So much for a Nissan Leaf!

[GolfAddict]

What was the dreaded User Interface that was always being joked about, iDrive ?

Therein lies one of the problems with modern vehicles.... many consumers can't be bothered to program/play with even 10% of the available features in these high-end platforms....

Something like a BMW could well do with something like a Concierge Programming Service.... have a checklist of key programmable features available on a Service Waiting Area pamphlet - and have them programmed during that visit as the customer checks off on the list.

Many people may want to see some of these wizzy features working, few want to wade through the programming steps....

Rgds, D.

That is a great idea. When we got our last car the salesman was great about walking through about a bazillion things you can set up and do, and really spent a lot of time with us on it. I remember about none of it... Thank goodness he set some stuff up as he went, but only if we knew what we wanted at the time.

 

[dave1949]

I can't even set the clocks in our vehicles, or clear the "Oil Change Needed" message. It's some goofy combination of non-intuitive button pushing and holding that is different in each vehicle. :fiery:

Newer vehicles with display screens shouldn't have a problem providing a plug-in keyboard interface to a understandable menu backed up by help text.

 

[3930dave]

Designing a really good User Interface for a very wide ranging customer base, on a sophisticated/complex product is deceptively difficult.

One of the best mass market examples are digital cameras. The good User Interfaces allow most anybody to pick up the camera and quickly use it as a Point and Shoot, while at the same time the menu trees expand in a logical manner so that the Power Users and Pro Photogs can go play with what they want.

I'm old enough that I knew someone who was paid by a well-off business man to program the stations into his car radio - this was back in the day of manual analog tuning dials, and you just pulled out the pushkey and pushed it back in to "program" the mechanical key to that frequency. In any era, there's always been people that have money, and no interest or inclination to have to mess with equipment to get it to behave the way they want.

Given the cost and complexity of today's high end vehicles, I'm surprised that a manufacturer has not come up with a programming concierge service already. Given the car/money culture in SoCal, I'm half expecting to hear about private companies that offer this type of service in that market....

Rgds, D.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Again, the TESLA interface is programmable.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Wow, just read this brain twister on energy consumption.....

How the American Dream Is Killing the American Electric Bill

 

[Pilot]

We went about 11,000 miles in our 2013 Accord before it said it was time for an oil change, for which I was charged nothing, just like the report above for a Leaf. I did, however, not trust the notion of 11K with no oil change, so for the first and subsequent changes my choice was and will be full synthetic.

 

[IXLR8]

I keep thinking about going electric for a vehicle, but I have a 200 mile commute twice a week. So far I am happy getting 56-58mpg with my TDI Passat. I am in the process of designing my next/final home and it will be as energy efficient as I can make it, within financial reason. Looking to do grid tied solar powered with geothermal heating/cooling with off-grid planned in so if I want to go off-grid I can. The cost of power is only going to go one direction, the question is... how fast. I too am watching what the lunatics in Augusta are going to do about the CMP rate request. Power in Maine is already more expensive than anywhere else I have ever lived, almost twice what I was paying in Taxachusetts.

 

[ultrarunner]

Wow, just read this brain twister on energy consumption.....

How the American Dream Is Killing the American Electric Bill

Interesting article...

I'm surprised the average American home uses 903 kW monthly.

I use 360 kW consistently year round for my 1950's split level 2,400 square feet home still sporting 1950 single pane windows and appliances from the 70's and a freezer from the 60's

Every time a solar peddler comes by they try to show me how much I can save by going solar... I present my bill and they scratch their heads unable to make the savings materialize.

A kW here it sold on a tiered rate... I always have some usage in the 33 cent range which it third tier...

 

[Redneck in training]

My house uses about 80 kWh per day. But I have 100% electric house. Heating and AC are the biggest power hogs. We make about 35 MWh of own energy per year though.

 

[3930dave]

I was at an Ikea store in Toronto yesterday. In the time I sat on a sofa in their lobby, the data display for their roof-top solar system jumped about 200 kwh - this was generated in just a little over half an hour. They list something over 1200 PV panels installed at that location.

Some big retailers are implementing solar in a large way, as it's one of the few remaining areas that they can squeeze out savings. Didn't see it yet, but a friend told me about a recent video concerning Walmart making huge solar investments. There's more coming.....

As solar costs continue to decline, and grid rates+Fantasy Charges continue to escalate, you'll see more solar on residential too.

Rgds, D.