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Battery Theft

HtownHog

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I was being a bit dramatic. I agree with your general point that car jacking like most illegal activities is about maximizing reward/risk ratio. All I am saying is that batteries increase the reward so I would not be surprised if car jackers are willing to take more risk. Although most as you said like to reduce friction, that is not necessarily the case with all:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/tesla-foils-navy-sailor-carjacker-attempt

As cars become more of a laptop over wheels, bad guys will try to reduce risk by hacking more than kidnapping and it will be more of the battle of the nerds rather than the tough guys:
https://electrek.co/2021/11/11/tesla-owners-warned-police-targeted-professional-thieves/
risk/reward is key. Cat theft is quick and pretty untraceable for the most part. Only way to cross reference the cat and vehicle is to match cut marks on the exhaust.

battery theft at least early on will be low reward. While the pack is valuable it is mostly valuable as an assembly, they won’t be selling it to scrap dealers for reclaim. As the vehicles age out and dealer repair % starts dropping you might see a market for independent mechanics trying to source packs, but I also bet the pack will be physically and electronically serialized.
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astricklin

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risk/reward is key. Cat theft is quick and pretty untraceable for the most part. Only way to cross reference the cat and vehicle is to match cut marks on the exhaust.

battery theft at least early on will be low reward. While the pack is valuable it is mostly valuable as an assembly, they won’t be selling it to scrap dealers for reclaim. As the vehicles age out and dealer repair % starts dropping you might see a market for independent mechanics trying to source packs, but I also bet the pack will be physically and electronically serialized.
Tesla battery modules to be used for bev conversions are quite expensive, a single 5kwh module goes for $1300 or about $26k for a 100kwh pack.
 

bboy_72

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Y’all are covering some worry wart stuff here. You’ve got a long ways to go before the truck actually gets here. Wondering what concerns will be raised in a few months!
 

VeganF150

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The Lightning pack is 1800lbs. Kinda hard to just walk off with that
 

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astricklin

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The Lightning pack is 1800lbs. Kinda hard to just walk off with that
Yup, they're just gonna steal the whole vehicle. Ford should implement pin to drive like Tesla has. Heck, they should implement this on every vehicle that has push button ignition.
 

powerboost

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What about disconnecting the "push button start" electrically and then hiding another one that is plugged in under dash in a hidden yet reachable spot. Even if thief has fob code it still won't start. Or park rig with power seat far forward and backrest tipped as far forward as it goes and then have hidden switch that disconnects power to seat motors. If you can't get between seat and wheel, kinda hard to drive away.
 

jefro

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There are some bluetooth 12v batteries that can be disconnected via software. Not sure how well these EV's do, some web pages suggest it's the first step to fix glitches in software.

A web article from DetNews has the local crooks finding a way to bypass the key fob. They wouldn't go after the fob code, they were able to reprogram the car to take their new coded fob. Hope Ford has a way to disconnect power in secret.
I had my wife put here 3/4 ton 4x4 in it's neutral setting assuming common crook might not know how to put it back in gear in McAllen.
 

67440dodge

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And soon everyone will follow Tesla's lead with their new cars where the battery is the chassis of the vehicle.. once it wears out you gotta replace the whole vehicle..
Yup, they're just gonna steal the whole vehicle. Ford should implement pin to drive like Tesla has. Heck, they should implement this on every vehicle that has push button ignition.
Heck, Tesla is supposedly working on a new model where the battery pack IS the chassis of the car... so to get the battery you'll have to take the whole shebang..

And once the pack wears out in 4-5yrs, new car time!
Yup, they're just gonna steal the whole vehicle. Ford should implement pin to drive like Tesla has. Heck, they should implement this on every vehicle that has push button ignition.
In this area stolen trucks/SUV's wind up in one place... a cargo container in Bayonne headed for the Middle East...
 
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And soon everyone will follow Tesla's lead with their new cars where the battery is the chassis of the vehicle.. once it wears out you gotta replace the whole vehicle..

Heck, Tesla is supposedly working on a new model where the battery pack IS the chassis of the car... so to get the battery you'll have to take the whole shebang..

And once the pack wears out in 4-5yrs, new car time!
Structural does not necessarily mean frame and battery are inseparable. It just means Battery pack helps the rigidity of the car/truck. It still could be bolted to the frame or front and rear cast. What you suggest does not make sense for Tesla either especially with 4680 being new there is always a chance for recall due to battery pack failing. They would want to be able to replace it during warranty period. What may be more difficult than GM’s Ultium or other packs is that a lot of them are glued together and if there is a problem, you may have to replace the whole pack instead of a module. At least that is my understanding.
 

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67440dodge

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Structural does not necessarily mean frame and battery are inseparable. It just means Battery pack helps the rigidity of the car/truck. It still could be bolted to the frame or front and rear cast. What you suggest does not make sense for Tesla either especially with 4680 being new there is always a chance for recall due to battery pack failing. They would want to be able to replace it during warranty period. What may be more difficult than GM’s Ultium or other packs is that a lot of them are glued together and if there is a problem, you may have to replace the whole pack instead of a module. At least that is my understanding.
I'm not 100% sure to be honest how Tesla (or any manufacturer) plans to go about batter replacement. All I saw was a blurb in a article and a picture showing the battery pack/frame combo on 4 wheels. Perhaps they'll go the old VW Beetle route and bolt the body to the chassis and just swap everything out.
 

astricklin

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I'm not 100% sure to be honest how Tesla (or any manufacturer) plans to go about batter replacement. All I saw was a blurb in a article and a picture showing the battery pack/frame combo on 4 wheels. Perhaps they'll go the old VW Beetle route and bolt the body to the chassis and just swap everything out.
A Tesla battery is certainly replaceable. Always has and always will be. One advantage of an electric vehicle is that the motors themselves should basically last forever so you'll eventually have to replace the battery but everything else will still be going
 

SteffanG

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A Tesla battery is certainly replaceable. Always has and always will be. One advantage of an electric vehicle is that the motors themselves should basically last forever so you'll eventually have to replace the battery but everything else will still be going
Uhhh no Tesla drive units do not last forever. I'm not sure if they fixed it now, but the earlier versions had A LOT of bearing failures (some cars had the drive unit replaced 4 times under warranty).
 

MickeyAO

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Uhhh no Tesla drive units do not last forever. I'm not sure if they fixed it now, but the earlier versions had A LOT of bearing failures (some cars had the drive unit replaced 4 times under warranty).
If your company wants to join several of our consortiums, you can find out exactly how long the Tesla motors last and what different fluids do to the life of the motors! Sorry, no private individuals can join a consortium.
 

MickeyAO

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As someone that drops a lot of EV batteries (and takes them apart down to the cell level...with no documentation from the manufacturers), it is not a quick and easy job to steal one.
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