Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4
Cost is not going to be low. Dealers want $100 an hour. Swapping a hub moror would be at least as involved as repairing a CV joint. They are going to get at least an hour labor on each one.
If you want to throw money away on an almost new vehicle for no reason get a VW.
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Well, we don't use dealers unless it's something still under warranty, we use independent contractors and each area negotiates the rate with the shop, basically a lowest bidder kind of thing. We pay $80/hour, I'm sure some places are well over $100/hr. An hour labor would be cake, even times 4, but just driving the 2 rear wheels would be a better comparison to what we have now. Nothing happens with less than a 1/2 hour charge and a $5 disposal fee. They also will only do stuff one at a time as it fails, never preemptive. Having at least 2 motors would be pretty great as I doubt both would fail together which would eliminate a bunch of $90 tow bills as one motor still finishes the route and self powers to the shop. It also keeps the carrier from sitting at possibly $64/hr waiting for a new truck which we don't have. A single coil failure now pretty much also buys a $90 tow bill in addition to 1/2 hr diagnosis, and 1 hour repair, in addition to the part costs.
My point is hub motors may be unreliable, but I'm not sure that's new in the delivery business. There must be something positive about them on why LMC would be giving them a try vs other electric drives.