Why don’t EVs have standard diagnostic ports—and when will that change? | OBD-II was implemented to monitor emissions, but EVs don’t have tailpipes.::OBD-II was implemented to monitor emissions, but EVs don’t have tailpipes.
Why don’t EVs have standard diagnostic ports—and when will that change? | OBD-II was implemented to monitor emissions, but EVs don’t have tailpipes.::OBD-II was implemented to monitor emissions, but EVs don’t have tailpipes.
I just assumed they had an OBD-II port
Honestly it’s such a stupid idea to not have a standard diagnostic port in there especially considering the standard has already existed for over 20 years
But how u gonna lock down your error codes so that people go to your service center and pay 10x the price of fixing it themselves if you let them just read the error codes? Will someone please think of the poor shareholders?!
My BYD Atto 3 does. It’ll tell me battery cell voltages, highest cell voltage, lowest cell voltage, highest cell temperature, lowest cell temperature, maximum power, overall pack voltage, pack current, 12V battery voltage.
There’s a fair bit of data there.
It is. But also it makes ev owners crawl back to the dealer or manufactures to get their car fixed
Yeah from a repairability stand point that’s probably a key factor
“If we have our own plug and our own protocol then that means they have to use our tool, and if we don’t license the software or sell the tool then they have to come back and pay our prices.”
Fiat 500e at least has an obd 2 connector, though it seems like it it speaks a different language.
Italian?
Motto bene!
It’s me Mario
I would be surprised at that; my understanding is OBD-II is just a breakout for the vehicle’s CAN bus.
A bus. There are several in most cars.
Fiat implemented a “firewall” for their port, without the right device you cannot connect to it.
It was implemented to prevent thefts, people hack the car through the ODB port or through the CAN bus connection.
Its easier for them to lock down access rather than fix the fact you can drive a keyless car without the key.
I gotta be honest, it’s great and all that obd is a standard, but… How about a simple USB port?
I mean seriously… A freaking USB port.
Established manufacturers do, newcomers don’t.
Established manufacturers could technically ditch the port on EV models, but they don’t because they have other models which are still ICE, so they need it there. Many of the modules are shared between models, so they use the same bus when it’s ICE, hybrid, or EV.
And they already have their tools in the hands of their mechanics that they just need to update OTA so they’re compatible with their EV cars… Even if gas cars stopped existing, replacing all of that would be too much of a pain to change the plug…
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I guess everyone assumed like you. Or at least that you could kind of connect to the car via wifi to get these informations without plugging anything.
What would they diagnose?
Combustion Engine? Don’t have one. Transmission? Don’t have one. Emission Control System? Don’t have emissions. Spark Plugs? Nope. Fuel System? No. Exhaust? No. Alternator? No. Battery charger? you can see that on the dashboard. Starter motor? Nope. Battery Status? Also on the dashboard. Vehicle speed… on the dash. Engine idle… no. Air Flow Sensor? No air flow. Intake Manifold Pressure… no intake. Throttle position… only really relevant if you have a clutch or torque converter which EVs don’t have (you would notice, very quickly, if the throttle position detected pressing the pedal when you’re not pressing it in an EV…
That’s the list of standard ODB-II diagnostics. Some cars do more than that, but those are the ones they have to do. And none of them are relevant.
Reporting error codes for specific parts of the battery, errors in the coolant system, error codes for specific sensors throughout the vehicle, etc
Or considering basically all EVs I’ve seen have some big screens rather than gauges perhaps having the ability to put the vehicle in a diagnostic mode that will display error codes and allow you to check on specific sensors (like read the heath of each individual battery cell for example) without the need for an external device to check
Basically having the ability to fix something that we bought ourselves rather than having to go to the dealership to get it fixed and hope that they’ll still service a vehicle of whatever age I bring in
This is also a important example of how much less crap there is in a electric vs ICE vehicle.
Yes the battery materials are mined (so are many other things) but the sheer subtraction of these various mechanisms from a electric vehicle greatly reduces the environment impact not to mention a great reduction in fluids required.
Dealers hate this one hack as the service requirements are fairly low too.
There are also idiots claiming we should ban electric vehicles because they charge on an unclean grid
I actually saw a petition for this is my country’s local government website
This is like closing a shop to prevent robbers.
Surely the solution is to make the grid they charge off of sustainable then???
Too expensive. It’s easier to just ban electricity, and go back to the good ol’ days of natural gas powered appliances.
OBDII has standard info that’s the same from one brand to another but it also transfers proprietary info that depends on the reader having the ability to interpret it.
My OBDII Bluetooth dongle lets me get diagnostic codes for much more than emission systems (using Car Scanner app where you choose the type of car you’re diagnosing) and it also allows me to reprogram car features with the right app (ex adding an Europe only feature to a Canadian BMW i3 with Bimmercode). It would be perfectly adapted as an EV diagnostic port.
Hell I just use mine to collect data in general. Torque (https://torque-bhp.com/) is effectively my second dashboard for all the information that the normal dash doesn’t show. I have a hybrid… Half of my dials are related to the hybrid system. Anyone that says that OBD is only related to combustion engines are ignorant.
Yep, so much info we don’t get on the OEM dashboard anymore… Oil temp (heck, coolant temp in some cases!), voltage, oil pressure…
On some hybrids I’ve even seen the RPM gauge (tachometer) missing. And while I understand that isn’t directly translatable to electric vehicles… It’s just a point that the dash has been getting over simplified for a long time now, taking away knowledge from users.
This is kinda a weird question. What happens when a car has an extra sensor most other cars don’t have? The system adapts. Not to mention, most cars put out some unique info regardless, which is why you need to enter (or auto scan for) the make and model before all values are properly readable.
This is what someone with absolutely no knowledge of info you can bed from those ports is.
So just to name a few:
Battery temp, cell resistance, charge level of each cell, throttle position, abs info, wheel rpm, blendor actuator position, ac activation, heater power draw, “and more”.
Imagine having a computer you could never run diagnostics of any kind on, or even get to check into what you thought was wrong. That’s half of what an EV is.