Tesla's opposition to Right to Repair has chilled the brand to many frugal car buyers who drive their daily beater 20+ years and 300,000+ miles. Being able to buy an affordable electric crate motor will open up the world of electric to those who like to keep their technology for the long haul.
It seems to be a trend in electric vehicles. I just bought an electric scooter which came with literature warning that my warranty would be voided if I so much as undid a single bolt. It's rather jarring, coming from the world of cycling, where stripping your vehicle down to atoms and reassembling it is considered normal maintenance.
Incidentally, the same literature claimed my warranty would also be voided if I failed to maintain the scooter properly. I'm not sure where to go from there...
And in many cases the warnings are there because the law comes down hard on manufacturers that enable bypassing the (mandatory) governor systems which limit the speed (and sometimes the torque) at which the vehicles can operate.
Yeah, but warnings like that confuse owners about what their rights are. I'm starting to think there should be a penalty for businesses who assert rights beyond what they actually have.
You're free to ignore those warning stickers because the onus is on the manufacturer to prove that you opening the device caused the issue. Warranty stickers are a scare tactic.
It matters less where the company is than where you are. I mean, sure, a company in China can refuse to honor the warranty, but they risk losing the ability to sell their goods in the US.
It's not US-centrism in general. You said only 5% of the population is subject to the law, which made that point. If you're like "we in the EU don't do that", fine. However, you then said that the issue was the company that made your scooter was outside the US. That implies you are in the US.
Look, if I offer you a peanut-butter and raspberry jelly sandwich, and you say "I cannot eat that, I'm allergic", fine. If you say "Well, my doctor said I'm allergic to all tree nuts", I would point out peanut butter isn't a tree nut and you can still eat it. If you come back complaining about how "people aren't sensitive to raspberry allergies", I'm going to claim that was bad communication on your part.
>However, you then said that the issue was the company that made your scooter was outside the US. That implies you are in the US.
I don't agree. Living in the US is not the default state of humanity. People on the internet are not USian until proven otherwise. I never mentioned the US. The US was only in the conversation to begin with because of a faulty assumption, which I attempted to delicately point out, even if I stopped short of outright contradicting it.
In fact, I was trying to avoid discussing my location at all, as I normally do on HN and indeed any other online platform as standard opsec. I wasn't asking for legal advice and it was not relevant to the point I was making.
Now, after a parade of HN commentators just assumed I was in their country, I am finally forced to clarify - no, I am not in the US. I am also in the 95%. What are the odds!
The fact that I need to clarify this at all, never having mentioned the US, is US-centrism. Try rereading the thread, but substitute, I dunno, "Kenya". You'll see how weirdly it reads.
I mean, you're not from the US, and maybe English is not your first language. However, specifically clarifying the company you purchased from is in the 95% implies there is a difference between you and the company and is read by many as "the company is in the 95%, and I am specifying that because I am not".
I never assumed you were in the 5% until you said that phrase (in fact, since you pointed out most people don't live in the US, I assumed you also did not). However, that phrasing implies you're in the US. It's just the way that language works.
I'm happy to summarize the thread using Kenya:
X: There is a law in Kenya concerning contract law.
Y: That law is irrelevant because most of the world is not in Kenya. In fact, in a recent contract my counterparty is not in Kenya.
X: Well, if your counterparty does business in Kenya with a Kenyan they are bound by Kenyan law.
Y: How dare you presume I am bound by Kenyan law! I'm not in Kenya.
X: The way your post was written made it sound like you were in Kenya because you were calling out your counterparty not being bound by Kenyan law.
Y: Why does everyone assume I'm in Kenya? I don't want to tell people where I live.
Mmmm, how much of the electric side is actually serviceable? I think you're confusing e-bikes with regular bikes. The electric side is probably entirely off limits to people and what you're experiencing is the vestigial aspects of the regular bike underneath.
As someone who own's a Tern GSD and a Tern Vektron too, I've found the unserviceable Bosch electric drivetrain to not be refreshingly serviceable at all.
This may have changed in year since I last had to look and might vary by region, but in US Bosch have been incredibly strict about parts and software tools for the motors - only approved dealers can order a brand new replacement motor, for example. You cannot order one as private individual easily (much like a Tesla...). That's unheard of for bike parts generally speaking.
For sure, all of the parts that are shared with traditional non e-bikes (group sets, brakes, wheels, etc etc) are still easily privately serviceable by end user. The Bosch electric drivetrain, not so much.
Solved by Tesla building EVs to million-mile specs. Between lasting 3-4x longer with few repairs, and gas savings over long usage, TCO is far less than ICE.
Running numbers, I'm seeing a "Tri+FSD" Cybertruck paying for itself at 410,000 miles just in gas savings, then amounting to a free second vehicle over the next >400,000 miles. That should make the frugal overcome "right to repair" issues.
