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I have read the same comment (slightly modified) on HN since telsa announced their first vehicle. Tell me, have you actually worked on a new model truck? Becau
by tty7 9y ago
I have read the same comment (slightly modified) on HN since telsa announced their first vehicle.
Tell me, have you actually worked on a new model truck? Because the days of a service manual and a backyard shed are over
- greenyoda 9y agoI don't think they're talking about a backyard shed. More like a distribution business with a fleet of 50 trucks, a well-equipped garage and a full-time mechanic.
- King-Aaron 9y ago> Because the days of a service manual and a backyard shed are over They really aren't, as much as the manufacturers like to tell you they are. Sure, the sheer amount of sensors/vacuum systems/electronics/etc make it look too complex for the layman, but as long as you've got an OBD scanner and a laptop, you can make quick work of most things. The biggest issue is manufacturers currently having an obsession with inverse torx head bolts in unusual and frustrating places (i.e. pull the top end off the engine using only a 10mm, 14mm and 17mm, and then juuuust at the last step, there's a sudden 6.5mm inverse torx bit needed to be fetched from Narnia.). But you can always get parts. Electric cars will be just the same - in fact, I think they'll be easier for the home electrician to work on. Most of the modular manufacturer-specific parts can be interchanged for other components (inverters, batteries, etc). It won't look as neat and clean, but considering that electric cars are fundamentally less complex than internal combustion engines I don't think people will struggle.
- tty7 9y agoSure - I don't disagree, but in reference to > possibly waiting on parts that are being overnighted. I can not manufacture at home the parts I need for my 2003 petrol engine, my 1986 - I can.
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoSecurity screws on purchasable goods really need to be banned for anything that doesn't pose an immediate and extreme health and safety hazard.
- njarboe 9y agoAnd I don't think anything sold in the US today, not to the Department of Defense, has anything that poses "an immediate and extreme health and safety hazard".
- j_jochem 9y agoI’d say cars to belong to that category. Oh, and guns sold to private citizens maybe?
- rebuilder 9y agoI don't know, an electric car seems like it would contain a few items you don't want to be poking at if you don't know what you're doing. Security screws could a pretty good job of keeping the casual DIYer from electrocuting himself, essentially a "can't open this? Maybe you shouldn't."
- jldugger 9y agoMicrowaves have high voltage capacitors the size of your hand, which you should absolutely discharge during maintenance.
- Mchl 9y agoSmoke detectors contain highly toxic Americum 241 isotope. It's not that hard to remove it from the ionization chamber.
- nwmcsween 9y agoI have a journeyman in mechanics, tractor/trailers are much easier to work on than most personal vehicles due to the amount of room there is. They are also quite easy to repair, very similar to a computer as in hard drive is bad, replace it, injectors bad, replace it.
- gaustin 9y agoTesla will be selling into a very complicated industry. You think enterprise sales of software are hard, just wait. Tesla say their system includes all the functions necessary. I haven't seen a list but I doubt it. Even if they do it will literally take enterprise integration projects to hook them up to the largely bespoke systems used by existing trucking company backends. (E.g. 20 year old ADP systems)
- ni-hil 9y agoI don't know if the timing is right, but I think what you have to understand here is that all of this is the beginning of the end for the trucking company as you know it.
- gaustin 9y agoSure, but that end was coming before Tesla was a brand name. The trucking industry is surprisingly innovative, despite overall conservative practices. Go look at Volvo concept trucks over the last few years.
- psergeant 9y agoA more complicated industry than SpaceX sells into?
- gaustin 9y agoBecause of its ubiquity, I would put them on par. However, there are many, many more players in trucking than in aerospace which complicates things.
- rebuilder 9y agoSo if Tesla has trucks, and is developing self-driving capability, and the trucking industry is a mishmash of legacy systems, what pieces does Musk need to just go into the trucking business direct?
- gaustin 9y ago
- cjsuk 9y agoIndeed. It’s like that for all vehicles. The SM for my car is a windows app. I need a laptop and a cable to debug the car if anything goes wrong.