Depends on where you live, in New England the salted winter roads tend to win and few cars last more than 10 years before there are holes in body panels.
The body panels are more and more often plastic or aluminum these days. There's still often steel in the suspension and subframe, though.
The point of the article, though, is lots of people still spread FUD a out EV batteries and the data we have shows that batteries are not a problem. They last longer than transmissions and engines on average.
I've noticed so many "common knowledge" things being anchored into the past, especially as I age - and especially for vehicles.
The "rotting frames and body panels" thing was certainly common where I'm from when I grew up, but these days it's very normal to see 20+ year cars on the road with very little salt related damage. I have a 2007 Acura MDX that is stored outside for the past 8 years, never washed by my parents who I gifted it to, and driven through some of the worst winter road conditions possible. Visiting in the winter you'd think it was a grey vehicle (it's black) from all the salt spray adhered to it which stays on until it's driven in the rain come springtime.
It shows utterly zero frame or body rust even today. I expect the rubber seals and such to fail before anything else. This is pretty much the norm.
Cars are not made like they were in the 1980's and 90's any more. The coatings and type of materials are vastly different and improved. There are certainly models out there that have problems and you can get unlucky, but it's no longer a rule of thumb.
It's not just vehicles though. It's pretty much endemic to all things. People get anchored to their "formative years" and then never update their priors. I assume it takes a generation or two for such things to die off and the "common knowledge" to be updated. EV battery tech will be one of these things - we will be anchored to the common tropes that were true for first and second generation vehicles but no longer are for quite a long time.
Ah this might be an in-industry definitions thing[1], I was taught most anything thin, especially the pieces that are welded to the unibody, are panels. Not just the outer skin. So floor pan, pillars, trunk panels, roof, subframe, maybe control arms, etc are all panels. Basically anything stamped out of sheet metal. It is the way they're often constructed that leads to corrosion, thin pieces of metal in close parallel proximity are especially hard to clean. Think two flat pieces spot welded together one on top of one another as many seams are. I'm sure capillary action doesn't help those either. They'd have to be sealed in paint or epoxy entirely to avoid the seam corroding. Welding itself changes the structure of the steel and leads to corrosion near the weld. If not spot welded, a different steel might be used for the weld that has higher strength to compensate for welds weakening the steel - but to get that they trade-off higher carbon content, making it more prone to corrosion.
There are very few all-aluminum cars. Audi A8 was for a while and might still be. I am not aware of anything cheaper.
You're right that there's more parts that don't rust on modern vehicles. However, newer vehicles tend to be unibody compared to the older body-on-frame. When it comes to salty corrosion, parts sandwiched together often create places for the saltwater to be trapped, making the problem worse.
The more I look at newer cars, the more I tend to believe that they will last exactly as long as the warranty, then disintegrate into repair hell.
This is a frequent trope employed in places with comically inept snow preparedness - like the Pacific Northwest - ignoring the existence of automatic carwashes. With how many persistently dirty Subaru Outbacks I've seen on the 5 I question if they know this alien technology exists.
greenthrow|1 year ago
The point of the article, though, is lots of people still spread FUD a out EV batteries and the data we have shows that batteries are not a problem. They last longer than transmissions and engines on average.
phil21|1 year ago
The "rotting frames and body panels" thing was certainly common where I'm from when I grew up, but these days it's very normal to see 20+ year cars on the road with very little salt related damage. I have a 2007 Acura MDX that is stored outside for the past 8 years, never washed by my parents who I gifted it to, and driven through some of the worst winter road conditions possible. Visiting in the winter you'd think it was a grey vehicle (it's black) from all the salt spray adhered to it which stays on until it's driven in the rain come springtime.
It shows utterly zero frame or body rust even today. I expect the rubber seals and such to fail before anything else. This is pretty much the norm.
Cars are not made like they were in the 1980's and 90's any more. The coatings and type of materials are vastly different and improved. There are certainly models out there that have problems and you can get unlucky, but it's no longer a rule of thumb.
It's not just vehicles though. It's pretty much endemic to all things. People get anchored to their "formative years" and then never update their priors. I assume it takes a generation or two for such things to die off and the "common knowledge" to be updated. EV battery tech will be one of these things - we will be anchored to the common tropes that were true for first and second generation vehicles but no longer are for quite a long time.
mtreis86|1 year ago
There are very few all-aluminum cars. Audi A8 was for a while and might still be. I am not aware of anything cheaper.
[1] https://automotivedictionary.org/dictionary-of-automotive-te...
kimjune01|1 year ago
The more I look at newer cars, the more I tend to believe that they will last exactly as long as the warranty, then disintegrate into repair hell.
likeabatterycar|1 year ago
speedgoose|1 year ago