Agreed. Why do all electric cars also need software updates and tons of bells and whistles? Just because I want electric doesn't mean I also want a touchscreen console etc.
Because Tesla's initial target audience is not you and me, but people who buy the fanciest, latest iPhones every year.
If you're curious, I'd recommend reading Moore's "Crossing the Chasm". I'm entirely for electric cars, but I'm part of what Moore would call the "mainstream market". I don't want a car to be amazing and cutting edge. I want it to work unobtrusively and very reliably. That means that I'm going to be hard to persuade and will want to wait for evidence.
That makes me a terrible initial Tesla customer. For a new tech product, you want early adopters, as they will happily spend money on things that don't work very well. You want the kind of people who will, sight unseen, spend $500 on a flamethrower that isn't a flamethrower. [1]
So given Musk's brand and given the size and wealth of the user base you'd need to launch a new car company, it's pretty much inevitable that Tesla (and now its competitors) were going to mine the technophiles who are happy to pay a premium for sealed-box gee-whizzery.
The good news is that the electric car market will be getting more boring over time. There a lot more people in the more conservative market segments, so although we aren't as profitable per unit as the early adopters, plenty of companies will eventually be addressing our needs.
I suspect you aren't part of "the mainstream market". The main stream buys Android phones full of pre-installed software, Windows laptops full of pre-installed software. They fill both with anything and everything and don't worry one wit about control or privacy or anything else. They buy TVs with built in OSes and ads.
Those like you (and me sometimes) who do worry about this stuff are not the mainstream market at all.
It doesn't work like that. People fall into different categories for different sorts of product. For some things I'm in the earliest of markets. For some things, I'm in the latest. For cars, I am definitely a mainstream purchaser.
Note also that Moore's model is specifically about adoption of technology. There are plenty of other dimensions to markets, especially ones where the technology is mature. I think you're talking about people who tend to optimize for initial low price, and are insensitive to other concerns. Which again, people vary on based on product and need. E.g., I have a Pixel 3A because it was good value without junkware and other corner-cutting. But my headphones are the <$20 semi-disposable kind.
I thought I wanted a Tesla until I saw the inane techbro language they use on the centre console. They need to rollout a language pack for people with a mental age north of 5 if they want to cross the chasm. It would piss me off mighty to be confronted with that every time I got into the car.
For the Chevy Bolt they've had a similar software update to reduce the risk of burning your house down, which seems better than the alternative of not having that update.
But they've also been agreeing to buy people's cars back if it's an issue, since selling someone a car with a particular range capacity and then reducing it afterward is obviously problematic.
The Bolt's battery reduction is supposed to be temporary while the final recall fix was worked out. I don't have one so I haven't been following the current news on whether that's been sorted.
In Tesla's case here it sounds worse, because this might be a permanent change where they just said "lol your car is permanently worse now, have fun."
> In Tesla's case here it sounds even worse, because this was a permanent change and they just said "lol your car is permanently worse now, deal with it."
Although in Tesla's case they have been updating the software to restore capacity and charging speeds in many of these cases.
The complete lack of communication is a real problem, though.
> Why do all electric cars also need software updates
Because charging and managing modern EV batteries for optimal range and lifetime is complicated? That's my understanding anyway. If this was easy to do without all the software, why would the manufacturers spend money on it?
And how often would they need to do software updates strictly for charging and managing batteries? I would think it is far less than the updates for the "tons of bells and whistles".
Elon's intent was to make electric cars sexy, you know, for the environment and all that. While we techpeople understand the cost and danger of superfluous tech, most people just go "wooo touch screen thing and iphone app for my car kewl"
Also electronics like that have come so far down in price that it adds very little to the overall manufacturing cost whilest making the car feel more premium.
Power windows are such a commodity now I wouldn't be surprised if it's cheaper to make a car with power windows rather than cranks.
If you're curious, I'd recommend reading Moore's "Crossing the Chasm". I'm entirely for electric cars, but I'm part of what Moore would call the "mainstream market". I don't want a car to be amazing and cutting edge. I want it to work unobtrusively and very reliably. That means that I'm going to be hard to persuade and will want to wait for evidence.
That makes me a terrible initial Tesla customer. For a new tech product, you want early adopters, as they will happily spend money on things that don't work very well. You want the kind of people who will, sight unseen, spend $500 on a flamethrower that isn't a flamethrower. [1]
So given Musk's brand and given the size and wealth of the user base you'd need to launch a new car company, it's pretty much inevitable that Tesla (and now its competitors) were going to mine the technophiles who are happy to pay a premium for sealed-box gee-whizzery.
The good news is that the electric car market will be getting more boring over time. There a lot more people in the more conservative market segments, so although we aren't as profitable per unit as the early adopters, plenty of companies will eventually be addressing our needs.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/10/17445838/boring-company-f...