isn’t the whole point of EVs clean and affordable short distance urban/city transport?

No. It's just a different type of engine. People didn't start buying EVs just because they're green and cheaper to drive. They buy them because it's superior technology. A bit like how in RC hobby nitro buggies used to be the shit back when batteries still sucked but nowdays electric ones are much faster and more powerful. There's no reason to buy one with a combustion engine unless you specifically like the mechanics and tinkering with it.

Why?

To be fair there's not a lot of data on any EV brand. Just like job postings, you can't really ask for 20 years of road experience from something that has only been on the road for 10.

I've heard both good and bad about the service on Chinese brands. It depends on where you are in the world. Apparently they prioritize some markets over others when it comes to spare parts. I think they're currently strung out from the rapid expansion, choking on their success.

Since all other brands are also dependent on the production in China, it's really only up to them which brands they'll support in the future.

On the positive side, the maintenance and repairs don't seem to be as specific to the brands as previous car makes. They're using no-name mechanic shops instead of running their own. They can do this because EVs are fairly simple. The mechanics only need to know how to exchange the broken part with a new one instead of actually fixing some wildly complicated thing in a conventional engine. Plug and Play really. I wouldn't say that I like that approach, but I can't deny that it's both more efficient and apparently also cheaper.

The same thing is happening to modern ICE cars as well. Labor is more expensive than chinese car parts. You can probably order them straight off temu. I hate it, but that's the future.

Lemmy has seen an influx of reactionaries recently. Smelling a whole lot more like the bad place every day. Also depends on the comm. If you're on a .ml or hexbear community, you had better not take the good Lord's China's name in vein.

It's in the linked article.

Few people need power windows, yet not a lot of hand cranks exist these days.

Speak for yourself. Having the ability to store and have cold drinks on a long trip is great. Even being able to keep things cold on the way home from the shops is advantageous.

The Uber store does

Correct, but it sounds more useful than 99% of extras that cars have nowadays. Beach trips and car camping would be a use case that goes with the whole SUV theme that people seem to currently go for.