It's pretty clear whoever designed this toy has never driven an actual cargo van or done any blue collar work in their life. That Tesla-style touchscreen for starters. I give it 3-6 weeks before it's shattered or fails. The look on the guy's face was priceless when he couldn't open the cargo door without walking over to the touchscreen and tapping an icon. As opposed to having a simple button on the door itself. Many late model cargo vans do share crappy infotainment systems with their passenger counterparts, but almost never use them for core or upfitter functions, just the radio.
Have you ever seen the inside of a Ford Transit van? They're remarkably pedestrian. Or a UPS truck, made from steel and brawn and not much else. These things need to be engineered to take a beating. Yet this has push-button start with a fob. (Keys are a much better choice for fleet vehicles, if not only for key management, they withstand abuse in the field much better than fobs, which are expensive and difficult to replace.)
What they should have installed instead is a cup holder for the sports drink urine bottle. Which you keep next to the cigarettes and burrito wrappers, to the left of the shitty basic FM radio with real knobs.
How are you supposed to use a touchscreen for basic functions whilst wearing gloves? This thing was designed by office-dwellers.
All they need is for Ford or Benz to turn their bare bones cargo vans electric and they'll be turning these Rivians into beer cans.
Whoever decided to introduce touchscreens inside cars and vehicles should be chastised. Touchscreens inside a vehicle are akin to texting while driving for me.
Yep. I've passed on this generation of fully electric vehicles because none of them offer physical buttons to operate the climate control.
Automatic climate controls don't cut it--change directions such that the sun starts beating down on me and I'm going to need to turn up the fans beyond what automated systems would choose. Test driving the Tesla Model S, on two separate occasions while attempting to set the climate controls I almost got into a wreck--it not only is only on the touchscreen, but also buried under something like 5 menus. WTF? Volvo XC-40 and Mustang also have no climate control buttons. In my area, all the other electric cars have a waiting list longer than a year. I want to buy electric, but safety is paramount--driving a car is far and away the most dangerous thing I do on a daily basis and I'd like it to be as safe as possible. I ended up with a Subaru this time.
Hopefully someone will make an electric car with physical buttons for the climate controls.
You'll notice the Ford Transit EV still retains the traditional mechanical key, and also features a simple locking glove box that works off the same key.
But why do that when you could make the glove box electronically locking via bluetooth proximity over the infotainment.
People have deluded themselves into believing that EV's must be packed with superfluous electronics and other futuristic garbage, whilst it's just the drivetrain that's different.
Yeah, they're not targeting your use case. The vast majority of these vans, I suspect, are used for urban delivery or trades roles, where 200km is fine. 900km range vans are perfectly possible, but will be very expensive and most van users won't need them.
EDIT: Also, in many countries you can drive a van with a normal driver's license provided it's under, usually, 3.5 tonnes. Once you go over that you need a special license. 900kms worth of battery might make it difficult to fit a reasonable payload under the legal limit.
If you can charge at home/base then, really, you only care about the range being sufficient for one day. I think 200km is enough for many, if not most, use cases.
Most of the Transits I see (in the UK) are not used to drive long distances in a day but to carry stuff around. Think electricians, plumbers, all those trades.
Even an Amazon delivery driver may not drive more than 200km a day. What they do is plenty of stops and I suspect it takes them hours to drive just 20km.
I think plugin hybrids are potentially great for the transition to full EV for people who need to drive long distances.
There are many people who never drive more than 100 miles a day. Why do they need a car with 200, 300 mile range? Not to mention we'll be investing in charging stations along the Interstates, so charge scarcity will be less of a problem.
Fleet vehicles are the perfect first adopters of EVs - they have been using alternative fuel sources for decades in the form of natural gas and LNG. They have short daily range, they go back to a central depot each shift.
It isn't awful range any more than a Mini has awful towing capacity for the person who never tows.
I rented an electric VW Transporter recently (think it's the same van as the Mercedes Sprinter), and it really felt like the future. It was just so nice to operate. Smooth, quiet, tons of torque, and will probably beating day after day with little to no servicing. Range wasn't massive, but for your typical daily urban delivery round that doesn't matter so much. It just made so much sense.
There's a comment on the video from someone that has, though no mention of the touchscreen specifically.
"I used to deliver out here in the Bay Area. This Van has SO MANY improvements over the normal Transits and Fluid Vans. I absolutely LOVE the removal of the side door for the new passenger door space. It actually makes the most sense ever as someone who actually delivered. The spacing on the shelves is questionable to me however.... They are DEFINATELY less wide, the Transits could fit a tote on them with maybe a few inches of overhang."
Sure there are some nice comforts and features that will make life easier for the operator, but on the whole it's a massive step backwards in actual durability, utility and usability.
> All they need is for Ford or Benz to turn their bare bones cargo vans electric
These are already a thing, at least in Europe. Ford only released theirs this year and the Mercedes ones are next year, I think, but Peugeot and Renault have had various electric vans out for a while; you see them around a good bit in Dublin.
Have you ever seen the inside of a Ford Transit van? They're remarkably pedestrian. Or a UPS truck, made from steel and brawn and not much else. These things need to be engineered to take a beating. Yet this has push-button start with a fob. (Keys are a much better choice for fleet vehicles, if not only for key management, they withstand abuse in the field much better than fobs, which are expensive and difficult to replace.)
What they should have installed instead is a cup holder for the sports drink urine bottle. Which you keep next to the cigarettes and burrito wrappers, to the left of the shitty basic FM radio with real knobs.
How are you supposed to use a touchscreen for basic functions whilst wearing gloves? This thing was designed by office-dwellers.
All they need is for Ford or Benz to turn their bare bones cargo vans electric and they'll be turning these Rivians into beer cans.