My Car Is Becoming a Brick (EVs are poised to age like smartphones)(theatlantic.com)
theatlantic.com
My Car Is Becoming a Brick (EVs are poised to age like smartphones)
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/10/electric-car-software-updates-tesla/684643/
13 comments
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cars won’t update forever and EVs will soon be useless bricks is progress?
Yes, in exactly the same way Cinderella's carriage returned to a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight, EVs will soon become bricks.
what I will say is: EV enshittification is the case because the technologies are so powerful. Never before have you been able to address so many parts of the car with sensors, cooling solutions, etc. The problem is the manufacturers and their ecosystems. GM is one particularly nasty car make that are making news for dropping their carplay/android auto support, but I remember our family eagerly buying their volt a few years after it came out, only later for it to have its battery packs remotely disabled so the dealership could take it in for a pittance. The US lets our carmakers get away with bloody murder because of their tie to the vision of an industrial America, but they've taken this liberty too far and like the electronics titans they ape, are trying to make their cars into a "gadget". This can be done right, just look at the 90s California EVs like the Ranger and Rav4. You can have a perma-car that is electric, the true limitation is if the infotainment system will let you.
Does it drive? Does your car still drive? How is your car a brick because it doesn't have an AI chatbot in it?
Absurd article. I don't want AI enshittication anywhere near my car.
Absurd article. I don't want AI enshittication anywhere near my car.
I own 2014 Tesla and every software update nowadays is an adventure… does it drive? 75% of the time :)
I have a 2018 Model 3 and in 7 years I have had no issues with reliability. The charge port is a bit wonky and stays up/down, sometimes I have to force it up. That’s the only problem in 7 years, and it’s just a small occasional annoyance that hasn’t bothered me enough to have fixed.
Battery life is still great. I can still easily take cross country road trips. Other than the initial battery life hit you take when the car is new, there isn’t enough degradation for me to even be aware of.
Battery life is still great. I can still easily take cross country road trips. Other than the initial battery life hit you take when the car is new, there isn’t enough degradation for me to even be aware of.
I own a 2008 Audi. It drives fine.
There are paragraphs of text here, but the points don't intermix. The Atlantic yet again starts from point A,(cars won't update forever) and somehow reaches conclusion Z(EVs will soon be useless bricks). I fail to see how the article isn't just a long and windy complaint about progress.