I was considering buying a Chevy Bolt lately to use as my daily commuter but found out it collects a lot of data and phones it back. It’s hard to do research on what kind of EV I could buy that doesn’t collect your location data so I’m hoping someone here might have some good suggestions.
I posted this when the same question got asked on site-that-shall-not-be-named:
I bought a Suzuki Swift. As best I can tell, there is no GPS or cellular radio. Higher specs come with GPS but I think still no cellular.
The NZ privacy policy is very good but is really only referring to service information and the website.
The global privacy policy is still mostly focused on service/dealer information and the website, with a note that they might receive medical information if one of their vehicles is involved in a crash.
The infotainment system (at least this one) comes from Directed Electronics, who again have a privacy policy that appears to be focused on using the website and directly selling things.
There is a section in the manual about ‘Vehicle Data Recordings’ which says that “these data are exclusively technical” and appears to be a reference to fault codes and crash black-boxes.
There is a Suzuki Connect app that has a privacy policy, which appears to include the ‘usual’ speed/location/mileage/braking/acceleration, but not the more ridiculous stuff like audio or video, and also says it won’t be sold.
Of course, they’re not available in the US. You might be able to get one from Mexico? Not sure about legality.