Yes, I was previously a mechanic. Truth is even the worst battery replacements (behind the bumper), headlight bulb changes (remove the bumper), still take less

Yes, I was previously a mechanic. Truth is even the worst battery replacements (behind the bumper), headlight bulb changes (remove the bumper), still take less than ~45 minutes to complete. Alternators are not generally considered a wear item so they can be difficult to replace if the engineers where not friendly to the mechanics. Brakes are a wear item, they eat themselves by design and need to be replaceable. Moving them inboard from the wheel does not have any significant benefits, but many downsides. With regenerative braking on EV's it could possibly make more sense to move the brakes inboard, but there is already all the space in the wheels for brakes to fit, so I don't really see the benefit of moving them.