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0 pointscperciva2y ago0 comments

Insurance is shooting up to the sky as they have to write off entire cars over minor damage because they dented the battery and this shit can't be fixed.

I'm hoping we'll see improvements to the designs here, e.g. modular replaceable batteries, so that if the battery is damaged in a collision there's a $1000 cost to replace one of 4 battery modules, rather than a $40000 cost to replace the entire vehicle.

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bluGill2y ago

We don't need modular batteries, we need accessible cells. Train mechanics to find and replace the bad cell. Spot welding a new cell in is a skill, but one mechanics can learn. There are safety concerns with this, but high voltage spark plugs are not safe either and mechanics work with them all the time. However if the cells are not reasonably, or they can't find the bad one the whole car becomes scrap.

Some of this will come as mechanics decide they need to learn how to service EVs. However some of it depends on a good design for repair.

3cats-in-a-coat2y ago

If modular batteries would work, we'd have them. If you recall Elon promised several years back that Tesla cars will have replaceable batteries. Go to a charging station, swap your battery and go. He didn't do it. Why?

Because batteries are HEAVY. A modular design means the batteries can't be structural, so you need more structure to support the car around the battery, and a solid structure holding the replaceable battery itself. Boxes in boxes in boxes in boxes. This makes the car heavier. Weight means less range. To increase the range you need more batteries. Which adds more weight. Which means less range.

Do you see what I mean? It's just physics. We can't fix this. Only some amazing battery breakthrough would fix this, but so far we have only sensationalist articles about something working in a lab supposedly and nothing out there in production.

outworlder2y ago

> If modular batteries would work, we'd have them.

We have them. Nissan is one of the ones I know that can replace individual battery modules if any of them have faulty cells. That's completely different than a battery swap for charging purposes.

Batteries are heavy but they aren't ridiculously so in the grand scheme of things. Normal, not oversized trucks, with decent range are possible without structural batteries, and that describes a lot of (non Tesla) EVs.

kalleboo2y ago

> If you recall Elon promised several years back that Tesla cars will have replaceable batteries. Go to a charging station, swap your battery and go. He didn't do it. Why?

California had a subsidy for cars that had swappable batteries. Tesla opened a single station that was open by invite-only in order to qualify for that subsidy. Once it ended, so did the project.

jodrellblank2y ago

> "If modular batteries would work, we'd have them"

China has them; automated EV battery swap stations by NIO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kZgG58zz8U

aydyn2y ago

> If you recall Elon promised several years back that Tesla cars will have replaceable batteries. Go to a charging station, swap your battery and go. He didn't do it. Why?

Because Elon spouts a lot of bullshit that you shouldn't take seriously? Why do people still feign surprise.

That's not an indictment of EVs as a whole, and in fact none of your arguments are.

Cybertrucks being a failure? Well yeah, but not because it's an EV.

Expensive to buy? When M3s are going for $30K on sale after federal credits?

Expensive to own? I haven't needed a single maintenance other than windshield wipers after 50K miles.

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tirant2y ago

That already exists. BMW sells you the modules for any of their EV batteries.

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