[ausev] EV Electrical vulnerabilities, was Filmmaker looking...

[Chris Robison]

A couple of clarifications here.

First of all, I am aware of your point, that it does not require a direct
hit to damage a vehicle in this way.  I didn't mention it in my last
email, but I am not disagreeing.  I was talking simply about
probabilities.

When lightning strikes anywhere in a populated area, the chances are very
high that it will strike somewhere in the vicinity of a modern automobile.
Perhaps near enough to cause the kind of problems that you're starting to
see with more advanced automobiles.  It is the high *likelihood* of this
event that I was comparing against.

The likelihood that a bolt of lightning will strike near an EV (converted
or otherwise) is diminishingly small.  For this reason, we simply do not
have the data to back up the statement to the public that resilience to
this sort of event is a strength particular to electric vehicles.  I
therefore don't think it's a banner we should be waving.


My second point is that there is within this argument a message we could
with good conscience be conveying publicly -- that a failure of any
nature, for any cause, would be easier to diagnose and repair in the
relatively simple EVs we know of today, than in a modern ICE vehicle.

But I think this is simply a matter of complexity, and not an inherent
advantage of an electric powerplant. And if EVs become mainstream and we
start to see them produced by large manufacturers, we may lose that
advantage as well.

At the end of the day, I don't think this is a gas-vs-electric issue.  I
think it's an argument for simplicity and open designs.  A gas-powered kit
car builder could make the same arguments for the superiority of his
simple vehicle, and he'd be right.

  --chris




On Tue, October 24, 2006 11:47 am, jtp said:
> All;
>   In response to previous discussion regarding the vulnerabilities of
> auto
> computers,
>
>        Lightning  was     NOT,         I  repeat,
>                                   NOT         a  direct strike onto these
> vehicles, merely  NEARBY in the neighborhood block, not at all unlikely
> during vehicular ownership.
>   This type of event   is   NOT  equivelent of one in millions at all, it
> is
> very much "center stage".  (There are other like-designed vehicles in the
> neighborhood!)
>     In addition,  these deplorable costs  can remain hidden until it is
> time
> for the vehicle to become emissions- inspected or otherwise
> properly-scanned
> during scheduled maintenance.  (Something to insist upon).
>    Also,  it is not a matter of "OK" or "NOT OK" with regard to the
> residual
> functional reliability of the dozen or so remaining processors whatsoever.
> Many of the processors (Y2K and later, both in the neighborhood) and
> others
> within the vehicles themselves have been degraded with regard to not only
> weakening of subroutines, but also, the rate at which the processors
> function, or cummunicate with each other, as well as to thier clock speed
> in
> communicating to the scan tool.
>    Slow functioning is also a benchmark of  hidden failures in process.
> Processors internally attempt to stop thier failure cascades in
> communications with one another.  At last, they will function at "Fail
> Safe"
> "Dumb", all the while suppressing the turning-on of that one single
> outward
> indication that  this has occurred after a nearby lightning strike: . . .
> .
> ..
> ....  the turning on of  the "Check Engine Light", ABS light, the SRS
> (airbag) light, or any other computer-actuated light on the dash.
>   What remains in my studies are which manufacturers have the most robust
> processors as their Corporate quality standard.  I am appalled at what is
> currently happening to the systems I have scanned myself and have also
> heard
> about from other accredited sources to date.
>  Waiting months for any part of an EV to be repaired is a FAR more
> financially-agreeable situation than what awaits MANY owners or subsequent
> owners of  many overly- technologized ICE's subjected to a nearby
> electromagnetic pulse from lightning.
>  Simple service errors and simple neglect also are culprits in these
> catestrophic electronic damages, (even spark plugs not torqued properly
> can
> ultimately cause coil voltage to cascade back to cause computer damages).
>  Dan Petit.
>
>