5 ms·

Internal combustion engines don't degrade to uselessness after three years

by tomc1985 6y ago

pengaru 6y ago
Nor do electric motors. Rings, cylinders, valve seats, there are plenty of ICE components that wear out or coke up long before anything on a brushless electric motor will. It makes more sense to compare batteries to tires and brakes; they're wear items. And their cost will keep dropping as their scale of manufacture increases exponentially until the economics start resembling tires too.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
stjohnswarts 6y ago
Are you joking? Electrical motors can go for decades before they need replacing if they're built well. Same with electronics. Contrary to HN bits don't rot, electronics fail though over time depending on robustness. Just because you don't update to the latest and greatest every couple of weeks doesn't mean anything if the device you're using is serving it's purpose well enough. I'm not sure where you're getting "3 years and you're done" from.
- usrusr 6y ago
  Nondegrading motors and electronics are indeed fine if you never leave the range defined by you -charging- pardon operating cable.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  Are you joking? The kinds of electric motors that go for decades with just a couple pumps of grease are reserved for industrial applications because their economics doesn't make sense for consumers most of the time. I like my cordless drills and grinder but I'm not delusional enough to compare them to industrial motors that are twice (or more, they tend to have massive cases) as heavy for the power output and live for decades. I have a 15hp motor kicking around that dwarfs a Tesla motor in every way except output. That kind of stuff is monumentally inefficient for any non-stationary use. 3yr and you're done sounds about right for consumer battery degradation in hard use. How long a battery lasts is basically a reflection of how nice you are to it in terms of charge and discharge cycles and how much reserve capacity you want to tote around. We've got electric motors pretty much down and can build them for just about any use case but for a given longevity vs power output batteries are still pretty bulky for the output you get.
- Amezarak 6y ago
  > Are you joking? Electrical motors can go for decades before they need replacing if they're built well. Same with electronics. Contrary to HN bits don't rot, electronics fail though over time depending on robustness. This is a mighty big "if." Re: electronics, the electronics are by far the highest-failure item in ICE cars and in the mechanical appliances I own. Indeed, every failure I've had in cars I own and those of my family owns has in the past ~15 years been an electronic problem. That's only usually been the case with appliances and tools.

Internal combustion engines don't degrade to uselessness after three years

Nor do electric motors. Rings, cylinders, valve seats, there are plenty of ICE components that wear out or coke up long before anything on a brushless electric motor will. It makes more sense to compare batteries to tires and brakes; they're wear items. And their cost will keep dropping as their scale of manufacture increases exponentially until the economics start resembling tires too.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

stjohnswarts 6y ago

Are you joking? Electrical motors can go for decades before they need replacing if they're built well. Same with electronics. Contrary to HN bits don't rot, electronics fail though over time depending on robustness. Just because you don't update to the latest and greatest every couple of weeks doesn't mean anything if the device you're using is serving it's purpose well enough. I'm not sure where you're getting "3 years and you're done" from.

usrusr 6y ago
Nondegrading motors and electronics are indeed fine if you never leave the range defined by you -charging- pardon operating cable.
throwaway0a5e 6y ago
Are you joking? The kinds of electric motors that go for decades with just a couple pumps of grease are reserved for industrial applications because their economics doesn't make sense for consumers most of the time. I like my cordless drills and grinder but I'm not delusional enough to compare them to industrial motors that are twice (or more, they tend to have massive cases) as heavy for the power output and live for decades. I have a 15hp motor kicking around that dwarfs a Tesla motor in every way except output. That kind of stuff is monumentally inefficient for any non-stationary use. 3yr and you're done sounds about right for consumer battery degradation in hard use. How long a battery lasts is basically a reflection of how nice you are to it in terms of charge and discharge cycles and how much reserve capacity you want to tote around. We've got electric motors pretty much down and can build them for just about any use case but for a given longevity vs power output batteries are still pretty bulky for the output you get.
Amezarak 6y ago
> Are you joking? Electrical motors can go for decades before they need replacing if they're built well. Same with electronics. Contrary to HN bits don't rot, electronics fail though over time depending on robustness. This is a mighty big "if." Re: electronics, the electronics are by far the highest-failure item in ICE cars and in the mechanical appliances I own. Indeed, every failure I've had in cars I own and those of my family owns has in the past ~15 years been an electronic problem. That's only usually been the case with appliances and tools.