[nritchie]

Hopefully, in coming years, we will see more practically designed EVs that are more affordable. A practical car doesn't need neck-snapping acceleration, every bell-and-whistle and room for a family of six with a dog. I'd like to believe that as batteries cost drop, the incentive to justify the extra cost will drop. Then we can get back to "just basic transportation" rather than a luxury product for the rich. While $31k isn't exactly cheap, the base new Leaf is heading the right direction.

[dangus]

At this point most EVs are exactly the way you describe and Tesla is an outlier.

Look at Hyundai/Kia’s lineup. The Niro, EV6, and EV9 are essentially the three major segments of American car preferences. They aren’t particularly fast or exotic.

They don’t really cost a whole lot more to buy/own than alternatives in the same segment especially on a monthly payment or buying one used, they just aren’t chosen at a high rate compared to gas powered alternatives.

Tesla just used the neck-snapping acceleration to market EVs by cool factor rather than by economics. And that was a smart idea to get people in showrooms.

[conception]

I always drive my EV6 in eco mode because normal and sport feel dangerously fast. I think my 0-60 in sport mode is 4 seconds?

The Niro however is spot on.

[boplicity]

Affordable EVs exist and are widely available in some countries. They're effectively banned in North America, though.

[sgt]

Have you seen the BYD Dolphins? Pretty nifty.

[zdragnar]

This has always been true of gas vehicles as well. They're banned for not having some safety feature or otherwise complying with FMVSS or some other regularity body, not because they are "affordable".

[happyopossum]

That’s hogwash - affordable EVs from one country are effectively banned, but we have affordable EVs. It’s just that nobody wants to buy them.

[tbrownaw]

> doesn't need neck-snapping acceleration

I thought this was mostly* a side-effect of electric motors inherently behaving differently than combustion motors.

* Not that it can't be deliberately turned off since everything goes through a computer.

[_ea1k]

Yes, pretty much. The torque curve also slopes down as rpm increases, so an EV with really weak low end torque will feel really bad on the highway.

Having said that, there are some that are fairly mediocre without being completely terrible. The FWD Equinox EV as well as the FWD EV9 are acceptable to some people, but also pretty slow cars.

[margalabargala]

There are two different factors here.

One, as you noted, is that electric motors can apply full torque from a stop, increasing perceived acceleration.

The other, and more impactful, is that electric motor power scales with cost much more cheaply than gas motors, so vehicles will oversize their electric motors.

[beAbU]

My 2019 Hyundai Kona has a 150kw FWD motor. I love my car, but it's power is totally and utterly stupid. I can spin my wheels while going 60km/h and flooring it. It can be downright dangerous in the wet. Thank dog for traction control I need to drive it in 'eco' mode most of the time in order to make the ride feel sane.

I think a motor with half the output would still result in a great ride, but the car would've been cheaper/lighter.

Newer EV's come out with much smaller motors it seems, which makes sense to me.