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I'm a little skeptical given the massive disruption that EVs represent to the entire... well... oil is practically the basis for the entire world order. It's li

by api 4y ago

I'm a little skeptical given the massive disruption that EVs represent to the entire... well... oil is practically the basis for the entire world order. It's like the spice in Dune. Multiple powerful and large nations have economies with double-digit dependencies on oil and the use of the dollar for most oil trading is the single largest factor underpinning the US dollar's global reserve currency status. I'm also a little skeptical because we own two and have had zero problems, but of course small sample sizes and all that. (2013 Nissan Leaf and 2022 Nissan Leaf though, and Nissan tends to build indestructible tanks. I've owned ICE Nissans too. Had one survive a front wheel collision with a curb at 50mph with <$1000 in damage.) That being said I wouldn't be terribly surprised to learn that an entirely new drive train technology has teething issues. It's a pretty major departure from ICE drive trains. Manufacturing a complex item like a car at scale is extremely challenging. It also looks like Tesla's famous build quality issues are sinking the category to some extent. Tesla's drive train seems solid but the rest of the car... it's like the most technologically advanced drive train platform with a 1990s Kia on top.

timtom39 4y ago
It isn't just Tesla. It is across the board there are big issues but this is not new. The big auto companies have always had this issue with new tech. For example, when they switched to aluminum block engines they had all sorts of horrible issues. Gas to EV is an even bigger jump. I suspect EV build quality will be poor for sometime. I just hope the public keeps embracing EV while they get things sorted.
- api 4y ago
  I wonder if the Nissan Leaf is fairly reliable because it was one of the first mass market EVs ever so they have been building them for almost 10 years. Our 2013 is fine but we bought it used so we'd already passed the descent part of the bath tub failure curve on it. I do dimly recall issues with early Leaf cars, mostly with the battery. The other factor might be that it's basically a Nissan Versa with an EV drive train. The majority of the car is not different from their other cars, which I consider a feature because almost everything but the EV drive train uses standard parts and can be fixed by any mechanic. It basically just has a battery where the gas tank is and a motor that pretends to be an engine to the other hardware in the vehicle. (I read somewhere that this is almost literally true if you dip into its CANbus traffic.) It's also a little bit hackable: https://github.com/dalathegreat/leaf_can_bus_messages https://github.com/dalathegreat/leaf_can_bus_messages I haven't done anything but I have a friend who's really into car hacking. Have chatted with him about maybe doing a side business upgrading these from CHADEMO to CCS. There are projects for doing that on GitHub with parts lists and code.

by api 4y ago

timtom39 4y ago

It isn't just Tesla. It is across the board there are big issues but this is not new. The big auto companies have always had this issue with new tech. For example, when they switched to aluminum block engines they had all sorts of horrible issues. Gas to EV is an even bigger jump. I suspect EV build quality will be poor for sometime. I just hope the public keeps embracing EV while they get things sorted.

api 4y ago
I wonder if the Nissan Leaf is fairly reliable because it was one of the first mass market EVs ever so they have been building them for almost 10 years. Our 2013 is fine but we bought it used so we'd already passed the descent part of the bath tub failure curve on it. I do dimly recall issues with early Leaf cars, mostly with the battery. The other factor might be that it's basically a Nissan Versa with an EV drive train. The majority of the car is not different from their other cars, which I consider a feature because almost everything but the EV drive train uses standard parts and can be fixed by any mechanic. It basically just has a battery where the gas tank is and a motor that pretends to be an engine to the other hardware in the vehicle. (I read somewhere that this is almost literally true if you dip into its CANbus traffic.) It's also a little bit hackable: https://github.com/dalathegreat/leaf_can_bus_messages https://github.com/dalathegreat/leaf_can_bus_messages I haven't done anything but I have a friend who's really into car hacking. Have chatted with him about maybe doing a side business upgrading these from CHADEMO to CCS. There are projects for doing that on GitHub with parts lists and code.