the instance i use does not have downvotes. i personally like this, as if someone disagrees with something, they must express that via their own words, which i find to be a lot more productive and useful!

my basis is, if the comment contributes meaningfully/helpfully to the subject at hand—whether that is via explanation, personal storytelling of something relevant, something funny or kind that makes other people smile/feel joy, among many others—then i elect to give an upvote.

if it is unintelligible to me (like a reference i don’t get), overly provocative, actively harmful (anti-vaccination stuff etc.) or otherwise not made in a real effort to contribute anything useful or interesting, then i elect not to give an upvote.

that is just my reasoning though :)

the compass set at my drafting desk has the marking

GERMANY

U.S. ZONE

it predates even west germany! i’m pretty sure the desk itself is even older.

i may perhaps take a photo sometime :)

from what i’ve gathered, many earlier EVs were more so “luxury” vehicles, and a lot of them were made by tesla, notorious for shoving wireless connectivity in vehicles. those other luxury EVs decided to follow suit with that!

but note that “many” i sneaked in there. there were absolutely some that weren’t spyware machines! the first that come to mind are the earlier models of the nissan leaf and chevy volt (well, there is onstar, but it is not so hard to disable), but there are certainly others. there is no valid reason for the spyware, i mean these cars easily did without it (minus again, onstar…)!

as for an electric van, i knew a (ex-)teacher who did just that! from what she said, she pulled a couple of the major drivetrain components (motor, battery, differential etc.) from a crashed nissan leaf, hooked up an aftermarket controller, and from what i heard the most fiddly parts were the charge port and getting the axles dealt with. i don’t know if she got custom axles made or if she just mashed together the axles from both vehicles, but she said it was ultimately a nice vehicle to drive around.

i have! the fun part is while the malfunction lights weren’t lit up, neither was anything else :D

my friends old toyota 1-ton pickup! i don’t really “drive” it per se (i don’t even have a drivers license hehe), but i do occasionally operate it myself to tug/tow heavy stuff around very short distances. honestly haven’t even touched any higher gears than second.

a purchase of an old 80s subaru wagon may be in the works however, but only time will tell :)