Electric cars. They come in many shapes and sizes these days, and some are actually pretty great. Some aren’t, and that was the subject of yesterday’s Question Of The Day. We asked you which EVs were the worst on sale now and you told us straight. Here are some of your responses.
Tesla Model S. There, I said it.
Ten year old design with no major styling changes in that time, but still even after a decade, Tesla still has fit and finish issues on a vehicle costing $100K.
Similar issues with any of the German luxury marques (or Swedish, or Japanese, or Korean) would be met with an angry mob of villagers carrying pitchforks and torches.
Earthbound Misfit’s comment here touched off a long thread where some people spouted off their respective beefs about the Model S and others debated its inclusion in this conversation. I personally don’t know if I’d lump the Model S in here — save for the one with the yoke. That one deserves to go up in a thermal runaway.
Suggested by: Earthbound Misfit I
100%, whatever the worst EV available today is, it’s not going to be in the US market. To wit - delightful as it apparently is, the Honda e is a subcompact that still costs about 7000GBP *more* than the mediocre MX-30 in the UK market, and only has like 10 extra miles of range. Overpriced as we think the Mazda might be, it could be worse.
You know, the Honda E crossed my mind as I composed yesterday’s Question Of The Day, but it depressed me. Let’s be real — the little Honda, adorable though it is, is just not a great value proposition.
Suggested by: Maymar
Mitsubishi iMiEV, 100 miles of range, 66 hp, all while looking like what your dad thinks electric cars look like.
In my haste I forgot that Mitsubishi was an electric car pioneer! Shame on me. The iMiEV looked like a computer mouse and, by all accounts, moved like one. It may not be on sale anymore, but I figured why not include it — remembering it might brighten someone else’s day, too.
Suggested by: DexHoch
Unfortunately, I have to nominate the second generation Nissan Leaf, but only because it still uses a CHAdeMO port for fast charging.
For those that don’t know, CHAdeMO plugs are being phased out in favor of CCS plugs. Most new charging stations include only 1 CHAdeMO plug, if they include any at all. CCS to CHAdeMO adapters are not available, so it is becoming increasingly difficult to fast charge a Leaf, even as fast charging infrastructure is rapidly improving.
I’ve had many instances where I’ve arrived at a charging station to find the CHAdeMO plug is not available. The plug is sometimes being used by another Leaf driver, but is more often occupied by someone charging a car with a CCS plug (most chargers with a CHAdeMO plug also have a CCS plug; you can only use one at a time, so if someone is using the CCS plug you have to wait until they finish charging to use the CHAdeMO plug).
The worst is waiting to charge when there are 8 open CCS plugs, but some dipshit insists on using the one charger with a CHAdeMO plug to charge their CCS-equipped vehicle. This happens frequently.
This makes road trips in a second generation Leaf difficult, despite its reasonably long range.
I don’t know why Nissan hamstrung this vehicle with archaic charging technology.
Well said, Stig’s Misanthropic Cousin. Note this is not the first time “Nissan” and “archaic” have appeared in the same sentence.
Suggested by: The Stig’s Misanthropic Cousin
Karma Revero, if it counts given its range extension.
50-60 mile range, 300 miles with the range extender. Based on a 10 year old design (older than Model S!) and while it fixed a few of the powerplant issues, I have no doubt the bigger issues of practicality and minuscule interior space for the size were remedied. Seriously, it’s incredibly tight in that car and yet it’s as long as a Range Rover. Still not exactly fast even with electric motors, coming in at 0-60 in 4.5 seconds.
All this for $85-150k!
Count me in the “they still make this?” camp.
Suggested by: jtpesto
How about close to non=existent vehicle? Faraday Fuckin’ Future. Mismanagement from the top to the bottom toilet scrubber.
The FF 91 might actually be real now but, then again, that phrase has been uttered countless times over the past decade and Faraday Future still has nothing to show for it. You could extend this principle to the Tesla Roadster and Cybertruck too, so consider them honorable mentions in the vaporware category.
Suggested by: Dubblewhopper-a dubble negative
TLDR; VW iD4
Cost cutting everywhere. Poor use of space.
Somehow the only EV that is slow.
A functional frunk may have spared it from this list! We’ll never know.
Suggested by: treessimon
This horrendous abomination and every other way too gigantic, way too obese, way too powerful, way too fugly electric luxury SUV. Fuck those things for clogging up our (european) cities, wasting so much energy which is more often than not still fossil and causing wasteful emissions, for the insane amount of fine particles they emit due to their obnoxious heft and for endangering others in accidents. EV or not, SUVs are the epitome of pointless automotive assholery and need to be banned asafp.
Semi-violently worded, sure, but the iX is violently designed, so I’ll allow it.
Suggested by: felixthegrumpycat
Cost: $110,000.
Weight: nearly 9000 pounds.
Any yet it only has 1300 pounds payload and 7500 towing capacity—how “mighty”.
Here I thought the push to EVs was to to make rational decisions for what electrical transportation should be. The Hummer comes across as a TPCV—tiny penis compensation vehicle—about as irrational as EVs can get.
There were many counterarguments to this that an irrational EV like the Hummer is how you sell an electric car to the sort of person that drives irrationally large fuel-burning trucks. There’s probably a point there, but that doesn’t change the fact that the new Hummer is the textbook definition of what happens when a well-meaning idea is corrupted by capitalism beyond recognition.
Suggested by: the 1969 Dodge Charger Guy
Easily the Power Wheels JoJo Siwa Jeep. Just look at it. The range sucks. The roll bar offers zero protection, and its top speed is, shall we say, anemic. Not to mention I don’t think this think would make it 10 feet into Moab. Dammit Jeep, get your shit together.
Not to mention the stereo is a sticker (yeah, I was shocked they got away with that too) and Jeep only sells this embarrassment with a two-speed automatic. What a disgrace.
Suggested by: Sid Bridge