Hacker News Reader

Comment by ranger_danger | Hacker News Reader

I would say it's actually more complicated than that. Here is a good video that goes over the situation, and multiple perspectives on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nim61oVLdwk

TL;DR They severely reduced the number of components by integrating parts into larger pieces. This trades upfront cost savings for longevity concerns and repair prices down the road.

One could argue the US wants to ban them solely because it undercuts other manufacturers, but there's more.

You can also argue it's not good for many other people, like:

- the average consumer (that expects a quality long-lasting product)

- the insurance companies that will be footing a lot of the repair bills

- independent repair shops that either won't get those jobs, cannot actually perform the work due to tech/service monopolies, or simply lose revenue because the work is shorter

View on HN

We already have stats for Tesla Model 3, and they rarely have problems with the battery and propulsion. So it's a trade-off, fewer parts also mean that you can overengineer them more easily.

There are also third-party replacements available now, because it's not that hard to manufacture most EV components, outside the critical high-voltage paths.

Surely it will be better for the insurance companies. Higher costs lead to higher premiums and higher profits.

Sortof. There's no guarantee they wouldn't lose customers/revenue if everyone started buying BYDs or NIOs... they could decline to insure those cars at all due to the high repair cost, or not cover all of it, and that affects more than just themselves.

That's not how insurance profits work. The profit is the spread between insurer income (premiums) and expense (repair costs).

Right. But if BYD costs more to repair they'll charge higher premiums to cover that cost.

> You can also argue it's not good for many other people, like: - the average consumer (that expects a quality long-lasting product)

I would rather let people decide for themselves.

> independent repair shops that either won't get those jobs, [ok] cannot actually perform the work due to tech/service monopolies

Part availability and service monopolization are easily fixable by regulation and it's an old practice.

> [ repair shops ] simply lose revenue because the work is shorter

Welcome to the AI economy, where a lot of people lose a lot of work because it became easier and shorter to do.

> They severely reduced the number of components by integrating parts into larger pieces.

Just swap the larger pieces, computers and phones are like that, when they're at all fixable.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com