Electric + Human-Powered Vehicles

[stevebrooks]

Interesting video here on the Cybertruck and why Aluminium is a poor material to use for the chassis due to fatigue limits and etc, and also why the Cybertruck won't be allowed to be driven in other countries, because Aluminium doesn't meet the regulations required for tow hitches! It's quite possible that in the long term (if any survive that long, I mean how long is long term, a couple of years? My old Nissan was 25 tears old and still solid) Cybertrucks could just begin failing at the chassis level due to long term fatigue issues!

[stevebrooks]

Now this is quite interesting from a technical point of view, replacing the old battery in a BMW i3, 180km range when new, with a new battery pack giving 400km range, giving new life to old EV's!

[stylofone]

Now this is quite interesting from a technical point of view, replacing the old battery in a BMW i3, 180km range when new, with a new battery pack giving 400km range, giving new life to old EV's!

Excellent. Electric things make sense to me. Petrol engines, I never really clicked with. I am intimidated when I have to get a car repaired. But that reminded me of replacing components in a PC.

[stevebrooks]

Here's another interesting EV repair video, what makes this interesting is the presenter, Edd China. Don't know if you've followed him, restores old cars, big part of his career is Wheeler Dealers where they buy old cars and he fixes them up, but it shows an easy transition from working on ICE cars and engines to working on EV cars and batteries and actually how easy it is to access the insides of the car and battery:

[stylofone]

Here's another interesting EV repair video, what makes this interesting is the presenter, Edd China. Don't know if you've followed him, restores old cars, big part of his career is Wheeler Dealers where they buy old cars and he fixes them up, but it shows an easy transition from working on ICE cars and engines to working on EV cars and batteries and actually how easy it is to access the insides of the car and battery:

Love the Honda Monkey.

[stevebrooks]

Hmm, impressed with the battery range of the new Leapmotor PHEV, 145km, it should be a big seller in Australia, pure battery EV's re still slightly lacking in range for AU buyers, I suspect PHEV's will outsell pure EV's until we start seeing around 800km in range from them. The leapmotor provides enough range to be used as an almost pure EV in the city with the range for country driving provided by the charging motor:

[stylofone]

Hyundai Insta (Casper) in Korea;

It took a while, but the Inster is now selling here. It's the first non-Chinese EV under $40K, and also the first "sub compact" EV (not sure if that category is in common use, but anyway).

Basic model is around $39K +ORC. The extended range model would be the one to go for. The website gives quotes and in NSW is would be $49K drive away. Yikes! Double the price of a Suzuki Ignis, a rough ICE equivalent. Too much!

[stylofone]

Some general thoughts on car longevity...

EV guru Tony Seba says electric cars have the potential to last much longer than ICE cars - five times longer IIRC. This sounds like a planet-saving scenario, a turning point in the war on cars. I read a few web pages on the individual cars (including ICE) which have lasted a long time. The big kahuna appears to be the American man who bought a 1966 Volvo P1800 (gorgeous car with enormous cachet IMO) and drove it nearly 5 million kilometres before his death in 2013.

Then I heard about a Tesla fanatic who is trying to clock up a long distance in his Model S. He got to over a million miles, but he has had to replace the motor EIGHT times. That is not a ringing endorsement for Tesla. The company draws its inspiration from Apple, and it reinforces my suspicion that it has also inherited its role model's dismal record of planned obsolescence. (Both the Volvo and the Model S are mentioned on the WIki page on car longevity.

There's some American research based on car sales websites which lists long-lasting models. I hope my Corolla will live up to the company's reputation and last me for a while, as I wait for a trustworthy EV to become affordable.
https://www.iseecars.com/longest-lastin ... udy#v=2024

[stevebrooks]

another review on the Leapmotor that's coming the Aus;

https://www.news.com.au/special-feature ... 184b641a96

[stevebrooks]

Then I heard about a Tesla fanatic who is trying to clock up a long distance in his Model S. He got to over a million miles, but he has had to replace the motor EIGHT times.

Yeah and don't forgot the current controversy, that Tesla's don't actually measure the mileage, they estimate it based on algorithms!

Now one fact of the Tesla sales campaign since the very beginning is that Tesla's were advertised as high performance cars, I bet the guy who drioe his car a million miles didn't treat it as a high performance car, we don't know how he drove his Tesla to destroy the motor 8 times but I bet you could do the same any ICE car as well if you had the money and inclination to spare. It more reflects, I suspect, the drivers attitude to driving than the actual reliability of the car. A single example is unfortunately not enough to draw a conclusion as whether the motors in Tesla are reliable, but one thing I do know is that a lot of Telsa motors outlast the cars because they are a big item on the EV conversion scene! Many conversions use second hand Tesla motors.