Streaming apps – and maybe even Cloud PCs – coming to electric cars

What are you going to do in the 90-odd minutes it takes to charge your electric car? Some EV owners are already using the time to access cloud PCs and streaming apps from their in-car computer. Ram Pasala, co-founder of Indian desktop and application-streaming company Neverinstall, last week told The Register that about one …

[Anonymous Coward]

While charging?

The average Tesla driver will probably be doing this while zooming down the freeway at 80MPH with autopilot engaged.

Adding all this to a car is unfortunately likely to inflict the abomination of the current VW group "infotainment" system on everyone. If only the EU would do something useful like banning touchscreens in cars, and require proper interfaces with haptic feedback. That would be a major plus for driver safety.

[Spanners]

Re: While charging?

Most people would prefer to sleep, overnight, while their car charges for a small part of that time.

Aside from commercial drivers, who drives more than 300 miles every day anyway?

If I have driven a couple of hundred miles, I need to get out of the car, use the loo, walk about a bit and perhaps find something to eat/drink.

That should put a couple of hundred more miles back in the batteries.

[katrinab]

Re: While charging?

The majority of miles are driven by people who drive lots of miles.

That ought to be stating the obvious, but people forget that.

Yes, I mostly use my car once a week for a 3 mile drive to the shops, but people like me count for a tiny proportion of the total miles driven.

In fact, the vast majority of the miles I drive are for the occasional longer trip, which is more than 300 miles.

[Stork]

Re: While charging?

I am not so sure. I used to do 20000 km/year, and most of that between home, work and shopping. Trips no more than 20 km one way.

[Roland6]

Re: While charging?

This is what is getting me about EVs, the big win is getting them used on the short journeys. Hence you would have thought the initial focus would have been on the “about town cars” ie. The small city car. Instead we have Tesla who, did make EVs attractive, but really focused on the larger cars, which in turn has encouraged others to focus on the chelsea tractors.

I think for many of my neighbours, that would mean swapping one of their 2 ICE vehicles for an EV. However, with the “marketing”, they are keeping the about town ICE and replacing the company car with a fashionable EV Chelsea tractor and promptly encounter problems with range and the charging infrastructure, which will not be quickly solved.

[captain veg]

Re: While charging?

> who drives more than 300 miles every day anyway

Every day? Not many.

Sometimes? Quite a lot of us.

I take trips of 700-900Km fairly often. It's bursty, but averages about once a month.

On those trips I try not to stop at all. In my old diesel this was eminently possible. My current small petrol might require one stop. I don't use the loo unless the need is pressing. I don't need anything to eat or drink. Getting out and walking about? Nah. I'd rather just press on.

Battery electrics are coming on, but they're not quite there yet for me.

-A.

[CowHorseFrog]

Re: While charging?

Im going to assume you get 8 weekends a month, why anyone would waste one or two days driving is sad...

[captain veg]

Re: While charging?

Because other modes of transport take at least as long, are rather less convenient and involve exposure to people who might be carrying Covid.

Also I live in France. We have a lot more statutory days off than just weekends. (Though even here we don't get 8 weekends a month. Sometimes five.)

-A.

[logicalextreme]

Re: While charging?

Speaking as a pedestrian, cyclist and sometime passenger — not just driver safety!

[katrinab]

Re: While charging?

Haptic feedback doesn't allow you to navigate the interface using touch alone. Actual buttons and levers do, once you have memorised where they are.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: While charging?

Not necessarily. If there's a row of real buttons it's likely that one will have a small pip on it so you can locate it. It would not be impossible to implement something similar on a touchscreen, perhaps a beep or vibration when a certain part of the screen is touched, with a longer or harder push required to actually activate the function.

[Roland6]

Re: While charging?

Nice idea, braille touchscreen. I suggest patenting that.

[CowHorseFrog]

Re: While charging?

So what if they are on autopilot ?

Sitting a box for hours a day anyday is boring and a prison.

There is nothign exciting or entertaining sitting in a car, doing just about anything else is better.

Life is too short to waste hours a day every day for the rest of your life. If your life is organised that poorly that you need to do that then you are an idiot and to be happy about driving any car is sad.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: While charging?

well if your using "autopilot" (another musky hype lie) like that your life isn't going be that long, which for the rest of us is a good thing, as long as you and your shitty tesla does not take us out too.

Lifes too short to be pissing around with 2 tons of randomly crashing metal.

[captain veg]

Re: While charging?

We don't currently have anything like autopilot for cars, unless you count Musk's Autopilot (TM) which regularly kills people.

Sitting in a car all day is fine. If you're driving then there is plenty to occupy the mind. If not, there's the scenery, conversation, sleep, all the things you can get at home, plus the scenery. In fact for the non-driver it is uncannily like being in a train.

-A.

[trevorde]

Killer app for EVs

Pr0nHub

[Steve Davies 3]

Re: Pr0nHub

Unless... you happen to be in Utah (and a few more states very soon)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XehepxLz8sY&pp=ygUDdHl0

I'm pretty sure that the so called 'Christian Right GQP' majority in one state will soon mandate that the only streaming to cars are sermons from the Evangelical Preachers who talk about the devil inside us in return for donations towards their next private Jet/Mega mansion/Yacht

[devin3782]

I don't want all of this extra parasitic load on the batteries, especially when a charge stop is 20+ minutes.

[John Robson]

Parasitic load is pretty much irrelevant on a long journey (the only time when charging stops are needed)

Moving air out of the way takes ~15-20kW at motorway speeds.

Adding tens of watts for a streaming setup will make no measurable difference.

Where it *is* relevant is while the car is parked and otherwise idle - And a few solar cells would be a good addition to *any* car (EV or ICE) to maintain the 12V system between uses.

[Roland6]

> Parasitic load is pretty much irrelevant on a long journey

Depends.

If your EV has a cheap heater (an example of a parasitic load) it will kill the battery, which will also be performing below its best due to low (potentially sub-zero) ambient temperatures.

Fundamentally, the manufacturers are treating EVs as ICE vehicles that just use a different power train and fuel; the manufacturers don’t really care about how much fuel it consumes and thus it’s actual environmental footprint. Just do as you are told and feel good about the heated seats and the marketing gloss…

[John Robson]

Not convinced I'd call a heater a parasitic load, though I can see why it could be. But even a couple of kW of heating (which is quite alot) is still "only" a 10% increase in the battery usage.

The real kicker is when they put a resistive heater, but not anything to heat the battery - that's the worst of both worlds.

But that's fortunately becoming less common - with efficiency actually being a fairly important marketing point nowadays.

[Anonymous Coward]

Enough already

In the far less than 90 minutes it takes to put 200 miles of charge into my EV (YMMV naturally) I do the following:-

1) Use the toilets.

2) Drink some water and maybe eat some food.

3) have 20-30 mins with my eyes closed relaxing.

The very last thing I want to do is stream anything unless it is my eyes after i have put some drops in them.

Ok, so I do not stream any entertainment but the mere thought of it makes me angry. A lot of the so called entertainment on networks like Netflix has a good deal of violence. Won't watching that sort of thing make people emotionally hyped up and more inclined to you know.... get into a road rage incident?

Calm drivers make better drivers.

As for Emperor Elon and his FSD, he can take it and shove it up you know where.

Charging rates are getting a lot better. That in turn means less time waiting. While that is good for the Charger networks, it is not what you want when streaming.

[Evil Scot]

Re: Enough already

Same here.

But...

The only thing I would stream in my car is Linus Sebastian dropping (literally in most cases) new tech kit.

[captain veg]

Re: Enough already

Sounds great.

When I stop I spend about five minutes putting unleaded in the fuel tank. Then I continue on my way.

On arrival I use the toilets, drink some wine, eat some food and have a full night's sleep.

I find that better.

-A.

[chriskno]

Re: Enough already

Whilst polluting the atmosphere and contributing to climate change. Hope you manage to sleep well.

[Roland6]

Re: Enough already

There is a lot of greenwashing around EVs…

Yes my 15 year old Diesel with 190,000 miles has contributed to poorer quality atmosphere, I’m reasonably happy as it’s been over a decade since I stopped the regular long haul flights and reduced my business mileage from circa 2000 pcm to less than 2000 pa. The only fly in the ointment is the teenagers going to university so I now incur the start and end of term trips, currently that’s an additional 3000 miles Pa, but if the second gets where they want, there will be an additional 4000 miles pa…

As we saw with lockdown, there is plenty of room for simple improvements such as working from home (or more locally), which would massively reduce the amount of car journeys etc. Unfortunately, these require political will…

[John Robson]

Re: Enough already

So you drive without rest, and with a full bladder... Why not drink the wine on route as well?

[CowHorseFrog]

Really smart people dont waste their life sitting in a car for anything.

Driving in all forms is a waste of the most precious thing you have - TIME.

[Korev]

Well, until we have Star Trek-style teleporting some method of transport will be necessary

[John Robson]

And cars are often a pretty terrible choice.

Unfortunately society has built itself around the car and effectively crippled many other forms of transport as a result.

[moonhaus]

"Really smart people dont waste their life sitting in a car for anything."

Yes, good to know I'm not the only one that finds sitting at home all day in my underpants a much more rewarding lifestyle. :-)

[Kev99]

"subscriptions that enhance the EV experience." I'd rather they enhance the EV experience by charging realistic prices and getting rid of all crap they already dump in the vehicles. Driving a vehicle is not the place for door to door screens, light shows, or watching movies.

[WonkoTheSane]

"What else are you going to do while waiting for it to charge?"

I never have to wait for my electric car to charge, instead I plug it in and leave it to charge itself while I get on with my life.

[John Robson]

Re: "What else are you going to do while waiting for it to charge?"

A handful of times a year I make a journey that requires DC charging - that number will drop with my next vehicle, simply because the range available nowadays is a significant uplift from ~three years ago.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "What else are you going to do while waiting for it to charge?"

"he range available nowadays is a significant uplift from ~three years ago."

no it really hasn't.

unless you believe musky's load of bollocks

[John Robson]

Re: "What else are you going to do while waiting for it to charge?"

Well, the vehicle I'm looking at is more than twice the range that I could get three years ago - WLTP from 174 to well over 300...

So yes, the range available has gone up substantially.

[Anonymous Coward]

"subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

Piss

Off

[Jimmy2Cows]

Re: "subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

Same must be said for "functionality as a service". Your car's primary and/or comfort functions are subscription-based? No sale.

[John Robson]

Re: "subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

Primary functions - I'm with you. Comfort... consider it a discount for not using those features rather than a charge for using them.

[captain veg]

Re: "subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

I apologise for repeating myself, but...

Those "features" add weight. Not having them reduces weight. This reduces your fuel consumption.

Having "features" built in to your car which you can't (or won't) actually use increases your fuel consumption with precisely no benefit.

Will the manufacturer reimburse you?

-A.

[John Robson]

Re: "subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

Well when you put it like that - I mean, how much does a seat heater and relay weigh?

Must be on the order of a few grammes.

Do you keep that spare wheel in the car, or the puncture repair kit, or the warning triangle, the parcel shelf, the rear seats (given that the vast majority of journeys are single occupant).

Do you ever carry a jumper, or wear clothes?

Do you carry any drink or snacks?

The fuel consumption argument is complete hogwash and you know it - you just can't think of a good reason to be able to upgrade your vehicle after purchase.

[captain veg]

Re: "subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

Enabling something that was deliberately crippled by the manufacturer is not an "upgrade". Fitting the parts which were not originally specified might be considered as such, ignoring the additional weight, which is a lot more than a few grammes.

They didn't fit those parts for free. You paid for the material costs at the very least, whether or not you ever intend to use them.

Certain manufacturers from time to time issue high-performance lightweight versions of their wares. They go to extraordinary lengths like using thinner glass in the windows just to shed "a few grammes" because the results are measurable, cumulative and worthwhile.

-A.

[John Robson]

Re: "subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

Sometimes it's actively cheaper not to have to make choices on the production line.

If you suddenly can't afford that new car then they can sell it to someone else who really wanted heated seats.

If you buy a second hand car then a low cost, without visiting a dealer and giving them your car for a week, upgrade might be just the ticket.

If you're getting a high performance model then yes, the mass matters - but that's not for fuel efficiency, anything but in fact.

[captain veg]

Re: "subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

I really don't care about what they did on the production line, except when they fitted stuff that I didn't want and never ordered.

I don't expect to ever sell to someone who wanted heated seats. If I ever encounter such a person then I shall suggest that they just visit a dealer and get the hardware fitted. Over any reasonable lifetime this is likely to be cheaper than the manufacturer's rental charge for something that you already own.

If you own a second hand car which is not to the specification that you wanted then you simply bought the wrong car. There are plenty out there.

I don't think that you understand how fuel efficiency works.

-A.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

if they are putting non functioning stuff in there , can you rip it out and sell it? profit!!!!

after all, you own the car so any bit's in it are fair game!

[captain veg]

Re: "subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

I was going to ask who would buy something that you have to pay BMW a chunky monthly fee to use. But then I did a bit of maths. I don't know how much power a heat seating element consumes, but I'd guess at maybe 250 watts. On a (nominally) 12 volt system that means about 20 amps. Which needs a pretty hefty bit of copper cable. Ker-ching!

-A.

[sgp]

Re: "subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

You're okay with having heated seats that do not heat only because BMW are greedy bastards? Weird.

[Korev]

Re: "subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

Funnily enough, having some petrol to hand would mean you can avoid the BMW rent for the seat.The only downside is that some people would consider the seat a touch on the warm side...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

some people have more money than sense. (just look at the idiots buying tesla's)

[captain veg]

Re: "subscriptions that enhance the EV experience"

Buying tesla's what?

-A.

[Jimmy2Cows]

Functionality as a service vs. warranties

FaaS has to be the shittiest of shitty idea. There needs to be a law saying warranties must last the lifetime of the subscription service.

Personally I'm hopeful this is a fad that will die on its arse once enough people tell the manufacturers to fuck off.

[katrinab]

Get an iPad

If you want to stream movies while waiting for the car to charge, bring a cheap iPad, or a semi-decent Android tablet if such a thing exists and is actually cheaper than the cheap iPad.

It will be waaaaaay better than anything built into your car, and you can use it at home, and at your destination, as well.

Likewise, if you want navigation, bring a phone that has Google Maps on it. Doesn't have to be an iPhone, there are definitely some actually decent Android phones that can do that.

[Roland6]

Re: Get an iPad

Not only will it be waaaaaay better, you will be able to use all the subscription apps you set up on the iPad. I expect there will be a subscription to install “curated” apps on the car system and naturally the car system will be sending telemetry etc. back so that relevant ad’s etc can be shown to you. Remember, you are the product, so the cr is just another advertising surface which we can expect vendors to use to maximise their profits per vehicle.

[captain veg]

waaaaaay

Not only "waaaaaay" better, but actually updated over time.

In five years from now the touchscreen technology built in by the manufacturers will seem stone age. But built in, and not upgradeable.

Oh well.

Perhaps car manufacturers should just concentrate on making cars.

-A.

[chriskno]

Re: waaaaaay

My Nissan Leaf is nearly 5 years old, it has a good touch screen and functionality is updated regularly for things like charging stations.

[Roland6]

Re: waaaaaay

Bet the iOS/android app gets updated more frequently and there is less lag between new charging stations opening and being on the app.

Surely people will have learnt from smart TVs (and smartphones) just how lousy manufacturer specific platforms are.

[captain veg]

Re: waaaaaay

Out of curiosity, do you have to pay for the updates?

This is what stops my father updating the satnav in his VAG-generic hatchback.

-A.