This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
What's so bad about 80% of the original capacity? Wouldn't there be a lot of use cases for a car with 80% of the range?
I'm glad to see any second use for these batteries before recycling. Gotta combat the narrative that "an EV battery is trash after 5 years!"
80% is often considered standard for battery warranty. If a Mac goes under 80% in fewer than 1000 cycles, the service toolkit considers it a failure - back when I had access to pirated Apple Service Toolkit anyway. The old version for pre 2015 laptops.
I imagine it's similar with cars. They can't promise you retain 100% health for 8 years so they probably have some set percentage. Maybe it's also 80%?
So it's more of a milestone to catch early battery degradation rather than a cutoff point below which the battery is labeled useless?
I would say so, yes.
From the article:
In fact, the company has just begun field testing one application at partner Mazda’s Hiroshima plant.
I wanted to see what their partnership was like so I checked on Wikipedia:
In the past and present, Mazda has been engaged in alliances with other automakers. From 1974 until the late 2000s, Ford was a major shareholder of Mazda. Other partnerships include Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu, Suzuki and Kia.
Wow. I didn't really expect Mazda to be involved with 6 other car manufacturers.
Manufacturers work with each other a LOT. A lot of the japanese makers also own stakes in each others companies or have partnerships setup. It's the exact opposite with USDM stuff, they just don't share or collaborate on anything big it seems.
Ford and GMC share several transmission designs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM%E2%80%93Ford_6-speed_automatic_transmission
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford%E2%80%93GM_10-speed_automatic_transmission
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_8F_transmission
And sometimes they share by virtue of having the same suppliers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZF_6HP_transmission#Applications
https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10383874
Founded in 1986, Hanon Systems started off as an auto parts maker and ventured into thermal management systems for electric vehicles in 2015. It currently supplies thermal control solutions to auto giants such as Hyundai Motor Company, Kia, Ford Motor Company and General Motors.
Brembo provides brake systems for everyone. Recaro makes seats for everyone. Only premium models get the branding, but it's pretty common for Brembo to make the base, performance,and halo trim brakes on a car.
Hell, look at the fitment of these brake pads- the calipers are very similar too because they were all made by PBR
https://www.amazon.com/Bendix-SBM412-Stop-Brake-Pad/dp/B01LXRWLUA
VEHICLE APPLICATION: Aston Martin DB7 1997, Chevrolet Camaro 1992-1988, Corvette 1996-1988, Ford Mustang 2001-1994, Mustang 2004-2003, Panoz AIV Roadster 1999, Esperante 2007-2001, Pontiac Firebird 1992-1988, Shelby Series 1 2000-1999
ZF and Bosch put together make like 90% of any given German car too. Mercedes being the only one with their own transmissions. Even Porsche's PDK is built by ZF.
And you'll find both ZF and Bosch stuff on American cars too.
Yea you will even find zfs in john deere equipment.
That's interesting on the transmission sharing. And yea aftermarket works with anyone willing to take a deal, it's business. I am surprised though that gm/ford did work together though.
Those brake pads are the same not because they are aftermarket- PBR supplied both systems originally and recycled much of the designs and tooling.
Wasn't there some industry rumours that the official merger plan with Honda way meant to go much further and included Nissan, Mazda, Toyota and Mitsubishi as wished by the Japanese government in an effort to create a player large enough to withstand pressure from China, Korea and Europe. It failed obviously,though.
I remember in the ’90s/’00s there were a few Mazda and Ford vehicles that were basically the same, most obviously to me the Ford Ranger and Mazda B-series pickup truck.
IIRC, the Mazda3 was based on the same platform as the European version of the Ford Focus
Yes, and the Mazda6 and Mustang shared a platform.
They were both assembled in Flat Rock at the same time, but the Mazda based platform was CD3. That's the Fusion and Edge.
Ah yes. Thank you for that correction! I knew it shared one and I conflated the assembly line with the platform.
at that time, Ford owned 1/3 of Mazda. They divested in 2015.
As a parts guy, it's always fun trying to explain why the part I ordered OEM from the warehouse came in a Nissan or Toyota bag instead of GM for ex. A lot of it is that they use the same lists of manufacturers and suppliers for their parts and so it's often just cheaper to use an existing design for a seemingly insignificant part that is already in production. Think little bushings and things like relays. Ofc things go bad and when they do it's not clear to the consumer why they're being sold "this cheap Chinese crap" instead of their vaunted 'OEM' garbage. They just don't get it.
Fun fact, previous Mazda 2 was sold as a Yaris in the US, then they swapped and the new Yaris is sold as a Mazda 2 in some european countries
