Source: He shows what is wrong with the ID.4 and takes exception to critics of his engineering approach. With over 50 years of hands-on experience, Sandy does not (nor should) suffer fools gladly. Bob Wilson
I read Sandy's take on the ID4's motor/gearbox several days ago. He does NOT like how many screw type fasteners VW uses - just to hold things together. On the other hand, he did give thumbs up on reducing the amount of bearings that VW used, in at least one application. Less bearings, equals less friction, which equals better efficiency. As pointed out, because the car is pretty heavy, they needed every lightning if they could come up with .
Around 10:30 he warms to his core topic, and I agree: it's easy for the engineer, to squander accessible space, fill it with mechanical components and sign it off. It’s also easy for customers to wake up to this, look elsewhere. Another less than shining example, from Toyota, with the Prius AWD adaption:
I was so disappointed to see Toyota use prismatic cell, rectangular pack in the spare tire recess of the Prius Prime. In contrast, a smart engineer would have used 18650 or 2710 cells to make a 'spare tire' shaped battery pack. It would have been a pack with twice the kWh capacity compared to the 25 EV range. Between dumb and stupid, this is a poor engineering choice without a distinction. Bob Wilson
