Why Don't EVs Come With Spare Tires?
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I don't believe you've never had a flat in 20 years.
Oh ok.
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In the city, not much of one. Rural roads with bad cell coverage at night in the dead of winter? Life or death situation.
That being said, I think a spare is unnecessary for 99% of drivers. In ~20 years of driving, I've only used a spare maybe 3 times, and those were more for convenience than necessity. My last car just had a pump, and I got a screw it in. I just aired it up and drove to the tire shop. After that I bought a plug kit for a quick roadside repair.
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Our EV doesn't have a spare, which I wasn't concerned about as I've had maybe two flats in my driving history and one of those I just pumped up and drove to the tyre shop for a repair.
What did catch me out recently was not having a jack. It makes sense though - car has no spare, so why include a jack?
We got a screw in the tyre a few weeks back and it was leaking too bad to pump up for even a short drive. I figured I'd jack up the car, take off the rim, and take it in the wife's car to the tyre joint.
Things to note:
- No jack, as mentioned. Went to the local auto store and bought a pretty mid range scissor jack that looked like every other car jack I've ever used.
- EVs are really bloody heavy. A standard 1600KG scissor jack could barely move the thing. Went back and bought a much heavier duty trolley jack.
- A 3200KG trolley jack makes lifting the car easy, but the jack itself is huge and leaves no space on the lifting points to put jack stands.
- An EV is really stiff - lifting the rear passenger side resulted in every wheel except the front drivers side coming off the ground.
Didn't want to leave it perched on a jack and a single wheel, so took the tyre off and ended up replacing the screw in the hole that was leaking with a bigger screw... Then pumping it up and driving it to the tyre joint.
Moral of the story - might be easier to just carry a small selection of different sized screws and a screw driver.
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You know you can just buy a spare and stick it in the car...
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You're quoting@[email protected] and not me.
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Sure, and I'm also free to vote with my wallet. I want a spare to come with the vehicle, and I want it integrated.
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My Audi E-tron has a full size spare.
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Enshittification isn't exclusive to software it seems