• vivadanang@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    47% of all Electric Car “news” have a 82% chance of being 99% “bullshit”.

  • GadgeteerZA@beehaw.org
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    7 months ago

    A broader context given at https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/03/adding-context-to-that-consumer-reports-electric-car-reliability-report/

    Consumer Reports also grouped powertrains together when discussing reliability, which is where some issues start to appear. Apparently, EVs suffered 79% more problems than gas-powered vehicles. That will undoubtedly lead to shock headlines, but it’s also misleading, Autoblog says. Most EVs are new to the market, which goes back to the cliché mentioned earlier. There are also a lot fewer make/models availability, meaning that simply averaging all models together will result in a few bad apples skewing the results.

  • Ranvier@sopuli.xyz
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    7 months ago

    There’s a lot of problems with this. Just some include that it’s a blog and doesn’t link to the actual study so it’s impossible to see what’s going on with the this report. They also never explain what this “reliability score” even means or what’s included in that. Then they start doing things like using a percent to compare the scores saying this is percent more reliable. But we still don’t even know what this score is, and comparing as a percent may not make any sense to say depending on what the scores are and how they’re calculated. Unfortunately you can’t really draw any conclusions from what’s in this article.

    • snowe@programming.dev
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      7 months ago

      The underlying CR report is more detailed but it’s still a dumb study because it’s reported problems from the consumer, not actual problems. E.g. eco mode on the Ioniq 5 is a “problem” even though it worked as designed. Also they proceed to recommend Tesla even though Tesla has the worst reliability rating in the industry according to numerous other studies. Overall terrible study.

    • Hotzilla@sopuli.xyz
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      7 months ago

      Combining EV and plugin hybrids together is quite strong indicator that this study has agenda attached.

      Plugin hybrids were the most unreliable. Tech wise all hybrids are more closer to gas powered than EV’s. Of course plugin hybrids are more unreliable, you have two engines, so you get issues from both.

  • Dominic@beehaw.org
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    7 months ago

    Seems like there are a number of issues with this.

    1. Not defining “reliability challenge” in a meaningful way. (How many of these are problems that are expensive or time-consuming to repair? How expensive and how time-consuming? Are these problems that prevent the car from driving safely, or are they inconveniences that can be put off?)

    2. Not controlling for manufacturer. (Toyota has long-been regarded as a reliable manufacturer, but they make 2 plug-in hybrids and 1 EV, all of which are new this year. Meanwhile, they offer about a dozen different traditional hybrids. I can believe that the Tesla Model 3 is less reliable than the Toyota Camry, but is a full-electric Hyundai Ioniq less reliable than a Hyundai Sonata?)

    3. Including plug-in hybrids and full electric vehicles as one category. (Plug-in hybrids combine the old breakable parts such as transmissions with the new breakable parts such as lithium batteries. This is the trade-off that buyers make to get the efficiency of an electric vehicle at short ranges and the convenience of an ICE at long ranges.)

  • taanegl@beehaw.org
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    7 months ago

    Yeah, if we’re talking bugie cars like Tesla’s, engineered from top to bottom to be a propriety machine, with jerry rigged electric systems that would make Apple blush, where you have no control, no ownership and have no control?

    Say it ain’t so!

    Pease, let’s return to the gas cars, engineered from top to bottom to be a propriety machine, with jerry rigged electric systems that would make Apple blush, where you have no control, no ownership and have no control.

    It’s the only way.

  • umbrella@lemmy.ml
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    7 months ago

    why though?

    technically they are much simpler, with less moving parts. if anything they should be MORE reliable

      • umbrella@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        I was guessing crappy build quality, but software is a great way to introduce planned obsolescence now that i’m thinking about it.

  • Radiant_sir_radiant@beehaw.org
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    7 months ago

    Did I miss the part where they differentiate between minor issues such as paint problems or YouTube crashing on the middle screen, and actual breakdowns where the car doesn’t move when it should? According to the original article, they’ve included reliability issues such as drivetrain problems, irregular paint and broken trim in their ranking.

    Losing in-car entertainment or comfort functions is still undesirable, but if given the choice I’d rather have a car that runs without music than a stationary car that lets me stream movies until roadside assistance arrives.
    And concerning the former, the infotainment systems in most ICE cars are just as cutting-edge as those in BEVs. I would expect differences in quality/reliability between different manufacturers, but not within the same brand and model family where the only relevant difference is the engine.

    (Edited for clarification.)

  • t3rmit3@beehaw.org
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    7 months ago

    gasp you mean electric vehicles that have been on the market for 7-ish years now are less reliable than the ICE vehicles that have had nearly a hundred years of development and refinement behind them? Color me surprised!

    • _spiffy@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      I just got a 2024 Kia Niro Wave EV! Hopefully that means this thing doesn’t give us problems!

      • pbjamm@beehaw.org
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        7 months ago

        I have a 2020 Niro PHEV and frankly the gas motor is piece of shit. Last year they had to rebuild the entire thing after some piston parts failure. They had the car in the shop for almost 2 months because they had a back order on the engine parts. Luckily all has been well since then.

        • Vodulas [they/them]@beehaw.org
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          7 months ago

          Kia has a pretty shit record with gas engines, but has been pretty good on the electric drivetrain. Hopefully they continue to make solid EVs. There need to be more lowish cost models out there.

  • pepsison52895@lemmy.one
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    7 months ago

    A while ago, there was something that showed the higher failure rate of various components on EVs because of the lack of routine service that has cars have. Basically, gas cars get a service and inspection every 5-10k miles when the oil is changed and any worn bearings, bushings, etc. are found. EVs don’t have that so things go unnoticed until they fail. Could this be the same? Could the “reliability” concerns just be normal wear that isn’t getting caught since there are no routing inspections?

    • ericjmorey@beehaw.org
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      7 months ago

      Mechanics generally don’t inspect vehicles that are in for routine maintenance unless the customer is paying for inspections.

      • pepsison52895@lemmy.one
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        7 months ago

        I mostly do my own work, but whenever I do take my car to the local Mazda dealer, they always provide a full inspection report as well as a video of the tech checking everything and explaining anything that they’ve found. Even when my wife takes her car in for only basic maintenance (it’s still under warranty so we take it in for oil changes), they do the same thing and don’t charge anything extra.

        Same dealer network owns the local Ford dealer and I ended up taking my old Fiesta ST there for an oil change as I didn’t have the space to do it myself at the time. $45 for an oil change and tire rotation, and I got the same inspection report and video.

        • ericjmorey@beehaw.org
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          7 months ago

          This seems like an extremely rare, high level of service and I’m still not convinced this would be the difference between EVs and ICE vehicle reliability if it was the standard at every dealer and independent shop over the past 10 years.

          I attribute it to Tesla being a manufacturer that doesn’t care about the manufacturing process.

      • t3rmit3@beehaw.org
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        7 months ago

        I can barely get the dealership techs to do a comprehensive check even when I do ask and am paying.

  • EasternLettuce@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    It’s also important to remember that consumer reports is a rag so take their results with a grain of salt