Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

freightwaves.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 180 posts

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#111

Post by throwaway0a5e »

sokoloff wrote: post #104
b112 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most rusted, or were discarded. They were forced to die. There were loads of cars I, and my friends inherited, because the car was "old", a repair was $500, and the car was only worth $1k (this is the 80s, so 80s figures...), and the car had a tiny rust spot or two. Yet that repair done at home, with a friend, could be done for 50 bucks and parts from a wrecker. This is not survivor bias, these cars were in great sha…

I think there is likely a more throw it away culture overall now than in the 70s. Cars started to last significantly longer when body rust-proofing improved (mostly in the 80s for American cars), when electronic fuel injection reduced fuel wash in the engines, and when anti-collision tech reduced the number of write offs of lower value used cars (ABS being perhaps the single biggest one, which prevents a lot of $2000…

We've mostly negated rust proofing improvements by using road salt that's more effective at getting everywhere and using salt in more places (you'll notice that the white crusted post-snowstorm hellscape was not a thing in the 90s or '00s). OEMs have gotten good at using plastic cosmetic trim to cover the initial rust points (wheel arches, rocker panels, etc, etc,) so that instead of needing attention after 10yr the problem can be ignored until a much later date when the rust finally makes it out from behind that plastic (and your car starts failing safety inspection if you live in an applicable state).

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#112

Post by VLM »

janekm wrote: post #91
prmoustache wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So how long does the microchip shortage continue? In my humble opinion, there is no shortage. There is however a huge priorization and a control of the production to elevate the prices. I guess some people in far east asia figured out they have power the same way as the founders of OPEP did in the 70's. Look at all the microchips based shit you can buy on aliexpress. Doesn't seem they are affected much by shortage.

From what I've seen Chinese manufacturers and component distributors built up big stocks when the tariffs/sanctions against China were announced a few years ago. Then when the recent events affected supply chains, they were sitting on decent stocks of popular chips and were able to sell them at 10x original price. Since then the industry has been in a cycle of: - Manufacturer finishes a batch of popular chip - Everyb…

Don't forget scalpers. The market on Amazon is clearing for Pi 2 W Zero boards at a mere 2600% profit over retail price (higher prices are not selling), so people whom actually want to build something with a Pi are competing with people whom compare a 29% APR credit card vs 2600% per unit profit margin and buy everything they can get for resale.

Its classic hyperinflation market. Too much money chasing too little product. The only way to crack the hyperinflation would be to boost interest rates on credit cards over 2600% making speculation unprofitable or for the endusers to abandon the marketplace and let the price crash or boost the manufacturers production until they flood the market down. The CC interest rate thing would not sell well in an election year LOL. The manufacturers cannot outproduce the demands of the entire financial industry money printing press. The only option is market abandonment.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#113

Post by DennisP »

gambiting wrote: post #97
prmoustache wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to forget that bar exceptions (people working on the road all day), most passenger cars are staying parked 99% of the time and use for small errands. The aptera is also built to provide up to 1000miles in its highest spec out of one complete charge.

Right and how long does it take to charge that 1000 mile range in an average British city? A full year? And I'm not forgetting it - I'm just saying that the overall gain doesn't seem to be worth it. The cost of solar panels integrated into the car would pay for a lot of electricity from the grid instead.

Right, if you need to fully charge then plug it in. You'll do that after a road trip. But if you live somewhere sunny and typically drive 20 miles a day, you can keep it topped up by just parking in the sun.

Some will find this worthwhile, others won't. Apartment dwellers without convenient chargers might find it handy. The comment I replied to advocated doing your own energy production, and if that's what you care about, grid power doesn't really compete.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#114

Post by b112 »

maxerickson wrote: post #103
gambiting wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm literally replying to a comment that is talking about solar panels on a car, did you reply to the wrong person maybe?

No, I replied to you because you felt the need to hammer on the misunderstanding in the comment you replied to. The horse, it's dead, look, it doesn't twitch when I beat upon it! Both of you had the opportunity to not assume the first post was stupid but passed on it.

You're name making any sense. None.

This model of car has an option to charge from the sun, with solar panels on it. The misunderstanding is yours, and it is you beating a dead horse.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#115

Post by DennisP »

telchar wrote: post #33
DennisP wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, any electric car can be charged from solar panels on your roof. Then there's Aptera, which can charge itself from the sun if you're in a reasonably sunny area, and which has a strong commitment to right-to-repair: https://aptera.us/right-to-repair-commitment-feat-rich-rebui... They also make their own battery packs, despite not exactly being a large operation. https://aptera.us/battery-update/

Color me surprised to see that name again! I thought Aptera was dead and gone. I hope they fare better this time. The solar car route could be an interesting niche.

Yep. Car looks pretty much the same as the old version. Sandy Munro, the engineer famous for taking Teslas apart, has been advising them.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#116

Post by DennisP »

mitjam wrote: post #93
gambiting wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It just doesn't make any sense if you know anything about physics. Sun provides about 1kW of power per square meter.....at noon, at the equator, with no clouds. Automotive solar panels like they use are about 20% efficient. Your average car roof is....let's be super forgiving and say 2sqm. So in the middle of the day, at the equator, you are generating about 400W of power. The average EV battery is 50kWh. So you'd ne…

This illustrates how inefficient cars are for individual transportation. An eBike takes between 10 and 20 Wh per mile. Gas is so inexpensive and energy dense that we just got unware how ridiculous it is to drive by car even on short distances.

And the Aptera is a lot more efficient than a normal car. Glance at their home page and you'll see why. https://aptera.us/

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#117

Post by VLM »

Syonyk wrote: post #37
r00fus wrote: post #31

"The rip-offs of common powertrain control module 4 units relate to the ongoing shortage of microchips" So how long does the microchip shortage continue?

> So how long does the microchip shortage continue? Warning: Paid Pessimist point of view (I've done computer security for far, far too long). Indefinitely. It doesn't recover. Because (modern, leading process) microchips are the sort of globe spanning supply chain problem that works great, right up until it doesn't. Coolant for some laser is made in this country that's at war. Some critical surface processing chemic…

Roll back the tech level and go vertical silo.

The auto industry buys bolts and makes pistons because the marketplace can't make pistons, roughly. They have the know how if the bolt marketplace collapsed to turn steel rod into bolts, maybe not as easily and cheaply as it can be done now, but if the bolt market died they'd make their own bolts.

The commodity microcontroller is dead. My guess is crappy "homemade" older-gen FPGAs made by GM for GM products will be the future of automotive ECUs and other automotive apps.

In 1980, $100M built you an entire fab. It costs GM about $300M to remodel an old assembly plant. They can either go out of business because 2022 chips are unavailable or build their own fab. Hmm I wonder what they'll do?

The nice part about building an older gen FPGA is it quite accurately emulates an older gen chip, usually using a lot more power and requiring a lot more silicon, but at least it works better than "next estimated shipping date 2024"

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#118

Post by sokoloff »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #111
sokoloff wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is likely a more throw it away culture overall now than in the 70s. Cars started to last significantly longer when body rust-proofing improved (mostly in the 80s for American cars), when electronic fuel injection reduced fuel wash in the engines, and when anti-collision tech reduced the number of write offs of lower value used cars (ABS being perhaps the single biggest one, which prevents a lot of $2000…

We've mostly negated rust proofing improvements by using road salt that's more effective at getting everywhere and using salt in more places (you'll notice that the white crusted post-snowstorm hellscape was not a thing in the 90s or '00s). OEMs have gotten good at using plastic cosmetic trim to cover the initial rust points (wheel arches, rocker panels, etc, etc,) so that instead of needing attention after 10yr the…

Agreed overall, though I think that last sentence is probably a very good thing.

If OEMs improve their product so that it does not require an expensive cosmetic rust repair at 10 years, but instead the cosmetic problem is hidden so the car lasts an extra 5-7 years before becoming a throwaway product, the consumer has a net win overall.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#119

Post by daniel-cussen »

nathanaldensr wrote: post #40
zardo wrote: post #14

Also, a rash of power train control module failures leaves Freightliner trucks inoperable, and a shortage of spare parts sees commercial trucking companies turning to the black market for stolen parts.

I was thinking that, too. The thieves just steal the same modules over and over as each trucking line buys them from the black market. Nice business if you can get it.

That's one business opportunity.

The other business opportunity, complementary, is security devices to protect your parts, extra tricky huge locks and their lock-picking sets, secure parking lots along routes at premium fees and then of course a special platinum lounge thing with concessions. And marking parts with license plate numbers.[1]

Great alignment of incentives among the two excellent business opportunities.

[1] That last one I saw in Chile in fact like in 2001, stamping license plates on mirrors. Worse mirror of course. They also did windows, you wonder why, guess they had a glass stamping machine and not enough customers, wanted to get more money from the same customers. The dentist thing basically.

Re: Rash of parts thefts is leaving Freightliner trucks inoperable

#120

Post by VLM »

rasz wrote: post #75
r00fus wrote: post #31

"The rip-offs of common powertrain control module 4 units relate to the ongoing shortage of microchips" So how long does the microchip shortage continue?

A lot of manufacturers discovered shortages are mega profitable, making them reluctant to see it as a problem.

I've been trying to buy stuff and most of the money goes to the middlemen scalpers.

I made a mistake in a post above, I thought Raspberry PI 2 W were still retail priced at $5, like the old days of the zero (of course those were unobtainable by most people at $5 even in good economic times).

So the Pi foundation is selling for $15 and the market on Amazon has cleared everything for sale below $149.

It would be fair to claim, with some hand waving, that the manufacturer of the Pi boosted the price 200% from $5 to $15, but the scalpers are boosting the price from $15 to maybe $130 will sell and clear the market, so the scalpers are making (150-15)/15*100 = 766% lets round that to 800%.

So for every hyperinflated price dollar, about 20 cents goes to the mfgr and about 80 cents goes to the scalper.

In the long run this destroys middlemen-as-a-service. No matter how inefficient "big corporate" is, its gotta be cheaper than the scalpers, so people are eventually going to buy Pi 2 W zeros from raspi themselves for maybe $40 to $50. Onesie-twosie shipping is expensive for inefficient big corporate so thats maybe even a fair price. Then the scalpers and middlemen will die out with their $130 prices if raspi sells direct for $50.

Post reply on HN