[Paul]

Just thinking out loud.

With the LEAF you have the "eco" button which changes power delivery and with many other cars now you can have personalised settings per key / user profile.

You can select things like different seat positions, radio favourites and such.

So putting it all together you could surely quite easily have parental controls on EVs, whereby when a younger family member is behind the wheel, they're driving a slower, more gentle and less powerful car than when the parent's are driving.

That way (if insurance companies ever keep up) you could have kids named on your super fast and fun EV, that for them is actually a fairly safe and pedestrian vehicle?

If not for insurance, just to avoid the "kid wraps Tesla around tree" scenario from happening this may be a good, and relatively simple idea to implement. Easier surely than in a traditional ICE vehicle? So they're still in a cool car, but it's just as lethal fast.

Am I alone in this train of thought?

 

[Edd Beesley]

Not alone at all, one of the most common requests on the Tesla forums is for a valet/teenager mode.

The only problem I can see is the "power to escape an accident" argument (which frankly I think is bollocks), so if a teenager were killed in a car in this mode someone could "prove" they would have lived if te car had been in full power mode and hold the manufacturer responsible for te death of their child.

 

[Paul]

Not alone at all, one of the most common requests on the Tesla forums is for a valet/teenager mode.

The only problem I can see is the "power to escape an accident" argument (which frankly I think is bollocks), so if a teenager were killed in a car in this mode someone could "prove" they would have lived if te car had been in full power mode and hold the manufacturer responsible for te death of their child.

That's absolute nonsense argument, unless the stats show less powerful cars are more dangerous than more powerful cars!

Besides, they would KNOW this in advance, it's like having two (or more) different cars in one. It's not like you'd be in it expecting the full power and suddenly be shocked you can't unleash the power of a million rhinos when you floor it.

 

[flipper]

Not alone at all, one of the most common requests on the Tesla forums is for a valet/teenager mode.

The only problem I can see is the "power to escape an accident" argument (which frankly I think is bollocks), so if a teenager were killed in a car in this mode someone could "prove" they would have lived if te car had been in full power mode and hold the manufacturer responsible for te death of their child.

By that logic, would manufacturers of small city cars, say the VM Up, with only ~60bhp be equally liable because their cars weren't fast enough to avoid an accident? (How often is an accident caused by something being too slow?)

I'm certainly in agreement. It doesn't have to completely numb the car - Eco mode is quite suitable.

 

[Paul]

I'm certainly in agreement. It doesn't have to completely numb the car - Eco mode is quite suitable.

What I'm talking about would completely change it. Two or three modes that can be user selectable and/or locked in to user accounts under "parental controls". Daughter is driving in City mode, Mother is driving in Track mode and so on...

 

[Edd Beesley]

That's absolute nonsense argument, unless the stats show less powerful cars are more dangerous than more powerful cars!

Besides, they would KNOW this in advance, it's like having two (or more) different cars in one. It's not like you'd be in it expecting the full power and suddenly be shocked you can't unleash the power of a million rhinos when you floor it.

I agree it's silly, but it gets raised on car forums a lot. I suppose if you imagine a junction or roundabout where you can see you're about to get hit and you floor it you could escape just in the nick of time. If in this scenario you floored it (computer logs you pressed the accelerator to 100%) but the car was in reduced power mode and you were killed, but it's provable if the car hadn't been in reduced power mode the extra power would have avoided it then I can see a case at least getting to court (and being settled out of court).

Other scenarios, like pulling onto a motorway at low speed/acceleration and getting rear ended by a lorry start to come up when you think about it.

 

[Paul]

It's a moot point because the car is in that mode by choice and it'd be pointless if it could be overridden. It's a total non-I issue so far as I can see, in real world applications.