Quote from: serveria.com on Today at 09:21:29 PM

Quote from: suchmoon on Today at 08:12:42 PM

Quote from: lightfoot on Today at 06:17:13 PM

This is the big problem with electric cars: Once the powertrain warranty is out, the value of the car is pretty much zero. Gas engines can go 200k miles and can be fixed without a full replacement.

I remember in 2005 the roads were full of Gen 1 Priuses. Then they started to just disappear, and now I doubt anyone has seem one in years. Why? Battery pack blowing out and while you can swap it for a couple of thousand, most people just junked em.

It's a problem.

Not to defend Tesla here - horrible build quality and Musk is a smug asshole - but their batteries can last 200k-300k, I've seen a quite a few with that mileage. And Model S is supposedly a luxury car that can do 0-60 in like 4 seconds, so that $22k should be compared to maybe M5 or E63 engine replacement? Plus there are battery repair options available, just not in Finland apparently.

Anyway, we're at peak dinosaur juice technology, and electric stuff will only get better.

Speaking about battery repair: I know a guy who's doing battery repairs and according to him in most cases it's not necessary to replace the entire battery pack. What they do is test all batteries inside a battery pack and find the faulty ones. Then they replace the faulty batteries with some used ones so that voltage is approx the same. Such repairs are quite cheap if compared to battery pack replacement and the batteries perform really well too.

I think I read somewhere that these packs contain regular 18650 cells. I was amazed at first, but then it made sense: ready-made, tried-and-tested cells = easier and faster design. I guess one could replace the faulty ones if they are accessible.

One thing that I've always wondered though: with the 18650 cell being cylindrical, won't there be wasted space between them in the pack? Wouldn't it be better to design rectangular-shaped cells, so that they are stacked more efficiently?