Please Critique my Car Office Build

[Deuteronomy93]

Tl;dr Below is my plan, providing feedback on it would be great. Additionally, I feel that it doesn’t have enough wireless charging options. I would like to somehow add a wireless charger to each of the middle-row seats. Many thanks

 

Hi all

 

I previously posted about my current car setup that I use for work, I’m listing it here as reference. I also use this when travelling, it all fits into my backpack (aside from the generator): https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/1ihdaiu/travel_work_setup_part_2_working_from_my_car/

 

It does work “well” as it allows me to achieve what I need to do, work from the car, especially conferencing from the car as a presenter. The main drawbacks with this setup are the setup time itself, internet issues, and ergonomics. My wife also works from the car at the same time but doesn’t conference/present as much as me.

 

I am planning to replace the car due to multiple factors, and the Zeekr 009 is currently our top pick. I’d much rather drive a saloon (such as the Nio ET7) than an MPV but given the circumstances, this seems like the best option. I tried A LOT of other EVs before coming to this conclusion, a small fraction are mentioned.

• The factors that make the 009 good are:
  • It has a 2200w outlet in the boot.
    • This will ensure any device we realistically need to use won’t be an issue.
    • This will turn itself off when the car is charging.
      • 99% of the time I charge overnight at home, so this isn’t really an issue.
      • For longer road trips, I can bring along my Ecoflow generator and use that outlet instead whilst the car charges/just use when I bring it along anyway.
      • When staying at hotels, I can charge the generator there, so I always have juice in these circumstances.
    • I plan to connect my UGreen 300W GaN charger to this.
      • This will power all our devices without issue.
        • I don’t think we’re likely to ever run into issues with this, but I could always put a fused PDU in the boot to allow for additional connections/devices for things that could help during a road trip.
      • I should be able to hide the cables under the carpet to make it clean.
    • An alternative is that the fridge in the middle has 1*100W and 1*60w USBC ports on it.
      • Using this would be more convenient to set up, but less convenient in the long run.
      • I’m not sure whether the 60W charger would be enough to power the display and laptop properly.
      • It would reduce the number of chargers available in the middle row.
  • It has free internet for the duration that I own the car, as the first owner.
    • My current solution is having a portable router and phone hotspots as backups.
    • Despite this, I can still run into issues.
    • The car’s internet is seemingly much more reliable.
• I don’t want to go into the EV/ICE/car debate too much, but the battery, motors, and infotainment/SOC systems have unlimited lifetime warranties for the first buyer.
  • I chose Nio previously because you effectively get a lifetime battery warranty due to swapping the battery.
  • It does have a fridge/heating box, so I can heat up some lunch, and cool down drinks.
    • It cannot do both at the same time.
    • Cars like the Denza Z9 and Z9GT do have 2 of these.
  • It has fold out tables that are a little small, I may use these or just use our folding desks to put my laptop on.
    • The integrated tables will definitely be too small for our mice.
    • They could still be useful to stabilise the bigger tables, and as a quick solution when we’re in a hurry.
• The main amenity that the car doesn’t have is wireless charging.
  • There is 1 wireless charger in the front seat.
  • Another can be added with a phone holder that plugs into the OBD port for the driver.
  • There aren’t any for the middle/rear seats which is a bit annoying as this would be more convenient, especially as my wife and I usually have to carry a minimum of 4 phones between us (personal and work).
  • I have been trying to think of the cleanest solution for adding this, but nothing has been working well.
    • This includes using the cupholders with an aftermarket addon.
    • There are options to another cupholder so that each seat would have a cupholder and wireless charger, but these all look:
      • Jank
      • Seem flimsy
      • Poor cable management
      • Etc
  • I may need to just use wired charging, or eventually 3D print something more unique.
• It will be extremely comfortable to work from the middle row.
  • We would be going for the 6-seat option.
• No EVs that have screens in the middle/rear seats are truly adequate for presenting during conference calls.
  • I have tried the Nio ET7 and ET9, but the touchscreen and camera cannot be utilised when extending/duplicating your display,
  • The Denza Z9 has no way to connect with the laptop (according to the sales rep).
  • The Geely Galaxy L380 is available to pre-order but not test. I will test this when it’s available but:
    • I don’t need the extra space/seats.
    • Performance is worse.
    • I’m not sure what level the autopilot is.
    • It still might have issues using the screens.
  • This is annoying, but the space within the 009 does give me options.
  • Cars that already have displays would actually be a worse option as the screens will eat into my available space/options.
  • My solution is what you can see in the image:
    • Mount a portable monitor to the headrests of the front seats.
      • I have found options for desktop monitors, but this would be:
        • Too bulky
        • Likely quite dangerous in a crash
        • Desktop monitors tend to squeak when moved and this would drive me insane when driving
      • I would mount them using Magsafe.
        • The mount can hold over 1kg (the weight of most of these displays), if it’s not good enough then I can use 2.
        • The mounts I found do have the option to tilt.
      • It’s easy to find monitors that have the specs of what I need:
      • 500 nits of peak brightness.
      • 4k
        • Not essential, but nice to have
      • Touchscreen
        • Not essential, but nice to have
        • I do use this feature
      • USB passthrough
        • Most have a maximum of 1 port, but this is all I need for the webcam to plug into this to keep cable management tidy
      • USBC power
        • PD from the screen to the laptop
          • Again, for cable management
          • I need to ensure that the cable doesn’t put too much strain on the port when travelling.
      • There are ones with higher refresh rates, I’m fine for 60, maybe 120hz for the occasional game
  • Due to the above, I would only need 1 USBC from the monitor into the laptop.
    • The monitor will pass through the USB and PD over a single USBC, keeping everything tidy.
• The autopilot is relatively good, it could definitely be better but that’s to be expected due to the revised autopilot only being available for the past 1 week or so, with extremely limited data.
• I did consider having dedicated “desktop” computers/NUC’esque options, but we’d still need to carry a laptop around with us.
• My current setup takes me around 10 minutes to fully set up relatively casually. Maybe 15 minutes if I’m extremely casually doing it/in a very narrow parking space.
  • This isn’t the only factor as the following become much more difficult when I’m “locked” into the seat:
    • Toilet breaks
    • Getting out to stretch my legs
    • Getting lunch/dinner
    • Packing up
    • If something urgent comes up,
    • Etc
  • With the 009, I should be able to park up and be ready to work within 1 minute.

I think this pretty much summarises everything! If you are able to help me with something that I’ve missed, or are just interested in the topic, then please do comment

 

Many thanks!