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A Uruguayan company teaches people how to turn regular cars into EVs
- krunck 2y agoThis is what the world needs.
- aanet 2y agoThis is encouraging. We need more of these EV retro-fit kits in developing countries, where buying EVs is prohibitively expensive. Obviously, we need a way of safety certifying the kits and the end product as well. Uruguay is among the most developed countries [1] in South America (2024 nominal GDP per capita: ~$23K; Chile ~$16.5K) with human development index of 0.83 (very high). Yet, the list price of new vehicles is easily 1.5x - 2x that in the US, and EVs are quite out of reach for most residents. (ex: Honda Civic HEV is listed for USD 55K [2]) By offering modestly priced EV retrofit kits, a market need is clearly being met. - [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Uruguay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Uruguay - [2] https://www.hondauruguay.com/civic-e-hev.html https://www.hondauruguay.com/civic-e-hev.html
- floxy 2y ago> Yet, the list price of new vehicles is easily 1.5x - 2x that in the US I'm assuming this is because of taxes or import tariffs, or something similarly self-imposed?
- Jtsummers 2y agoYes. Substantial taxes on imports for vehicles from outside Mercosur, also taxes based on engine size and a few other parameters.
- beaglesss 2y agoGenius. Incentivize economic production in industries where you have less comparative advantage. A common story of contribution to poverty in SA, although to be fair Uruguay is better than most others on the continent.
- throw_pm23 2y agoHow do you build that comparative advantage though? You think Japan or South Korea didn't have protectionist policies until they figured out how to produce such things competitively?
- Joker_vD 2y agoPrecisely. The theory of comparative advantage literally says "you can't finance e.g. industrialization by the market means, it's strictly and highly unprofitable, no entrepreneur in their right mind would (or even could) do this", yet somehow people routinely tout it as a decisive argument for laissez-faire. And Japan's history of the state support for its automotive industry is quite something.
- dietr1ch 2y agoThis got to be negligible next to corruption and the cost of being small countries (more prone to market failures, small import/export traffic, brain drain).
- spelufo 2y agoI'm Uruguayan and this drives me crazy. Specially for products that are also tools for industries where we can and do compete. Buying a computer in Uruguay costs about twice as much as in the US. If this is all self imposed by tariffs, which as far as I know it is, what industry are the tariffs really defending? Certainly not Uruguayan electronics manufacturers, there aren't any. The only people that I imagine benefit are customs officers and companies that import stuff to sell in Uruguay. There isn't any new capability to build things that the country gets in return. We learn from exporting talent instead. And if we want to compete we need to do it globally. Our market is too small, the population is ~3M.
- floxy 2y ago>The only people that I imagine benefit are customs officers and companies that import stuff to sell in Uruguay. How do high tariffs help importing companies? Wouldn't they be able to sell more (and thus import more) if the end prices to the consumer were lower?
- seydor 2y agowe need this in all countries. In fact it's curious that this is not the first priority
- lukan 2y agoCar companies rather sell new cars, than conversion kits and they do have quite a lobby.
- chii 2y agoIt's the same as mobile phones. Most phones have unreplacible batteries, because it's commercially better for their bottom line. It's not like phones improve sufficiently to justify buying a new one, but the battery lose charge significantly over time. A car has similar issues. There are only small parts of the car that wears out, and by replacing those parts, the car can be made to function for significantly longer. But modern cars are so complex and intertwined, that it's difficult to just replace worn parts (not to mention difficult to even find those parts available). Hopefully the conversion to EV cars will resolve some of these problems, but i dont have high hopes. It's not like EV manufacturers are going out of their way to make the car's batteries replacible.
- lukan 2y ago"It's not like EV manufacturers are going out of their way to make the car's batteries replacible" But since electric cars are mechanically a bit simpler, there are opportunities for small companies willing to disrupt the market or at least find a niche for reliable and easy to fix cars.
- chii 2y ago> willing to disrupt the market i doubt it, because the whole platform is controlled by the EV manufacturer, and they can easily prevent it (via software for example). Think inkjet printers. If EV batteries are to be made replacible, it needs to be mandated by law. And to be honest, i think a car's battery should be replacible (and be easy/convenient to do so) - imagine instead of charging your car, you will drive up to a "gas" station and just replace the current flat batteries with full ones in a few minutes. Think gas stove tanks.
- pelasaco 2y agoThe issue for the cars owners is that it become harder to sell the car later, exactly because of this transformation. So you basically transform it and drive until it dies (which is not bad from my POV), but that is something that make people think twice before doing it.
- fnord77 2y ago> We need more of these EV retro-fit kits in developing countries why? fossil fuels will remain economical for at least 100 more years.
- psd1 2y agoWhat do you mean by "economical"? EV already beats ICE in some dimensions of economy.
- fnord77 2y ago10 year TCO for a barebones Prius is lower than TCO for an EV, when counting things like battery replacement and charger installation.
- Dylan16807 2y agoMost cars can't dream of being anywhere near as efficient as a Prius. But yes if you can get your gasoline spending under $1000/year then you can probably match or beat electric. Throwing US averages at a calculator says an equivalently priced Leaf would have $200 less in fuel costs per year compared to the Prius getting 57 mpg. At that point it's up to the random maintenance costs.
- abeppu 2y agoOne of the image captions just says: > Each new component for the vehicle is custom-made. ... which to me is kinda shocking. Both in terms of the cost of components and the labor needed to figure out each vehicle's specific conversion, this seems expensive, slow, and perhaps is a source of quality/safety concerns. While I love the idea of being able to convert existing vehicles, more cheaply and with fewer resources than building all-new EVs, I'd think that you'd want: - standardized components - standardized math on safety implications (e.g. for the amount of increased mass, how do the breaks need to change to keep a reasonable stopping distance? Given some assumptions about driving speed, where does the center of mass need to be to avoid increased chance of rolling?) - a slowly expanding database of specifics for each model and year, so if you're converting a previously-converted model, you can just follow a pre-compiled list of steps
- givemeethekeys 2y agoWell, you're in luck! Most components for converting an ICE vehicle to EV are, in-fact standard. For example, check out evwest.com - they supply parts and kits to convert ICE cars to EVs.
- whycome 2y ago> ... which to me is kinda shocking. I think they try to avoid this... > In 2021, the Chilean transport ministry passed legislation banning the retrofitting of all used passenger vehicles. Unless there are major problems, leave the legislation until you have a plan or draft regulation ready. It's 2024 now.
- pornel 2y agoThere are off-the-shelf standard components for all major parts of the EV drivetrain. The custom work is mostly in wiring that up, and building a battery cradle and motor mounts that can be installed without compromising car's original structure.
- chmod775 2y ago> Both in terms of the cost of components and the labor needed to figure out each vehicle's specific conversion, this seems expensive, slow, and perhaps is a source of quality/safety concerns. We are speaking about countries where that sort of labor costs between $0.5 to $3 per hour. The parts used aren't factory-new and the cost of labor is minuscule in comparison to the price of the vehicle. There is no money for safety. You make do with what you have.
- pornel 2y agoAll the retrofits I've seen only have AC charging. Is there a reason why they don't support DC charging, even at lower power if necessary?
- Kirby64 2y agoGenerally speaking since DC charging is so fast, you need to have very tight control over the cooling and performance of the cells or you’ll have issues with longevity. Lots of retrofits just kind of stuff batteries wherever they fit… so cooling isn’t going to be the most effective. By comparison, AC charging, even at 12kW, is quite slow for a decent sized battery pack. I don’t think there’s any technical/protocol reason you couldn’t do this, it just complicates things quite a bit.
- greenthrow 2y agoThere's more complicated software involved in DC charging due to the much higher power levels, plus more complicated monitoring of the system. AC charging is much more straight forward and simple.
- jillesvangurp 2y agoIn other words, cost is the issue here. If you have a large budget, you can get the best components. But with a lot of conversions, the whole point is giving a second life to an otherwise relatively worthless car and avoiding the larger expense of getting a proper EV. It doesn't make sense to get tens of thousands of dollars worth of components for that. Simple, easy, and cheap is the whole goal here. There are some nice conversion kits for things like classic cars where it makes sense to have fast charging. But then we're talking 50-60k in cost and a lot of labor. For that kind of money, you can get several decent second hand EVs or even a new one. Spending that kind of money is only interesting because it's a classic car. E.g. a lot of old porsches apparently drive a lot nicer and better after an EV conversion. Also not having them break down with weird mechanical issues all the time makes driving them more fun. Also, more torque, power, etc. But you wouldn't do that with some generic consumer car where the whole point of the conversion is avoiding the expense of buying a proper EV. You can get some nice used EVs for under 10K now. Pretty decent ones even.
- psychlops 2y agoFor those in NJ, I can recommend this place: https://www.rongrosinger.com/welding-101-sign-up/electric-vehicle-conversion-101 https://www.rongrosinger.com/welding-101-sign-up/electric-ve... I took his class and Ron is great. Sharp, curious and an entertaining teacher.
- 3rdworldeng 2y agoyay my country in HN :-D
- epidemian 2y agoUsername checks out :) Saludos desde el otro lado del charco! And, to contribute something to the discussion: yeah, here in Argentina we have a similar situation. Import taxes are stupid high for some (most) products, making them prohibitively expensive for most people. Although high levels of inequality allow some people to access these kinds of goods, so for exmaple there's a non-zero market for iPhones here. In the case of EVs, i haven't seen any cars here yet[1] —i suspect because of total lack of infrastructure for them, besides the high prices— but there's quite a lively market of electric scooters in Buenos Aires. They are not that expensive, and people can charge them in their homes. This Uruguayan initiative of retrofitting electric motors into old cars is encouraging. I hope regulations serve a good purpose like setting good standards, instead of killing the movement outright :/ [1]: There's an Argentinian-made electric car with which i unfortunately share a nickname: Tito. But it's a total scam; a Chinese design ripoff with a ridiculously high price for what it's worth.
- 3rdworldeng 2y ago10 décimas de saludo al pueblo Argentino :-) > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4bt_ARtcmg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4bt_ARtcmg
- gcanyon 2y agoHi there! I happen to be in Uruguay (from the US) right now, congrats on your amazing country!
- 3rdworldeng 2y agoBe very welcome, ask if you need hints and tips :-)
- gcanyon 2y ago
- olliej 2y agoI look at car channels on YouTube and there’s all this community around engine swaps and similar so it remains disappointing that there isn’t any real gas->EV equivalent market. I assume part of it is imply lack of secure space for the giant explosive mass that is current lithium battery tech, but it’s still surprising that there’s seemingly next to no option.
- fragmede 2y agoGetting a salvage title Tesla and converting any other cars to use the Tesla drivetrain quite popular on my Youtube.
- XorNot 2y agoThe problem is the vast majority of the cost of an EV is the batteries. You save very little money from not buying other parts, and lose a fair bit of performance.
- bagels 2y agoIt's expensive and difficult to do. In the end, you're left with something that cost you more, and is less capable than a new EV.
- RF_Savage 2y agoIt does not exist outside of diy enthusiasts in the west as a used electric car will have more range and be cheaper. So currently it's an enthusiast thing.
- 8bitsrule 2y agoThe majority of people I've seen on car channels (US only) are ICE-culturists. Fixers, modders, customizers. EV's a dirty word.
- ZeroGravitas 2y agoI occasionally see these channels when they do EV conversions and it's amusing that they need to do a little disclaimer at the start to prove that they're not some kind of Marxist and prove their ICE credentials just because they're interested in an EV conversion. You sometimes see similar for anyone working on offgrid solar PV. Possibly it's just the channels the algorithm feeds me but it feels like engineering reality is slowly penetrating the political fog over time.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- gcanyon 2y agoI happen to be in Uruguay right now (from the US). I rented a car -- didn't see an EV option. I've driven from Montevideo to Punta Del Diablo and I haven't seen a charging station :-( I wasn't looking for one, and checking the map just now, they do exist. Also: Uruguay is awesome.
- is_true 2y agoThere are a few in the Interbalnearia/IB/Ruta 1. https://movilidad.ute.com.uy/carga.html?tab=red-de-carga https://movilidad.ute.com.uy/carga.html?tab=red-de-carga
- TremendousJudge 2y agoNot surprised you haven't seen EVs for rent, since the charging network, although it exists, is woefully unsufficient for non-expert users. Montevideo is a city of ~1.5M people and there are less than 30 charging stations. It's not viable to charge "at home" unless you live in a house; I have never seen an apartment buildings garage prepared for EV charging.
- aaron695 2y ago[dead]
- tppiotrowski 2y agoCan anyone recommend a learning resource or YouTube videos on English? (Autolibre has a course but I believe it's only in Spanish)
- ksoped 2y agoThere's a lot of videos about EV conversions on YT but they're mostly on the edutainment side not a full on course. Watching RichRebuilds, JerryRigEverything's jeep conversion gives you an overview of the process and they're entertaining if you're completely new to the idea.
- trhway 2y agoThe conversion is labor intensive, and thus it makes sense in the countries where labor is relatively cheap (and regulations are usually more relaxed), and has no way in the US and Western Europe. The conversion itself is no brainer - you old beat up car with the older and weaker and relatively inefficient ICE engine, may be even carburetor one, becomes more performant, easier to maintain, cheaper to drive (especially given that electricity is frequently government subsidized). And the conversion is pretty cheap if you bring the parts from Alibaba, the prismatic batteries for example are well under $100/KWh.
- kleiba 2y agoThis makes me wonder though wheather the grid infrastructure in Uruguay is ready for a scenario where a substantial percentage of the countries cars need to charge their batteries regularly?
- trhway 2y agoCharging at night at home - and that is your main option when charging infra is lacking - may even be an improvement for the nation grid's overall health and economics.
- saagarjha 2y agoThis is unfortunately problematic in places where the grid is transitioning to solar power. It really depends on what the makeup of your base load is.
- alex_duf 2y agoAnd I'll also add that night-charging can only scale up to a point, there's a point where the country would end up consuming more at night than during the day. So it really depends on the local situation, local energy mix, local infrastructure.
- adrianN 2y agoCharging at a couple of kW for the night is enough for almost everybody. Very few people drive hundreds of kilometers every day and the typical EV needs 10-20kWh/100km. The grid should handle that without a problem in most places, I think. Cars are parked most of the day. If most of the parking spots offer a kW or two charging becomes a nonissue.
- trhway 2y agoSolar power is new development, and it would be naturally to do it in parallel with charging infra in business districts thus providing another sink for all that daytime generated power.
- lokimedes 2y agoWhat is the evolution regarding energy density, I have a PHEV with 11kWh in the trunk. If it was 20kWh, it would cover my daily commute. Are anyone offering battery upgrades to existing EVs?
- gambiting 2y agoI'm in the same boat - I have a Volvo PHEV with an 11.6kWh battery, and Volvo upgraded that battery in newer models to 18.8kWh. And the thing is....the battery takes the exact same space as before - it was just an improvement in battery packaging which allowed them to do this. But....I can't fit this newer battery to my car, even though it would physically fit - the systems inside the car will not allow it to work. If there was a company that offered this as a paid upgrade for my car I'd gladly pay for it.
- saagarjha 2y agoThat's a pretty long commute you've got there :(
- lokimedes 2y agoyeah, 50km each way.
- dhosek 2y agoI think my longest commute was 50 miles (Claremont to El Segundo). I used to drive to the Norwalk end of the Green Line to reduce the drive time at the expense of commute time by taking the train the last stretch of the commute. It’s a little stunning to think about all the sense memories I have from that commute 30 years later.
- mharig 2y agoThe new solid electrolyte batteries have around 450 Wh/kg, the old liquid electrolyte ones around 270 Wh/kg. Or less for LFP.
- 2y ago
- Animats 2y agoElectro Automotive did this in California for 30 years. The owner recently retired and shut down. There's something of a business in converting classic cars to electric, because maintaining the antique technology costs more than a conversion. There are plenty of kits for this sold online. The usual "custom part" needed is an adapter plate to attach the motor to the transmission, and possibly a spline. Plus motor mounts. Once you have the adapter plate pattern for a car model, it's possible to drill one from a blank. Here are some adapters.[1] Where to put the battery? Real electric cars put it under the floor, which keeps the CG low and provides enough space for a large battery. Conversions have less battery space and may be top-heavy. [1] https://inductiveauto.com/product-category/adapters/ https://inductiveauto.com/product-category/adapters/
- stavros 2y agoWouldn't you put the battery in the massive space created by the missing engine block?
- gambiting 2y agoNo, because that space is still occupied by all the auxiliary devices that still have to be there, and of course the electric motor which - while smaller than most ICEs - is still sizable. Converted cars have less space under the bonnet than most people would guess.
- Animats 2y agoThat's where the electric motor goes in retrofits.
- claudiulodro 2y agoBeyond space concerns, there are balance concerns. You could fill the trunk or hood with batteries, but that adds 1000+ pounds to the end(s) of the car, so it will be a poor driving experience (for reference, a good size ICE engine is ~500 lbs). The best EV conversions spread the batteries throughout the car so it remains balanced (but that's pretty complex in terms of packaging and wiring).
- Keppl8R 2y agoHere is one from Australia "Bolt-On Kit Wants To Turn Your ICE Car Into A Hybrid From $3,200" October 21, 2023 > The young Australian engineer behind the kit hopes to sell it for just $3,200 and enable buyers to have it installed in a single day https://www.carscoops.com/2023/10/bolt-on-kit-to-convert-combustion-cars-to-hybrids-could-cost-just-over-3k/ https://www.carscoops.com/2023/10/bolt-on-kit-to-convert-com... Looks like a backyard operation so far "REVR (Rapid Electric Vehicle Retrofits)" https://www.revr.tech/ https://www.revr.tech/ https://www.jamesdysonaward.org/en-AU/2023/project/revr/ https://www.jamesdysonaward.org/en-AU/2023/project/revr/ REVR-lutionising the car industry: RMIT student crowned national James Dyson Award winner with electric vehicle retrofit solution 13 September 2023 https://www.dyson.com.au/newsroom/updates/james-dyson-award-2023-winner https://www.dyson.com.au/newsroom/updates/james-dyson-award-... (Sorry for all the links! but looks like an interesting way to do the conversions!)
- freefruit 2y agohttps://www.revr.tech/news https://www.revr.tech/news Poor guys workshop burt down.
- Keppl8R 2y agoYikes! Looks hopeful as of 3rd of September they say the following on facebook: > Just a small mid-late month update. Thanks again to everyone who has donated. Small and big all donations make a big difference for our prototyping effort. We are now just waiting on coils and cnc to come through which should be a week or so. We finished clearing away all the rubble from the fire and the new shed is now built and sealed ready to start housing REVR! We have had some very productive discussions and vid calls with people looking to help make REVR happen which we may be able to elaborate on in future. We have also entered the Samsung Solve For Tomorrow comp to promote REVR. There is some more good competition news we can't wait to share. Will have some more substantial updates very soon. - Alex https://www.facebook.com/revretrofits/ https://www.facebook.com/revretrofits/
- schnitzelstoat 2y agoDo they have charging stations? I don't have an EV in Southern Europe because there are hardly any charging stations and as we live in apartments you can't charge it at home either as the communal parking doesn't have a charging station.
- torginus 2y agoWhich is weird, considering there's 3 phase AC 400V infrastructure everywhere in Europe. Putting 7-11kW slow chargers in every apartment's parking lot would be perfectly doable.
- abc123abc123 2y agoDo note that many apartment buildings in europe are 100+ years old and where not built with parking lots. Commonly, cars are parked on the street outside, and therefore there is definitely not enough space outside an apartmentbuilding for cars if all apartment owners had one. In modern, and newly built apartment buildings I imagine that this is probably already in place due to eco-hysteria.
- torginus 2y agoIf there's no parking lot, that's a car problem, not an EV problem. This is a hairy issue, but in my experience, getting around in densely packed city centers with a car is asking for trouble - dense traffic and generally no parking spaces. I did use to live in a place like that, and I stored my car in a P+R on the outskitrts of the city.
- prmoustache 2y ago> in every apartment's parking lot Provided there is a parking lot. Even owning an EV motorbike is sometimes difficult, I have been looking for an e-motorbike/moped and there are only a couple of models with an extractible battery and only one I have found that has the battery that is easily transportable (you pull it like a trolley bagage) when your bike is staying in the street: The Silence S01 and S02 (S01 being also sold under the Seat brand).
- forinti 2y agoI visited Uruguay every year in the 1980s and 90s. There were tons of old cars and trucks. My great-uncle had an English car from the 1930s which he still drove. They have almost all disappeared. My most recent trip was in 2023 and I only saw two old Fiat 500s. The irony is that they have gas BYDs, which I had never heard of until last year. Anyway, Uruguay is a small country but it has a very good educational system, so it's not surprising that many interesting companies come from there.
- alephnerd 2y ago> The irony is that they have gas BYDs, which I had never heard of until last year BYD bought out a failing automotive company decades ago which became BYD Auto, and continued building ICE cars. They only began mass producing EVs in the 2010s after getting a massive cash infusion from Berkshire Hathaway and Blackrock around 2008-09
- zubiaur 2y agoThey had the tooling for 9th gen corollas, which they fitted with mistubishi engines. One cold take a BYD F3 door and put it in a corolla. Fit like a glove.
- ZeroGravitas 2y agoThey're also doing well on share of new cars that are EV: https://cleantechnica.com/2024/07/20/uruguay-ev-sales-report-june-byd-dominates-unreal-growth-brings-bev-market-share-to-15/ https://cleantechnica.com/2024/07/20/uruguay-ev-sales-report... Makes a lot of financial sense when your local grid is hydro heavy and most of your oil is imported.
- jnsaff2 2y agoThere is a thriving forum for ev conversions[0]. [0] https://openinverter.org/forum/ https://openinverter.org/forum/
- janosch_123 2y agoYep, especially the project forum is full of successful conversions: https://openinverter.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=11 https://openinverter.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=11 Also, this community is built around open source (software and hardware) components.
- Dennip 2y agoIs there a reason not more popular to create hybrids that have no traditional powertrain? IT seems like it would be cost effective. i.e. the petrol engine effectively just runs a generator to the batteries. You don't need prop shafts/gearboxes/transfer case/axles/alternator/starter etc. If you can integrate the motor assembly into the wheel hub you don't need any kind of axle at all. If/when the batteries degrade and lose capacity, you can just rely on the engine more. The engine won't ever have to 'work' too hard, because when you accelerate hard the energy dump can just come from the battery reserve. Like it could just idle along at a more-or-less fixed rpm.
- sandworm101 2y agoSuch a setup is vastly less efficient for small engines. If the combusion engine is turning, the best way to use that power is directly to the wheels, as opposed converting it back and forth to electricity.
- Dennip 2y agoIt would be interesting to see the numbers I guess. For one, the manufacturer is offloading that energy burden onto the owner, not themselves. IIRC A large portion of the carbon created by a car is during the manufacture, so if you're not forging a prop shaft and machining a gearbox, is it acceptable to reduce engine efficiency by some measure? Especially given the engine won't run all the time, just when the battery drop to some margin the car feels it should start charging. Potentially (theorising here) Your EV will last longer before getting crushed into a cube, as it can compensate for battery degradation, your engine will last longer as it will have a fairly stable usage load (revs etc) and won't be used much
- _visgean 2y agomy understanding was that you can run the gas engine in optimal speed to charge the electric engine which makes it more efficient.
- bluGill 2y ago
- ajot 2y agoReminds me of Exponential Motors, a startup/project created by a chilean, an argentinean and a mexican in Singularity University, who made somo prototypes converting cars to hybrids with supercapacitors. https://exponentialmotors.com/ https://exponentialmotors.com/
- tiahura 2y agoWouldn’t it be cheaper just to drive actual golf carts than to pay to convert?
- psd1 2y agoIt would be cheaper still to commit suicide directly, and less likely to affect other road users.
- numpad0 2y agoYes. Used Nissan LEAF is like $1500 at the lowest end. Same for Prius. Lots of them should be able to continue to roll on the ground for a decade or so on bald tires. It'll be very hard to undercut those.
- rurban 2y agoIt would be cheaper to get a BYD imported from China, without the import taxes. That would be a really good car, compared to a converted.
- dhosek 2y agoBack in the 90s, I carpooled with a friend who had a retrofitted Honda CRX. I remember the first time he picked me up in it, we rolled out of my driveway and then started down the street and I was wondering when he‘d turn the engine on and stop relying on gravity to move the car (I used to use the same trick with my stick-shift Miata) and then I realized that he was, it’s just that the electric motor was silent. The other fun thing was watching the battery gauge fall as we went up the ramp on the 10-57 interchange in San Dimas. Being an early adopter, the commute from Claremont to Orange County was just within the range of his EV. He later went on to be one of the first lessees of the EV1 and was interviewed in Who Killed the Electric Car?
- WalterBright 2y agoThe key innovation to make Tesla a success was regenerative braking along with the transmission to make it work. Just replacing the engine with an electric motor and batteries works, but is significantly inferior.
- skrebbel 2y agoI don't disagree, but I also think that the key innovation that Tesla did was to make EVs cool (or at least, non-dorky).
- kobalsky 2y ago> (or at least, non-dorky). I always expected the tinfoil hats to raise up when many mainstream series made fun of prius owners being pretentious dorks, or when Musk came out of the closet as a republican and everyone started hating the brand [1]. I half expected them to say that it was the work of big-oil. [1] https://slate.com/business/2023/07/elon-musk-tesla-owners-twitter-buyers-remorse.html https://slate.com/business/2023/07/elon-musk-tesla-owners-tw...
- dwallin 2y agoRegenerative braking is so far from being an innovation on Tesla's part. Regenerative braking as a technology has been around since 1886, and was even seen in some of the earliest electric cars at the end of the 19th century (krieger electric landaulet). Even when you fast forward to modern production cars, the Prius had a regenerative braking system almost a decade before the Tesla Roadster came out.
- WalterBright 2y agoYou might want to check out "Elon Musk" by Vance on what his innovations were with the battery and drive system. Yes, people knew about regenerative braking. When was the last time someone built an electric car with regenerative braking? The Tesla was not built with off-the-shelf batteries and drive systems. Musk originally tried to, but they were unworkable.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- pvaldes 2y agoRegular cars were carefully designed to fold like an accordion in case of impact, so people will be safe Now add to the equation a big flammable battery below the people in the areas designed to fold and you will have a lot of scorching fun if the car that you drive eventually hit something. Do we really need to explain why this is a recipe for trouble?.
- jongjong 2y agoThis is amazing. It's a shame how western media and governments aim to cover up such information and then try to regulate the movement out of existence... Again under the guise of 'safety'. If this movement picks up, you know for sure that governments will be doing PsyOps to stage and draw attention to battery explosions and then claim "Look, we told you it was unsafe." Disgusting.