Re:First Tesla Taxi in America after 100k miles
by semi-extrinsic on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @01:49PM
(#12306653)
I agree that the difference in maintenance cost will be minimal.
Curious: this probably depends on the climate where you live, but how's the Leaf looking wrt. brake disc rust? I have had to replace rusted brake discs on a normal car due to poorly working rear calipers. Basically, brake discs don't rust because braking while driving heats them up so they dry out. I would imagine regen braking (like a bad caliper) does not produce enough heat to dry them off.
Re:First Tesla Taxi in America after 100k miles
by mikestew on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @02:04PM
(#12306784)
There will be surface rust on anything that sits for more than a couple of days (non-automotive example: railroad tracks). But that gets scrubbed off the first time the pads hit discs. The Leaf pads will hit discs at least once on every trip, coming up to a stoplight if nothing else. In your case, if the caliper is stuck and pads never hit disc, I could see that being a problem.
But to directly answer your question: looking at the discs through the wheel spokes, they're still nice and shiny so I'm going to assume that it's not a problem. I suppose it's entirely possible that Nissan accounted for this and rejiggered the content of the discs, but I don't know one way or the other.
Gee, a niche luxury brand has higher parts costs than mass-produced Japanese cars. Who would have guessed? That might explain why brake pads on my BMW motorcycle cost ungodly amounts more than those for my last Honda.
Meanwhile, over here in the land where the other 90% of the world lives, we haven't done jack to our Nissan Leaf in 30K miles, save a cabin air filter and a set of tires ('cuz the stocks ones suck). Granted, for a Japanese car 30K means "it'll finally be broken in soon", but even our "reliable as a crowbar" Scion xB with 80K needs regular oil changes and gasoline. Had to do brake pads and rotors on the Scion once, too, whereas I expect the pads on the Leaf to last the life of the car (thanks, regen braking). In another 20K miles I expect things like starter and alternator to start failing on the Scion. OTOH, by 100K miles the Leaf will probably need a new $5K battery pack.
In the end, though, I think the difference in maintenance costs is going to be minimal for most. The only difference is the drive train (and arguably brakes), and modern ICE's are pretty darned reliable and long-lived these days.