Living languages tend to choose their rules based on usage, no matter what grammarians might say. But mouses was an example of the concept at one point.
ETA - I don’t like mouses either. Does Walkmans grate less?
Computer mousopodes.
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Mousen is acceptable too.
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Meesen.
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This is pretty close, in that it should create a larger volume of vehicles all using the same form factor battery. Only one manufacturer not an industry standard though.
I don’t think most people were thinking swappable in the “do it at home or at a station instead of charging the car” scenario. More of a “these 10 vehicle models all use the same form factor and sold a substantial volume so there is a market to produce third party replacement parts that a mechanic could swap”.
More like a shared transmission or gas tank part that is used on multiple vehicles. Not something you swap often or at home. Something a mechanic would do and a replacement part is available because it was used in enough volume to create a secondary market.
Or, it might not matter. If the battery degrades slow enough that the rest of the car rots out and fails before the degradation is enough to matter. 
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Moupode
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Our Chevy Bolt has a smaller in-dash screen that is needed for certain settings, but it has physical switches for most of the the usual cabin, radio, and light controls. The “transmission” is operated by a set of buttons down in the center console, between the driver and passenger’s knees. It’s definitely a lot more traditional feeling than the Tesla Model 3 cockpit.
In practice, I have my center display showing CarPlay with the Waze app on my phone, and I almost never touch the screen for anything. Radio and volume are handled by hidden buttons on the back of the steering wheel. And I have literally never used any of the Chevy “apps”. The center display could easily be replaced with a simple phone holder, or maybe a mini tablet holder for better visibility.
The instrument cluster is also a pane of glass, but they’ve done a good job of keeping it consistent so it doesn’t change or do unexpected things while you’re driving. There are also far fewer instruments needed to drive an EV: speed, power draw, and battery charge remaining are about it. It’s not like you have to worry about oil pressure or engine coolant temperatures.
IMO even though the cockpit is more cluttered, it’s far easier to use than the Tesla . The Tesla cockpit almost left me freezing once because I didn’t know what to tap where to bring up cabin heat or window defrosting, and that’s not something I could figure out while driving.
And every so often, I think a dashboard that looks more like this would be amazing:
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It could be argued that GM is able to bully it’s way into making standards, much like Tesla bullied bribed it’s way into making their connector the official US standard instead of what almost everyone else is using.
But there’s the adage “I love standards, there are so many of them!”
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I agree that “replacement parts” is more practical than “hot swap charge batteries.” I kind of went on a tangent there.
But even so, it’s too easy to think about the batteries as a fancy gas tank. The engineering reality is quite different. Making the packs in a few standard sizes to fit the available space seems like the easy part. But the physical size dictates other attributes like the pack voltage. In general, higher voltages are more desirable for reasons like faster charging and thinner wires. So the higher the voltage, the more cells are required to be in the pack, so the bigger it needs to be (and the stronger the frame needs to be to support that larger mass of cells.)
This also brings up a first sticking point: there is no agreement on what is the “best” voltage or power available in a pack. It changes based on external factors: battery availability, battery chemistry, charging station capabilities, etc. So manufacturers are still trying different packs, and while they tend to settle on a few values, those are still subject to change over time.
There’s also a sophisticated battery management algorithm needed to run the pack. It has to instantly respond to different kinds of inputs, like which cells are available to store the incoming power from regenerative braking, which cells are too hot or too cold, battery lifetime, etc. And that data has to be shared with the car, so not only does it need compatible electrical connections, but a compatible data structure.
This one is particularly tricky, because battery management directly impacts range, which is a huge differentiator for sales. If my car company develops the smartest, best battery pack on the market, I won’t want it to go into the competitor’s cars.
And as I mentioned before, they also require plumbing for heating and cooling. So all packs have to locate their coolant connectors in compatible locations.
It’s not that any of these are a deal-breaker for making an SAE-standard battery pack. It’s just that it’s a lot of cooperation between rivals that all would have to come together.
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That’s always the funny bit. When you actually measure how much people use their vehicles, electric makes sense for most use cases. People are paying more in gas and TCO for the feeling of safety that they can drive looooong distances whenever they wish.
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That really comes down to power density. It’s far easier to take a +4k pound SUV and swap it over to electric because it is already a larger platform and you won’t really notice adding in another +1k pounds of weight. Taking a Fit and converting it to electric means either sacrificing range because of space and weight or a large redesign increasing both size and weight. If battery energy density was twice were it is now most of these issues would be moot.
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The problem is that even if 99% of your journeys are short, you just need one long journey that you can’t make to put you off buying a vehicle.
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I feel like you are overly simplifying that. Battery’s degrade based on charge cycles, and yes charging to only 80-90% of capacity certainly helps prolong life. Driving 10k miles a year vs. 100k just means more charge cycles and a lowered capacity (all other things being equal). They also just degrade over time. I haven’t owned anything li-ion powered for more than a decade, at least not yet. Tablets and phones batteries certainly don’t last 20 years. Obviously charging habits and capabilities are different, but I wouldn’t think it’ll be the norm to have original batteries in a 20 year old EV.
As others have mentioned - serviceability is the main issue. Force IEEE or SAE standards on packs, cells, or modules. Make rebuilds a reasonably priced option. Things fail in engines, not all are catastrophic. A stuck lifter isn’t expensive for parts and cost far more in labor. However a lot of home mechanics could replace a lifter. Even before insurance gets involved, few people are going to tear into a sealed pack to replace a cell.
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For the record Honda did actually built an EV based off the Fit a decade ago. (And it did have a pretty lousy range.)
https://www.caranddriver.com/honda/fit-ev
It was basically a minimal-effort compliance car that they didn’t intend to sell in large numbers. But with better battery technology they could probably do better on range if they took another crack at it.
I’m not sure what you’re suggesting here for the charge cycles. Clearly a 5 year old car that dives 10K a year vs one that dives 100K a year is going to be different. Doesn’t matter if it’s gas or electric. If you put more miles on it, you’re putting more use on it.
The battery management, charge state, highs, lows, temperature, all the electronics monitoring the battery and working to give it the longest life possible are vastly different between a car, tablet, phone, or even one of those solar generators. Trying to compare the lifespan from one to the other is like comparing a NASCAR Camaro to one you buy off the lot or a Malibu. They’re all Chevrolets and that’s where the comparison stops.
This is a time and volume question connected with demand. Enough market demand based on prior sales volume and remanufactured or third party battery packs make sense. Small enough numbers and it doesn’t. It’s not like the different packs are really that different at the individual cell level. They’re assembled and packaged differently. Today that the the relative percentage of the entire active vehicle fleet is small enough to not drive this type of product isn’t a surprise. It’s something that will change over time though, at a rate that may not be fast enough for what everyone would like to find replacement parts.
Still though, the Prius Hybrid has been out for 20+ years, and the initial Teslas for 10+. Is there some common scenario where the batteries in these cars are being replaced after 5, 10, 15, 20 years already?
I get that the battery is a big expensive single component and that it’s a relative niche part compared to the size of the US vehicle fleet today. But, is there any history showing that it needs to be replaced at any significant rate? I’m trying to understand the part/expense concern vs the rate of that concern happening. Is it 1%, 5%, 10%, 25%, more of batteries that have to get replaced because of age or mileage in what is otherwise a working (enough) vehicle?
Prius hybrid batteries are rebuilt and replaced all the time. There are a number of small companies that specialize in after-market rebuilds and it’s easy to find them in stock. But that’s because there’s a huge market for them, with about 6 million sold in the U.S. so far.
I’m not optimistic that an equally robust ecosystem of suppliers will form to support other less common electric vehicles. Just for one example, I would guess that it’s pretty hard to find a replacement battery for a Honda Fit EV that was produced in small numbers over a relatively short time period.
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Thanks. That isn’t an issue I’ve seen reported related to used car prices or resale value. Obviously, the battery is smaller, so it’s cheaper than an full size EV battery too.
It’s definitely a volume game. Third party replacement parts need a previously sold volume that’s large enough to justify entering the market. Ones that uses the same part, or at least variations close enough to have some commonality between them.
Plenty of buttons and dials on my 1st gen Fiat 500e dash.
Our 2013 is 10 years old, 65,000 miles, no noticable degradation, charges overnight on 120, or in a couple hours at 220. It’s a city car, great for short trips, amazing for being stuck in traffic jams on the crosstown interstate (all too common in Denver these days). Quiet, solid, handles well. I had to replace the windshield wipers - the first maintenance in 15,000 miles. My girlfriend uses it to commute to work, saving miles and wear and tear on the older gas burner she has - now that car is just used for trips to the mountains. With my job moving out of bicycling range this summer, I just nabbed a 2015 for my commuting needs - $6500, 22,000 miles. Zippy, fun, easy to drive, easy to park.
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Yes, that’s true.
Actually it’s entirely feasible to make long journeys in EVs if you plan your charging stops at places where you need to stop for a wee and a coffee or some lunch. That’s how I did my trip to the Lake District, which was about 250 miles and we completed it in 5 hours with two stops. (One stop was just for a wee. Charging wasn’t necessary.)
When we got to Windermere we parked at the local supermarket and charged to 100% while we had dinner.
I know there are people in the US who absolutely can’t live without making a non-stop 500 mile trip every day, but they really are the outliers of the outliers. We don’t need to organise the whole planet’s transport system around the 0.01% of travellers.
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