I wonder how many of the anti-EV liars and bigots who (I'm sure) touted that incident as another example of how EVs are out to kill everybody retracted and apologised for their claims when the truth emerged?
I can easily see how people might not study the manual, and learn how to operate the manual release, or to do that but not familiarise themselves with it well enough to be able to use it when panicking as their car fills with smoke.
But I can also see the lunacy of car designers deciding that because it's a EV, everything has to be electric, including things which are perfectly OK left mechanical.
Is there a way to open a Tesla mechanically from outside if the 12V system has failed? Or other cars designed by stylists who didn't think things through? And what use is an internal manual release to a child in a car seat in a car which has locked their parent out? (Disclaimer - I've read stories of those at a summary level, have never looked into any of them in detail to see if the actual facts are more nuanced).
And of course the anti-EV crowd will use those incidents to justify their stance despite being unable to show how such door locking systems are intrinsic to the nature of EVs, and how EVs simply cannot be designed without auto-locking, and with mechanical door handles etc.
On a related topic, I learned recently that (at least) one maker of 12V car batteries produces a lithium one with intelligence which stops it from totally discharging. Once the charge drops below a certain threshold it disconnects, preserving what's left, and the disconnection can be overridden by a phone app over Bluetooth. So if you get back to your car where a fault (the car's, or yours) would normally have rendered the battery dead, you can turn it back on, open the doors, get in and start it up. For once, a solution not in search of a problem.
www.mopedarmy.com
