EEVblog #1337 - I Bought An Electric Car

[SilverSolder]

Few are willing/able to pay for top drawer workmanship, sadly.  It's just got to last "long enough".

I use to always make my best in order to and fix everything wrong on the car without any more time or money allowed by the commercial staff... and finally made a burnout (fall on the floor at work due a vagal discomfort linked to exhaustion)

Yep, we can't carry the weight of the world on our shoulders, we are only human.  So, we have to do "good enough" work commercially just like everyone else, and leave the "best work" for hobbies!

The lucky few can combine the two...

[timelessbeing]

fall on the floor at work due a vagal discomfort

You should get that checked out. They have creams for that you know 

[gmb42]

fall on the floor at work due a vagal discomfort

You should get that checked out. They have creams for that you know 

For the sniggering schoolboys out there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagal_tone

[timelessbeing]

for the humorless out there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke

[james_s]

You are barking up the wrong tree. In the NL the government has a very specific list with what can be given to employees and what not and up to which monetary limit. EV charging is not on that list so it cannot be given away for free.

So change that list, it's hardly carved in stone.

Have you heard of anyone being prosecuted for it? Have you ever charged your personal smartphone or tablet at work? Did the tax man arrest you for it and haul you off to jail? Most of us to not live in the NL, so what the government of the NL permits is irrelevant to us.

[james_s]

Yep. If you want something fixed the right way then take it to a place where they fix it the right way (and be prepared to pay for it).

If you want something fixed right away and fixed right, fix it yourself. That's what I've always lived by anyway. In most cases it's less hassle to fix something myself at home than it is to make the arrangements to have it fixed by somebody else, even if it's covered by warranty.

[SilverSolder]

Yep. If you want something fixed the right way then take it to a place where they fix it the right way (and be prepared to pay for it).

If you want something fixed right away and fixed right, fix it yourself. That's what I've always lived by anyway. In most cases it's less hassle to fix something myself at home than it is to make the arrangements to have it fixed by somebody else, even if it's covered by warranty.

Sometimes it takes a trained/practiced person, e.g. reupholstering seats or doing bodywork and paint.  Other than those kinds of things, I'm firmly in the "Take it apart" category! 

[maginnovision]

I'd rather take an auto trans to a shop to rebuild than do it myself. Too messy. Diffs kind of the same also because I don't want my laundry to smell like diff fluid for months(if it ever comes out). My phones... If I can't get factory original parts then I'll send it off so that I retain ip68 performance. Other than that I'll usually fix my own stuff just for the sake of having it done quickly.

[james_s]

On the rare occasions that I've needed to replace a transmission I went to a salvage yard and pulled one for $75 or whatever they were charging at the time. Even if you have one rebuilt by a transmission shop you can still save quite a bit by doing the R&R yourself. In practice though probably at least 99% of cars go from the showroom to the salvage yard with the original running gear intact.

[timelessbeing]

Yep. If you want something fixed the right way then take it to a place where they fix it the right way (and be prepared to pay for it).

If you want something fixed right away and fixed right, fix it yourself. That's what I've always lived by anyway. In most cases it's less hassle to fix something myself at home than it is to make the arrangements to have it fixed by somebody else, even if it's covered by warranty.

and often the said fix is accompanied by new damage by some ham fisted gorilla with no manual dexterity.

[Howardlong]

My IONIQ PHEV finally arrived today.

635 page manual, and they're never written in user friendly format that makes things easy to find.

The parking brake was my first battle. It is a small button/lever fly by wire, with no immediately obvious suggestion on whether to pull the switch up or push it down, but thankfully decades of random button pushing experience came to the rescue. It was a small, but meaningful, win for me.

It took about ten minutes of fannying about to get it to charge at a roadside charging point, first problem was which cable to use, second problem was how to open the charging port flap: the petrol flap, which is separate, has a button on the dash, whereas the charging port is a toggle push open/push shut, and the first time I tried "the obvious" I didn't push hard enough.

Anyway, it's charged, 30 miles for £15, that's the encouragement Londoners get for going electric, so I'll be sticking to petrol 

Cars are becoming incredibly over-complicated these days. There's no fewer than twelve buttons on the steering wheel, not including the horn.

I managed to get a handful of DAB/FM stations programmed up reasonably easily, and paired up my phone for the AmpHour. Beyond that, the remaining 630 pages of the manual were a little daunting, so I went back indoors and took advantage of a short lie down to cope.

[coppice]

The parking brake was my first battle. It is a small button/lever fly by wire, with no immediately obvious suggestion on whether to pull the switch up or push it down, but thankfully decades of random button pushing experience came to the rescue. It was a small, but meaningful, win for me.

Modern cars are so complex, I've had discussions on an owners forum just trying to figure out if a thing my car does is a bug or a feature. It turned out to be a feature, and was actually documented, but in a rather odd section of the manual. I'm still not sure about all the ways the parking brake interacts with other features of the car, but the car is an automatic, so it just goes into park when I stop anyway.

[SilverSolder]

[...]
The parking brake was my first battle. It is a small button/lever fly by wire
[...]

The first time I encountered one of those was in a rental car at an airport, early in the AM, after a night with zero sleep and general jet lag and travel fatigue.  I wasted something like 15 minutes trying to figure out why the car didn't have a handbrake lever or pedal...  and then finally working out what they had done!  Once you know what they do, they are of course OK.  Not sure how good they are for handbrake turns, but....   

[SilverSolder]

The parking brake was my first battle. It is a small button/lever fly by wire, with no immediately obvious suggestion on whether to pull the switch up or push it down, but thankfully decades of random button pushing experience came to the rescue. It was a small, but meaningful, win for me.

Modern cars are so complex, I've had discussions on an owners forum just trying to figure out if a thing my car does is a bug or a feature. It turned out to be a feature, and was actually documented, but in a rather odd section of the manual. I'm still not sure about all the ways the parking brake interacts with other features of the car, but the car is an automatic, so it just goes into park when I stop anyway.

I think those things do clever stuff like engage automatically when the car stops, making hill starts easier, for example.

[Howardlong]

I am so glad I am not alone!

[coppice]

The parking brake was my first battle. It is a small button/lever fly by wire, with no immediately obvious suggestion on whether to pull the switch up or push it down, but thankfully decades of random button pushing experience came to the rescue. It was a small, but meaningful, win for me.

Modern cars are so complex, I've had discussions on an owners forum just trying to figure out if a thing my car does is a bug or a feature. It turned out to be a feature, and was actually documented, but in a rather odd section of the manual. I'm still not sure about all the ways the parking brake interacts with other features of the car, but the car is an automatic, so it just goes into park when I stop anyway.

I think those things do clever stuff like engage automatically when the car stops, making hill starts easier, for example.

I know the basics of what the controls do, from reading the manual. However, the manual is not really clear about some interactions. My car just handles hill starts, without any setting of controls being required. When you lift your foot off the brake on a slope the brakes don't disengage until you apply a little throttle, or wait for a 2 second timeout. Its a great convenience feature on slopes steep enough that the gearboxes creep function wouldn't hold it.

[mikeselectricstuff]

My big complaint about car manuals is that they describe every feature on every variant of the model, so sme of teh time you need to figure out which features actually apply to your particular car.  In some cases you get really silly things like "cruise control type A", and "type B" with no way to tell which your car has.
It would be so easy to include a card with a list of which sections of the manual do or do not apply to a particular vehicle.

[coppice]

My big complaint about car manuals is that they describe every feature on every variant of the model, so sme of teh time you need to figure out which features actually apply to your particular car.  In some cases you get really silly things like "cruise control type A", and "type B" with no way to tell which your car has.
It would be so easy to include a card with a list of which sections of the manual do or do not apply to a particular vehicle.

They usually describe every feature in every variant of the model supplied throughout in the entire world. Its interesting sometimes to find features they don't offer in your country. Often features they don't offer in any country that speaks the language of the manual.

[Ed.Kloonk]

[...]
The parking brake was my first battle. It is a small button/lever fly by wire
[...]

The first time I encountered one of those was in a rental car at an airport, early in the AM, after a night with zero sleep and general jet lag and travel fatigue.  I wasted something like 15 minutes trying to figure out why the car didn't have a handbrake lever or pedal...  and then finally working out what they had done!  Once you know what they do, they are of course OK.  Not sure how good they are for handbrake turns, but....   

I picked up a rent a car in London, once. A Volkswagon POS. I got it started easily enough but I couldn't disengage the park brake because I didn't know you have to have your foot on the brake while doing so. Of course, the bloody car wouldn't tell me that.

I managed to get the car moving enough to block the driveway and then a delivery truck showed up. The driver started to give some stick. I went over and explained my situation and asked if he knew how to turn off a park brake on a new car. The look on his face turned to utter defeat and he said "No idea, mate" and he waited calmly while I sorted my shit.

[SilverSolder]

The parking brake was my first battle. It is a small button/lever fly by wire, with no immediately obvious suggestion on whether to pull the switch up or push it down, but thankfully decades of random button pushing experience came to the rescue. It was a small, but meaningful, win for me.

Modern cars are so complex, I've had discussions on an owners forum just trying to figure out if a thing my car does is a bug or a feature. It turned out to be a feature, and was actually documented, but in a rather odd section of the manual. I'm still not sure about all the ways the parking brake interacts with other features of the car, but the car is an automatic, so it just goes into park when I stop anyway.

I think those things do clever stuff like engage automatically when the car stops, making hill starts easier, for example.

I know the basics of what the controls do, from reading the manual. However, the manual is not really clear about some interactions. My car just handles hill starts, without any setting of controls being required. When you lift your foot off the brake on a slope the brakes don't disengage until you apply a little throttle, or wait for a 2 second timeout. Its a great convenience feature on slopes steep enough that the gearboxes creep function wouldn't hold it.

It is a more valuable with a manual transmission than an automatic, I guess.  Rolling backwards on a hill is not normally an issue with an automatic....

[coppice]

It is a more valuable with a manual transmission than an automatic, I guess.  Rolling backwards on a hill is not normally an issue with an automatic....

It is on a steep hill. Above a certain gradient an automatic rolls back when you lift your foot off the brake and accelerator. Not as fast as a manual rolls back, but it still rolls. The only times I have ever used the handbrake in an automatic have been starting on very steep hills and for the annual government mandated inspection.

[SilverSolder]

It is a more valuable with a manual transmission than an automatic, I guess.  Rolling backwards on a hill is not normally an issue with an automatic....

It is on a steep hill. Above a certain gradient an automatic rolls back when you lift your foot off the brake and accelerator. Not as fast as a manual rolls back, but it still rolls. The only times I have ever used the handbrake in an automatic have been starting on very steep hills and for the annual government mandated inspection.

Speaking of hills, I normally heel-and-toe the brake/gas rather than use the hand brake in a manual car.   Comes naturally with big feet! 

[maginnovision]

I don't see the point, just hold the car with the clutch. No risk of rolling back into someone then.

[Monkeh]

I don't see the point, just hold the car with the clutch. No risk of rolling back into someone then.

You have to get the car onto the clutch somehow..

Also, bad for your clutch, and the only thing stopping you from rolling back is 2mm of pedal travel.

[maginnovision]

It's what clutches are made for so if you aren't trying to hit 100% throttle to hold the car it won't be an issue. Unless your drive is all stop and go traffic, uphill, both ways.  I've never known anyone to have an issue though. Usually racing is what kills a clutch prematurely(even[especially?] if you're not trying to race).