Hongguang Mini EV teardown: A $4,500 'alternative to walking' | Hacker News Reader

Hongguang Mini EV teardown: A $4,500 'alternative to walking'

asia.nikkei.com

There are some videos [1] on this EV. Trying to find one that shows realistic the self serviceability is. Most of the videos are sadly hype about the car being small and affordable.

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Hongguang+Mini+...

I've had the same issue with content around this vehicle category. Serviceability is a major component of vehicle ownership that's often overlooked by automotive journalists in the thrall of novel or exotic ideas.

Agreed. My concerns with such vehicles is that they may be too tantalizing for people at such a low cost, only to find there is nowhere to get them worked on and nowhere to get the parts. The end result could be landfills full of these things. If there were any examples of hobbyists building these from the ground up using after-market parts that might be convincing enough to mitigate the concerns around these being disposable cars. Surely by now there must be a generation of tinkerers that would love to build and modify these little cars.

I'm afraid that the past couple decades in technological progress have been unkind to people who might have engaged in such tinkering. DRM and safety regulations will ensure that vehicle repair, modification, and fabrication are pastimes for the rich or the professionally trained.

If this category of ultra-low-cost EV is brought to Europe or North America at scale, I think it'll be on some sort of subscription model where maintenance is locked down as a service that accompaies the subscription package.

This would ensure that component replacement is baked into the ongoing revenue model, and that the manufacturer can retrofit more robust components as needed without the capital expenses of acquiring or developing a durable vehicle from the get-go.

Definitely, if they were legal in the countries where those tinkerers live. I can see replacement electronics and batteries and motors being done to try to extend range and improve performance.

The use of commodity rather than special automotive parts is not a problem - most experimental electric vehicles (include e-bikes, skateboards, etc) don't use automotive specific parts, because those are usually too expensive, too specific purpose, and occasionally proprietary.

If these cars were sold with schematics or even block diagrams I could see lots of people buying one just for local use or modding.

I think it’s more that the corner mechanic can do everything in an hour than you DIY.

On a slightly related tangent: I recently purchased an electric bike and have been very happy with it. It has the looks and performance of a 1920-30s Harley or Indian motorcycle (one revs the handle bars to accelerate like on a motorcycle, but the transmission is a clutch-less manual just like a road bike).

The range with standard battery is ~40 miles (but if battery is drained, one still has pedals.) Top speed (with electric motor alone) on level ground is in excess of 35 mph. With a basket and/or saddle bags it is a reasonable grocery getter.

My online complaint with this specific bike (not applicable to other models) is too few gears, not foldable, and lack of shock absorbers on the forks (can be worked around by deflating the large motorcycle like tires.)

Note that I am sure it is also legally limited in speed and acceleration as it does not require a motorcycle license. An electric bike legally registered as a motorcycle and capable of reaching 100 kph on level surface (yet with ability to pedal for exercise or to extend range - again classical motos often had that) is an item I would like to some day own or build.

Lithium Ion batteries are truly a revolutionary invention.

Great, so now even cars, one of the few things that if maintained properly you could expect to last more than few years, will now be the same cheap, disposable, Chinese made landfill-fodder everything else is quickly becoming.

This "Car" is no different than the cheap Chinese "e-bikes" currently flooding the market. Made out of the cheapest components possible, while cutting every corner possible, and sure they're cheap as sin, but they'll invariably end up in a landfill in a couple of years.

Garbage like this is why we need full life-cycle costs built into the crap we buy. You might be saving a little up front on your "Cheap" EV, but the rest of us will be stuck with the costs of properly disposing of all its highly toxic materials it when it falls apart in a couple of years as it was designed to do.

What is supposedly toxic in it?

>Great, so now even cars, one of the few things that if maintained properly you could expect to last more than few years, will now be the same cheap, disposable, Chinese made landfill-fodder everything else is quickly becoming.

Have you tried driving a Ferrari/Lamborghini after putting 15-25k miles on it? This is not new, westerners have been producing very expensive throwaway cars for a very long time.

I definitely have not driven one, let alone after 15-25k miles. But you know that the standard warranty for a Ferrari is 3 years with unlimited miles along with 7 years of free maintenance, right? And the extended warranty you can buy is for 15 years.

Did you read the article? Modules might be landfilled but the cars themselves are designed to be repaired, and being made from commodity parts use less finite resources. The issue is that most electronics are not diverted from landfill, not the idea of economic machines that require occasional servicing.

Regardless of the cost, most of your waste is not being diverted. China's manufacturing industry shouldn't be responsible for American/European waste mismanagement

Where is the article? I only see one paragraph on that page and tried multiple browsers. Strange.

Seeing the full article requires a subscription. Alternatively: https://archive.md/LFK1U

Sorry. I’ve noticed it, I’ve read the full article without subscription.

Clear your cookies. Nikkei has a bugged website

The professor must be Masayoshi Yamamoto.

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/yamamotopelab?lang=en

Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8BWph38vSWgk_Zcje1Vgqg

>Buyers can think of the Hongguang Mini EV as a cheap electric vehicle prone to breaking down but easy to fix.

Great for low labor cost countries, non starter in US where mechanics routinely charge >$100/hour

It's stripped to the max, but I doubt that reverse conducting igbts would cost extra $500.

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