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I'm rather incredulous about the whole, electric is simpler. Combustion engines are pretty damn simple, at their heart. Modern engines are complex monsters bec
by sliverstorm 11y ago
I'm rather incredulous about the whole, electric is simpler.
Combustion engines are pretty damn simple, at their heart. Modern engines are complex monsters because we have been steadily refining them- lower emissions, more power, greater longevity. You have a whole host of devices managing the engine to make it perform optimally.
Electric engines can also pretty damn simple. And yet we switch to brushless for durability. We thermally manage the battery banks for performance. We add regenerative modes for efficiency.
I suspect eighty years from now, the electric engine will be just as complex if not more, than the combustion engine of today.
- blktiger 11y agoIt's not really about being simpler, but rather that electric has _fewer moving parts_. A modern gasoline car has hundreds of moving parts while an electric car has more like 1-4 moving parts (the motors). This means that the electric car is simpler to maintain. Think about all the important car maintenance items you have to pay for. Oil changes, belt replacements, transmission fluid changes, spark plugs, etc. On an electric car, you have a much smaller list of things to worry about. Basically you only need to replace the battery and the tires. Battery replacement should only need to be done every 5-10 years and tires should wear pretty much the same as in a gasoline car.
- robotresearcher 11y agoBrakes are consumables, too. Big batteries are very heavy so on the face of it this would eat brakes. On the other hand, recovery of power back to the battery helps to slow the car. Anyone know how this tradeoff works out? Does your Tesla zap its brakes quickly?
- neon_electro 11y agoAnecdotal evidence here - I drive a 2013 Nissan Leaf, and with its "B-Mode" (a drive mode that engages regenerative braking more strongly when you let off the accelerator pedal), I can do much more "braking"/slowing down in regular driving without engaging the friction brakes. Frequently, when approaching a stop light I can simply let off the gas and coast/regen down from 45mph to 15-10mph and then engage the friction brakes to stop.
- TeMPOraL 11y agoNot to mention that with electric motors, you skip having a gearbox! That's another subsystem you no longer have to care about maintaining.
- sliverstorm 11y agoI can't help but point out a spark plug is not a moving part.
- zardo 11y agoIt is an ablative part though.
- avn2109 11y agoThere is a (small) spring-loaded reciprocating mechanical element - aka a moving part - in many (all?) spark plugs [0]. Lubricating this reciprocating interface is an active research area. [0] http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--EcUF2vWkUM/T7aL828jmdI/AAAAAAAACPg/BVrIW3eRdI4/s1600/spark_plug.png http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--EcUF2vWkUM/T7aL828jmdI/AAAAAAAACP...
- zardo 11y agoI doubt it, at least not in terms of mechanical complexity. They'll probably have solid state quantum tunneling superconducting turbo-encabulators, but not the mess of moving, spinning, and sliding surfaces in an IC engine.