7 ms·

If you look at this purely from the standpoint of the benefit to a consumer, it doesn't seem like a great deal. You gain: * Auto-shutoff when your battery get

If you look at this purely from the standpoint of the benefit to a consumer, it doesn't seem like a great deal. You gain: * Auto-shutoff when your battery gets too low. * Possibly some increased lifespan * ~34lbs in weight reduction, which might deliver a small performance increase. You lose: * 78% of your battery capacity * $20-$150 on the purchase price of the battery Personally, I don't like the idea of paying more money for less battery capacity. If, however, Ohm came with a rock-solid 7-year replacement warranty, I might be able to get over that.

baudehlo 11y ago
When I bought my Civic Type-R it didn't even have an option for air conditioning due to the weight it added. For some types of car every pound (though they are called grams in the real world) counts. I suspect this will be popular in the lightweight performance car world.
- atourgates 11y ago
  For sure losing 30+lbs is a big deal in the high-performance automotive world, and Ohm's price premium is nothing compared to, say, replacing structural elements with carbon fiber etc. But I don't think your average mass-market consumer is going to care much about 30lbs, or notice a difference in performance or handling if they did.
  - baudehlo 11y ago
    I'm not sure why my comment got so downvoted, that's kind of weird as I was just stating facts. Absolutely the average buyer of a Camry is not going to care about this. But that wasn't at all my point. Some cars (more often in Europe/Japan where driving is more fun because they have corners), take weight seriously. I think car manufacturers might take this option seriously in their sport divisions.
    - yellowapple 11y ago
      > I'm not sure why my comment got so downvoted Probably because of the "in the real world they're called 'grams'" remark. I vastly prefer metric over Imperial, too, but that came across as a tad snobbish, eh? I upvoted, though, for what it's worth; weight savings aren't just the purview of racecars.
  - NeutronBoy 11y ago
    > But I don't think your average mass-market consumer is going to care much about 30lbs, or notice a difference in performance or handling if they did. In reality, if you looked through the car of a random sample of the population, you'd probably find about 30lbs of crap in their car that they could remove (sporting equipment, rubbish, bags, etc).
fredkbloggs 11y ago
Suppose they did offer a 7-year warranty, with strong language. Would you really expect Ohm to be around in 7 years? If they want people to take a warranty seriously, it needs to be backed by at least an A-rated insurer, not whoever is funding these guys. There's also the problem that they apparently offer only a single size/form factor (which is roughly equivalent to 34, 34/78, 75/25, or 35), and that for many applications this device does not offer enough starting power. Never mind reserve capacity. But even if this size is appropriate to your car, there are other reasons to be skeptical.
dzhiurgis 11y ago
I guess the pitch is that you do not need the extra battery capacity? Are you sitting in parking lots listening music these days? That did sound cool when you were kid, but majority will never do that (or take their car camping).
- yellowapple 11y ago
  And even if I did take my car camping, I probably wouldn't be using its electricity except in extreme circumstances; I'd sooner bring - at the absolute most - a separate generator (preferably one of those quiet Honda ones) if I really feel the need to be plugged in (which is rarely the case; the point of camping for me is to get a breather from tech).
MBlume 11y ago
I leave my lights on and kill my battery once every few months, so this is easily worth it for me, but I'm probably an outlier[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivity_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivit...
- jboy55 11y ago
  Why not add the smarts to a lead/acid battery? Probably only a few bucks worth of electronics.
  - drblast 11y ago
    Or as a separate component you could drop in and then use whatever battery you want. I'd pay almost as much for that.
    - toomuchtodo 11y ago
      Such a component already exists. Check Amazon.
  - yellowapple 11y ago
    My impression was that said smarts are possible in the Ohm because of the otherwise-wasted space caused by the smaller internals. On the other hand, if there's that much more space, I'm curious as to why some more battery or capacitor banks couldn't be added to address the low-capacity concerns.
  - IshKebab 11y ago
    You could probably even do it as an add-on to batteries, although now I'm wondering why it isn't built into the cars themselves. They could easily do it.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
- 11y ago
CamperBob2 11y ago
If, however, Ohm came with a rock-solid 7-year replacement warranty, I might be able to get over that. That's a good idea, and they could even make it a lifetime warranty (lifetime of the car, that is). "Ohm: The last battery your car will ever need" could make a nice tagline. In the fine print, the implementation would be a replacement guarantee for as long as the customer owns their car. Since most people don't keep the same car for 7 years, it would be a safer bet than a fixed 7-year guarantee.

baudehlo 11y ago

When I bought my Civic Type-R it didn't even have an option for air conditioning due to the weight it added. For some types of car every pound (though they are called grams in the real world) counts. I suspect this will be popular in the lightweight performance car world.

atourgates 11y ago
For sure losing 30+lbs is a big deal in the high-performance automotive world, and Ohm's price premium is nothing compared to, say, replacing structural elements with carbon fiber etc. But I don't think your average mass-market consumer is going to care much about 30lbs, or notice a difference in performance or handling if they did.
- baudehlo 11y ago
  I'm not sure why my comment got so downvoted, that's kind of weird as I was just stating facts. Absolutely the average buyer of a Camry is not going to care about this. But that wasn't at all my point. Some cars (more often in Europe/Japan where driving is more fun because they have corners), take weight seriously. I think car manufacturers might take this option seriously in their sport divisions.
  - yellowapple 11y ago
    > I'm not sure why my comment got so downvoted Probably because of the "in the real world they're called 'grams'" remark. I vastly prefer metric over Imperial, too, but that came across as a tad snobbish, eh? I upvoted, though, for what it's worth; weight savings aren't just the purview of racecars.
- NeutronBoy 11y ago
  > But I don't think your average mass-market consumer is going to care much about 30lbs, or notice a difference in performance or handling if they did. In reality, if you looked through the car of a random sample of the population, you'd probably find about 30lbs of crap in their car that they could remove (sporting equipment, rubbish, bags, etc).

fredkbloggs 11y ago

Suppose they did offer a 7-year warranty, with strong language. Would you really expect Ohm to be around in 7 years? If they want people to take a warranty seriously, it needs to be backed by at least an A-rated insurer, not whoever is funding these guys. There's also the problem that they apparently offer only a single size/form factor (which is roughly equivalent to 34, 34/78, 75/25, or 35), and that for many applications this device does not offer enough starting power. Never mind reserve capacity. But even if this size is appropriate to your car, there are other reasons to be skeptical.

dzhiurgis 11y ago

I guess the pitch is that you do not need the extra battery capacity? Are you sitting in parking lots listening music these days? That did sound cool when you were kid, but majority will never do that (or take their car camping).

yellowapple 11y ago
And even if I did take my car camping, I probably wouldn't be using its electricity except in extreme circumstances; I'd sooner bring - at the absolute most - a separate generator (preferably one of those quiet Honda ones) if I really feel the need to be plugged in (which is rarely the case; the point of camping for me is to get a breather from tech).

MBlume 11y ago

I leave my lights on and kill my battery once every few months, so this is easily worth it for me, but I'm probably an outlier[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivity_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivit...

jboy55 11y ago
Why not add the smarts to a lead/acid battery? Probably only a few bucks worth of electronics.
- drblast 11y ago
  Or as a separate component you could drop in and then use whatever battery you want. I'd pay almost as much for that.
  - toomuchtodo 11y ago
    Such a component already exists. Check Amazon.
- yellowapple 11y ago
  My impression was that said smarts are possible in the Ohm because of the otherwise-wasted space caused by the smaller internals. On the other hand, if there's that much more space, I'm curious as to why some more battery or capacitor banks couldn't be added to address the low-capacity concerns.
- IshKebab 11y ago
  You could probably even do it as an add-on to batteries, although now I'm wondering why it isn't built into the cars themselves. They could easily do it.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
11y ago

CamperBob2 11y ago

If, however, Ohm came with a rock-solid 7-year replacement warranty, I might be able to get over that. That's a good idea, and they could even make it a lifetime warranty (lifetime of the car, that is). "Ohm: The last battery your car will ever need" could make a nice tagline. In the fine print, the implementation would be a replacement guarantee for as long as the customer owns their car. Since most people don't keep the same car for 7 years, it would be a safer bet than a fixed 7-year guarantee.