I think car privacy isn’t talked about amongst any privacy enthusiasts online ever, and it apparently is one of the biggest data collectors out there. For someone like me who values electric cars for there affordability and environmental reasons, but still want physical car buttons and control over my data, how would I go about this?
You can purchase used electric cars too.
Battery degradation and telemetry/surveillance will still be large issues if you do that.
There are no electric cars that don’t track you except for the really old NiMH Rangers and Rav4s and whatnot that they leased to fleets in California back in the day. Even the very first mass-market Nissan Leaf had unacceptable telemetry from day 1.
I remember reading maybe a year ago that Nissian pushed an update to those Leaf’s that prevented them from charging during certain hours so you couldn’t get the benefit of cheap electricity rates. Either that or they just took away your ability to set specific charging times to the same affect.
Who would though? The marketing idea pushed to the public is that no oil changes means they need no maintenance. They are mechanical devices not magical devices. They require maintenance to stay in good working order like anything. Suspension, brakes (although less often with regeneration systems), tires, wipers, air filters, coolant, batteries 12v not just the rechargeable, transmission fluid (gear box oil on Teslas iirc), etc. This no maintenance myth has turned them into throw away disposable e waste. Not to mention the lack of service for repairing the batteries and computers in the USA leading to insurance totaling the vehicles and them ending up rebuilt in Ukraine.
My biggest worry with used EV is the batteries. Me living in a tropical country that can reach 40°C that has to take a big toll on battery health.
The other thing stopping me buying a new car is my old car still works fine and I don’t want to be in debt again for a car.