Electric Vehicles etc

[Scotty T]

True. but ICE cars can be brought into garages for repairs if need be. I don't know any garages that deal with EV cars. So you are at the mercy of the dealerships to free up their service department.

I just found one locally. Where are you located gippyz? The Word document in the post below has a fairly up to date list of EV workshops.

All Electric Vehicle Parts Australia | Facebook

Hello Everyone. The first purpose of this page is to provide a single, comprehensive source for anyone looking for, or looking to sell parts from Electric Vehicles in Australia. I'll be doing what...

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[Scotty T]

I expect that to change. The right to repair movement is strong and i dont see people who are being gently enforced into an electric future being too happy with choice of repairer being stripped away.

Even Apple are now providing parts and toold to complete repairs o their phones - kicker being that for the average joe, its still cheaper to have apple to it for you. Again i expect that to change with time and amazon dupes of the gear/parts.

Yep, and some EV co's like Sono are encouraging it publishing workshop manuals for the normal stuff, and certification for the high voltage systems.

One shit thing is that an EV business can't get someone qualified on the current TAFE courses unless they are already a motor mechanic, so the guy I am going to be working with is a higly experience sparky with a wealth of EV knowledge and experience (installer for several brands of EV chargers), but doesn't qualify for the course.

There's a tonne of mechanics around that can do all the stuff which isn't electrical, so why would an EV workshop care to do that shit? I mean, there are auto electricians, places that only do brakes, suspension and tyres, it's idiotic that a course exists but you need to be qualified in essentially an unrelated discipline to do the EV stuff.

 

[beeb]

Yep, and some EV co's like Sono are encouraging it publishing workshop manuals for the normal stuff, and certification for the high voltage systems.

One shit thing is that an EV business can't get someone qualified on the current TAFE courses unless they are already a motor mechanic, so the guy I am going to be working with is a higly experience sparky with a wealth of EV knowledge and experience (installer for several brands of EV chargers), but doesn't qualify for the course.

There's a tonne of mechanics around that can do all the stuff which isn't electrical, so why would an EV workshop care to do that shit? I mean, there are auto electricians, places that only do brakes, suspension and tyres, it's idiotic that a course exists but you need to be qualified in essentially an unrelated discipline to do the EV stuff.

Depends what they're doing I guess. I mean if you had to remove CV joints or suspension swingarms to free up a (chassis-mounted) electric motor, or remove a hub/suspension knuckle (hub-drive motors) being mechanically competent is pretty important.

Really in this day and age, dual-qualification should be the expected standard given the overlap between electronic/mechanical components.

 

[Oddjob]

Plugged the car in to a nrma charger which turned out to be faulty, only to find the car can no longer be charged when we got home. The car kept on making clicking noise as if it can't lock the charger. Called the roadside assistance, and the nrma guy said he has never dealt with EV car before and has no idea what's wrong. Called a tow truck to tow the car to a dealership who said new parts are needed and they are 3 weeks away.

Moral of the story:
1. Public chargers can wreck your EV car. Watch out. The car could still be charged before we left home.
2. NRMA is useless when it comes to EV car.
3. Parts take ages to arrive and don't expect dealership to stock them.
4. Most dealerships are super busy. Lucky the dealer that I bought the car from can squeeze work in between other people services. I phoned up 5 dealers and the earliest they can book me in is mid October. Madness.

What car?

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[Oddjob]

It is an interesting point though. Independent servicing will probably die out with ICE. Even now Tesla won't supply parts outside their network of chosen ones and some of the diagnostics I see on the Web by owners is likely more than a small shop will be prepared to do and let's not forget that routine maintenance is a small percentage of what is now required.

I've already checked that my Land Rover workshop and the local Porsche specialist have high voltage qualified mechanics. There's also a general mechanic in North Manly that does all hybrids and EVs where he can get the parts.

Polestar are apparently supplying parts through the Volvo network.

BYD are being supported by their own network and mycar which has a workshop in Brookvale close to me.



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[Squidfayce]

Polestar are apparently supplying parts through the Volvo network.

Aren't they one and the same? Polestar just used to be the Volvo performance brand before becoming the electric offshoot.

 

[Oddjob]

Aren't they one and the same? Polestar just used to be the Volvo performance brand before becoming the electric offshoot.

Polestar was initially a race team that was bought by Volvo/Geely. They then became the performance and EV skunkworks. In the US they are direct to consumer so not necessarily supported through Volvo dealer network. There's a closer dealer relationship in Australia.

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[Tubbsy]

@gippyz what is it that a faulty charger can damage on your car? Is it some sort of failsafe to stop the battery from getting munted, or was it more random than that?

 

[goobags]

I am also curious on that. Given all chargers are required to meet the IEC standard, it’s surprising that one, public, fast or otherwise could damage the car


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[rockmoose]

I'm also wondering if the batteries have been flicked into some sort of safe mode. I had it with some previous home batteries that I was running. Was a bit of a fiddle to reset them back out of it.

 

[Cardy George]

 

[goobags]

I'm also wondering if the batteries have been flicked into some sort of safe mode. I had it with some previous home batteries that I was running. Was a bit of a fiddle to reset them back out of it.

I’m sure it wouldn’t be the battery itself or the battery management system. Mine has had chargers errors before when the plug isn’t all the way in so the lock tab doesn’t actually lock in. Similar sound to described above, tries to lock it multiple times then gives up and won’t let it charge and throws an error code.

I’m assuming a it’s some form of electromechanical failure i.e. solenoid or feedback from the locking mechanism. Could be a random hardware failure not associated with a DC charger.


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[gippyz]

What car?

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Hyundai Ioniq (not the ioniq 5, the one before that).

 

[gippyz]

@gippyz what is it that a faulty charger can damage on your car? Is it some sort of failsafe to stop the battery from getting munted, or was it more random than that?

In my case, the battery is still ok as we managed to still drive the car home. So I don't think the charger shortcircuited the board in the car or damaged the battery.

The clicking sound, I think, is the car's failed attempt to lock the charger. If it can't lock the charger, then it won't charge the car. We didn't get any error messages at all, which was super strange. Initially we thought something was wrong with our home charger. If that is the case, we thought it's easy as we just go and buy a new one. But, it doesn't seem to be the case as the parts ordered are for the car.

So, either the car's locking mechanism malfunctioned after receiving some weird feedback from the nrma charger or that we already have some issues with the charger locking mechanism beforehand which we didn't know. If it is the latter, then it should've been picked up by the dealership (the same one the car is in now) during our yearly service.

 

[Scotty T]

Depends what they're doing I guess. I mean if you had to remove CV joints or suspension swingarms to free up a (chassis-mounted) electric motor, or remove a hub/suspension knuckle (hub-drive motors) being mechanically competent is pretty important.

Really in this day and age, dual-qualification should be the expected standard given the overlap between electronic/mechanical components.

Fair point, most mechanics these days are dealing with a bunch of computers and electronics already.

 

[beeb]

Fair point, most mechanics these days are dealing with a bunch of computers and electronics already.

I see a lot of that in the workshop already. Lots of - Is it the electro-mechanical component that's faulty (ie: a solenoid valve with failed seals or a stuck piston), or is it a wiring fault (rubbed-through insulation/stray voltage, or broken wire/no signal), or incorrect signals from within an ECU (software glitch, occasional bad programming update, or mechanical failure like a melted/shorted circuit board) that's causing the electro-mechanical component to behave incorrectly? And that's stuff we see before you even add Hybrid or EV systems into the mix.

 

[goobags]

I see a lot of that in the workshop already. Lots of - Is it the electro-mechanical component that's faulty (ie: a solenoid valve with failed seals or a stuck piston), or is it a wiring fault (rubbed-through insulation/stray voltage, or broken wire/no signal), or incorrect signals can be from within an ECU (software glitch, occasional bad programming update, or mechanical failure like a melted/shorted circuit board) that's causing the electro-mechanical component to behave incorrectly? And that's stuff we see before you even add Hybrid or EV systems into the mix.

Hybrid adds to the complexity but in some cases BEV would reduce complexity.

No spark plugs, MAF sensors, boost sensors, fuel pumps, filters, automatic transmissions blah blah


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[beeb]

Hybrid adds to the complexity but in some cases BEV would reduce complexity.

100% this. Massively so. Reduced thermal cycling and vibrations should greatly reduce the already-impressive service life of many miscellaneous components too.

The only big concern remaining with BEVs (IMO) is collision repairs.

 

[silentbutdeadly]

The only big concern remaining with BEVs (IMO) is collision repairs.

Oh that's easy. It'll be just like a phone. Anything more than a fractured outer casing or some busted glass will see the car scrapped. Won't be much need for collision repairs in the future.... progress, eh?

[sigh]

 

[Scotty T]

Oh that's easy. It'll be just like a phone. Anything more than a fractured outer casing or some busted glass will see the car scrapped. Won't be much need for collision repairs in the future.... progress, eh?

[sigh]

I think that's an exaggeration. EV's have not reached the critical mass where it becomes economical to repair a major crash. Anything where spares are available and the expertise exists the repair is just like an ICE vehicle. If I had the same bingle in a Tesla as the last one I had I probably could have kept driving as it wouldn't have caved my radiator disabling the car.