Hacker Neue

Preferences
hef19898 parent
In automotive, it is usually the other way round. Regardless, what exactly was wrong with the existing 12 and 24 V systems for auxiliaries that absolutely needed to be changed?
panick21_
Of course it didn't 'absolutely' need to be changed. But the same can be said for 1000000 other innovations cars made since the Model T.

In the long term it will safe money while while being more efficient. As cars get more and more electronics it becomes more and more relevant.

Its something everybody has understood for decades, but nobody had a long term enough look to make it happen. Car companies were struggling t show profit. And in the 2000s companies like GM literally went bust.

And yes its true, OEM can tell suppliers what to do. But if you want something that suppliers don't have at hand, your gone pay for development. And if you are say GM, to move to 48v you need to literally coordinate the work of 100ish suppliers to bring the product together.

And remember, these OEM since the 90s have outsourced the majority of all electronics devices and the waste majority of the software. Do they have the internal expertise to manage such a transition?

Look at over-the-air updates, its still not standard. And even those cars that can over-the-air update, that mostly only for some of the core main components. Lots of the supplier delivered parts can still not be upgraded like that.

And the car industry had plenty of troubles in the 2000s so its not surprising they didn't do stuff like that.

grecy
The move to 48V means much less power is lost (power loss = (IxI)xR ), cables can be much smaller, cables and terminals can be much lighter and much less copper can be used used.

Basically it's just a more efficient way of doing things.

Elon has said it's not a revolution, or ground breaking in any way, it is simply a step improvement. Anyone could have done it. Tesla did it.

hef19898 OP
As others pointed out lready, others did it, too.
grecy
Re-read the comments, others have not done it.

Audi has a mild-hybrid 48V (as do many others) that also runs some other things like active roll control and the power steering pump.

They still have a 12v system running infotainment, seat heaters, defrosters, powered seats, lights, etc. etc.

hef19898 OP
As I never knowingly listen to music on 48V, is it reall so much better than 12V?
grecy
It's not about making the music sound better anymore than getting rid of an internal combustion engine is about getting you there faster. Have you ever seen the size of the wires in a car that go the amplifiers? They're as thick as your thumb.

The move to 48V means much less power is lost (power loss = (IxI)xR ), cables can be much smaller, cables and terminals can be much lighter and much less copper can be used used.

Basically it's just a more efficient way of doing things.

grecy
> what exactly was wrong with the existing 12 and 24 V systems for auxiliaries that absolutely needed to be changed?

The same thing that was wrong with vehicles that get 10mpg.

The same thing that was wrong with laptops that get so hot they burn your lap and the fan sounds like a jet engine.

The same thing that was wrong with incandescent bulbs getting hot instead of using that energy for light.

This is about making things more efficient.

mpreda
High current (amperage) requiring thicker wires, or more wires, thicker/heavier connections, more expensive switches, more cooling etc.

This item has no comments currently.