Inside an Electric Car Repair Shop
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- Опубліковано 22 тра 2024
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In this episode, Alex from QCCharge explains the services they offer for repair options that Tesla does not, such as repairing battery packs instead of replacing them. In addition, he walks us through some of the custom tools they use for repairing them and shows the inner workings of a Tesla electric motor. Furthermore, he explains how they rebuild Tesla motors and improvement with drain equipment to prevent premature failure.
How much does it cost to replace a Tesla battery vs repairing them? Can you rebuild electric car motors? Get the answers in this video!
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This was excellent. Someone that calmly knows their stuff, and speaks carefully and diplomatically with no exaggeration.
wait wait wait hold on a sec you thought Tesla made cars that can be fixed oh you silly french people and your castles🤣🤣🤣
This was like talking to a real person that knew how to actually fix a battery pack instead of the you need to replace the whole thing story that most people think will happen. I now have 3 EV, would never go back to ICE.
@@Fleshybitz have you put a nuclear reactor in the back to recharge your battery pack yet?
@@SaraMorgan-ym6ue I ordered one on Amazon. 😁
A real engineer
Retired mechanic/Fleet Manager and I give you major props for this in-depth look at the "guts" of a Tesla S and some of the inherent flaws AND your enhancements to avoid those problems. Excellent video sir.
Elon, are you watching
Liked, Subscribed
Elon cares about one thing $$$
As an ex mechanic, I can buy a used vehicle for 10k, and it will last me 10 years. A battery for 10-15k, NO THANKS
Super awesome. That shop did a great job getting up to speed and making business on that. I figured it was only a matter of time a no-nonsense electric repair shop became available.
Your only error was “a” no-nonsense shop. The phrase is no non-sense shops..gotta put that s on the end of shop! HIH-HEEEEE!
Alex was impressive. I'm not much of a UA-cam commenter, but Alex was knowledgable and succinct. A big Thank You !
You're very welcome! Thanks for stopping by!
It surprises me independent shops can work on any of this. The OEMs work very hard to keep them out of their service business. For example, the newest iteration of Tesla battery packs are filled with expanded pink foam to prevent repair or replacement of individual cells.
Yeah. When companies like Tesla spout the environmental credentials of their cars & then make them impossible 6o repair, they are such hipocrites.
This is what will kill the EV industry.
There needs to be a standardised battery system, like A packs for small cars B packs for medium ect ect. The packs also need to have standardised bricks inside so repair centres can fix them, just how lead acid batteries get replaced and recycled.
Corporate greed is killing the EV lols.
Also they catch fire too.
what?!
That foam is for fire protection as far as I know.
@@Chastity_Belt Maybe the fact that it makes the pack unservicable is just an added bonus.
Shops like this are so important! Awesome job❤
Agreed!
Shops like this are so valuable. Was fortunate to find a place in the UK who repaired my on-board charger for a sixth of the price the dealer quoted to replace it.
These repair cost numbers sort of scare me off. I don't know if the fuel savings is sufficient to vest a repair fund. And finding an honest EV shop is more difficult than finding knowledgeable ICE service stations.Very well presented video, thank you. Patent the fixtures before Elon does.
They added taxes to electric in 2025. Soon charging at home will have the same cost as buying gas. Government needs its pound of flesh.
Comparatively, you will spend similar amounts for drivetrain failures in an ICE vehicle. Engine swaps range from $4,000 - $12,000 depending on vehicle and damage. Labor and parts add up on all the other systems that will fail too. Battery costs are dropping which is something ICE can't claim. Eventually, the long term, cumulative purchase of your gas will amount to buying a battery pack. EV failure rate is up to 35% lower per 1,000 vehicles according to the latest ADAC report.
@@mbabcock111it should also be mentioned, if you replace the engine or transmission in your car it’s the same as before.
On the other hand, that pack replacement is nearly tripling the range of the vehicle! He didn’t mention it, but the car will have increased acceleration and the battery will run cooler increasing it’s life.
I guess in a sense replacing a pack is like upgrading your engine to get much better fuel mileage while adding a small turbo and using better hardware.
@@Uriah625 good points. Likely a module fails but not an entire pack. That seems to be the process currently.
Haha, and you're still burning coal! Haha!
I spent 36 years (half my life) in Vista, CA, so it's great to see new businesses thriving there. Great show there, Alex. You appear to be quite well informed and happy to be working on EVs. Continued luck to you!
Only government "thrives" in California!
I’m wondering if these guys have patents on their modifications. Seems like a good idea anyway.
Right on, pat. that stuff it's all yours. You have more knowledge about evs than everything else I've heard combined. WOW. I've been lived in Vista and Ocean side...my brother worked at a nuclear plant all this life, and this guy would impress him electronic discussion.
Very informative and if I had an electric vehicle with problems, I would think this shop would be able to fix it.
However, this video also helped to convince me I don't want an electric vehicle. 5,000 dollars here, 12,000 dollars there, these are not costs most of us can adsorb and even more scary, it's very possible they happen while still making payments on the vehicle purchase.
I own a Hyundai, with over 130,000 miles on it. The EV equivalent, well, there really is no equivalent, but maybe the Rivian at more than twice the price. The closest version I can get from Hyundai is smaller and 20,000 more.
But at 130,000 miles, I have done most of my own work on the vehicle and the most expensive thing I had done is bought new tires, I just put on the second set. I have done the brakes once, changed oil, gear oil, filters and spark plugs (plus coils, but they had not failed, I just thought I would do it while changing the spark plugs).
The vehicle has so far, zero dollars in unexpected repairs. ZERO. Nothing is broken on it. I drove it 1,200 miles for a wedding, which I don't know if it's even possible in a vehicle that might only have a 240 mile range and I did it in one day, adding 8 or more hours to that trip would have been pretty discouraging.
This guy went 200,000 miles with no repairs…no maintenance and no breathing gasoline fumes when refilling. Balance that out.
1,200 miles is 20 hours. It takes 30 minutes to recharge a Lightning truck to drive 240 miles towing a big load. So 3 stops at 1/2 hour each in twenty hours. Just enough for meal and bathroom breaks. And the charging was WAY cheaper than the gas would have been.
Here in France resale valueof a car is extremely affected by having proof of work done on the car from a professional shop like receipts. I was thinking about learning to do this work by myself but I realized i wasn't worth it from an economical perspective. I could do it as an hobby on an old beater just for fun, but I don't care too much about it.
There was a video on here that I watched yesterday about the scandalous $61,000 that Hyundai are charging for EV batteries in Canada. These crap milk floats aren't worth repairing; why bother? So many uploads on UA-cam are now confirming that these abominations are throwaway consumer items.
Alex is extremely well versed in these EVs...opens your eyes about repairs on these.
Well done.
Alex is very impressive with his knowledge of and presentation of the EV components. Very, very informative and interesting. Thanks for sharing.
it goes to show that ev battery's can last a long time if you maintain them by replacing the bad cell instead of the whole pack simple
He says over 200k miles? He’s acknowledging the car lasted less than infinity or maybe infinity? No he’s gaslighting idiots
@@raven4k998 Isn't your profile picture that of a Hispanic soap opera actress (from the Charlie Flow TV series)?
@@abdul-kabiralegbe5660 you have never seen a show called dark matter she was one of the main character's in that show the bad ass captain you can't kill they spaced her she got back in the ship and killed them all and she has a nice ass to boot
@@raven4k998 Thanks. I'll look up the show on Google.
For 5000 a single repair
I’m going to learn the electric motor and battery tech been on it for a few but now I’ll just learn all of it thank you for your time in making this
Thanks for watching!
After 200,000 miles of service free, repair free driving. They are rarely in the shop. No oil changes, no cooling system repairs, no transmission fluid…..
@5400bowen How often do you think coolant system repairs are happening? I had a 2001 Chevy Tahoe that I bought brand new and put over 340,000 miles on in 17 years of ownership. I had a coolant leak from a hole in a hose that cost me less than $10 to repair. I had to replace the radiator once and it cost me $150. I also did two coolant flushes that were under $30. I did my own oil changes (the easiest darn thing to do on a car besides replace the engine air filter) for $40 a pop and the oil lasted 7500 miles, so about 50 oil changes. Over the entire 340,000 miles, the only major drive train related repairs was replacing a blown head gasket at 290,000 miles in my friend's home garage for $200, a transmission rebuild at 320,000 miles for $1300 at a transmission shop, 2 fuel filter replacements for $20 a piece, 2 alternator replacements at $80 a piece, and around 40 air filter replacements at $20 a piece. That sounds like a lot, but when you add the total cost, over 340,0000, (10+150+2000+200+1300+40+160+800=4660) it cost me less than $5000 to maintain a 5.3L V8 engine. It cost that much just to repair one drive motor on a Tesla Model S at less than 200,000 and it cost $10,000 to replace a Tesla Model S battery at the same interval. You're not saving any money at all on repairs for an EV. You're going to spend almost 3 times as much.
@@k4everut who ever talked about cost and convenience? In 340,000 miles that’s at least 11 coolant changes. Times 80,000,000 cars. Times all the cars since 1910-1920. You do know how to do arithmetic? My point is the poisonous chemicals and pollution on top of the cost, not your personal DIY cost and convenience. How much did it cost for all the oils changes and coolant changes? How much toxic fluids where used. 80 million is just the US. Learn reading comprehension and arithmetic. Now….no oil changes and no coolant changes, virtually no trani fluid…electric. Most people don’t do there own repairs. And you aren’t considering diesel trucks. My 2006 Ford F250 diesel uses 15 quarts of oil every 3-5 thousand miles. As a matter of fact, me being an ex auto machinist, you aren’t considering most of the drawbacks of internal combustion engines. And there are hundreds. Ever think about what it takes to move and process all that gas, diesel, motor oil, trani fluid, and the poison it takes to make and transport coolant? Where does it all go? To Jupiter? And what if you had not had to do that work, are you saying the average person would not enjoy not having ANY maintenance for about 200,000 miles as on electric cars? You really would sit down with people and tell them that is meaningless? Tell that to my daughter in law, and listen while she laughs hysterically in your face.
@@k4everut oh…and 200,000 miles on a motor. You are delirious. I just watched a video about a 1901 original electric car. An unknown brand…1901…the original motor was still working…let me repeat for the thickheaded, THE ORIGINAL 1901ELECTRIC MOTOR WAS STILL WORKONG. 200,000 miles you say, Mr automotive expert? And you did not get a “transmission rebuild” for $1,300, they fixed it, they did NOT rebuild it, $1,300 would not cover the parts alone for a rebuild on that trani. I worked in and automotive machine shop. You left out all the real facts.
A really great video that answered a lot of my questions about the technology - Alex knows his stuff!
That was a most brilliant lecture by a very good lecturer, just like being in a classroom ! thank you very much for teaching me quite a lot about the "secrets" of the electric cars. Glad tidings from across the pond in Cornwall UK👋👍👊
Excellent portrayal of the pros and cons of owning an electric vehicle Alex, thank you!!
So why is the comments option blocked
More full anyone owning an EV
@@debbiekonkin5768 Where is this happening? And how do we know for a fact that it's the EVs causing it? To my knowledge, blackouts can happen for a multitude or reasons, same as brown outs.
@@debbiekonkin5768 Well, like I said, where is this happening, and are we sure it's the EVs causing it. But seeing as you could not give me information for either, I'm going to assume it's a lie or just standard EV hate. By the way, an EV that uses a standard 110v outlet at 12A only consumes about 1,300 watts of power. This is enough to recover a bit over 10 kWh's overnight, which is a well over 50 miles, per day, which is also more than what most people drive every day.
@@debbiekonkin5768 “1300 watts at 120 volts x 14-16 hours NON stop might get you 10kwh, it will take a week to fully charge at 120 volts, NON stop.” This is assuming that all EVs have the same battery capacity and charging speed, as well as the battery being completely empty every time you charge, which is not the case at all. Assuming a person only charges their EV to 80% for daily use as recommended by most manufacturers, and considering the average person only drives around 37 miles per day. A level 1 charger (110v outlet at 1.4kW) will cover their needs and then some with overnight charging. This person would only have to resort to public chargers or a faster charger if they were going on a road trip.
“UK, California Charge rage, California, brown out warnings, do not use your AC and do not plug in your EVs.” This implies that EV charging is causing power shortages and grid instability, which isn't supported by any of your claims, and is limited to one state in an entire country. EV owners can charge their vehicles during off-peak hours when electricity demand is low and prices are cheap, or they can use smart charging technologies that adjust the charging rate based on grid conditions and user preferences. Some EVs can also provide backup power to the grid or to the home in case of emergencies, such as the Ford F-150 Lightning or the Tesla Powerwall. The real reason this happens is much more complex and is due to a number of reasons. Some of them being extreme and widespread heat waves, which increase demand for air conditioning and reduce the supply of hydroelectric power due to drought conditions. Inadequate planning and forecasting for the peak demand periods and the transition from solar to natural gas generation in the evening hours, when the sun set and people return home. Market failures and inefficiencies that allowed some power plants to export electricity to other states when it was needed in California, or prevented them from importing electricity from neighboring regions due to transmission constraints or price differences.
“It now cost more in the UK for a road trip using an EV vs a gas or diesel car.” This claim is based on a flawed comparison that ignores the differences in fuel costs, maintenance costs, and tax incentives between EVs and gas or diesel cars. The UK Department of Transportation says the average cost of driving an EV in the UK was 3.3 pence per mile, compared to 9.9 pence per mile for a petrol car and 8.9 pence per mile for a diesel car. EV owners can also benefit from various tax incentives, such as lower vehicle excise duty.
“In the UK, you now have to pay an annual fee/permit if you want a charger installed at your home.” The annual fee/permit that you are claiming refers to a new regulation that requires local authorities to issue permits for the installation of on-street EV charging points, not for home charging points. This regulation is intended to ensure that on-street EV charging points are safe, accessible, and complaint with the national standards. It does not affect EV owners who want to install charging points at their homes, as they do not need to apply for permits or pay fees for that. Furthermore, EV owners who want to install home charging points can receive grants from the government that cover up to 75% of the installation cost, up to a maximum of £350.
“Everyone who doesn’t use an EV now has to pay higher electricity costs.” This claim is false, as there is no evidence that EV charging is increasing electricity prices for non-EV users. For example, a study by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy found that if 40% of light-duty vehicles in the US were electrified by 2035, the average electricity price would decrease by 0.5% for all customers, saving $17 billion per year. Another study by the International Council on Clean Transportation found that if 40% of new car sales in Europe were electric by 2030, the average electricity price would decrease by 1.3% for all customers, saving €13 billion per year.
You all are doing a great job, and I hope you expand by opening shops throughout the United States!
Alex is worth his weight in gold. He's the type of tech I would want working on my car. It's also nice to listen to someone that calls a motor a motor and an engine an engine.
Gone are the engineers, here come the motoreers.
This is the first in depth EV tech talk that has ever kept my attention. Watched the entire thing! I want an EV even less now than before I watched… but the video was great.
Every new technology takes time to mature. Currently EV's are for well off people owning a home for charging overnight (not for those who live in apartments and condos) and can actually afford higher costs EV's compared to regular cars. Just like you can pick up a $200 smartphone that works compared to over $500 10 years ago, same will happen with EV's.
@@BillAnt "I want an EV even less now than before I watched." Totally agree
Outstanding, I saw this channel for the first time and have nothing but high praise for this type of repair work to bring costs down to something more manageable! This begins to break down the barriers that cause the EV market to repel prospective customers because of their concerns about long term reliability. BRAVO keep up the good work.
Question: Is this information included in their manual?. Has this issue ever been resolved in a newer Tesla model
An EV ambassador for his engineering skills. Excellent consumer information. Calm unassuming modest presentation.
I think Mr Musk needs to get Alex onboard. When he said that, they place drains in the motor after a seal is replaced to facilitate any ingress of coolant into the motor at a later date, just shows he knows his stuff. If only others could have the same enthusiasm to their trade as this man.
Boy, saying QCCharge is a pioneer is a serious understatement.
Inspecting & diagnosing issues with Tesla battery packs is an opportunity to see how their build techniques & materials/parts are holding up in real world use. Too bad Tesla is part of the “It’s broke, just buy a new one. See our sales dept.” mentality.
You described every manufacturer.
It's actually more
"Does it cost more in time to repair, or slot in a new unit?"
.
That's where the second tier "repairers" come to the fore.
.
Same situation, different day.
.
The difference now is that where every vehicle had their "Top ten faults", an EV has let's say "30 known but not so common" problems, where an ICE vehicle might have 200 similar issues.
.
As mentioned here.
Seals (going to happen)
Fluid (going to happen)
Electronics (going to happen, often as a result of 👆)
Component (cell) failure (falls into the "rare" category)
Mechanical failure (Mounts, bushes, etc.... There's a lot of torque)
But as far as drive goes, that's about it.
ICE?
How long have you got?
.
Re "Tesla build techniques / materials/ parts"
.
They suffered the same issues as others (Model S drive shafts for example, bought in component quality) it's one reason they build more in house now.
90% of car frame is the battery
@@rogerstarkey5390I specialize on German brands,and the MB B Class is basically a Tesla powertrain. The drive motor on those is a common failure, and I’ve seen it happen in as little as 90k miles 🤷♂️.
Sadly, they don’t want to sell you any parts to fix it. They want to sell you the whole motor. Which is north of 5k
Enjoyed this walkthrough. I’ve seen a lot of ICE repair videos but not any EV ones yet. So interesting to see how few parts there are but also the unique challenges and things to watch out for. Great work.
Kudos to the young man in a pioneering industry. Hopefully he patents these special tools.
All of us mechanics have had to create our own tools. Part of the trade.
Wow this is one of the best information video I ever watched regarding Tesla battery replacement 😊
Alex is my type of mechanic...Freely swooping information and advice . Top man 👍🏴
Oh GREAT! Glad to see folks like this shop looking at practical and value-added ways to serve the EV industry. Reckon we are gonna need a lot more of them very shortly.
Worry not, the industry will grow as demand for it increases. Just as repair garages did 120+ years ago, when the motor car first appeared......
Yeah worry not indeed, but what about the horrendous insurance premiums and equally horrific depreciation! If you’re wealthy enough you may be able to absorb the costs of running an EV but if you’re a blue collar worker with limited funds to spend on transport you’ll be out of luck and resigned to push bike’s for your transport requirements. The push for EV’s has nothing to do with climate control, it’s about control full stop where only the wealthy elites will have access to personal transport, the rest of us will have to suck it up if these clowns get their way. So yeah, no need to worry!!!……
@@Bluenose7 Well Sir, I think you may be way too pessimistic about so many things you mention.
Tesla already has its own vehicle insurance company to specifically insure Tesla cars. It drastically alters premiums according to vehicle/driver behavior that they monitor all the time.
The buy price of a quality EV is still rather high, but dropping precipitously in just one year due to tech and manufacturing advancements. There are many EV's already that sell at lower cost than comparable ICE cars due to Government rebate incentives initially but such support to encourage EV adoption by the public will not be required for much longer.
The annual depreciation on a quality EV is VERY LOW.
Wealthy elites? Oh what nonsense.
Moving to Global mobile electrification is highly beneficial. Because over a million people will then NOT die each year from diseases caused by ingestion of particulate emissions.
Climate change will likely not be halted by removing ICE power plants over time, but it will certainly arrest many of the weather extremes and also have a major impact on general health and wellbeing of most people globally.
The rapid upsurge in local power generation (typically wind & solar + storage for 24/7 energy access) will almost certainly become an economical way to bring nearly free energy to remote and struggling communities - particularly in African nations.
@@jimparr01Utube lol
@@Bluenose7 100 %correct, forced on us all, designed to fail to get us out of private auto ownership to subscription based ownership, which is a car loan that never. Ends
Kudos to Alex from QC for a quality, objective presentation.
Great job Alex, I loved your presentation and explaining the ins and outs of what your shop does. Kudos!
Very refreshing to listen to someone who is really knowledgeable. Great innovation making your own special tools too.
Hell, any backyard mechanic that has done a moderate amount of mechanical work has probably designed and built their own tools. Nothing new to see here
I hope they'll do a video of that leaf battery swap/upgrade. That's awesome!
Here is something I have been pondering as a farmer. Tractors and skid steers on my farm do two different types of work, haying, field work and then chores. The chores take a short time every day and electrified skid steers and tractors could easily do them between charges. What about using these used eclectic motors in second hand skid steers and tractors for that purpose? Could potentially be a huge market I would think.
nice video, great to watch, this man def knows his job!
This was awesome! I learned more today about EV and whatnot than i ever knew! I would love to see how they diagnose and do a complete repair a car!
You learned that they are very expensive to fix when they do break, parts are a pain to source, and that many times you are just paying four figures to put used or rebuilt parts in your car.
🤷♂️
Well, that was an eye opener. Thanks for producing and sharing your knowledge of electric car maintenance and failure issues..
The young man made this presentation is glowing from intelligence, knowledge and experience 👍🙂
Thanks for educating us 😊
👍 👍👍👍
Nice to learn the motors use coolant, bearings wear out, stators rust, and more. Haven't seen this info anywhere else. Just nice to know what you're in for if you buy an EV. Thanks.
Just *this* motor design has these problems. It's important to keep in mind this was Tesla's first try at building a motor from scratch, and suffice it to say they learned from their mistakes on later iterations, which is a very different design and doesn't suffer from any of these failure modes...
My own personal daily driver is a 2015 Model S which uses 2nd gen motors. The front one lasted ~375k mi, and the rear is still original at 447k mi and counting.
-Alex @ QC Charge
And you're not going to hear this information anywhere. They're build for failure.
@@Alex_BessingerYou do understand the EV market is not just Tesla? Plenty of EV’s use bearings, and fluids, and other items that will require service. The latest trend right now is hybrids with 48v systems instead of the traditional 12v systems. 48v allows many mechanical components on ICE engines to be replaced with electric variants instead. Things like cam phasers, brake calipers, eccentric shafts/auxiliary shafts. To name a few.
Step outside the cult once in a while.
Maybe you should explore some Norwegian EV channels, and you would discover it sooner.
@@Roban554 Maybe you should be more kind to someone that knows plenty about EVs. Perhaps you should try a channel about courtesy.
This video is full of enlightening information on EVs in general and Teslas in particular! This is the first time that I heard about the real issues EVs can and do run into! Failing battery cells for which you're asked to replace the entire battery! Coolant seals that leak. Updated seals that leak worse! Insane labor costs from (intentional?) component design and assembly!
It seems the media is so invested in convincing us to go electric, that they completely disregard (or conceal?) maintenance costs over the long term, or costs hidden behind design flaws. They almost treat EVs like phones that you buy, keep for 2-3 years, then throw away to buy the next one! They almost act like they want to push the industry and the entire world towards electric!
Oh wait!
EV
E for evil
It would seem to me that if you added a pump and pressure transducer to the coolant loop, you could create a slight pressure and monitor for significant changes, a realtime warning system that your coolant loop is not holding pressure.
The coolant drain mod allows you to monitor for lost/dripping coolant. You can also monitor your drive unit coolant level in the reservoir.
The cooling system likely doesn't see a measurable loss of coolant pressure unless the seal is almost totally gone... the problematic shaft seal is on the lower pressure/return side of the rotor shaft cooling loop.
Model 3 & Model Y just does not use coolant inside the Drive Unit. Instead it uses Automatic Transmission Fluid specifically Pentosin ATF9 cooled and lubricated. That is how that problem was avoided.
@@Neojhun Indeed, as do the dual motor (non-performance) S/X which started production in late 2014. Generally speaking, the 2nd gen and up oil cooled motors are WAY more reliable than the 1st gen water/glycol cooled "Large Drive Unit". Tesla definitely learned from their mistakes on that one, it's just a shame they have never fixed the LDU issues, especially considering they continued to use them in RWD and Performance variants of the S/X all the way through to 2021.
- Alex @ QC Charge
@@Alex_Bessinger Even from the video, I could see you're not only very knowledgeable, but good at explanations and open (honest/candid). Plus your willingness to interact in the comments section is great. I wish you the absolute best in your business because people like you are rare. I would gladly work for you if I lived in the US even though I'm on the ICE maintenance business.
Cheers.
My first new truck I bought was a Ford six cylinder van in 1977, it was a 1978 model. I have never been without a truck of some kind since I was 17. I still have one here in 2024, ram big horn I bought new.
I had that 1978 Ford E150 van for 31 years. I commuted a lot on my motorcycles, and I mainly used the van for hauling my motorcycles, dirt bike, riding, road racing, when I would go to a race my wife and I would sleep in the van, when we got married, and had kids, all five of us rode dirt bikes that we hauled in the
van, plus I moved friends call moved myself. When I would change addresses, I moved one of my friends five times. The only issue I ever had with that truck was exhaust systems rotting off about every three or four years before they were stainless steel like they are today, and, rust.
when I just didn’t trust that van anymore, after 31 years, I sold it to a scrap dealer, and it drove away.
How many batteries would an electric car or truck owner have to buy in that car is lifetime to operate it for 31 years..
to top that off, I have a 1958 mga English sports car that I bought when I was 16 years old,, it was showing some rust because I drove it through high school in the late 60s. So I had it restored with new rocker panels, leaded in, the body man, did it at his home, and it took him two weeks… I had the engine rebuild, totally stock, and then I put the car in my mom‘s garage around 1975. it’s now in my garage, it’s the car under the blue custom-made cover for it in some of my motorcycle videos in my garage. That car is 66 years old, I started up occasionally using the hand crank that came with it.
can you imagine having an electric car that is 66 years old it starts right up?
as far as I can see about these electric cars, they are like firecrackers, they’re only good for one battery life because the replacement battery, and the cost of having the battery put in is more than the car is worth by the time it needs a battery. I think the world is already caught onto that trap you get yourself into if you buy an electric car. I mean Tesla has laid off enclosed facilities in different places, on May 1, 2024, didn’t they completely shut down their battery charger department all the way up to the boss of that department, over 1000 people. They had to call some of them back because they have contractual obligations to install some of those chargers in different places that already paid for them or something like that. But I think Tesla is in trouble.
there was a man that was an expert in the transportation world. He said that electric cars don’t need a few thousand chargers around the world, there need to be a few million chargers around the world if for no other reason, you can’t pull in, charge your battery and pull out in under 10 minutes the way you can with a gasoline car. You could be there for two hours, charging, even longer when the temperature goes down in the winter..
I saw a story from an automobile dealership that said that many of the people that bought EV’s came back as soon as six months later to trade them in on a gasoline car.
One other little tidbit. If every car right now in California was electric, and if they could possibly have every source of electrical generation up and running, which has never happened, but if every solar panel on top of a roof was putting power into the grid, if all the power stations were 100% operational, if Hydro, atomic power, wind, power, solar farms, if every source of electric power generation was online in California. and every bit of that power was designated, simply for charging all of the car batteries, if every car was electric, it still would not even be close to enough power just to charge car batteries. That means no power would be detoured/diverted to street lights, traffic, lights, water, pumping stations, waste water. treatment plants, no electricity for hospitals, schools, prisons, malls, grocery stores, apartment buildings with elevators, no power for HVAC, no radio, no television would have power, if all the power was designated to just charging car batteries, it still would not be enough to supply power to charge all the car batteries in California if they were all electric right now
The problem is, California does not want power stations built, it takes over 12 years to get a power station built from conception on paper till they finally throw the switch to put it online. Solar, Hydro, wind, or not reliable, just ask Texas about that. California does not want to create carbon footprints by adding power stations, they’re a little out of touch because it’s OK with them if they export their carbon across state lines and have the power generated in other states transported long distance into California which comes in a great price because electricity does not transfer over many miles very well. There’s a great loss, The further you send it through transmission lines. And we all know, especially the people in California, about transmission line, fire, during the fire seasons every year..
One of the main causes of seals wearing out like the one in this video is because the bearings located near that seal are failing or about to..
over in Europe, they are discussing parking, lots, separate and away from buildings for EV’s, they’re discussing if it’s risky to allow EV’s to go through tunnels, ride fairies, or be transported on new vehicle transportation ships. There was a fire recently and over 2000 cars burned up on the ship because of an EV battery fire, all those cars were new, many of them were expensive, Bentleys and rolls. That fire burned for days on that ship at sea.
I believe electric cars have a place, someone doing a commute, less than 50 miles to work every day, maybe the second car in the family and if they need to go somewhere for that day or for a week or for a month, they can take the gasoline car and leave the electric car at home.. China is building a plant in Mexico that is making a car called the seagull, that is targeting the $10,000 price range.. they were building that plant in Mexico with hopes of selling them here in the USA
I believe, reliability and safe batteries will happen someday, just not right now, maybe in 2040 there will be a breakthrough.
Tesla was advertising their cars and commercials as being very fast, I think that was the wrong approach, I think a better plan would have been to show a car that can go at average speeds of a four-cylinder car, with a smaller, lighter battery, they can be recharged in 15 minutes because it’s smaller, then driving range would not be an issue if you could recharge the battery in 15 minutes
Who needs a car they can go 0 to 60 in five seconds for basic transportation, that requires long recharge time in the batteries cost thousands of dollars and only last about 7 to 12 years if that? Only someone 16 years old they just got their drivers license.
If the electric car is so simple and maintenance free, why are they so expensive?.
There is a way to make the electric car and the electric tractor trailer and other pieces of equipment feasible. The company that makes electric car in China, nio has it figured out.. If you buy one of those cars in China, you can pull into a battery, changing station, the automated system removes your old battery, and plugged in a new one at no charge, up to six times a month. You’re not stuck with the original battery. You don’t even have to charge your battery if you can’t, or don’t want to, because you can keep getting a fresh battery six times a month. The battery swap takes less than 10 minutes. That is also the only way that you can make an electric tractor trailer truck feasible. You can’t have a truck sitting for two days recharging the battery.
I enjoyed the "interview" and am grateful that Alex could just talk to us without interruption. I have been driving EV's for several years including a Camry Hybrid, a Nissan Leaf (8 years), a Chevy Volt, and currently a 2023 Chevy Bolt. I haven't had any of the issues everyone feared but know they can break down. I am thankful to charge up at work and home and avoid the gas stations.
you kept on buying a new one? why not keep the original one and have no more payment like gasoline car?
This is an amazing video. Thanks to the author and Alex for his professional knowledge and sharing this tour.
This video is a real eye opener into the realities of owning an electric vehicle. PHEW!
You make it sound like every EV suffers from all these problems. LOL Any of the EV-cost-of-ownership videos on YT should ease your mind a whole lot, including the guy who drove his Tesla for a million miles.
@@ljprep6250 ?
@@ljprep6250 And his Teslas "battery pack replaced at least twice, which isn't bad considering 1 million miles. In addition, he's on his eighth electric motor " , so Tesla is not better than regular car in case of reliability or longevity. Other can do better e.g. Toyota hybrids can go over 300K-400K miles without battery or engine change (google 400K Rav4 XSE).
@@igortokarev2350indeed, city cabs get 500k on average with a Camry. EVs should be reliable, but the quality and QC at Tesla is awful, and they keep changing designs to make the cars less servicable. Don't buy any car with a GigaPress frame, they cannot service the battery and minor collisions are write offs, which explains why Tesla insurance is so high.
EVs will be great when better designs get to market from real car companies.
@@igortokarev2350they are much better in terms of reliability because they are at a fair earlier stage in development than internal combustion engines but allready reaching similar or better reliability
Outstanding ! the Tech was extremely knowledgeable
Car insurance for these vehicles is very high because any damage to the battery pack results in usually a total loss because those packs can't be repaired and only replaced. Since the pack is one third the cost of the vehicle, not including the other repairs to the body and parts. The insurance company will give you the value of the vehicle minus depreciation.
Amazing video. This guy is so knowledgeable, and truly talented at explaining technical stuff in a way that makes it fun and easy to understand. I hope EVs do not take over the world but, if they do, I only wish there are more shops like this one.
You are right!!! We will have a hard time ,,,, finding someone to fix this engine,,, an. The cost is crazy !! Wow I think I will drive my gas car till the wheels fall off !!!! lol. 😮😮😮😮😮😮
Good luck repairing a 4680 pack, ain’t going to happen with that pink structural foam. And those packs are the future.
Thanks. Highly informative without any sales pitch.
Wow, I just learned a lot. Thank you very much brother.
Great stuff. Very informative. Thank you for posting this content.
Nice video, looking to see more data on the coolant leaks. 40-50k miles isn’t that much though, to have $5-7k repairs after 2-3 years is ludicrous, let alone $20k for a battery pack, that’s more than a cheap new car. As far as the reasons Tesla doesn’t rebuild/repair the individual modules, besides the labor, mismatching individual new and old cells in large battery packs puts a lot of stress on the old ones.
Think of it as a bed with springs, over time they loosen up, replacing a single spring with a much stiffer one puts a lot of stress on the fabric and neighboring springs especially as they get rapidly compressed and released. Batteries, like the springs connected with fabric will end up charging/discharging each other, causing hot spots which is bad all around.
Dude what a fantastic video. Kudos to you man. The knowledge you have is dope. Hope you can educate the rest of the future youth engineers down the road. Your skills are priceless for the electric future. Props man.
Impressed with the technician and the shop..tools
I wish I open one un Chicago area...under your . Kind of franchise expertise..
Excellent insight. Well presented. Bravo!
A really great and informative video!! Thank you!!
Having owned several Prius, changing out defective modules or cells is a temporary fix. Because other cells/modules will also fail in a few months. Thus its best to replace entire battery unless you’re going to fix the battery long enough to sale/tradein to make it someone else’s problem.
Props to Alex. He is an excellent presenter - on par with a lot of dedicated UA-cam science content creators.
Nice! Love to see more and more indipendent repairs shops for EVs coming up!
QC CHARGE will be expanding to new locations in 2024.
@@QCCHARGE Here in the UK we have HEVRA - Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Repair Alliance - offering training courses for mechanics and technicians who wish to gain the necessary skills and qualifications to work on EV's....... We already have a sprinkling of independent EV specialists/repairers who can offer servicing, repairs and battery pack refurbishments here in the UK......
@@Brian-om2hh we have that here too. But regardless, EV’s are simple enough that a blind, deaf, r*tard can work on them. The issue is manufacturers who don’t play fair and lock us out of getting parts, software, and repair info.
great video and super informative!
Very nice. Thank-you for sharing your information. Will follow and share for sure. Good luck and keep making updates to videos!!
The first clean explanation about the costs! Others are just dancing around the theme!
Very knowledgeable mechanic, great presentation.
Absolutely fantastic - so informative - thanks !
Thank you very much for all that information. It's great that you are innovative with upgrades and repair methods.
Once a battery module is worn out, the others are soon to follow. A new module mixed in with the whole bed, can cause issues as well. Its safer to replace the entire battery modual bed.
I’m guessing you have an electrical engineering background
Very informative Alex! Well stated, clear. Appreciated!
The repair work on EVs is definitely way much higher than an engine or Trans replacement on an ICE car. And if it's from the manufacturer I would definitely top up a bit to get a new ICE car at that pricing. That is if you repair one cell or module, how about the other cells or modules? can it last, I'm sure it will be a chain effect in no time. So is it cost-effective to do a repair on EVs? Say 1 module cost 5K and the total is 8 modules, don't tell me I fork out 5K each time the module fails whereby I just fork out 3 to 5K for an engine that will last me another 200K miles or more.
Simple solution, lease an EV, don’t buy an EV.
"Say 1 module cost 5K and the total is 8 modules" WTF $40K for a battery is just absurd lies.
Most likely only 1x $5K repair will ever be needed because the entire car is not going survive more than 400,000 miles. ICE cars are also not expected to survive more than 400,000 miles. The same limitation applies to BEVs.
Stop with the misinformation rhetorical question. It's very clearly you are pushing false assumptions.
@@michaelgreen9484 That is not relevant, he's just pushing misinformation.
If the government is going to force the consumer to purchase these, how is the average American family going to afford the operating/repair costs? There are going to be a lot of them parked in driveways not running.
Government needs to subsidize the battery replacements.
Looking back over 30 years and the cars ive owned which were all well over 10 years old when i bought them and the only major drive train problem i had was the clutch on my first car, which i damaged by doing a burnout, cost me £70 back in the 90's to get it replaced, ice has never given me any real problems at all
Great explanation Alex you know your stuff enjoyed watching
Thank you, really good to have the detail explained so clearly.
Excellent info, great video.
Always said it’s the battery and it’s issue’s but listening to all of the failures on motor’s and coolant issues makes my decision to ride a bike even better!
"failures on motor’s" is extremely rare or a very simple fix like cleaning out the motor internals.
Same here, I've given up cars, ice too expensive to run these days and electric cars don't interest me in the same way ice does, looking at boats now instead of cars!
When he was talking about bearings and bearing races it made me think it was like bicycle maintenance.
Great Video on the newer electric vehicle components and service procedures and typical issues Customers have!!
Good advertisement for not buying an EV but I am very impressed with Alex and hope you guys do real well in this new business. Thank you for a great video.
Very informative, keep up the good work
I'm not a fan of electric cars, but Alex is certainly very impressive with his knowledge. Having to make his own specialist tools to service these monsters shows a real pioneering spirit. These things are never going to be as popular as ICE cars, unless the servicing costs can be substantially reduced, and reliability and durability increased. Replacement costs of batteries are frankly laughable for most people.
It's worth remembering that most things get cheaper as technology develops. The Model T was $850 in 1909 but was under $300 by 1924.
The original Model S in 2012 was around $75,000 in today's money, but tech evolution has allowed the creation of far cheaper models that get more range on a charge than the original Model S.
Obviously, we can't predict the future. But, with technology for EVs already evolving so fast, it'll be hard to believe if another decade doesn't bring much more affordable repairs and replacements to the table.
@@motorbiscuit
Climate change is real and is driven by the use of fossil fuels. EV's are part of the solution, along with solar and wind power sources. So, sorry but ICE cars have a limited future. We have an EV; it is incredibly cheap to run (Mostly charged from our rooftop solar), goes 500km on a charge, never had any "range anxiety" once we realized how good it is. No servicing costs, ultra reliable. And it is by FAR the peppiest car I've ever owned. Like other EV owners, would never want an ICE again. Cheers! Chris, NZ.
WTF? reliability and durability has never been the problem and is the key point where it is better than ICE? The servicing and parts replacement problem is not based on cost. It's main cause is lack of Supply Chain and Organizational Resources to deploy these necessity. Granted all these 1st gen mass produced BEVs are being neglected and not enough resources is being spent on Servicing and Parts availability. This is very much another chicken and egg problem not wanting to spend resources on a limited market.
@@Neojhun Very astute observation. Right now, you can walk into any dealer service department or auto parts store and buy most parts you could ever want for an ICE vehicle, and usually there are cheaper aftermarket part alternatives available as well.
Right now though, the same can't be said for EVs, so supply chain is a very real issue. That's why we've had to create our own supply chain with custom parts, tools and lots of research. For many parts and repairs we are forced to lean heavily on used parts.
With time and higher volume, parts vendors will conform to meet the needs of the market, but for the time being, we work with what we've got. Right now we are actually currently working with a partner for aftermarket batteries for the Nissan LEAF, and there may be a potential to expand to other vehicles as well.
- Alex @ QC Charge
thank you Alex for this clear and concise explanation. best to you.
Great content! Alex knows his stuff for sure!
Well presented. This info makes me want to avoid EV's like the plague!
You must admit the ones like this guy who can work on these must be raking in some $ not a lot of competition. There aren't even enough regular mechanics glad i do most of my car repair in the driveway. I like both technologies and free market absolutely allows for evs regardless of anyone's opinion. If the where move cost effective they would be the car people would be choosing. I also enjoy solar technology and that enables the charging of an ev without i will call it tradition energy. ( The amish use electric bikes now can you believe it?) even if there where more disadvantages i would enjoy seeing an electric company not receive a dollar from me. not everyone travels 300miles a day either my commute is under 30miles often less in a day. Solar will cover this the toyota hybrid has a panel on the roof one guy claimed 11%range over a sunny weekend and i believe it. That is driveable range without ever seeing a station or electric charger. Im not on either side but i respect you option to use traditional vehicles but we can all be driving these. we can bring gas prices down if some use ev and some combustion. I dont think they should faze out combustion completely just keep more of a balance. They may not be going about it 100% correctly. Its also amusing to me elon is more right wing these days but a lot of them are anti ev and solar lol
@@b469b It’s all a big money grab. This generations “big short” the regulations they set forth will not be met by the timeline. That’s just blatantly obvious. Which means they are just going to keep kicking the can down the road.
And yet EV's are still way more reliable and safer than ICE vehicles. The data doesn't lie. These guys aren't engineers, what videos from engineers that take apart EV's if you want real data.
Because it might need a repair at 200,000 miles? Note that this is an early battery, they have only got better. I have a friend that has just paid a fortune for a clutch change at sub-100,000 and now has an oil leak, let the fight with the garage begin.
@@Resist4 They are not safer. They are just as safe. They have the exact same safety features an ICE vehicle does. The safety features have nothing to do with the powertrain, it’s an independent system designed to deploy in an accident, or help you avoid an accident altogether. The powertrain doesn’t dictate that.
What a great explanatory video… really impressive!
The most informative minutes in my day! Thanks!
Very well done Alex...Top Job, explaining some very interesting points..
Alex: Such a great presentation. Content, format, communication skills. Bravo bravo.
I can tell you why a dealer would not repair a battery, especially a high mileage one. When 6 months go by and there is another bad cell in a different section(module) they are gonna expect it to be repaired for free under warranty. Its a good idea but if you have 4 failures over 2 years you could have had a complete new unit for the cost of 4 repaired sections and 12 original sections that are just waiting to fail. Have you run into issues like that and if so how do you address it?
Very well explained. Thank you for the video!
Coolant leaks, cant get away from em 😂
I remember seeing comments like “im buying a Tesla, I will never have to go to a mechanic again” 😂
I'm never going to have to worry about electric maintenance.
So did the owner of the tesla for 200,000 + miles. 0$ for oil change every 5000 miles.
@@shaileshs8242 You weigh the insurance costs , E v is still way to expensive.. Cheaper to own a gas vehicle Anyway you look at it
Wow so you're going to worry about ICE maintenance? It sounds like you hate money.
Me neither! I wanted to comment but that option is blocked, I would not give 2 cents for an EV!
@@Pinkielover Here in the U.K. a Tesla model Y costs about £600 or $750 per year which is the same for an ICE car.
Excellent lecture…..the technician is brilliant👍
i’m glad that he made the comparison that the leaking drive unit is the equivalent of the head gasket on an ice vehicle. This will be the hopefully the foundation of the next generation of mechanics creates jobs in the EV industry. We just need the manufacturers to start playing, nice and ensuring that the vehicles can be worked on by third parties and lock them out
Amazing information, awesome video. You got a new sub! 🍻
Awsome video,a real education on Ev motors and battery replacement, Damnskippy!
Excellent video on the workings of EV cars, well done Alex on explaining and passing on your knowledge.. 👌
Great video and channel that I just came across - this one deserves to grow rapidly. Well done.
Much appreciated!
Outstanding video !! Thank you !
Great service provided by this shop! 👏👏
Thank you. Tony @ QC CHARGE
My worry with repairing batteries is what happens when the next cell fails? I just see it as a cascade effect whereby after say 8 years you repair one module and then next year another one fails and then another etc etc. Simplistically it's like a drill battery, when one cell fails you just know a second will fail son after and so on. These cars have MANY more individual cells and all have degradation.
The manufacturers should have the ability to monitor and provide status down to individually replaceable components, so the overall health can be seen without wholesale disassembly. Cell capacity, temperature monitoring and alerts if thresholds are exceeded could be accessible by the interested parties.
You guys seem well ahead of the curve with your knowledge and after market repairing of these, I live in the UK and I’m not sure there are many places like yours here to be honest.
Most informative, thank you .