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Cont: Electric Vehicles II


jeremyp said:
It depends on what things were fixed and how. There may be significant labour to replace even a fairly cheap part.
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That's the point. Talk about stupid engineering. It's what drives me crazy about so many cars these days. They don't even think about maintenance. I've been maintaining my cars for 60 years. Diagnosing and replacing a failed part used to be relatively simple. Not any more.
 
acbytesla said:
That's the point. Talk about stupid engineering. It's what drives me crazy about so many cars these days. They don't even think about maintenance. I've been maintaining my cars for 60 years. Diagnosing and replacing a failed part used to be relatively simple. Not any more.
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That's the thing. It's really pretty easy to diagnose a parasitic battery drain, and what part of the cabin heater''s control should cost $5200 to repair. I realize things have gotten bad, but that's really pretty bad. One of the things that prevents me from running right out and trading in my increasingly shabby little Hyundai gasser, which is in need of some serious work including perhaps a new gas tank, is stuff like this. The latest iteration of the electric Hyundai, a nice car according to many, is the news that it requires a specialized computer program to replace the rear brake pads, which if done wrong will brick the car! That kind of thing seems crazy.

Right now the sanest electric vehicles I'm seeing are some proposed electric pickups with minimal accessories. One, whose name I forget because it isn't yet on the market, is supposedly going to come with a huge range of options but with a stripper model that includes no radio, crank up windows, and the like. That sounds like my speed.
 
bruto said:
Right now the sanest electric vehicles I'm seeing are some proposed electric pickups with minimal accessories. One, whose name I forget because it isn't yet on the market, is supposedly going to come with a huge range of options but with a stripper model that includes no radio, crank up windows, and the like. That sounds like my speed.
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Slate.
 
The type that I would prefer for simplicity, as in minimal options and computer control stuff, would not be roadworthy in most places.

Those glorified golf cart versions are available here but the prices are reflecting the demand for them yet. Supply has to become greater in the future. Only one agency in town for them right now.
 
acbytesla said:
That's the point. Talk about stupid engineering. It's what drives me crazy about so many cars these days. They don't even think about maintenance. I've been maintaining my cars for 60 years. Diagnosing and replacing a failed part used to be relatively simple. Not any more.
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"Other problems were fixed" can cover a lot of things.

You want all the modern conveniences without paying a fortune, and the casualty is serviceability. Enjoy this video about fixing the HVAC in a Toyota RAV 4.
 
Certainly the ignoring of serviceability is nothing new. I've had numerous vehicles over the years in which some components were pretty obviously assembled before the vehicle was completed, making it nearly impossible to replace them without reversing the assembly. The fact that it's long been a problem doesn't mean we shouldn't complain about it.
 
Roger Ramjets said:
"Other problems were fixed" can cover a lot of things.

You want all the modern conveniences without paying a fortune, and the casualty is serviceability. Enjoy this video about fixing the HVAC in a Toyota RAV 4.
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The problem is that they built 6 major components into one single component. Now, when one component fails you have to replace 6 things. 5 of which aren't broken.
 
I think when it comes down to it, that Toyota's heater was a bad design. There are enough instances of stuff going down the vents in a heater that there should be some way either to intercept them or to allow them to fall harmlessly. It's a big plastic casting, and I bet they could have designed that in if they cared to. Why not just a screen in the defrost vents?
 
Ron Obvious said:
$5200 seems a bit steep...
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I did not see the invoice. I have no idea which parts were replaced and how many hours they worked on repairs. The repairs were authorized by my brother. He had a choice, fix/replace the malfunctioning heater, or never drive the car again.

He did not know of any other repair shops willing to touch the car. He had tires replaced and a bit of minor work locally, but only Tesla is willing to work on the battery support systems, power train and electrical systems, as far as I know.
 
acbytesla said:
The problem is that they built 6 major components into one single component. Now, when one component fails you have to replace 6 things. 5 of which aren't broken.
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They also made it so you have to disassemble the entire dash to get it out, and as bruto says they didn't put a mesh over the inlet to stop things from dropping into it. They didn't put a torque limiter on the servo motor either, which is what caused the mechanism to break. Clearly the designers just weren't thinking, probably because they were so focused on getting it to met the spec that they didn't have time to consider anything else. In their mind the important thing was being able to mold the parts from plastic to keep the cost down - too bad if it couldn't handle any punishment or be easily serviceable.

Modern cars are full of custom-made stuff like this which is designed to be as cheap as possible to manufacture and install on the production line, with servicing an afterthought. And yet a RAV 4 still costs NZ$49,990 for the cheapest model (GX Hybrid FWD).

BTW there are several similar size EVs here that sell for around the same price as a RAV 4, eg. the GAC Aion V which has 510km range and is NZ$2000 cheaper. The tipping point is near. Another month of petrol at $3.50/l is going to make EV sales explode!
 
bruto said:
Right now the sanest electric vehicles I'm seeing are some proposed electric pickups with minimal accessories. One, whose name I forget because it isn't yet on the market, is supposedly going to come with a huge range of options but with a stripper model that includes no radio, crank up windows, and the like. That sounds like my speed.
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slate
 
I guess its different here in the UK. I picked up a Dacia Spring Elements for £10,500 from a dealer. Sure its range on a charge is 120 miles, but given I live in an urban area its perfect and a lot more economic than a petrol car even before the latest unpleasantness in the Middle East. The problem I suspect is that what is seen as a perfectly sensible sized car in Europe is seen as tiny by Americans who want some SUV/pickup that can roam the wilderness, even if they are never going any further than the nearest shopping mall.
 
Right, we have the 2-way charger installed, the V2G enabled BYD should be arriving on Tuesday. It has been a PITA to get to this point, lots of chasing of Octopus. New Leaf still has a provisional delivery date of "Juneish" but there appears to be problems at Nissan, so I'm not hopeful
 
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