Thriving Cottage Industry: Taking Batteries Out of Wrecked Teslas and Turning Classic Cars Into EV's
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You dont need a donor Tesla car to do this...there are a few companies selling electric motors that are a bolt on conversion for many makes and models, simply remove the old internal combustion engine and install the new electric motor, in most cases, the same transmission can be used!
These days it's simpler and easier to use properly created electronics. A friend of mine started a business doing just that and now supplies a lot of EV conversion shops: http://www.manzanitamicro.com/
I know people that repair circuit boards, not replace them, though these days getting replacement circuit boards is often fairly cheap if you know where to look. If someone made it, someone else can repair it and probably does.
For example, my neighbor's Sony Bravia 55" flat screen TV went out last month. He went to buy a new one because they are cheap. I took the old one and determined that the picture board was out, as the power board and input board were still working. The picture board was listed at $350, which is about what a new TV would cost. BUT, I found a TV parts company online that sold warrantied rebuilt cards for $30 and put one of those in. Worked a champ and gave the TV to my BIL.
If "rebuilt" or "refurbished" circuit boards are so easy, why did a local shop have to get 5 different computers for my '06 vehicle? NEW computers are not available from the dealer. There are several different computers for the vehicle, since it is turbo charged it requires a difficult to find one. Yes, FIVE DIFFERENT COMPUTERS before they got a good one. Then, it had to be re-programmed twice to work properly!
I'm also reminded of back in the late '70s/early '80s when my TV set went on the blink. The repair shop said it was a bad transistor, but the TV manufacturer's part number was no longer available. I asked if he could find a suitable replacement, and he said "No." I asked what kind of transistor it was, NPN, PNP, MOSFET, what? I don't remember what he said, but I told him to go to Radio Shack, find a similar transistor, and fix my TV! He finally did, and the TV worked fine for several years, until I gave it away.
I am also reminded of when my 1976 Dodge Ram 1500 had a voltage regulator problem. The electronic regulator was potted with clear epoxy, and I could see the burned resistor. There was no way to remove the hard epoxy and replace the resistor. The only way to fix the truck was throw the old regulator away and install a new one. the new one was potted with dark black epoxy, so any failed part could not be seen.
There is a big difference between TV cards and sealed vehicle electronics!
If "rebuilt" or "refurbished" circuit boards are so easy, why did a local shop have to get 5 different computers for my '06 vehicle? NEW computers are not available from the dealer. There are several different computers for the vehicle, since it is turbo charged it requires a difficult to find one. Yes, FIVE DIFFERENT COMPUTERS before they got a good one. Then, it had to be re-programmed twice to work properly!
I'm also reminded of back in the late '70s/early '80s when my TV set went on the blink. The repair shop said it was a bad transistor, but the TV manufacturer's part number was no longer available. I asked if he could find a suitable replacement, and he said "No." I asked what kind of transistor it was, NPN, PNP, MOSFET, what? I don't remember what he said, but I told him to go to Radio Shack, find a similar transistor, and fix my TV! He finally did, and the TV worked fine for several years, until I gave it away.
I am also reminded of when my 1976 Dodge Ram 1500 had a voltage regulator problem. The electronic regulator was potted with clear epoxy, and I could see the burned resistor. There was no way to remove the hard epoxy and replace the resistor. The only way to fix the truck was throw the old regulator away and install a new one. the new one was potted with dark black epoxy, so any failed part could not be seen.
There is a big difference between TV cards and sealed vehicle electronics!
There are a number of companies rebuilding car ECUs, as long as it's a fairly popular model. it's really not as big an issue as you think, even if you had to deal with incompetence on the part of a dealer.
There are a number of companies rebuilding car ECUs, as long as it's a fairly popular model. it's really not as big an issue as you think, even if you had to deal with incompetence on the part of a dealer.
It was not the dealer working on my car, and it was not the dealer "rebuilding" or "refurbishing" the computers. The "rebuilder" was a highly recommended company, but they couldn't seem to get a computer right. I don't know where the dealer finally found a "rebuilt" computer. It may have been the same company! As I said, it needed to be rebooted/re-programmed twice before it would work.
I wasn't impressed.
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