Rendered at 19:04:40 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Cloudflare Workers.
everybodyknows 13 hours ago [-]
> the architecture uses large aluminum unicastings to incorporate more than 100 parts that would otherwise be separate
They may have learned a few tricks from those teardowns of BYDs.
vablings 52 minutes ago [-]
I honestly think unicastings are a horrible idea. BYD for most of its flagship vehicles do not use unicasting. I think unicasting should be reserved for the cheapest of vehicles in which an accident means the vehicle is recycled rather than unsafely repaired.
red-iron-pine 6 hours ago [-]
so what happens when something breaks? in theory this is 100 more points of failure
honest question, not sure how BYD handles this either. but BYDs are cheap enough that if you need to you get another...
addaon 15 hours ago [-]
Shouldn't a Fathom have a six foot bed, by definition?
aareet 14 hours ago [-]
Not at that unfathomably low price
bob1029 12 hours ago [-]
> Rather than a distinct floor component, the Fathom’s interior parts mount directly to the top of the structural battery.
I'm looking forward to the IIHS test results.
vablings 48 minutes ago [-]
Most EV's use a structural battery like this either for frames or direct attachments. Go have a look at some EURO NCAP testing of Chinese EV's
a012 11 hours ago [-]
Safety asides it sounds like they build the car like a phone, so probably the repairs cost would be more expensive in the long run
Neywiny 17 hours ago [-]
So they made the battery, arguably the most concerning thing to replace as the vehicle ages, ridiculous to replace?
At least they're not reusing names for entirely new things. Mustang Mach-e is so weird. New vehicle, new name. Good
erxam 16 hours ago [-]
Aging isn't the real problem. Batteries are being found to last ages and ages more than they were ever thought to. By the time it needs to be changed, these will be considered as antiques.
I think the real problem will be in crashes and insurance. The amount of cars that will be totaled for a fender bender will be nuts.
vablings 44 minutes ago [-]
The idea of giga casting is horrible. One frame crack and its toast, I don't care how much people talk about that damn "Tesla glue" its forever structurally compromised.
Steel frame rails, good crash protection bolted to those frames and then a battery in the middle. Keep it simple and repairable.
dzhiurgis 13 hours ago [-]
Nah real problem, especially on smaller cells like 18650 back of the day is balance or temperature cable welds that randomly pop off, rendering entire pack useless and very laborious to repair. Rest of the things are very rare. If you crash hard enough to damage battery usually entire car is written off.
I've been looking for used Tesla in Eastern Europe. Battery repairs are so rare (I think I found 2). Post-crash rebuilds are basically 95% of cars sold here. 100% if car is from USA.
pstuart 14 hours ago [-]
Upgrading would make that a nice to have. 8 years or so and battery tech should have an affordable higher capacity unit that could give new life to it.
I got a refurbed Nissan Leaf with a 40KWh battery (replaced the original 24KWh battery) which added enough range to eliminate range anxiety whilst tootling about the metro area.
kristianp 16 hours ago [-]
If it's about the size of a Maverick as the article suggests, that's not small at all.
GenerWork 16 hours ago [-]
The Maverick is pretty small compared to other trucks. Smaller than a Ranger, and much, much smaller than the quarter and half ton trucks.
erxam 16 hours ago [-]
Smaller doesn't necessarily mean small. Rangers are just normal big, and upper tier trucks are absolutely monstrous.
You know what I thought the Maverick was sized like before looking it up? A Volkswagen Saveiro.
red-iron-pine 6 hours ago [-]
smaller than a modern Ranger, not the original 2-seater
the modern Ranger is the same size as the old F-150
deflator 7 hours ago [-]
An electric ute? I'm interested. Seems like a good move!
dyauspitr 15 hours ago [-]
For what it’s worth, I absolutely love my f-150 lightning. I just wish we had 1 MW charging like the Chinese do.
bayesnet 5 hours ago [-]
I’d be happy to get the advertised charge speeds on my Equinox. The number of times I use a charging station that delivers ~120kW at most is maddening.
And it’s this kind of thing that stops mass adoption. When you fuel an ICE car, the pump just delivers fuel and that’s that. The price of fuel is prominently advertised and the experience is the same no matter the station.
Charging on the other hand is an exercise in frustration. Charging stations have different advertised power delivery rates; often they can’t meet those rates (is it the charging station? Is it your car? No way to know!); pricing is opaque; charging can stop seemingly at random .. and then you get levied the penalty congestion rate for using a charging station.
My parents asked me if they should get an EV. I advised a conventional hybrid. They are too old to have the patience to deal with all this.
burnt-resistor 6 hours ago [-]
I'd pick a $5k cheaper, analog Slate instead for not having to deal with Ford's post-sales ads, subscriptions, and DRM.
pennomi 6 hours ago [-]
I’d buy a Slate above this even if the Ford was cheaper, specifically for those same reasons.
kotaKat 7 hours ago [-]
Ford once again getting the messaging wrong and shipping what is essentially a glorified sedan with a useless external 4 foot bed.
Why do we have to keep making family-haulers for whipped dads that aren't allowed to have a two-seater? Why do we HAVE to force the entire family to go with us wherever we go? The wife already gets the lifted Expedition XLT to nearly run over little Jimmy with at the crosswalk (or as I lovingly call it, the 'F Series' - Canyonero strikes again).
Give us back a two seat basic pickup like the Ranger used to be, cowards.
dyauspitr 5 hours ago [-]
Two seaters means you need a whole other vehicle if you have a family.
graceful6800 5 hours ago [-]
Back in my day we just threw the kids into the bed of the truck and we came out fine
They may have learned a few tricks from those teardowns of BYDs.
honest question, not sure how BYD handles this either. but BYDs are cheap enough that if you need to you get another...
I'm looking forward to the IIHS test results.
At least they're not reusing names for entirely new things. Mustang Mach-e is so weird. New vehicle, new name. Good
I think the real problem will be in crashes and insurance. The amount of cars that will be totaled for a fender bender will be nuts.
Steel frame rails, good crash protection bolted to those frames and then a battery in the middle. Keep it simple and repairable.
I've been looking for used Tesla in Eastern Europe. Battery repairs are so rare (I think I found 2). Post-crash rebuilds are basically 95% of cars sold here. 100% if car is from USA.
I got a refurbed Nissan Leaf with a 40KWh battery (replaced the original 24KWh battery) which added enough range to eliminate range anxiety whilst tootling about the metro area.
You know what I thought the Maverick was sized like before looking it up? A Volkswagen Saveiro.
the modern Ranger is the same size as the old F-150
And it’s this kind of thing that stops mass adoption. When you fuel an ICE car, the pump just delivers fuel and that’s that. The price of fuel is prominently advertised and the experience is the same no matter the station.
Charging on the other hand is an exercise in frustration. Charging stations have different advertised power delivery rates; often they can’t meet those rates (is it the charging station? Is it your car? No way to know!); pricing is opaque; charging can stop seemingly at random .. and then you get levied the penalty congestion rate for using a charging station.
My parents asked me if they should get an EV. I advised a conventional hybrid. They are too old to have the patience to deal with all this.
Why do we have to keep making family-haulers for whipped dads that aren't allowed to have a two-seater? Why do we HAVE to force the entire family to go with us wherever we go? The wife already gets the lifted Expedition XLT to nearly run over little Jimmy with at the crosswalk (or as I lovingly call it, the 'F Series' - Canyonero strikes again).
Give us back a two seat basic pickup like the Ranger used to be, cowards.
Love my ranger. ~700km on a tank of gasoline. Easy to work on at home. The factory installed upfitter switches make adding 12v additions easy.
https://youtu.be/PI_Jl5WFQkA