5 ms·

I'm not so sure. Cars need maintenance. Customers want to drive the cars before they buy them. So maybe the management and dealership owners lose out, but th

I'm not so sure. Cars need maintenance. Customers want to drive the cars before they buy them. So maybe the management and dealership owners lose out, but the rank and file should still come out OK. I think the same thing may be true with tech employers and their on-site benefits. Sure, the employees aren't eating out in town as much, but they are still eating. For the line cooks and other service workers, there's still work to be had. Its the people who are in the business of owning service industry businesses that are in trouble.

PhantomGremlin 8y ago
Cars need maintenance. How much maintenance do electric vehicles (not hybrids) need? Probably less than 25% of that of IC vehicles. Oops. There goes 75% of the service department. Which is probably a higher margin area than sales. They mark up the parts and then bill $150 per hour for labor and probably pay mechanics less than 25% of that rate. If I owned a new car dealership I'd sell it within the next 5 years. Because EVs are coming.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  > How much maintenance do electric vehicles (not hybrids) need? Probably less than 25% of that of IC vehicles. If built to be good cars, not profitable cars. The cynic in me says that manufacturers will find some ways to raise the maintenance requirements of EV to maximum level they can still get away with. Such is the way markets work.
  - PhantomGremlin 8y ago
    Sigh. I think you're spot on with your cynicism. But maybe the market won't let them get away with it, if there's sufficient competition? Here's my sad story of what you allude to, regarding a washing machine (or maybe it was a dryer I forget now): An electric motor is fundamentally an incredibly reliable part. I'd venture that there are still some 100-year-old electric motors in daily service. The "contactor" (fancy word for a high power relay) failed. This contactor controlled the electric motor which made the drum turn. Turns out that the field replaceable unit is not the contactor, but is an assembly that combines the motor and contactor. So instead of being able to replace just the relay (which can be prone to failure after some years of use), the entire assembly must be replaced. A perfectly good motor thrown away because the contacts on the relay controlling it went bad. The replaceable unit cost $320 (this was a while ago) instead of perhaps $20 for the relay itself!

PhantomGremlin 8y ago

Cars need maintenance. How much maintenance do electric vehicles (not hybrids) need? Probably less than 25% of that of IC vehicles. Oops. There goes 75% of the service department. Which is probably a higher margin area than sales. They mark up the parts and then bill $150 per hour for labor and probably pay mechanics less than 25% of that rate. If I owned a new car dealership I'd sell it within the next 5 years. Because EVs are coming.

TeMPOraL 8y ago
> How much maintenance do electric vehicles (not hybrids) need? Probably less than 25% of that of IC vehicles. If built to be good cars, not profitable cars. The cynic in me says that manufacturers will find some ways to raise the maintenance requirements of EV to maximum level they can still get away with. Such is the way markets work.
- PhantomGremlin 8y ago
  Sigh. I think you're spot on with your cynicism. But maybe the market won't let them get away with it, if there's sufficient competition? Here's my sad story of what you allude to, regarding a washing machine (or maybe it was a dryer I forget now): An electric motor is fundamentally an incredibly reliable part. I'd venture that there are still some 100-year-old electric motors in daily service. The "contactor" (fancy word for a high power relay) failed. This contactor controlled the electric motor which made the drum turn. Turns out that the field replaceable unit is not the contactor, but is an assembly that combines the motor and contactor. So instead of being able to replace just the relay (which can be prone to failure after some years of use), the entire assembly must be replaced. A perfectly good motor thrown away because the contacts on the relay controlling it went bad. The replaceable unit cost $320 (this was a while ago) instead of perhaps $20 for the relay itself!