I really enjoy cars. I like to watch YT videos of random car stuff. I really like watching Doug Demuro in particular.

The other day I was watching him on a podcast and he was saying EV’s are great because they’re very reliable. They’re essentially just batteries, brakes, and tires. Which, on its face, is true.

However, what I don’t think most people realize is that EVs are at their core, software products. All of the complexity is hidden away from everyday use.

My job is literally to read code all day, find flaws, exploit those flaws, and make suggestions to fix them. Most people don’t realize how it’s almost impossible to write perfect code that works 100% of the time.

My wife and I bought a VW EV a few years back and it was the 2nd least reliable car (first was my 1989 Nissan Pulsar 🤣) I’ve ever owned, and I’ve owned more than a dozen cars (honestly lost count).

When our VW broke down, there was literally nothing I could do to fix it. It’s not like a typical computer where I can crack open a terminal and run some commands. It was just a giant brick stuck in my garage and I was at the total mercy of VW.

At least with a gas powered car, I can fairly easily learn to diagnose the issue, find parts locally, and pull up a YT video to fix it.

There are so many things today that are made to be impossible for a normal person to fix. And cars are so crucial to individual freedom, we just can’t let manufacturers take total control.

So, in short, anyone working on an open source car? 😅