Not particularly. New motor for my car is like $3500 and I have the knowledge to swap it myself. That’s similar or cheaper than the battery swaps I’ve heard about. I still think EV’s are a good idea but this particular issue is not why.
It’s actually a concern that depending on the vehicle I won’t be able to swap a battery out on an EV myself. Some of them are huge and exceedingly heavy. So they require special tools / lifts to do it safely.
Battery is easy to replace, I think. They’re soft packages now. Turn on the vehicle and make sure it is operating. Do not turn off the car. Then, just slide under the car, puncture a hole in the battery and use a catch can to get all the battery juice. It may be too spicy so don’t drink it, I think. Don’t let it get in your eyes, but if it does, lemon juice in the eyes for 15 minutes will do the trick. Then water your eyes and clean with a clean towel.
Once it’s done draining, tape the hole shut (I recommend brand name gaffer tape or flex seal). Then flip up to the top of the car and puncture a new hole in the top of the battery. Fill it with new battery juice if you have enough containers, else it’s fine to just drop as many AA batteries as you can down the hole and try to fill it up. You may need to get D batteries also in case you don’t have enough AA batteries since D batteries are bigger. I wouldn’t recommend trying to shove a car battery from an ICE car in there, it wouldn’t fit in the hole for one thing and then you’d have to make a bigger hole. Once done, tape that sucker up. Then turn off the vehicle. Easy 8 hour job that you can do in… maybe like 8 hours. It’s normal for it to clang around and sound like shit for the first 7 years, but eventually the juices will melt the housings for all the AA and D batteries you shoved in there and then it will be liquid again by the time you’re ready to replace it.
Yeah, some of us have skills others don’t. You’d not want to ride a car where I’ve swapped the engine, I’ll tell you that.
My comment is, however, a paraphrase on the two most common questions regarding EVs. From people who doesn’t, unlike you, know how to change a transmission. If ICE cars are as unreliable compared to EVs as alluded to in the article, then EVs should be considered the safe and reliable option…
From the article it still seems more like wishful thinking to me. Like batteries surprised them so the rest should too.
EVs will last longer than ICE because there are fewer moving parts; contrary to what people thought would happen, batteries are lasting a lot longer than they were expected to
If batteries and electric motors last as long or longer than ICE then great. EV or ICE you’ll still have all the other stuff. Tires, brakes, steering components (tie rods, ball joints, etc), suspension (struts, springs, bushings) and dealing with undercarriage rust. Coatings are better all the time but crap just rusts. That kind of stuff is gonna wear out the same or possible slightly faster due to the added weight from EV’s for similar vehicles.
The real benefit to EV’s is the reduction of ‘short-term’ maintenance. Oil changes every X thousand miles are out. If you can charge at home then trips to fill up are out too. Most of the ‘other stuff’ above is years in between.
Most of my engine swaps are cause somebody did something dumb…usually my nephews.
I think that is the question. The Nissan Leaf gave the entire industry a bad taste because they did not (and still do not) actively cool their batteries. I’m not sure we ever recovered from that. They lasted like 40k miles. So that’s the perception that we’re battling, that batteries only last ~100k miles vs. ICE powertrains that last twice as long.
That didn’t stop Nissan to conclude that the batteries lasted twice as long as the rest of the car. The number of (newish# cars taken out of traffic each year is higher than we expect.
Aren’t you afraid you will need to change the (ICE) motor? Those are costly and tend to fail more often than batteries, you know?
Not particularly. New motor for my car is like $3500 and I have the knowledge to swap it myself. That’s similar or cheaper than the battery swaps I’ve heard about. I still think EV’s are a good idea but this particular issue is not why.
It’s actually a concern that depending on the vehicle I won’t be able to swap a battery out on an EV myself. Some of them are huge and exceedingly heavy. So they require special tools / lifts to do it safely.
Battery is easy to replace, I think. They’re soft packages now. Turn on the vehicle and make sure it is operating. Do not turn off the car. Then, just slide under the car, puncture a hole in the battery and use a catch can to get all the battery juice. It may be too spicy so don’t drink it, I think. Don’t let it get in your eyes, but if it does, lemon juice in the eyes for 15 minutes will do the trick. Then water your eyes and clean with a clean towel.
Once it’s done draining, tape the hole shut (I recommend brand name gaffer tape or flex seal). Then flip up to the top of the car and puncture a new hole in the top of the battery. Fill it with new battery juice if you have enough containers, else it’s fine to just drop as many AA batteries as you can down the hole and try to fill it up. You may need to get D batteries also in case you don’t have enough AA batteries since D batteries are bigger. I wouldn’t recommend trying to shove a car battery from an ICE car in there, it wouldn’t fit in the hole for one thing and then you’d have to make a bigger hole. Once done, tape that sucker up. Then turn off the vehicle. Easy 8 hour job that you can do in… maybe like 8 hours. It’s normal for it to clang around and sound like shit for the first 7 years, but eventually the juices will melt the housings for all the AA and D batteries you shoved in there and then it will be liquid again by the time you’re ready to replace it.
/s
You seem niche.
Most people don’t have the time or knowledge to swap a car engine tho? That’s a huge cost factor in this equation.
Yeah, some of us have skills others don’t. You’d not want to ride a car where I’ve swapped the engine, I’ll tell you that.
My comment is, however, a paraphrase on the two most common questions regarding EVs. From people who doesn’t, unlike you, know how to change a transmission. If ICE cars are as unreliable compared to EVs as alluded to in the article, then EVs should be considered the safe and reliable option…
From the article it still seems more like wishful thinking to me. Like batteries surprised them so the rest should too.
If batteries and electric motors last as long or longer than ICE then great. EV or ICE you’ll still have all the other stuff. Tires, brakes, steering components (tie rods, ball joints, etc), suspension (struts, springs, bushings) and dealing with undercarriage rust. Coatings are better all the time but crap just rusts. That kind of stuff is gonna wear out the same or possible slightly faster due to the added weight from EV’s for similar vehicles.
The real benefit to EV’s is the reduction of ‘short-term’ maintenance. Oil changes every X thousand miles are out. If you can charge at home then trips to fill up are out too. Most of the ‘other stuff’ above is years in between.
Most of my engine swaps are cause somebody did something dumb…usually my nephews.
I think that is the question. The Nissan Leaf gave the entire industry a bad taste because they did not (and still do not) actively cool their batteries. I’m not sure we ever recovered from that. They lasted like 40k miles. So that’s the perception that we’re battling, that batteries only last ~100k miles vs. ICE powertrains that last twice as long.
That didn’t stop Nissan to conclude that the batteries lasted twice as long as the rest of the car. The number of (newish# cars taken out of traffic each year is higher than we expect.