InsideEVs Podcast episodes

Kudos for getting Niki, Transport Evolved.

Bob Wilson

 

Reviewed the YouTube again but I disagree with 'no FSD (or Autopilot) on public streets.' If you test in a synthetic, limited environment, you will get a synthetic, limited product that will never leave the lab.

As already seen with today's Autopilot, the very rare, 11, reported incidents and single fatality are dwarfed by the accidents and lives saved because Autopilot is 6-8x times better than a human. BTW, did any of the Tesla owning presenters say they were never going to drive on Autopilot until it is perfected somewhere else not on the street? The old saying is "Never let perfect be the enemy of good enough."

A retired engineer:

• design - subject to peer review, what we are planning
• lab integration - assemble the parts and make sure they do what is claimed
• customer integration - ship, assemble, and let reality get the system online

Engineers can spend too much time 'in the lab' and delay deployment. It is deployment in the real world with the customer that counts. Sure there will technical issues to resolve but we're not talking show-stoppers.

Bob Wilson

 

Kyle likes the rectangular charge profile to 80% of the Audi versus the triangular shaped Tesla charge curve. Yes, I would appreciate a more rectangular Tesla curve but not at the expense of faster battery degradation. For example, my +2 year, +50,000 mile, Model 3 now has ~232 mi range versus 240 mi new range. This impacts my ability to drive to Memphis 204 mi versus L2 charging stop in Corinth. Regardless, a 3.3% loss is less bad than it could be.

My wife’s 2014 BMW i3-REx, 50,000 mile, has a rectangular charge curve. We’ve seen a loss of reported capacity, 72 mi to 66 mi. But we just got it back from a software upgrade so we’ll have to benchmark it.

So a question to Kyle, how much Tesla charging time would be saved by a rectangular versus today’s triangular charging curve?

Bob Wilson

 

Could you just start a new category for each episode? Instead of this one with hundreds of old comments?

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

 

A brief dip in, and around 01:09:30 on I find Kyle saying that an upgrade to Plug&Charge for the Taycan
would involve dropping the entire pack for the necessary hardware upgrade. Really? The Charge Control
module for the Kona, which handles all the CCS protocol and translates between that and CAN to the BMS,
is a small box under the dash. Presumably an upgrade to P&C for tbe Kona would just involve changing
that out or maybe even just a firmware change ... although we know that we'll never convince Hyundai to
do anything retroactively, dammit.

But wherever it's implemented, P&C is mostly a question of *software*. Maybe a little bit of added
nonvolatile storage for certificates. It shouldn't be that hard. But right now it's still easier to fumble
through a stack of RFID fobs, once the account-setup work is done, and keep hounding EA about
their reliance on an app.

_H*

 

I'd like to hear some serious discussion on the podcast relating to the Bolt recall, and GM's statement that they are not confident that LG can produce defect-free batteries. What should GM do at this point? How might this affect GM's plans going forward? What about other car manufacturers using similar LG pouch batteries?

It seems to me that this a huge deal for the public perception of EVs and for EV adoption. I realize might be too close to the issue, though - 2021 Bolt owner, our first EV.

 

Not Schadenfreude because ~80,000 Bolt customers are impacted. Lezson's learned, if you don't have the talent and tools to make your own batteries, it is nearly impossible to quality check a battery manufacturer. GM could announce replacement with their new batteries and turn this around.

Bob Wilson

 

Closer to 140,000 Bolt owners - all of them.

GM's new Ultium batteries are a development of the old, that is, they're still pouch batteries made by LG (OK, a joint venture between GM and LG).

I'm highly skeptical that a pouch design won't have the same issues as we're seeing with the current LG batteries - a very small defect, extremely difficult to detect, can cause a catastrophic failure of the entire pack. We're not talking about a 'pop', the battery dying and the driver calling AAA for a tow.

 

Domenick

I saw the Inside EV video with Kyle and the I.D3 in Germany.
While he was going through the different drive modes he alluded to maybe and adaptive suspension and how it could be adjusted.
Could you ask him about that and if it could added somehow to the I.D4.
Thanks!

 

Thanks Domenick

I believe I may have found the answer. I believe adaptive suspension was left off of the US iD4. It was probably due to keeping the cost down. I still love the smooth ride of the car. Not sure how much smoother they could make it to be honest with you. lol
It would be interesting to see if Martin’s id3 has the same suspension.
Are they going to swap cars or is Martin just going to drive the same car that Kyle is driving?

 

If Electrify America (EA) sponsorship improves the communications to rapidly identify and correct problems ... GOOD! But a lingering fear is remaining mute about EA and CCS1-to-EV problems. For example, the 350 kW charging rate when only one CCS-1 EV can use it for a short time is cherry picking.

As a Tesla and TSLA owner, backhanded compliments about 'the gorilla' Supercharging network do not impress. After all, my original Mode 3, 100 kW peak charge rate in March 26, 2019 is now 170 kW on what once were 120 kW charging stations now often replaced by 250 kW. Tesla remains the king of 'plug-and-go'.

Although it is good there are credible alternatives to the four Tesla models, there is a risk of sounding 'anti-Tesla.' Just a word of caution to be fair and fact based.

Bob Wilson

 

Thanks, Domenick.

I found this InsideEVs podcast from a year ago that is relevant and very good:

InsideEVs - Electric Vehicle News / Battery Safety - TechTalk 4 with AVL Electrification (audioboom.com)

In my opinion, LG didn't pay enough attention to battery safety for the Kona and Bolt. Lesson learned the hard way?

 

Anything interesting at Nürburgring?

Bob Wilson