason who aren't complaining.
Neither of these things require the vehicle be "connected". The cameras are entirely local to the car, naturally, and remote starters worked just fine for decades without being online.
The byd has its own robot vacuum cleaner that cleans up between drives.....
I get where you're coming from but, for most people, such a car would be worse since it would have comparatively fewer features than the competition.
the perfect car would be sodium battery, all tactile buttons and switches, one screen in the middle with carplay/android auto.
not at all, I'm holding on to my old car because I hate the idea of a car becoming hardware to sell me subscription services, a hard-to-repair mass of electronics that I (mostly) don't need or actively find annoying, and a privacy nightmare, instead of just being a mean for me to move from point A to point B
I'm driving one.
It's nice.