[a4000]

There's a growing cottage industry of companies that will take older classic cars and convert them into electric cars. Obviously they don't have the range or safety of a modern electric vehicle but you can essentially customise it to your liking in every way.

Depending on whether the classic car needs any restoration it will be about as expensive as a mid to upper range electric car but as it's a classic car and most of the installs are reversible you don't have the same worries about a modern electric car being disposable junk to be discarded in 10 years, you can probably just get a new battery pack put in after 10 years or whenever and continue driving.

[bborud]

I'm not so interested in approaches that require a lot of initiative from the consumer. That's all well and good, but it is only ever going to appeal to the very few.

I'd like to see a car that has a very minimalist architecture and that will meet regulatory requirements. A car that initially may have only a handful of manufacturers producing the key components that need to be done right to fulfil the regulatory requirements. The main structural elements, the drivetrain and control system, suspension, brakes, crumple structures, airbags etc.

The first milestone is a complete car that regulatory bodies can approve. Then it gets interesting.

When a complete system exists I'd wish the designs to be open so that you can do two things. First, the major parts can be made by multiple manufacturers, possibly local, bringing competition to the table. This is mostly about being able to prove that the parts you manufacture are up to spec. The second thing this would enable is evolution. Evolving parts would be more expensive since you have to go through testing and certification processes. But if you can afford that, you can get a competitive edge. Some people may pay more for a chassis that is stronger and lighter, for instance.

This would also open up for individual brands to develop on top of this. Most cars today are already "platform cars". Meaning that the same basic car is give various "personalities" and marketed under different brands. By having an open car, you might even get interesting companies such as the coachbuilders of 100 or so years ago (see wikipedia for "Coachbuilder"). Or more streamlined operations focusing on low cost for consumers and production for inventory

With a completely open car, where all parts can easily be sourced from multiple sources, repair becomes easy again. You buy parts and do it yourself, or you can choose to have a workshop do it for you.

I'm interested in what we can do for the masses. Not the few.

Now imagine what the increased availability and cost reduction of additive and subtractive manufacturing enables.