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Right. But right to repair requires providing access to parts, tools, documentation and software to products. Right to repair does not actually grant the right/
by icegreentea2 3y ago
Right. But right to repair requires providing access to parts, tools, documentation and software to products. Right to repair does not actually grant the right/ability/means to individuals to tinker with their batteries and put everyone in their apartment building at risk - they already had those.
There could even be a reasonable harm reduction argument that providing proper parts, tooling and documentation would actually reduce the risk. I could see reality going either way on this.
But in any case, arguments from safety should be directed and focused on actual risks. We have laws and building regulations for this reason. As you say, you wouldn't start a melding shop in your living room, but we don't ban anyone from just buying a welding machine.
- jacquesm 3y agoPeople don't generally use their welding machine inside shared accommodation, their kitchen or their living room. Guess where your average DIY person is going to try to rebuild their battery pack? Will they have their safety set up properly? Seriously: on the scale of 1 to 10 for risky things you could do I think DIY e-bike battery repair should rank higher than parachute jumping.
- icegreentea2 3y agoI agree that DIY battery repair is quite dangerous. But my point is that we should regulate and control the danger directly, instead of indirectly and very imperfectly by just grant ebikes an exemption in right to repair laws, especially as there are plenty of none battery components that (motors, controller boards, actual control inputs, etc) do not carry nearly the same safety concern. Finally, the degree of access required by the NY law is broadly summarized as "same level that an OEM would/does provide to dealers or authorized repairers". E-bike manufacturers could easily (and quite reasonably, based on safety concerns) limit that to whole battery packs (because for exactly the safety reasons you noted, basically no repair shop is going to want to do cell level tinkering).
- jacquesm 3y agoI think e-bike exemptions would be acceptable to me under the condition that the manufacturer would have to supply refurbished packs (new cells) for a token fee.