Cars bricked by bankrupt EV company will stay bricked • Hacker News Board

Re: Cars bricked by bankrupt EV company will stay bricked

#31

Post by idratherbike » Sun, Oct 13, 2024, 11:32 PM UTC

survirtual wrote: post #20

squidgedcricket wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EV is relevant because all of the bricked Fisker cars are EVs. Nothing stopping something similar from happening to modern ICE vehicles. TFA doesn't say that all Fisker cars are bricked - It says that they become unusable do to minor maintenance issues that can't resolved without Fisker servers being online. I wish I could buy an electric car with no radio transmitters and no ways to install software other than JTAG…

I want a rugged EV so bad. No smart features, no phoning home, total control to the user, and designed to be beat up. I think an EV could be an absolute workhorse if built correctly. If I ever get the funds I'm building this vehicle for sure, because it is pretty much guaranteed no one else will.

I am thinking of building one too. Having enough funds and know how of all the regulations is a big road block though. I want to go a step further and have an analog electric car, tired of the digital computer crap.

Re: Cars bricked by bankrupt EV company will stay bricked

#32

Post by psd1 » Mon, Oct 14, 2024, 12:50 PM UTC

tb_technical wrote: post #30

psd1 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I occasionally read blogs about reverse-engineering auto computers, and it is clearly not simple. I don't expect even a popular model to be fully REd on the next decade, let alone a Fisker.

You're right! But rather than reverse engineer the cars computer, how about a complete aftermarket overhaul? You would lose some features, surely, but at least the car would work, no?

You've never stripped a car. I have.

I don't want to underestimate what a driven person can accomplish, but I'd estimate a year of work for ten engineers with relevant experience.

I think you'll have to poach someone from the target vehicle's maker, just to get the industry contacts to source the connectors. Minimum order 10k, obvs. You'll need to keep ~100 types in stock; I guess about €10m outlay.

I think you'll have to print the cases, and you'll face issues with vibration and temperature range. How many flex cycles are you putting the parts through in testing? Are you testing for water ingress, salt spray? Or do it properly and get into injection moulding; add six months and another million or two.

After you've spent 8 figures bringing the kit to market, I might be interested, if you can sell a kit for a '94 jag at a price point way below what I imagine your unit costs will be. But I'll be claiming from you when your parts fail. Then I'm going to warn people away, even if your customer service is excellent, because I've now lost acres of knuckle skin and snapped some of the interior trim getting to these parts.

Re: Cars bricked by bankrupt EV company will stay bricked

#33

Post by tb_technical » Mon, Oct 14, 2024, 3:26 PM UTC

psd1 wrote: post #32

tb_technical wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right! But rather than reverse engineer the cars computer, how about a complete aftermarket overhaul? You would lose some features, surely, but at least the car would work, no?

You've never stripped a car. I have. I don't want to underestimate what a driven person can accomplish, but I'd estimate a year of work for ten engineers with relevant experience. I think you'll have to poach someone from the target vehicle's maker, just to get the industry contacts to source the connectors. Minimum order 10k, obvs. You'll need to keep ~100 types in stock; I guess about €10m outlay. I think you'll ha…

Mostly what was in mind when I made the above posts were the after market ECU systems you can buy. I know it's not exactly the same - but I'm hoping that someday someone will make a aftermarket ECU for electric cars.

Re: Cars bricked by bankrupt EV company will stay bricked

#34

Post by psd1 » Mon, Oct 14, 2024, 9:45 PM UTC

tb_technical wrote: post #33

psd1 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've never stripped a car. I have. I don't want to underestimate what a driven person can accomplish, but I'd estimate a year of work for ten engineers with relevant experience. I think you'll have to poach someone from the target vehicle's maker, just to get the industry contacts to source the connectors. Minimum order 10k, obvs. You'll need to keep ~100 types in stock; I guess about €10m outlay. I think you'll ha…

Mostly what was in mind when I made the above posts were the after market ECU systems you can buy. I know it's not exactly the same - but I'm hoping that someday someone will make a aftermarket ECU for electric cars.

Hmm. Maybe for a model that attracts hobbyists. But they have to cross the manufacturer's moat, and those guys do not want you to repair your own shit.

Superfastmatt on YT put a 50s jag on a tesla drivetrain. But, IIRC, he took care not to mix-n-match, in order to sidestep integration work.

Obviously an electric vehicle doesn't have fuel injection, so s/ecu/motor controller/g. But I understand what you mean.