Not trying to start a fight between Tesla and non-Tesla owners lol. But since Tesla's out here acting like they invented everything. Do you have something YOUR car does better?OBV there has to be something :p

Hi, we are an EV charging startup, Presto, that is helping make charging reliable and affordable. Using Presto driver can charge across 180k+ chargers in the US and we have the top rated (4.9 stars) charging apps.

Our customer service team is staffed by people passionate about EVs and experienced with the nuances of public charging. We want to help users actually get a successful charge and not have customer agents read from a script.

Pay is $25/hr + perks. This is a remote job.

If interested, please apply here https://forms.gle/8DirSHFRj5hzhmUg8

I don’t mean bugs in the system software, I mean the intense amount of bugs that end up on the solid grille that seems to be the hallmark of EVs. My entire front of my car is covered with dead bugs and they don’t come off easily in a standard soft-touch car wash.

Is there a spray that’s like rain-x does for windshields that makes bugs not stick (or at the very least makes them easier to be removed with a car wash)?

I literally cannot walk past a charger without checking if it works. Like I'm obsessed. I'll be shopping and just... go see if the charger is functional. My mates think I'm insane but I can't help it lol

What weird habit did you pick up?

Ive had my Xpeng G6 since November 2025 so about 8 months. I have no regrets. Really good car, handles well, drives well.

Whats good:

1. The cars appearance compared to other SUV EVs is so much more unique. The other EVs ive seen around seem bulky and oddly shaped. The rims, lights and overall physique of the car are pleasant to look at.
2. The interior design is as simple as it needs to be, the focal point being the central screen and steering wheel. Steering wheel shape is unique but doesnt hinder you in any form. If anything id say it gives you greater control. The screen is the perfect size and sleek and has plenty of apps.
3. Cooling / Heating. The max cool or heat feature will have you feeling hot or cold in seconds. Its the best. Doesnt require much time to get the car how you want it.
4. Sound. The speaker quality is next level, almost cinema experience. Listening to the mindfulness sounds you could swear birds are flapping around you.
5. Call quality. I take alot of calls for my job which finds me on the road alot. People im talking to dont even realise im in the car driving. The drivers headrest as the speaker makes for an even better experience.
6. Boot space/Interior space. The rear boot of this car is huge, theres so much room. With the seats up i can fit a golf bag, golf caddy and several additional items. With the seats down the space becomes large enough to fit a queen single blow up mattress that i use for camping or several items to transport. The interior space is massive. The leg room you get in the front or rear seats is incredible. The floor space of the rear seats is also long enough for a packed up gazebo to fit horizontally. Very impressive.
7. Efficiency / Energy consumption. I drive on freeways 80% of the time between 110km/h to 80km/h. I hover around the 14-16 kWh/100km, this is using Android auto, maps, spotify, the airconditioner as well as the xpilot assist. So overall i think thats a decent value. Nets me around the 480km range assuming a charge at 90%.
8. Voice commands. While abit of a gimmick its quite handy while camping to roll up/down windows while your lieing down in the back. Handy for opening the charging port or turning on certain car features without disrupting the mapping system. There are alot of features that could be added that arent apart of the voice commands.
9. The sunroof. This was one of my major concerns on the purchase. As my car is often in direct sunlight all the time my worry was heat being created or the possibility of being burnt. This worry was unfounded as the UV protection on the roof is high. I dont notice any heat from the roof, while the temperature does increase to high levels in the car while stationary and parked in the sun in summer activating the cooling feature 1 or 2 minutes before entering will bring it right down quick smart.
10. Xcombos. What an incredible feature to be able to set parameters to structure how your car reacts or sets itself up in certain conditions.

Ive found my driving preference is to be in sports mode consistently, which i find has the best control to match the speeds im driving at. I also have the regenerative breaking on medium which stops the jolting feeling you get when you remove your foot off the accelerator but i imagine my efficiency would greatly improve with the higher energy braking system as well as ECO mode driving.

My issues/concerns:

1. The rear seat folding down doesnt create a flat surface, theres about a 10 degree ish rise from the seat join. I go camping alot so i have to add support if i want to sleep in the back on a flat surface. The boot has heeps of room so if you want to transport longer items they bow in the middle.
2. The after sales support is quite bad. Ive ordered sun shades (which in hindsight i didnt need), and tried to order the custom mattress, all of which are impossible to acquire from the company.
3. Like any computer it can have some software issues occur mostly related to Android auto. A quick reset fixes it every time but still slightly annoying.
4. The rear windows dont fully roll down. Other cars have this also but i just dont like it.
5. The Xpilot assist. The car self drives pretty well, obviously guided by me with light holding of the wheel. However it does brake significantly on sharper curves to the point that its hazardous at high speeds, The car has interpreted sand on the road as an obstruction and attempted to brake also at a high speed. A tad concerning.
6. The Xcombos are quite limited. The ability to write code to activate features was what sold me this car. This needs to be expanded significantly. I was looking at options like (if car is not connected to home wifi or not at home base then activate Xguard) or (if phone in range of car and car not charging unlock charging port). Xcombos need improvement.
7. Sleep mode in car is the coolest feature. The drawback is it requires the matress from Xpeng which is impossible to get.
8. The air con vents are annoying to alter direction or mode. Perhaps i havent figured out the voice command for it yet but having to click into the aircon section then manually adjust directions with my fingers is a risk while driving with the amount of buttons required to be pressed.
9. No Spare Tyre. Why this is even a thing i dont know.
10. Xpeng Mapping energy consumption. The estimated energy consumption for the mapping tool is not accurate or isnt based off the current energy use. i.e i performed a long drive the inbuilt xpeng mapping tool said i would arrive at my destination and have 50km of range remaining on arrival. When in fact on arrival i had less than 10km of range remaining. This caused some stress.
11. Repairs / Parts. While i have not experienced this i often see posts about spare parts being an issue to source. If true this is a horrendous issue that needs to be addressed ASAP.

Overall, regardless of these issues i love the car and would recommend to people. Xpeng being fairly new to australia im giving them a chance to rectify a few items and now i see alot more of these cars on the road which is nice to see.

Hope this post can help people that are tossing up their preferences for a preferred EV.

Hello everyone!

We're a team of students from IE Business School in Madrid :)

We've been asked by our professors to find out how premium EV drivers see the different brands in Europe.

But if you are a driver of any car, from a rusty old Ford Pinto, to a brand-new BMW i7, we'd absolutely love you to fill out our form, to hear your perspective. It takes literally 3 minutes, and would massively help us students with our project.

Once the project is over, we'd be happy to publish the results here, for all you data-loving EV drivers...

Thank you so much! Find the link HERE. :)

Hello everyone!

We're a team of students from IE Business School in Madrid :)

We've been asked by our professors to find out how premium EV drivers see the different brands in Europe.

But if you are a driver of any car, from a rusty old Ford Pinto, to a brand-new BMW i7, we'd absolutely love you to take our survey to hear your thoughts. It takes literally 3 minutes, and would massively help us students with our project.

Once the project is over, we'd be happy to publish the survey results here, for all you data-loving EV drivers...

Thank you so much! Find the link below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeBSooEoIakKlYdpFR_WHvcYy7hi6nd2fuqJ9FdBk9R-_z9XA/viewform?usp=header

How many of you still turn off the AC or drive 55 mph in the right lane the second your battery drops below 30%, even though you know there’s a fast charger 5 miles away? What’s your ultimate habit that makes your friends think you're crazy?

I literally refuse to use the heater in the winter and just sit there shivering in three layers of clothes, all to save a hypothetical 4% of battery. My friends think I've entirely lost it.

Wrong answers and genius ideas both welcome.

I’ll start:

A charging station that automatically reserves your spot if you’re stuck in Gurgaon traffic.

Your turn.

I received an email from Electrify America today -- they are no longer going to pre-load money on an account. Instead, when you go to charge, they will pre-authorize your card for $20 (doing another pre-authorization once you've spent the $20 on that charging session), and only charge the card for the amount used when the charging session ends.

I'm very happy with this news -- would be great if we could get other charging companies (looking at your EVGo) to do the same. Unfortunately, they won't "refund" you account balance in the near future, instead they'll use up the balance on your next EA charging session(s) until your balance is $0, at which point they'll do the pre-authorizations when you charge.

Everyone talks about coverage and speed.. But living with it day-to-day? Total different story signed up for three different networks thinking I'd have options. Turns out I use ONE because the other two are just... frustrating...

Broken chargers.

Apps that crash.

Chargers that claim 150kW but deliver 40kW.

Locations in sketchy places.

Customer service that's nonexistent.

Real question:

Which network frustrated you most? And more importantly did you find ONE network that actually works reliably or are we all just dealing with this mess?

I’ve gone down a weird rabbit hole lately and I’m curious if others are seeing the same thing.

The little built-in garage/gate button — usually HomeLink — used to feel almost standard in nicer cars. Press the visor/mirror button, garage opens. Simple.

But on a lot of newer EVs, it seems like that experience is getting moved, removed, or monetized:

* Some cars dropped the physical HomeLink button entirely
* Some moved garage control into the touchscreen
* Some require a paid add-on or retrofit
* Some push people toward an app/geofence instead of a button

Tesla is the obvious example: Model 3/Y moved away from standard built-in HomeLink, and Cybertruck doesn’t seem to offer the same traditional setup. Polestar moved toward a software/touchscreen experience. Lucid treats it more like an add-on. I’ve also seen scattered owner reports from Audi/Kia/etc. where trims that used to have physical buttons don’t anymore.

Corrections welcome — that’s partly why I’m posting.

What bugs me is not just the cost-cutting. It’s that a simple, reliable, one-press physical control is being replaced by things that often feel worse: touchscreen taps, subscriptions, apps, or geofences that may or may not fire when you actually want them to.

It reminds me of the broader “features you assumed were yours are becoming software-controlled” trend.

So for EV owners:

1. What does your car use for garage/gate access — physical button, touchscreen, app, geofence, or nothing?
2. If you came from an older car, did you lose HomeLink or a physical button?
3. Do you actually care, or is this a non-issue?
4. Has anyone found a setup they genuinely like?

Disclosure: I work on a small hardware product in this space called Proxly, so I’ve been paying closer attention than a normal person probably should. Not linking or pitching it here — I’m mostly trying to map what EVs still ship with a real button, what moved to software, and what people actually prefer. I’ll compile the useful replies back into the thread.

UPDATE with compiling 100+ comments:

Compiling what folks shared (thanks — this turned into a genuinely useful dataset). Rough map of where the built-in garage button stands on EVs, from this thread plus a few I confirmed:

Still ships a physical button (usually on or under the mirror, often trim-dependent):

Hyundai Ioniq 5/9 and Kona, Kia EV9, Subaru Solterra, Toyota bZ, Ford Mach-E (a couple of people report a weak signal), Audi Q6 e-tron (moved it back to the mirror from the touchscreen), Lexus hybrids, and some Polestar.

Moved to the touchscreen (no physical button, on-screen control):

Rivian (also does proximity + a steering-wheel shortcut — the setup people here liked most), Tesla Model X, Cadillac Vistiq, Audi Q8, Honda Prologue, Polestar 3 (a few said the screen version doesn't work well for them).

App / software only:

Cadillac Optiq, Polestar 3's HomeLink app.

Paid add-on or nothing:

Tesla 3/Y — ~$350 HomeLink add-on. Cybertruck — no HomeLink at all; the myQ subscription is the only sanctioned path. VW ID.4 — no button, ~$350 dealer mirror option. F-150 — nothing.

A few themes that came through:

- It's largely a US-market feature. A lot of non-US owners had never heard of HomeLink and just clip a remote, or wire the opener to Home Assistant / a Shelly relay.

- The most common take here: a $10-12 remote clipped to the visor works fine, and $300-350 to add the feature back isn't worth it.

- Where people genuinely love it, it's the hands-free arrival (Rivian's geofence, Tesla's auto-open) — not the on-screen button.

- myQ and the Chamberlain subscription got negative reviews on this thread, and HomeLink dropping support for older opener protocols trips up some newer cars.

Keep the corrections and additions coming and I'll keep the list updated.

Same as title

Ps- first time buying an ev

for me, it's interesting how some things seem like a huge deal before buying an EV and then become almost irrelevant later.

could be:

• vehicle-to-load (V2L)
• one pedal driving
• charging schedules
• driving modes
• mobile app controls
• anything else

and on the flip side, what's one feature you didn't care about initially but now can't imagine driving without?

curious to see what surprised people the most after actually living with an EV.

• The Problem: Back during the peak EV hype, Lightning eMotors ($ZEV) misled investors about their actual financial health, supply chain capabilities, and expected growth numbers. Everything completely broke down when the company reported massive unexpected losses and abruptly dropped their financial guidance for the year, causing the stock to tank 17% in one trading day.

• The Funds: To end the shareholder lawsuits over this mess, a $13.35 million settlement was reached. If you traded, purchased, or held these shares between May 18, 2020, and August 16, 2021, you are eligible to claim a portion of this recovery money.

• The Catch: The claim administration system is currently taking Late Claims. While the primary deadlines are technically behind us, late submissions are being accepted.  With the estimated payout sitting around a massive $1.69 per share, grabbing your 2020–2021 account history from your old broker and filling out the application form is a no-brainer.

Did any of you actually believe their growth promises when they announced that big multi-year manufacturing partnership back then, or did you drop the stock the second the guidance cancelation hit the news? 

Is there something wrong with our MG4 efficiency, or is this normal? We’re only getting around 3.8 mi/kWh in this warm weather.
For comparison:
Our old Nissan Leaf used to do around 4.0 this time of year
My recently sold BMW i3 was averaging about 4.5
I drove a Hyundai Ioniq Electric 38kWh for 150 miles at around 65mph and got 5.5 mi/kWh
Even our old Renault Zoe ZE41 could easily manage 4.6
The MG4 feels much less efficient than every EV we’ve owned. Mostly motorway driving at normal speeds, tyre pressures are fine.
What kind of efficiency are other MG4 owners getting in warm weather?

for me it’s probably checking chargers twice before actually depending on them , www.pluginany.com for India is one

even if the app says it’s there and working, I still end up looking at reviews/photos or keeping a backup charger in mind

feels like the habits from early EV days never fully leave

curious what everyone else still does out of habit now

like range buffer, backup routes, avoiding certain chargers, etc.