this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (3 children)

So in short, this adds suspension directly to the wheel, at the cost of higher maintenance? That's it?

[–] [email protected] 40 points 11 months ago (1 children)

While increasing energy efficiency and available space, both of which can be used for extending EV range (by adding more batteries that deplete more slowly) - one of the biggest EV issues right now.

Or you could just fit a mini party bus inside a hatchback, whichever you prefer.

To your point though, one of the othe big EV issues is cost (both purchase and maintenance) - even if a large chunk of it is artificial. Wonder what the price tag and lifespan on these things will be.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

EV maintenance cost is quite low compared to ICE vehicles. Brakes and suspension are probably the biggest wear items, but brakes have comparatively less wear because of the regen braking.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

Nope - the ~~ADAC ~~ (turns out, i was wrong about that) GDV in Germany did a study a few weeks ago and they found EV maintenance is actually higher, because parts are so much more expensive and also brakes are needed a lot more regularly. However, the last one could be just a german problem, because of our TÜV. Edit: https://www.gdv.de/gdv/medien/medieninformationen/studie-e-autos-sind-bei-der-reparatur-ein-drittel-teurer-als-vergleichbare-verbrenner-155216

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The article talks about the cost of "repairs", not "maintenance". Those are two different things.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Yeah you have to look at lifetime cost

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

How are brakes needed more regularly? Most of the braking a normal driver would do is done by the motor(s). Sure, the vehicle is heavier than a similar sized ICE counterpart, but I would guess a typical driver is using one-pedal driving whenever possible. Anecdotally, I have an Ioniq 5 and brake almost exclusively with regen, whether it's I-pedal, or shifting between the four levels of regen when decelerating from higher speeds.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Because they rust when you not use them and always use regen. And most BEV drivers do not "maintain" their brakes, as they do not brake more vigorously to free the rotors of rust. There's a limit as to how much wear/grooves your disc can have and at least for many Teslas that's one of the reasons why they fail their first TÜV check up after 3 years. (Not to mention the horrible quality of Tesla suspension and chassis components...)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Volt owner checking in. I do one pedal driving 95% of the time and you're right. My brake disks are in rough shape because they see so little use.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

You can't always use regen as it doesn't stop the car quickly enough in many cases. From my own experience, regen probably gets used about half the time when braking.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Could you link the study? The article I saw last week was just about the quantity of unplanned issues, with the overall cost being much lower for EVs. If you could link it we can compare and see if we're taking about the same thing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

That study says nothing about maintenance but is about repair cost after accidents. Those are 1/3 higher for EV because also small damages to batteries can increase risk of fire and batteries are also more readily exchanged due to lack of experience of the shops.

Everyone is talking about breaks while the study doesn't say anything about that.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's not suspension. It compacts down the differential and cv joint (linkage from the engine to the wheel).

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago

It compacts the whole drivetrain, from engine to the wheel. The space saving they were showing was mostly from the miniaturization and splitting of the motor.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

It's pretty smart. It is like a wheel-motor but without all the unsprung weight.