It had nothing to do with being a good idea. It was just the more profitable idea. Tactile controls cost more to install than a cheap touchscreen with a dogshit GUI. Bonus being you have a proprietary part, the consumer can't easily swap out later if they want. So you've baked in some nice obsolescence to boot.
Ain't capitalism great? Race to the bottom.
"Does anyone else hate <popular thing that doesn't hurt anyone> too?! It sure feels good to be an insufferable contrarian!"
I would think an electric vehicle would have quite a lot fewer things like gaskets and other seals since gas isn't involved. Other than the normal wear and tear items like brakes, shocks, rotors, etc, battery repair would be the major thing I'd expect to need work. I imagine many mechanics aren't trained to handle these, so they end up just replacing the whole unit. Obviously this is wasteful though but could be easily solved via training.
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Agreed. When I said "install," I meant everything, really. R&D, design, manufacturing, installation, etc. Even so, touchscreens are not a suitable replacement and never will be.