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BMW PHEV: Safety fuse replacement is extremely expensive

evclinic.eu

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Re: BMW PHEV: Safety fuse replacement is extremely expensive

#161

Post by nottorp »

jfoster wrote: post #8

I think it continues to be under-appreciated how much of a lead Tesla still has in EVs. Even BMW can't make something that is practical. First people said "competition is coming" for about a decade. Now the competition has finally half arrived, but it's still so far behind. Perhaps the closest is BYD, but most BYD drivers would prefer to be driving a Tesla.

Uh have Tesla discovered how to make doors that align with the car body? All 4 of them in the same car?

[Note that this is not a BMW endorsement. I would only drive one if someone else pays for the car, insurance and maintenance.]

Re: BMW PHEV: Safety fuse replacement is extremely expensive

#162

Post by tpm »

mvkel wrote: post #130

This is what makes Teslas sustainable and other car cos, like Porsche, not. A battery pack for a Model 3 is $10K. So even if the whole car is only worth $20K, it's still worth keeping on the road. The Porsche Taycan battery pack is $70K. The moment you have any issue at all with it, the car will be considered totaled.

EV Clinic identified some issues in Teslas too, for example this one: https://x.com/evclinic/status/1994876173277335745

Re: BMW PHEV: Safety fuse replacement is extremely expensive

#163

Post by a2128 »

JSR_FDED wrote: post #2

This is exactly why I’m so uninterested in driving en EV. I usually word it as “I don’t want to drive a computer”, but the reality is that I don’t want to be on the wrong end of the power imbalance that comes from this amount of complexity.

EVs are not intrinsically complicated as some sibling commenters say, but the issue is that EVs are new and mostly made after the point when automakers started building cars as computers. And it's also a good excuse to put even more computers inside because an EV has to look modern with big screens and cool chimes right?

I think this genuinely hampers EV adoption and governments should take some sort of action if they want to transition the market to EVs. Not that the average consumer chooses cars based on how many computers are inside it, but this builds a general impression of fragility and creates such negative stories. We need simple, reliable, serviceable EVs, but the incumbents are not going to build it on their own. (Government excessive regulations for safety, backup cameras, speed limiters, etc arguably created this problem in the first place)

Re: BMW PHEV: Safety fuse replacement is extremely expensive

#164

Post by merger3 »

marssaxman wrote: post #15

> BMW has over-engineered the They have over-engineered the everything , because that is what BMW does. That is what they have been about for the last thirty years.

Exactly, these are intentional decisions for German cars. They’re gorgeous, over-engineered, cutting edge pieces of machinery and the expense of being practical or repairable. The common understanding for decades has been if you’re buying a German luxury car as a daily driver and repair costs are something you even have to consider, you’re buying the wrong car.

Re: BMW PHEV: Safety fuse replacement is extremely expensive

#165

Post by cyberax »

nandomrumber wrote: post #138
mvkel wrote: post #130

This is what makes Teslas sustainable and other car cos, like Porsche, not. A battery pack for a Model 3 is $10K. So even if the whole car is only worth $20K, it's still worth keeping on the road. The Porsche Taycan battery pack is $70K. The moment you have any issue at all with it, the car will be considered totaled.

Is that $10k the list price, or have you actually seen a recent invoice from a mechanic for a Model 3 battery swap?

I was quoted $15k in a Tesla service center for a Model 3 battery replacement, with parts and labor.

Re: BMW PHEV: Safety fuse replacement is extremely expensive

#166

Post by jinzo »

CraigJPerry wrote: post #124

€4000 euros plus tax to replace the module that contains the fuse. Insane. The ford transit custom PHEV costs £4500 to replace the timing belt. Access issues mean dropping the hybrid battery and parts of the sub frame. Compare with the mk8 transit, i've done the wet belt myself on that and it requires no special tools (well, i bought a specific crank pulley puller for £20) and can be done in a day on the driveway. I…

Is it insane? I'm working in this field, and I know how quickly you can come up with such a number if you are BMW and you are deathly afraid that someone will get electrocuted while working on your car, driving it or rescuing someone in a crash. It's a safety and liability issue, where they go to great lengths to actually re-certify a battery after crash. The whole thing is setup so, that even the dummy electricians in an average BMW shop can safely certify that this battery is still safe. It's a lot easier to kill yourself (or someone else) when working on a EV Battery than wet belt. Also a lot harder to repair said battery than wet belt. And that goes for all EVs and manufacturers that actually care about people (Tesla, demonstrably does not).

Re: BMW PHEV: Safety fuse replacement is extremely expensive

#167

Post by devmor »

CraigJPerry wrote: post #124

€4000 euros plus tax to replace the module that contains the fuse. Insane. The ford transit custom PHEV costs £4500 to replace the timing belt. Access issues mean dropping the hybrid battery and parts of the sub frame. Compare with the mk8 transit, i've done the wet belt myself on that and it requires no special tools (well, i bought a specific crank pulley puller for £20) and can be done in a day on the driveway. I…

As a lifelong Toyota fan, I agree they are miserable to work on, especially the electronics. I have a stoplight switch issue in my 86 (from being rear-ended) that I have neglected because it would require pulling out the trunk assembly to fix.

The engineering praise comes from the fact that if you are taking care of it, you will probably never have to work on it until it's well into 6-digit mileage. This remains consistent through pretty much their entire line with the one exceptional black mark really being the RAV4.

Re: BMW PHEV: Safety fuse replacement is extremely expensive

#168

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

CraigJPerry wrote: post #124

€4000 euros plus tax to replace the module that contains the fuse. Insane. The ford transit custom PHEV costs £4500 to replace the timing belt. Access issues mean dropping the hybrid battery and parts of the sub frame. Compare with the mk8 transit, i've done the wet belt myself on that and it requires no special tools (well, i bought a specific crank pulley puller for £20) and can be done in a day on the driveway. I…

>Tesla is remarkably well done. Simplicity is under rated.

https://electrek.co/2025/12/03/tesla-model-y-named-worst-car...

>So much so i bought one with the intention to keep for a looooong time.

Good luck with that.

Re: BMW PHEV: Safety fuse replacement is extremely expensive

#169

Post by jinzo »

marssaxman wrote: post #15

> BMW has over-engineered the They have over-engineered the everything , because that is what BMW does. That is what they have been about for the last thirty years.

I won't argue with non EV engineering, but high voltage stuff in an EV is a lot harder problem to make safe in event of a crash and subsequent repair. I come out as a BMW apologist, but Vanja (evclinic Head boss) likes to be overly dramatic. BMW (and almost all other brands) are very afraid that someone will die when repairing/driving/rescuing someone from an EV and they go to great (and expensive) lengths to make sure the battery and the vehicle is as safe as possible. The fuse here is a small part, checks and certifications that go into making the battery truly safe (in scale, all edge cases ect) are a lot more than just the fuse. And that is expensive.

Re: BMW PHEV: Safety fuse replacement is extremely expensive

#170

Post by toast0 »

mannykannot wrote: post #20
samarthr1 wrote: post #6

This makes me feel that peak car was 2010 ish, when, when engines were powerful, cheap, and not too polluting, but also not overly complex. Spare parts were small, cheap, and easily accessible too (atleast for my toyota) I dread being forced to upgrade, not out of disdain for the environment, but the fact that I will spend more money, on a less reliable, less "mine" car, and more something big daddy government wants.

I have never owned or wanted a pickup, but now I'm wondering about getting a basic one (if that's still an option.) It is annoying and depressing.

Nobody is currently selling new, small pickups. Maybe if the Slate materializes, that'll prove the market and we'll see them again.

In the meantime, 200x Ford Ranger or 200x Chevy S-10 are the last of the small pickups where you can get a 6 foot bed and a single row of seats. (Afaik)

I sold my small white pickup once, and ended up with a different small white pickup a few years later. I do enough (small) truck things that having a truck on hand just in case is worth it for me; but even with minimal miles per year there's certainly added expense from maintenance some of which ends up being time based, registration fees, and incremental costs for liability insurance on another vehicle. For quite a while, my family vehicles were a 4-door car/wagon and a small pickup, but that doesn't work for everyone; I feel better served with a minivan, a 4-door phev, and a pickup (and a silly old rear engined vw van with only the front seats, mostly for midlife crisis, but also handy for picking up large items that don't want to be inside for transport)

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