27 features that every EV should have

Must have a camping mode. When charging outside, you should be able to feel comfortable in the car You can listen to radio or treat your car truly as a mobile office.

Another feature you may want to add to your list: Ability to set off-peak charging hours (both start and ending time) for each day of the week. Also set the departure time for each day of week and have car automatically schedule the start time so that it reaches target SOC exactly at the departure time. This will allow battery to still be warm from charging when you leave and maximizes time spent charging from solar power.

Important thing also: perfect EV should have access to supercharging network (and affordable).

Great video! I hope all the EV manufacturers watch and learn. Bjorn knows!

Snow on the hood? I always remove that before I start driving.

Note the humble Leaf 40 kWh does always display the battery percentage and gom range in miles (or km). And it has a liquid-cooled motor. Just sayin'.

the new e-Soul (and probably e-Niro) lacks heat-pump on some markets in Europe (for instance the French market, as I have only PTC😢)

Nissan Leaf has percentage and range in km always on the dashboard screen

Spoken like a true disciple... amen brother.

If i have to choose only 2, i would choose the tow hitch and battery only preheating in the app and in the car. You could preheat the battery when you are going to a dc fast charger (not superharger), heat while driving if battery is too cold to have more regen etc

I disagree with the charging port placement. The Leaf's charging port does not have the issue you mention, and it makes it a lot easier to aim your charging port towards the charging point. Ideally you would have the frunk there too, instant access to your charging cable where you need it. Also a big NO to a motorized charging port. Those things can fail and you're even more screwed if they freeze shut compared to a manual one. Heating up the battery for a drag race is a totally useless feature, i'd rather have three phase AC charging. And apps, well good. I'd rather have an open web api so you could easily make your own app, control your car from a web browser etc.. And selectable regen... Well with one pedal driving like in the Leaf there is no need for that, as you can fine-tune regen with the accelerator or keep it in a free rolling state.

@bjorn If a charge port in the front is not a good idea because of the "Schmutz" than the same is true for the "frunk" ... in winter the frunk become useless, unless you want to make your hands dirty, and if you want that, the charge port in the front is not an issue!

Bjørn: Check out easee charger and tibber pulse. The tibber pulse plugs into your electric meter and tells the easee charger to throttle the amps if it detects that you are about to blow your main fuse. You will need to replace your charger and change energy supplier. It's a cool feature, but probably not worth the hassle/money.

Im pretty sure that my 2018 leaf has Motor cooling. And you can read battery temperature in the display. It’s not as exact as leaf spy but it will do in a pinch 😏

Bjoern, why don't you put a filter on your screen. It is very reflective when you film it and you see the finger prints. I took it and it is one of the better accessories I added.

I totally agree with every single feature.
In particular percent battery and charging power in kW, so many cars hide this for no reason

Tesla Bjorn shows them the way

Hey, how about Heating for censors, camera, door handles, wipers, charging port (no port needed if inductive charging ofc.), and if they have mirror which is by far outdated, should be heated for open close function. Should be cameras whit screen on each side of the dash board instead of mirrors. Also doors open to each of their side instead of outward. Good for big people getting out in small parking lot and no risk of hitting cars beside. Seems like they have that outward design since horse carriage ages. I know, its not an only EV stuff, but since EVs are suppose to be innovative, maybe good to mention.

To your list I would also add the importance of having : heated seats and steering wheel, LED lights all around, a built-in NAV system (because not all drivers have intelligent phones), a heated windshield which can be scheduled with the cabin preheat, a lighted charge port, a pilot light on the top of dashboard to indicate when charging properly, a lock mechanism for the charging connector, appropriate height for seats (floors tend to be too high to allow space for large battery), a charge port on opposite side to driver (to allow for easier connection to roadside city charging stations) and just behind front wheels (to avoid having to back up in the parking space facing parking lot charging stations).
Your list is very helpful and informative, Thank you.


Daniel, Québec Canada

thank you

To be able to set the car to be ready and preheated to a specific time, and be to able to set it from the app is quite important in contries with cold weather. That will extend the range, (and the regerative braking).

Good video.

Leaf shows battery temperature 👍

Bjørn, it would be great if do your own table where you check these features for all EVs you test. Standard checklist as you do with the charging speed and range test, etc.

Can you cover the Volvo XC40 Recharge EV coming out this year?

Are you Thailand?

Bjørn, install an eease home charger, it regulates the power to the car depending on the usage in your home. I`m sure you know this as your knowledge is ledgendary.

Hi Bjorn, very interesting video as usual! Just a quick question, can't you open the charge port from the app on the Tesla Model 3?

HENGERFESTE!

Bjorn: you should do an excel sheet with these 27 points and then put there every EV (those which makes sense) and tick points for those EVs so it is easy to compare

Charge port in the front is problematic only when it's poorly designed :) For 2018+ Leaf, the charge port is in the front, but it is much better than for Kona / Soul. Metallic lid with good hinges. No problems do far.

I wonder if there is there a technical reason why cars don't show battery percentage state of charge. It seems a pretty obvious thing that should be implemented. Did manufacturers think it's not important or is there some technical reason why getting this information from the cells and/or charge controller is a complex engineering task.

I was just about to suggest towing capabilities, then you added it. I only need lightweight towing but if it’s not homologated it’s illegal to add.

Very fine video. One topic I miss is a navigation software that leads you to a charger that fits to your plug, is not occupied by an other EV and that you can reach (not private). The software on my e-Soul is worthless for that.

What about using a capacitor to store the regen energy instead of into the battery. Hopefully this will allow full regen when the battery is cold.

I just want to say that this video topic is a very good idea.

Tow hitch is useful for mounting the bike rack. (don't wanna lift a 24+ Kg eBike onto a roof rack.)

An electric car must have a good design. Here in Norway there are just over 13000 TMX, while Audi has sold over 8000 e-trons in less than a year. The TM3 looks like a Citroën CX from the seventies and TMY, looks like a Renault 16 from the seventies as well.
It doesn't help if Tesla has the best EVs, when they don't have the best cars.
And they all need tow hitch with at least 1500 kg, and a proper load capacity.

Thanks Bjorn, really enjoy your videos.:)

Even though I'm British having Bjørn sat on the left not driving weirded me out.

The motor stack over the front axle enables the car manufacturers to use the same production line as for fossil cars. The only extra step(stop) on the line is the attachment of the battery to the floor, be it flat or bulgy.

When EV truck will be in Thailand?

I totally agree. As a battery pack structure design engineer at Farasis Energy (Where I am working now), I would log all these points and consider them during our design phase.

Is this volg for kindergartners?

Top marks for this very useful video, Bjørn. Hope the manufacturers are listening. Technically, having Wifey drive the car means you give a much more fluent presentation. The illustrative clips you insert from previous videos add to the viewing experience. On my personal wish list to you is a 1000 km test of the BMW i3. Once Europe opens its borders again post-Corona - and I have returned to the UK in our 22 kWh Zoe after lockdown in Denmark - my wife, the cockapoo and I will be returning to Northern Jutland in our i3. Having driven the Zoe the 1600 km from the UK to DK in temperatures from 0 to 6 C, I know nearly every charging station on the route ;-) . Once you publish your 1k i3 test, I'll get an idea how many of these charging stations I can by-pass on the way. My final comment - on you final 28th point: Even a modest Zoe would tow a trailer to the local recycling centre and back, if it was approved for towbar use.

wifey quite the expert driver

V2L!!!

Really good Bjørn, I have a 11 year old Volvo V50, and i am looking for an EV. So i have been searching for which fetchers are important and or usefull in a EV from 2022. Lost of new tech in the car today and there are new things that are needed in an EV but was not so important in a combustion engine vehicle...this was some good help on the way.