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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 21st, 2023

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  • Only touch screen controls for important controls are a safety hazard, and the upcoming safety standards in the EU will withhold the top ratings because of this: https://etsc.eu/cars-will-need-buttons-not-just-touchscreens-to-get-a-5-star-euro-ncap-safety-rating/

    Controls for things like the radio or cruise control are fine on the wheel as buttons. Indicators absolutely aren’t, and are the example I used for good reason. Honestly I have no words if you cant see that they are an actual safety hazard on something like a roundabout, particularly one you would navigate at speed.

    Simple left or right turns at say traffic lights or other junction aren’t the problem, trying to activate them while the wheel can be at some random orientation is difficult, so you end up not bothering.

    Not signalling when at a round about is an offense in the UK. Its rarely enforced due to lack of traffic police, but its enough that its an actual offense that the car should be designed not to make it considerably harder to use them. In the event of an accident serious enough for the police to get involved if you didn’t indicate then that’s going to count against you.


  • Which ones aren’t? Also deciding to copy dumb ideas from elsewhere is even more dumb as someone else did the alpha testing for you, showed it was dumb, and you still copied it.

    I forgot the yoke instead of a wheel. That’s another Elon special.

    Buttons for indicators I know are on modern ferraris, I can’t afford one but I still wouldn’t buy one because of them. Try using buttons on a steering wheel when doing a right at a roundabout, just the dumbest shit.


  • BYD is eating everyone’s lunch at the bottom not just Tesla.

    Tesla could have prospered by sticking to the mid range but their build quality is appalling even for a lower mid car.

    Couple that with some truly dumb design ideas from Elon (no lidar, no physical buttons, indicators as buttons, stupidly high repair bills due to design choices) and some even more stupid personal behaviors from him and he has just cut the legs out of his market.

    EV buyers who are spending more money care about this kind of thing, budget buyers it is mostly about price.



  • Seems to be missing stenotype keyboards like this one: https://stenokeyboards.com/

    They have to be the fastest way to type if you can learn the chords properly, around 200wpm.

    I have always wanted to move to a steno keyboard but not had the focus to put in a an hour a day for a month or so to get good at it.

    I do use a lot of 30 and 40% keyboards and use chording on those but not for actual letters, just stuff like backspace or enter. Smallest I can actually do work with is the Pain 27 thanks to using home row mods and chords but that step to remembering all the letters as well just needs a lot of extra practice.



  • Which EVs have front drum brakes?

    Regen comes in all different strengths depending on what the automaker decides is appropriate for that car and the budget assigned to it. Cheap EVs like this one you can normally turn it off or on, and may be get a one pedal mode.

    Something like the latest Taycan is pretty brutal with it set to its highest level when traveling at speed and that’s just lifting off the throttle. I feather the throttle when using regen to adjust the level it gives me, otherwise it would be an awful experience for my passengers, bit like some one stamping on the brake every time you want to slow down. Using the throttle to adjust the regen is no different to using the brake pedal progressively once you get used to it.

    Regen is there to supplement the brakes not replace them for emergency or other unplanned stops. Once you doing an emergency stop you are at the mercy of the ABS system anyway, as that will limit your stopping distance based on the actual grip you have at that moment in time.




  • Yeah we gave up and paid for live sports streaming once it came in 4k HDR for sports. It isn’t cheap but no real alternative that doesn’t have risk and unreliability associated around it. Anything that isn’t live there are plenty of reliable, high quality ways to obtain things for free, but live, I need it to work and not look like a potato on a large screen if I have people round. I did try that method for a few years, its ok on a phone or laptop with just me as I will put up with the problems but absolutely not on a big screen.





  • Tesla have a CVT gearbox? Like actual gearbox that ice cars have? First, I’ve ever heard of them having a proper gearbox. First production ev I heard of with an actual gearbox is the taycan, that has a two speed, fully auto gearbox. Nit aware of any others with an actual gearbox.

    You know how regen works right? And that the brake pedal on modern evs don’t engage regen as fully as they are engaging the brakes as that’s what that pedal is for. Engage the brakes and you aren’t going to get anywhere near the energy back from regen as a ton of energy is being wasted by friction and thus heat of the brake pads.

    I’ve owned a lexis 400h, i like the idea of them, but cvts are garbage to drive, even in hybrids. They also completely unsuitable for evs due to their wide torque band, they work best for ice engines have have narrow torque bands as the entire function of a cvt is to adjust to a narrow rev range to optimise that narrow torque band.


  • Any decent car in the tesla price bracket has configurable regen from all the way off to progressively more regen all thr way up to one pedal driving that will apply the brakes for you to come to a complete stop without touching thr pedal.

    Vast majority of these it’s switched between the modes using the paddle shift. If you can understand changing gears on a modern ice auto using the paddles, then it’s not beyond the average driver to quickly get to grips with using it for regen.

    I’d you feather the throttle as you start to slow down you can moderate the amount of regen dynamically without having to change modes. However that requires more skill than the average driver seem capable of.

    Cheaper evs tend to have off, on, and may be one pedal driving modes, but they have to cut things to be cheaper as with all cars.

    I get between a fifth and a quarter back of my energy consumption from using regen. Learning how to use it is essential for good economy, and it makes you safer as you plan ahead more for where you want to slow down. The least safest way to drive is emergency braking 10m before a stop sign as your default driving style



  • I just use my Google Home Max for timers, it’ll display three timers at once on the screen and I can get the status of any or all with voice at any point. Plus it’ll do all the usual assistant stuff of conversions, cooking temperatures, and has a big enough screen for me to read recipes or follow along with a recipe video. Bonus feature is that its a reasonable loud speaker as well so I do not need a separate radio in the kitchen.

    Sure its not as pretty as the clock but its a whole lot more useful for cooking.