Live data from Hacker News

EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

finance.yahoo.com

111–120 of 224 posts

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#111
They neglected to mention the biggest problem of all. EVs in Florida randomly catching fire after a hurricane. It turns out salt water is not so good around EVs.

"Fires are not just a concern in the presence of floods. Batteries can overheat, and crashes may damage the batteries, causing fires."

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/electric-vehicle-battery-fi...

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paint issues can cause problems much more severe in consequence and more expensive to repair than an engine failure. On the body, they may cause corrosion perforations and cause your vehicle to fail inspection. They may flake or peel and require expensive repainting. On structurally significant parts, a coating failure can do this: http://www.rustrepairinc.com/wp-content/gallery/tacoma/GQtFo...

Here are some failure modes to consider: Paint fails: - parts rust - parts eventually fail - vehicle might bend in two or stop working altoghether - rust is slow, easily detectable by a mechanic. Takes months or years to do real damage Engine fails: - car won't go

A squeaky belt can be an “engine problem”. A “paint failure” can be: the subframe rusts out and you crash.

My point is that none of these categories can be entirely written off superficial.

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#113

In Which magazine, EVs were about as reliable as normal cars, however if you removed tesla from the ratings, then EV reliability jumped significantly to way above standard petrol/diesel. https://www.which.co.uk/ has the details, but you need to be a member to find out. Basically the fit, finish and reliability of the accessories were trash.

I've seen the argument that "traditional auto makers" don't "get" how many people think - they concentrate on panel gaps or wind noise or door closing bump noise. Tesla isn't great there, but the Tesla software is good, and what some people call "kids" treat the car more like a smart phone. They don't care if your panel gaps are great - if your infotainment software is very laggy or crashes, it's a low quality car.

That's quality, not reliability

And Tesla yokes fall apart, who doesn't care about that ?

But yeah, bad infotainment can make car feel very old, in the "what the fuck I spent my money on, my ancient phone is faster!" way. Especially when you save few bucks putting essential controls on touch screen instead of a knob

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For issues with drivetrain etc -- absolutely. But it seems that a lot of the problems center around fit and finish of the body of the vehicle, trim, accessories etc -- stuff the industry has decades of experience with. It really sounds like quality was sacrificed for efficiency there.

“The industry” also had decades of time to perfect their process, and afaik there isn’t some giant knowledge-sharing system in place for new manufacturers to get all the insights of “the industry”. A new car manufacturer is going to have issues in fit and finish for the first few years regardless as they figure out their tooling process. I’m sure quality was sacrificed to some extent, everyone does it whenever they c…

But aren't most components actually sourced from third-parties? In which case, their experience with the traditional manufacturers could be reused. The French manufacturers, for example, don't produce their own seats.

I don't expect the auxiliary (as in not engine / drivetrain related) components to be radically different just because they're attached to an EV-powered car. Or does Tesla actually manufacture everything?

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#115
There must be a better way to report these numbers. If Tesla picks a shoddy trunk latch supplier that may reflect poorly on Tesla as a brand, but it tells us nothing about the reliability of EVs. I would be more interested in seeing the reliability of components that are critical to the propulsion of the car.

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#116
post #44
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My cousin recently had a flat tire in her EV. Roadside Assistance did not have a spare, required an expensive tow & her day was a total loss. Dragging a toddler along made a stressful experience worse, as well. I did not previously realize most(?) EVs have no spare tire included.

The lack of spare tires is correlated with the increase in tire size, IMO. My first car was a 1987 Mazda with 14" tires. It was a two seat sports car, with a tiny spare mounted vertically. They could do that since it was 14". Modern sports cars are 18-20" and the spare tire is a big cargo compromise.

I wonder if another aspect of it is an effort to minimize weight, in order to offset the weight of the battery. The Tesla model 3 long-range battery is 1060 lb. To put that in perspective, that's essentially hauling around the equivalent of almost half the curb weight of a Honda Fit just for the battery.

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you get a new eMMC which dies in a few years again? Or did they fix the software as well?

The last FAQ entry mentions a software update so I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. Or at least made it so the writes are spread out over the 64GB replacement resulting in 8x longevity.

No post body was provided.

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#118

In Which magazine, EVs were about as reliable as normal cars, however if you removed tesla from the ratings, then EV reliability jumped significantly to way above standard petrol/diesel. https://www.which.co.uk/ has the details, but you need to be a member to find out. Basically the fit, finish and reliability of the accessories were trash.

I've seen the argument that "traditional auto makers" don't "get" how many people think - they concentrate on panel gaps or wind noise or door closing bump noise. Tesla isn't great there, but the Tesla software is good, and what some people call "kids" treat the car more like a smart phone. They don't care if your panel gaps are great - if your infotainment software is very laggy or crashes, it's a low quality car.

As far as the German TüV is concerned Tesla fails at being roadworthy. Its cars compete with Dachia in the fails first mandatory inspection statistic.

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big panel gaps = lowered fuel economy. Seems pragmatic to me to care about it.

Lowered by how much?

Ah, the ol' "move the goalposts" technique! A classic for sure.

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#120
post #111

They neglected to mention the biggest problem of all. EVs in Florida randomly catching fire after a hurricane. It turns out salt water is not so good around EVs. "Fires are not just a concern in the presence of floods. Batteries can overheat, and crashes may damage the batteries, causing fires." https://www.utilitydive.com/news/electric-vehicle-battery-fi...

Salt is also pervasive on roads that get a lot of snow and ice. UPS is about to implement EV trucks here and I talk to the drivers all the time so I guess time will tell how that works out. AFAIK none of the locals own an EV but they do pass through here on their way to Yellowstone.
Post reply on HN