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If you understand how cars work, you should know that an electric cars will probably drive 1million miles. It has less moving parts than cars. Engines - 500pa

If you understand how cars work, you should know that an electric cars will probably drive 1million miles. It has less moving parts than cars. Engines - 500parts, transmissions 2000+ parts. Tons of friction, heat, wear and tear. Electric cars are so much simpler and if anything will prove to be much more reliable than cars. If anything that's what those companies have to worry about. Why would anyone want to replace their car when they can just replace battery? i won't be surprised if this is the reason Tesla is almost treating it like a modern day product with software upgrades. I suspect in the future, they will have it where you can just replace the exterior panel to get a new car and have the interior easily swapable as well.

randyrand 7y ago
Id be more worried about the hassle/cost to repair all the “little” things that can really add up if parts and service are hard to find. Windows, door handles, air conditioning, bumpers, radar sensors, sun roofs, seat motors, wiper motors, door hinges.
- xedeon 7y ago
  No really an issue at all. You can just use the Tesla parts catalog and call up Tesla to order a part. No middle man like AutoZone that get's a cut of the profit. https://epc.teslamotors.com/#/catalogs https://epc.teslamotors.com/#/catalogs
- segmondy 7y ago
  As the market scales up, OEM parts are going to be a thing.
londons_explore 7y ago
There is a big risk you swap one kind of issue for another... It's no longer head gaskets blowing - now the issue is obscure software bugs which trigger constant rebooting causing the car to be undrivable, or a temperature sensor broken making it think it's at -273 C. A Tesla engineer could totally erase and reset the car to fix it, but when the cars 10 years old and on its 3rd owner, that engineer has probably retired, and a third party can't do anything because the car software is encrypted.
rjdagost 7y ago
What's your evidence that electric vehicle are more reliable than non-electrics? EV advocates make this claim quite frequently, yet I've never seen any evidence to support it. In the case of Tesla, their EVs are actually much less reliable than ICE and diesel vehicles (though I blame their problems mainly on Tesla's rush to production, and not on producing EVs per se).
- xedeon 7y ago
  Tesloop released a very interesting review and summary of using "eHawk", the 2015 Tesla Model S over 450,000 miles (724,000 km), which is one of the highest mileages globally. https://www.tesloop.com/blog/2018/7/16/tesloops-tesla-model-s-surpasses-400000-miles-643737-kilometers https://www.tesloop.com/blog/2018/7/16/tesloops-tesla-model-... https://insideevs.com/reviews/350883/tesla-model-s-review-450000-miles/ https://insideevs.com/reviews/350883/tesla-model-s-review-45... What makes this particularly interesting is that the car was mostly charged using super chargers which accelerates battery degradation compared to regular home/Level 2 charging.
- drcross 7y ago
  There's low amounts of evidence because electric cars are so new but common sense would dictate that the simpler a machine is the less it will break all things being equal. Even if the current generation have issues, applying Toyota's continuous improvement paradigm to the process will ensure that they quickly speed up.
  - newnewpdro 7y ago
    There's substantial complexity in Tesla's various black boxes full of electronics. A Tesla's battery pack is a hell of a lot more complex than a full, sheet-metal gas tank. The charging, balancing, and protection circuit is more complex than a filler neck and screw-on cap, etc.
- segmondy 7y ago
  Electric motors that run in factories out last generators.
mtone 7y ago
If recent history is any indication, I don't believe that walled garden software will make for repairable, longer lasting, customizable cars rather than being used for planned obsolescence.
adwi 7y ago
> Why would anyone want to replace their car when they can just replace battery? Or why would anyone want to replace their battery when they can just replace the top of the car? Peoples’ needs and tastes in cars change overtime. I’d like to see a future where you retain the “skateboard” of the car but swap the cabin and skin of the exterior relatively inexpensively.

randyrand 7y ago

Id be more worried about the hassle/cost to repair all the “little” things that can really add up if parts and service are hard to find. Windows, door handles, air conditioning, bumpers, radar sensors, sun roofs, seat motors, wiper motors, door hinges.

xedeon 7y ago
No really an issue at all. You can just use the Tesla parts catalog and call up Tesla to order a part. No middle man like AutoZone that get's a cut of the profit. https://epc.teslamotors.com/#/catalogs https://epc.teslamotors.com/#/catalogs
segmondy 7y ago
As the market scales up, OEM parts are going to be a thing.

londons_explore 7y ago

There is a big risk you swap one kind of issue for another... It's no longer head gaskets blowing - now the issue is obscure software bugs which trigger constant rebooting causing the car to be undrivable, or a temperature sensor broken making it think it's at -273 C. A Tesla engineer could totally erase and reset the car to fix it, but when the cars 10 years old and on its 3rd owner, that engineer has probably retired, and a third party can't do anything because the car software is encrypted.

rjdagost 7y ago

What's your evidence that electric vehicle are more reliable than non-electrics? EV advocates make this claim quite frequently, yet I've never seen any evidence to support it. In the case of Tesla, their EVs are actually much less reliable than ICE and diesel vehicles (though I blame their problems mainly on Tesla's rush to production, and not on producing EVs per se).

xedeon 7y ago
Tesloop released a very interesting review and summary of using "eHawk", the 2015 Tesla Model S over 450,000 miles (724,000 km), which is one of the highest mileages globally. https://www.tesloop.com/blog/2018/7/16/tesloops-tesla-model-s-surpasses-400000-miles-643737-kilometers https://www.tesloop.com/blog/2018/7/16/tesloops-tesla-model-... https://insideevs.com/reviews/350883/tesla-model-s-review-450000-miles/ https://insideevs.com/reviews/350883/tesla-model-s-review-45... What makes this particularly interesting is that the car was mostly charged using super chargers which accelerates battery degradation compared to regular home/Level 2 charging.
drcross 7y ago
There's low amounts of evidence because electric cars are so new but common sense would dictate that the simpler a machine is the less it will break all things being equal. Even if the current generation have issues, applying Toyota's continuous improvement paradigm to the process will ensure that they quickly speed up.
- newnewpdro 7y ago
  There's substantial complexity in Tesla's various black boxes full of electronics. A Tesla's battery pack is a hell of a lot more complex than a full, sheet-metal gas tank. The charging, balancing, and protection circuit is more complex than a filler neck and screw-on cap, etc.
segmondy 7y ago
Electric motors that run in factories out last generators.

mtone 7y ago

If recent history is any indication, I don't believe that walled garden software will make for repairable, longer lasting, customizable cars rather than being used for planned obsolescence.

adwi 7y ago

> Why would anyone want to replace their car when they can just replace battery? Or why would anyone want to replace their battery when they can just replace the top of the car? Peoples’ needs and tastes in cars change overtime. I’d like to see a future where you retain the “skateboard” of the car but swap the cabin and skin of the exterior relatively inexpensively.