Once you understand how cheap the components (battery, electric motors, some servos, some steel, a LOT of plastic...

If they don't make them fabulous the fabulous people won't buy them. As it is some wide track golf cart/pickup trucks would be far superior than any of the sleek stuff turned out. Better "volt" mileage too.

OP is drinking the oil industry Kool Aid. All cars come with the same sensors and send the same data home. It has nothing to do with the engine.

We should have laws against it, but it certainly isn't limitteed to EVs.

Toyota BZ. There's a touchscreen in the center of course, but it's amazingly low tech otherwise. The turn signals and other lights on the dash are literally incandescent light bulbs behind an arrow shaped hole (like all cars had in the 90's).

When i was looking for a replacement for my last car, i was aiming at an EV. Market hat nothing even close to my needs. Had to buy a conventional car instead. Get me something similar to my seat alhambra, but electric and at a realistic price, an i'll have my next car.

I think that’s part of the reason BYD does so well in Australia.

Their cars look like normal cars.

I think that that's kind of a problem with almost all new cars, not just EVs.

Slate's a pretty stripped-down EV. It's got a mount where you can stick a phone or tablet if you want, but nothing built-in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate_(vehicle)

No cell radio. Doesn't even have power windows in the base configuration; it comes with air conditioning and air bags and that's about it.

Note that the range is shorter than, say, a Tesla Model 3 or something.

What frustrates me most about my wife’s Kona is that the shift stick is gone & you have to use buttons. That & how confusing it was to figure out how to open the charging unit when she first got it.

I find the Opel Corsa Electric and Renault Zoe to be pretty alright, regarding knobs and buttons. They still are very much tablets with wheels though.

While I hate the dimensions, shape and pretty much everything else about it, I belive the Citroën e-C3 is available with just a phone mount in the center, and no smarts whatsoever. I've only ever driven the model with an infotainment system though.

My issue is that a lot of manufacturers have tried, incorrectly, to mimic Tesla in ways they don't understand.

Tesla have a 16" screen in their car.

Ford: We put a 17" screen in our car!

Tesla: You can watch movies, play video games, browse the internet, etc. when you're charging (as it used to take a long time - but we've kept the big screen).

Ford: You've got a bit ole screen! It's bigger than a Tesla's! Your driving map is huuuge. When you're charging you can watch it charge - in HD!

There's one in Mexico

I have Seat Mii electric, it is dumb as a rock. I love it.

Why are there no normal electric cars instead of gimicks on wheels? is probably the first question.

I drive an Opel Corsa E. It's basically just a normal Opel Corsa with an electric engine.
Or is that not what you had in mind?

It's all cars. It's more profitable to sell fewer cars at a higher price. The tech bloat is used to justify the high price. Regulations requiring the tech bloat are designed to keep competitors from entering the market. Regulations are paid for by bribes lobbying.

Because the overlords want data. So data collection must be in everything because top dollar is being paid for it.

They couldn’t build them fast enough if there were, they would run out of batteries.

People buying cheap basic cars aren’t going to pay extra for it, or mess around with putting in L2 charging at home.

Why make 2 budget EVs and make $5k each when you can make 1 expensive one and make $10k?

There aren't no nonsense gas powered cars anymore. Everything is computer controlled.

Anti lock brakes, collision avoidance, controlling the fuel injections. You have to go back to the models that used carburetors to get what you want. Then the federal goverment requires tons of expensive safety equipment and testing to keep new companies from entering the market.

But to answer the question, profits. The production line for low price gas cars are already built and optimized with statistical process control. There aren't high profits in the low priced autos. They will only switch when nobody buys their current models.

Just look at the big three turning their nose up to electric.

Meanwhile Hyundai is rolling out a super cheap model in china. https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/hyundais-new-ioniq-v-undercuts-the-cheapest-ev-in-america-by-over-10000/

FYI: Companies are getting your message and vibe. But so far it's just for farm tractors.

https://wheelfront.com/this-alberta-startup-sells-no-tech-tractors-for-half-price/

Welcome to Car Industry Protectionism 101.

You want a no nonsense electric car at an affordable price point? Tough shit. Your country's politicians love those car industry kick backs.

You can buy Hyundai, Renault, BMW, VW. .. all pretty good "normal" electric cars.

Maybe if you're thinking about a 1957 Buick Special, then yeah. That's a frame, driveline, seats, and a radio. ICE vehicles since the late 00s have been smart devices that phone home.z

I think the answer to your question is that it's more profitable to sell a vehicle that continues to generate value by collecting and sending data home which can be sold.

I firmly believe, at least in the US, but it's probably true for the rest of the world as well, that as soon as somewhat crackdowns on what is allowed to be gathered for data is done, that a model or two after that you will start seeing significantly less smart features in vehicles and it will only be more convenience and safety items, I believe personally that a lot of our infotainment system style designs will go away because the primary reason for running those style designs is to allow for data collection.

And that's because there's a lot of money in data collection. Be it law enforcement buying it for location data on someone or the onstar wanting it for analytics of where cars are going or how they're being used to insurance agencies wanting to know how often an individual goes over the speed limit.

It's also incredibly useful even for the first party and knowing what features are used the most in the vehicle for research and development.

But yeah, once the financial incentive is significantly neutered, I believe you will fairly quickly see a lot of these features becoming optional add-ons or no longer offered period