EVs Could Last Nearly Forever--If Car Companies Let Them

[tinrobot]

An electric car capable of running for 1 million miles is within reach.

In April, a group of people in a red Tesla driving through the Moroccan desert were glued to the odometer on the car’s giant touch screen. “Two million, Hans! Two million,” exclaimed the front-seat passenger to the owner and driver, Hansjörg von Gemmingen-Hornberg. His 2014 Model S had become likely the first electric vehicle to drive 2 million kilometers, or more than 1.2 million miles. The car could have traveled from the Earth to the moon and back, twice, then circled the equator 11 times.

The journey wasn’t entirely seamless. The car has had its share of repairs, including several battery and motor replacements. A handful of gas-powered cars have driven farther, most of all a 1966 Volvo that racked up some 3 million miles over five decades. But such fantastic mileages are becoming far easier to accomplish for ordinary commuters with electric cars. On a technological level, it’s possible that we’re not far from a time when nobody would flinch at an EV with as much mileage as von Gemmingen-Hornberg’s—that is, unless car companies themselves get in the way.

Unlike gas-powered engines—which are made up of thousands of parts that shift against one other—a typical EV has only a few dozen moving parts. That means less damage and maintenance, making it easier and cheaper to keep a car on the road well past the approximately 200,000-mile average lifespan of a gas-powered vehicle. And EVs are only getting better. “There are certain technologies that are coming down the pipeline that will get us toward that million-mile EV,” Scott Moura, a civil and environmental engineer at UC Berkeley, told me. That many miles would cover the average American driver for 74 years.

The first EV you buy could be the last car you ever need to purchase.

More:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/06/electric-car-battery-longevity-right-to-repair/678641/?gift=B0sfvLGjksGyif-A5XUGiusw8-qwzi01q3InFP5wNHk

Posting this because I see so much bad information going around about EVs, particularly about batteries.

Yes, we've had a few hiccups about batteries in some early cars, so that probably skews people's perceptions. But modern batteries are getting very reliable and could easily outlast the mechanical parts of the car.

[leftieNanner]

1. Manufacturers will never let that happen

Apple can slow down your phone so you buy a new one. Many products are built to fail in a few years. Somebody invented a light bulb that could work for ever, but the industry killed it.

That being said, my last car had 323,000 miles on it and the one before that, 277,000.

[Progressive dog]

2. Find the plans for that amazing light bulb

It sure didn't work by heating metal in a vacuum. In fact LED bulbs last many times longer while using much less electricity than those obsolete incandescent bulbs.

[Disaffected]

5. "Somebody invented a light bulb that could work for ever, but the industry killed it."

Dubious - got a cite for that?

Sounds like the 100 mpg carburetor (the one(s) that the oil companies suppressed)..

[leftieNanner]

7. I'll look for it. Nt

[Disaffected]

14. OK. You might be thinking of

light bulbs with v heavy filaments which IIRC can be made to last an almost arbitrarily long time but at the expense of much higher electrical consumption and are therefore not practical.

[dweller]

10. The Pogue carburetor

Still a mystery
🙄



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[Disaffected]

17. Not really.

The main problem with these so-called "miracle" carburetors is that they defy the laws of thermodynamics (and, if that is the case, the chances of them not being a product of fraud or possibly honest mistake are pretty much zero).

The same sort of thing applies to miraculous wind turbines that defy "Betz Law" i.e. calculates the maximum possible power that a wind turbine of a specific swept area can generate.

[rog]

21. Maybe not 'a light bulb that could work forever', but the industry did conspire to ...

... engineer a shorter bulb life span. This is a really interesting article.

IEEE Spectrum - FOR THE TECHNOLOGY INSIDER

https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-great-lightbulb-conspiracy

On 23 December 1924, a group of leading international businessmen gathered in Geneva for a meeting that would alter the world for decades to come. Present were top representatives from all the major lightbulb manufacturers, including Germany’s Osram, the Netherlands’ Philips, France’s Compagnie des Lampes, and the United States’ General Electric. As revelers hung Christmas lights elsewhere in the city, the group founded the Phoebus cartel, a supervisory body that would carve up the worldwide incandescent lightbulb market, with each national and regional zone assigned its own manufacturers and production quotas. It was the first cartel in history to enjoy a truly global reach.

The cartel’s grip on the lightbulb market lasted only into the 1930s. Its far more enduring legacy was to engineer a shorter life span for the incandescent lightbulb.

[CurtEastPoint]

9. My dad used to say that manufacturers could produce a tire that would last forever

But of course they won't. I don't know how true that is but it makes perfect sense given today's greedy corporate b*******

[Disaffected]

19. Forever is a long time.

Materials in the real world don't act that way. IOWs, materials with no stress fatigue or abrasion degradation don't exist.

When I was a kid, I used to think tires should be made of steel with the roads made of rubber - no danger of flats and tires would last much longer!

[dweller]

3. Have you seen the new Tesla electric motorcycle?

The battery sits where the engine usually is , and the motor is in the back wheel . The back wheel is the motor. …
I think the Mars Rover has a motor in each wheel , so this could be done for a modern car .
4 smaller motors, each one a wheel , each with a smaller battery pack.
All controlled by a computer program to operate together .
You wouldn’t have to replace the engine , but maybe just a wheel .
🤔



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[Polybius]

8. I'm pretty sure one version of the Cybertruck already has that

Called the Cyberbeast.

[Disaffected]

37. The Cyberbeast has two or three motor versions

but the motors are not in the wheels.

[Disaffected]

11. There must be reason(s) why we haven't seen that yet

in automobiles. Increased unsprung weight might be one. Two to four m/l (depending on how many wheels have motors) times the amount of magnets and copper required (the lower a motor's RPMs, the bigger it has to be to generate sufficient torque to maintain the same power output).

However, a motor in each wheel raises the intriguing possibility of no requirement for brakes - the motors would act as the brakes in regen mode. This would I believe also provide the possibility of superior traction and stopping control as an electronic anti-skid system (with the four wheel motors) would be much more responsive and flexible than the mechanical/hydraulic system now used.

[Diamond_Dog]

4. There's an ad that keeps appearing on TV here ad nauseum

“Tell President Biden he took a wrong turn! He wants to ban gas cars! Write to your Senators and tell them to tell President Biden to ban the car ban!” It’s so absurd.

[Polybius]

6. But why would you want a car to last your lifetime?

1) You'll get bored. Change is good.
2) New tech comes out all the time. A scant 20 years ago cars didn't have built in GPS. Why be stuck with old tech?
3) My 2024 car can drive and park itself. I look forward to seeing what new things they will be able to do in the near future.

[Disaffected]

12. Yes, and old cars tend to get ratty looking

unless an inordinate amount of cosmetic maintenance is performed ($).

[Polybius]

13. True

And adding a GPS head unit to a '57 Chevy somehow doesn't feel right.

[hunter]

34. I like my cars looking "ratty." It's sort of like people who wear torn jeans. Maybe.

But mostly I'm expressing my disdain for our automobile culture. I wish it would go away.

This planet cannot support a car for every adult human.

I haven't owned a car with less than 100,000 miles on the odometer for a long time.

(Obviously my personal opinions do not reflect those of the Democratic Party. My politics are always practical. I vote for Democrats, not Republicans or third party spoilers.)

[Disaffected]

36. So do I.

My car is an 02 with a lot of kilometers on it (nearly 500K). It runs well and what I like most is I don't have to worry much about it getting dinged up by carrying building materials, stuff to the landfill, the dog etc. It has body dings and the rocker panels are rusting but still doesn't look too bad, from afar at least

[dweller]

15. If I could have kept my old Corvair Monza 3 speed going forever

I’d still be driving it today … it was that fun .
Blew the motor , sold it.
😔
Edit : it looked like this





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[Polybius]

16. Old cars are fun as a second car, but a daily driver?

I need new tech. But yeah, I had a 70's Trans Am once and I'd love to have it again though.

[Emile]

18. I had a 1961 Corvair. Drank more oil than gas.

[RubyRose]

22. I miss my Studebaker Larks. Got too difficult to find

parts and guys that could fix them.

[dweller]

24. True of all classic cars

I still have a VW camper , parts are scarce as diamonds and just as expensive


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[DontBelieveEastisEas]

25. I heard that the Corvair was the biggest bust/flop of all time.

The engine is in the back? Trunk in the front?

[dweller]

27. Yep, just like the VW

Rear mounted air cooled engines .
Was the VW a flop ?



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[DontBelieveEastisEas]

33. surley not, and I hear the Corvair is highly coveted nowadays.

This must be the reason? (Looks like its legacy was unfairly tarnished)

From Wikipedia

Published in 1965, Unsafe at Any Speed became a highly influential critique of the safety record of American automobile manufacturers focusing on General Motors' (GM's) Corvair automobile in particular.

Two of Nader's most notable targets were the Chevy Corvair and the Ford Pinto.

The 1965 publication of Unsafe at Any Speed sullied the reputation of the Corvair line, although the issues had nothing to do with the current model. Under competition from the Mustang and the publicity hit of Unsafe, Corvair sales plummeted by over half in 1966

"He made the cars we drive safer; thirty years later, he made George W. Bush the president."[4]

Nader said during subsequent Congressional hearings, the Corvair is "the leading candidate for the un-safest-car title".[16] Subsequently, Corvair sales fell from 220,000 in 1965 to 109,880 in 1966. By 1968, production fell to 14,800.[16]

Public response to the book played a role in the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 1966.

Ralph Nader's accusations were proven false by the 1972 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration safety commission report.

[tinrobot]

20. It's not like you''d be required to keep a car forever.

But that level of reliability will be good for all, regardless of how long people keep their cars.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

28. Unnecessary change fills landfills and adds to the plastic island in the Pacific.

[Polybius]

35. Yeah, I agree

I'm not saying every 3 or even 8 years. Just not a lifetime.

[Voltaire2]

38. So sell it.

As it will last much longer than an ice vehicle it will retain more value. Why wouldn’t you want that?

[ProfessorGAC]

23. I Guess I Can See That

I've been in large(!) chemical manufacturing sites that have 250-300HP motors running big pumps 8,000 hours a year fir 20 years.
160,000 hours is 4 hours of car operation each day for 40,000 days.
There are only 36,500 days in a hundred years!

[DontBelieveEastisEas]

26. Over 3 million miles, even if only 20 mph nt

[dweller]

31. 0 actual miles

Bolted to the floor
🤔



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[duckworth969]

29. Planned obsolescence

[LiberalFighter]

30. Catalytic converters would not be needed either.

Won't have to worry about them being stolen.

[Permanut]

32. Yeah, but what about the cost of gas for your EV?

MTG is concerned.