Random EV Thoughts 2 - The Jimnying

Nice, was there a premium on the PHEV vs an equivalent diesel?

Class, a much more pleasant driving experience too I bet.

I guess the era of Irish people trying to convince themselves that tractor engines weren't crap is over. 😉

https://www.electrive.com/2025/09/19/teslas-retractable-door-handles-likely-to-be-hit-by-regulatory-ban/

Bit of an interesting one here, retractable door handles could face a ban in Chkna and the US due to fire safety concerns

The issue is they fail during a crash and the doors can't be opened to evacuate the car

Tesla is specifically mentioned but I assume other EV brands could also be affected

I know that many of these electronic door handles have mechanical backups but personally I much prefer the purely mechanical option

I've had door handles fail on my ID.4 because the controller was dead and had to use the mechanical backup. It takes a pretty silly amount of effort and would be difficult for someone with arthritis or a hand injury

By contrast my mum's ID.3 has had no issues with the old style handles that you just pull out

I get that the mechanical ones can also fail, but the electronic ones just seem more of a gimmick designed to fail than an actually useful feature

True, I guess the article cited the Model Y in particular

Since the Chinese regulator was first on the case then a suspicious person might wonder if that was part of a smear campaign against a popular foreign brand 🤔

I do agree that Tesla aren't the first company to have them, although it could be argued they normalised them to some degree

I just find things like electronic door handles to be part of the trend of loading cars with as many tech gimmicks as possible without thinking it out first

I feel like its more of an effort to justify the €40k+ price tag than any actual improvement

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the gadgets that make life better. I love the matrix headlights and travel assist on my ID.4, wouldn't give them up for anything. Not to mention heated seats and steering wheel, aircon and parking cameras, I've gotten too soft to go without my creature comforts 😂

But can anyone tell me the problem solved by electronic door handles that seem a lot less reliable than the old manual ones?

Yeah how many kilometres does it add?

5? 10?

Doesn't seem worth it on a car with 400+km of range

It's the same thing with replacing wing mirrors with cameras. Always seems to cause as many problems as it solves

I suppose the mechanics love them, guaranteed €500 or so to replace when something goes wrong

The Tesla M3/MY door handles and exit buttons are the most stupid things I've ever come across on a car. Everytime I had someone in my M3, I had to give them a bloody tutorial on how to get in and out. I'm well rid of that car.

I remember reading the manual on how to pop the frunk to boost the 12v battery on a Model 3 and thinking to myself "how the feck am I expected to remember how to do this in freezing rain on the side of a road"

It's a real doing the minimum to meet the standard attitude

Do you have a process to open the door in an emergency?

Yes

Is it well marked and easy to understand in an emergency?

That wasn't listed as a requirement