... you could otherwise have a Corvette!

I'll keep my 2012 Gen 3 Prius v.

 

Just a single Seattle BMW stealership gouging local wealthy techies. Even the article points to others quoting the same battery replacement for a small fraction of that.

I wouldn't want a 'vette either.

 

IMHO, any traction battery is a snapshot in time:

• 2003 Prius - NiMH chemistry single cell-to-cell internal connection, weak terminal seal
• 2004-2009 Prius - NiMH chemistry, multiple cell-to-cell internal connections, radiant heat surface
• 2010 Prius - NiMH chemistry, better cell-to-cell connections (lower internal resistance)
• 2017 Prius Prime - LiON pack, badly packaged

One of the favorite mods was to replace the Gen-1 traction battery modules with Gen-2 modules which had many of the weaker points like internal cell-to-cell connectors reducing resistance.

So in August 2017, I bought a used BMW i3-REx from a Toyota dealer in Florida. They did not know to charge the battery. My inspection revealed the barely used traction battery had like new capacity. We closed the deal and both of us were happy: they got a lemon off their lot, and; I bought a diamond in the rough. Now I use the BMW for around town thus preserving the Tesla battery which is used for cross country trips.

Owning any EV is an applied IQ test. Not everyone passes, especially those who have yet to buy theirs.

Bob Wilson

 

"They did not know to charge the battery."

 

germany

 

Finally enough buttons and knobs:


Each button and switch requires:

• one wire and ground - simplest but subject to noise
• two wires - 12 V and signal
• two wires in ground shield - low noise

Soon the wiring harnesses look like bird nests. Difficult to diagnose and all but impossible to fix. Scrap the car is cheaper.

Bob Wilson

 

Oh Baaaaab. Your image is of a real pipe organ, with valves controlling airflow to banks of resonant cavities (tubes). Not controlled by electrical signals, and not needful of 'debounce' or anything like that.

There also exist simulant pipe organs with electrical switching and sound synthesis done in software. For esthetic historical reasons their user interfaces are designed to resemble real pipe organs. But simulants end with 'speakers', not banks of tubes.

==
By the 19th century, the organ was the most complex manmade machine, until the telephone exchange was invented. (quote not attributed here). Complex because each little thing was air valved.

==
Most complex user interfaces include aircraft with many functions automated but accessible to human override. They include serious submarines where functions are directly under human control (not automated; that is my understanding). All electrical flow based, with (I suppose) some mass-flow-based controls on subs. No road vehicles approach those levels of complexity in user interfaces. There's just not enough 'there' there.

 

Buttons and knobs:
One fault takes out one thing.

Screen:
One fault takes out everything, although I DO like the 'any screen, anywhere' arcetecture that they use in some of the more modern ships and submarines.
HOWEVER (comma!) like 'planes and stuff' all of the important things that you control by looking at or poking glass have mechanical backups.

It's a lot of 'switches and stuff.'
And spirit bubble inclinometers, and brass pointy things, mechanical valves and reducers, sound-powered telephony, and dial gauges that work when the bubbling kettle back aft stops bubbling and there are no more amps in the can.


Oh...and yes.
XBox controlelrs > MILSPEC units in all aspects.
They're widely available, tough enough to stand up to a 15-year-old slamming it down in frustration after losing a 36-hour marathon 'call of duty' match, AND all of the non-recurring engineering fees were paid for by COTS manufacturers.
Field tested for free, even.

 

More than likely, if the Prius buttons and knobs had a single failure, you’d have to replace the whole unit