161–170 of 308 posts
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FWIW my random brand that I purchased was also part of this recall.
How did you find out? I recently bought a no-name battery pack and have no idea if it's at risk.
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>Chabuduo mindset [1] is a very real thing IMO high tech cost optimization is like the opposite of chabuduo - it's not half-assing, but over value engineer under pressure. The PRC's "amazing" manufacturing system fosters adversarial competition down the supply chain because there are so many competitors, packed with technical talent incentivized to value-engineer the shit out of everything to squeeze out fractions of…
Value engineering is great and all but that doesn't sound like it is the only factor at play. > and that the product being given to you is even yours (delivering a knockoff at the final step, and reselling yours on the gray market).
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I am not sure that no-name batteries are that more dangerous. A common reason batteries catch fire is when things are too densely packed, causing shorts. A famous case is the Galaxy Note 7, which is Samsung, not Chinese tech. No-name batteries are often way lower capacity than advertised, which means less stuff, and therefore less densely packed and less stuff to burn. I am not saying that these batteries are safer,…
These days there's lots of news about no-name ebikes and battery-powered scooters catching on fire, so maybe it depends on how you get that battery?
Maybe using USB-PD signaling for the finely adjustable voltage modes (PPS/AVS) could help though, at least if USB-PD coding has reasonable range left in the protocol fields there to communicate the entire voltage and current range that such an e-vehicle charger would want. Though there's other readily suitable communication protocols to pick from if USB-PD isn't suitable.
First off, I love Luma Field. Always incredible to see what's going on inside things. Even just fun to scroll through their Twitter. Second, Anker is one of the few companies I actually have a very high trust for. A few years back I bought a wall charger[0] from them, it has 2 USB-C and a Type A. A month in, one of the Type-C ports wouldn't charge if the other port was being used. If you send a support ticket they an…
Anker is above average, but the bar for average when it comes to Chinese electronics is, "might not burn down your house immediately." For reasons probably bordering on OCD, I watch a LOT of teardown videos of various electronics. And one thing that always strikes me is how a company with a product will routinely and often change what's inside, while the model number and exterior appearance stays the same. For exampl…
Even Apple iphone(tbf, also made in China) double-source important components inside their phone(modem)
Doesn't Anker use x-rays or similar in the production process?
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But Tesla don't make battery cells - Panasonic, LG and CATL make those (although co-located in Telsa's factories).
That isn't true for Tesla's 4680 that was briefly in the AWD Model Y and is currently in the Cybertruck. They are well behind the leaders in range and charging, but the company claims that they are competitive with cells from their suppliers on cost. Charging performance is on par with cars like the F-150 Lightning, which also isn't very good. They are also starting to build their own lfp batteries at a new factory i…
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Yep. Anything I get from China, even from a vendor I have done lots of business with in the past gets at minimum random samples inspected and tested when appropriate. Every single shipment, zero exceptions before use. So many things are caught. At best there is a lack of QA on the Chinese side, but it's definitely worse than that. They have no qualms sending you known-bad items, and just see it as "maybe the customer…
I don't get how it's possible that nobody (other than Tesla) can manufacture batteries in the West? It a glance this feels insane. Batteries are in everything and such a basic need. How is it possible that buying through known scammers with tons of QA is still cheaper than manufacturing in the West? Obviously for Tesla it isn't cheaper to buy from China, so why is it thought to be cheaper for the rest of the West? Is…
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Yep. Anything I get from China, even from a vendor I have done lots of business with in the past gets at minimum random samples inspected and tested when appropriate. Every single shipment, zero exceptions before use. So many things are caught. At best there is a lack of QA on the Chinese side, but it's definitely worse than that. They have no qualms sending you known-bad items, and just see it as "maybe the customer…
I don't get how it's possible that nobody (other than Tesla) can manufacture batteries in the West? It a glance this feels insane. Batteries are in everything and such a basic need. How is it possible that buying through known scammers with tons of QA is still cheaper than manufacturing in the West? Obviously for Tesla it isn't cheaper to buy from China, so why is it thought to be cheaper for the rest of the West? Is…
Now with EVs and energy storage batteries are super interesting, and battery factories are being built in west too - by Asian companies (CATL, LG, Panasonic).
Even Tesla doesn't make their own cells, Panasonic does. Tesla's promised own cells are only in very few Teslas.
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Yep. Anything I get from China, even from a vendor I have done lots of business with in the past gets at minimum random samples inspected and tested when appropriate. Every single shipment, zero exceptions before use. So many things are caught. At best there is a lack of QA on the Chinese side, but it's definitely worse than that. They have no qualms sending you known-bad items, and just see it as "maybe the customer…
I don't get how it's possible that nobody (other than Tesla) can manufacture batteries in the West? It a glance this feels insane. Batteries are in everything and such a basic need. How is it possible that buying through known scammers with tons of QA is still cheaper than manufacturing in the West? Obviously for Tesla it isn't cheaper to buy from China, so why is it thought to be cheaper for the rest of the West? Is…
On top of that, the US does not have very many lithium or rare earth metal mines or processing facilities relative to our demand.
But it’s hard to deny scale: the US is a populous country. But there are more than ONE BILLION more people in China. It’s foolish for us to expect to stay on the same playing field forever. The economies of scale and innovation you can accomplish with that many people is… a lot.
This was a fascinating article about specifically the robotics side of technology, touching on some of these points: https://semianalysis.com/2025/03/11/america-is-missing-the-n...
Part of the idea is that there are cities in China that have really strong positive feedback loops when it comes to developing new, cheap robotics tech. Whereas in the US, it might take weeks to order parts from suppliers in, you guessed it, China. It’s hard to compete with companies that have direct access to the supply chain and skilled workers right across the street, in an industry where lots of iteration and evolution is necessary.
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That isn't true for Tesla's 4680 that was briefly in the AWD Model Y and is currently in the Cybertruck. They are well behind the leaders in range and charging, but the company claims that they are competitive with cells from their suppliers on cost. Charging performance is on par with cars like the F-150 Lightning, which also isn't very good. They are also starting to build their own lfp batteries at a new factory i…
How did they fall behind? Didn't they have tabless and 4680 first? Did they lose Talent post 'Nazi' Musk?