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"Well, it's a fraction of the cost to operate, but if a tire blows, the mechanic will have to detach a piece of plastic. So I think we'll pass."
by tbabb 9y ago
"Well, it's a fraction of the cost to operate, but if a tire blows, the mechanic will have to detach a piece of plastic. So I think we'll pass."
- masklinn 9y agoIt's way beyond that. 1. it makes changing a tire more complicated, and time is money, the longer it takes to change a blown tire the higher the penalties 2. when a semi tire goes, it goes hard, as GP noted with this arrangement the cowling will probably shatter, requiring a replacement (not just a replacement tire) and the pieces taking out other tire. If the cowling does not break, it will funnel bits of tire straight into the next tires, blowing all of them.
- Gravityloss 9y agoIf a truck tire blows, it sometimes hits nearby cars and causes accidents, or just hits a motorcycle driver, cyclist or pedestrian and causes an instant death. These covers could be useful, if they were made for containment. Requires something like kevlar that can stretch and absorb the impact.
- unicornporn 9y agoLike so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-k6_zuno88#t=28s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-k6_zuno88#t=28s
- nwmcsween 9y agoFrom what I've seen tires don't really blow as in pieces everywhere but tear then slap around, retreads when they blow tend to remove all the tread which is why you see half a tread on the side of the road sometimes. Containment isn't really too much of an issue IMO. Even thick (3/8) aluminum fenders get destroyed.
- chewyland 9y agoWhen a rear tire blew on my campervan, in addition to having to replace the tire, the blowout caused many thousands of Euros worth of damage to the bodywork.
- zardo 9y agoHave you seen (2) happen with the existing aftermarket products like this?
- CamperBob2 9y agowhen a semi tire goes... ... it's usually because the company was too cheap to buy anything but retreads.
- dsfyu404ed 9y agoRetreads don't fail appreciably more often than new tires. Being in the boring part of the bathtub curve makes up for their age. DOT HS 811 060 is the study you should Google.
- CamperBob2 9y agoSo any given tire carcass I'm likely to see on the road -- hopefully in time to dodge it -- is just as likely to be from a new tire as from a retread? Sorry, not buying it.
- nkristoffersen 9y agoI would think mechanics are going to become fewer and fewer as less mechanical bits exist on the electric vehicles. Tires, alignment, electrical. Those will be you're bread+butter services.
- andrepd 9y agoWhy do you say it is a fraction of the cost to operate? Because the advert says so? I'll wait for concerns like the parent's to be weighed in before reaching any conclusion.
- emptyfile 9y agoHe's a software developer which makes his opinion on any topic worth a lot more than regular people, for example mechanics who fix trucks for a living. Is this your first day on HN?
- tialaramex 9y agoCombustion engines need lots and lots and lots of little extra bits to hit the (still very bad) efficiency numbers they have. Every extra moving part is another thing you're paying the mechanic to check, repair or replace. Good for the mechanic, bad for your trucking operation. Electric motors are brutally simple. So first that means they break down less often, second it means they're less complicated for the mechanic to figure out what the problem is. And that's before the straight to technical advantages. Take braking. In a normal truck you turn speed into heat by rubbing brake pads. This gradually destroys the pads, so they're a consumable. But an electric truck turns much of the speed back into electricity instead. The pads get much less wear, you replace them less often.
- setr 9y agoUnless the conversion from speed to electricity is more efficient than to heat, shouldn't the degradation rate be the same? Or is the heat causing most of the degrading?
- imnotatwork 9y agoBraking force in EV is from magnetic fields in the engine pushing electricity back into the battery. Magnets and copper wires do not degrade when used. Pad brakes in EVs are only used when braking HARD, as in emergency stop. They degrade less because they are not used much.
- mikestew 9y agoDon’t worry, when the tire blows it’ll take that fiddly piece of plastic with it. Which I think is at least part of parent’s point.
- nine_k 9y agoAnd the 99.9% of time when the truck is running with all tires intact, that fiddly piece of plastic gives, say, extra 5% of fuel efficiency. Even if it requires a complete replacement every time a tire blows, it may be worth having.
- pdeuchler 9y agoThis dismissive attitude of a domain expert's opinion while taking Musk's/Tesla's word on revolutionary claims that they don't even have a working prototype of yet is a perfect example of why the court of public opinion is slowly starting to turn on Silicon Valley
- greglindahl 9y agoThe "domain expert" is doubting that Tesla consulted with any domain experts, after Tesla showed domain experts and waved at a bunch of launch customers sitting in the audience at the event. No one's looking insightful at the moment.
- tbabb 9y agoThey do have a working prototype; it's in the video. Also, your comment is ironically pretty dismissive. As an expert, do you think that the sporadic time/money cost of changing a tire could offset a significant reduction in fuel cost or trip time? How expensive would a tire change have to be to outweigh, say, a (conservative) 30% reduction in fuel cost?