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Dutch students create modular electric car "you can repair yourself" (www.dezeen.com)
submitted 4 days ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
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A team of students from the Eindhoven University of Technology has built a prototype electric car with a built-in toolbox and components that can be easily repaired or replaced without specialist knowledge.

The university's TU/ecomotive group, which focuses on developing concepts for future sustainable vehicles, describes its ARIA concept as "a modular electric city car that you can repair yourself".

ARIA, which stands for Anyone Repairs It Anywhere, is constructed using standardised components including a battery, body panels and internal electronic elements that can be easily removed and replaced if a fault occurs.

With assistance from an instruction manual and a diagnostics app that provides detailed information about the car's status, users should be able to carry out their own maintenance using only the tools in the car's built-in toolbox, the TU/ecomotive team claimed.

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[-] Sina@beehaw.org 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

You all are correct that in the current climate automotive manufacturers would never allow something like this get on the market at large.

However 2-3 decades down the line, when car owners have gotten a reality check about the longevity of current & probably worse near future cars, the market demand could reach a point where people would give a simple repairable electric car a really good go and by simple I mean genuinely as simple as possible for an electric car.

[-] megopie@beehaw.org 2 points 2 days ago

I to have a modular electric vehicle but, mine already has a massive variety of after market options to modify and upgrade it to me needs with.

It’s called… my bicycle that I put a motor on.

[-] Ooops@feddit.org 15 points 4 days ago

"We want to show the automotive industry that sustainable and practical design really is achievable"

Funny to think they don't know already. But sustainable isn't the goal, maximising profits is.

[-] homes@piefed.world 17 points 4 days ago

this looks super-cool! I hope they're able to interest some auto-makers into making an actual product.

[-] Encephalotrocity@feddit.online 13 points 4 days ago

Stop it. I can't breathe!

[-] realitista@lemmus.org 12 points 4 days ago

I want one!

[-] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 days ago

Two please!

[-] als@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 4 days ago

I wonder if the source for the OS/firmware would be available

[-] Rolive@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 2 days ago

You wouldn't download a car.

[-] B0rax@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago

Most of the cars today do not have a single OS. They consist of up to 100 independent Control units, each with their own software.

[-] als@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 4 days ago

I imagine that to open source that all, there'd be a lot of wheels to reinvent

[-] Quexotic@beehaw.org 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

This reminds me of a guy that used a portion of the energy generated by his car's alternator to generate hydrogen and oxygen and feed it into the air intake, achieving over 100mpg efficiency in a stock vehicle.

He died mysteriously shortly after that.

Edit:

https://tcct.com/news/2020/11/the-mysterious-death-of-stanley-meyer-and-his-water-powered-car/

[-] xthexder@l.sw0.com 11 points 4 days ago

Well, it's physically impossible to capture more energy from burning hydrogen and oxygen than it takes to separate it. Combustion engines are only something like 30-40% efficient in ideal operating conditions.

Building a repairable car on the other hand is very much possible.

[-] Quexotic@beehaw.org 4 points 4 days ago

I was hoping it would be more obvious what I was getting at, but apparently the flu is hitting me harder than I thought.

I'm suggesting that the existing Automobile industry will not welcome their efforts.

I hope they succeed.

[-] 18107@aussie.zone 7 points 4 days ago

That sounds like a free energy device, which is not possible.

Hydrogen has a round trip efficiency of 30% when used in a fuel cell, and closer to 10% when burned in a combustion engine. The energy taken from the alternator will always be much more than the extra energy provided by burning the hydrogen.

Many people have made wild claims about fuel efficiency or free energy devices. If they were true, it would be easy for anyone to replicate the results.

[-] icelimit@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Perhaps the hydrogen simply raised the temperature much higher? Given that the efficiency of ice is driven by dT.

Before safety was a concept most cars on the road did 100mpg whilst also being prone to spontaneous explosions due to the extreme temperatures they ran at

[-] Quexotic@beehaw.org -2 points 4 days ago

I choose to believe he was murdered by big oil because it's more convincing than that it is not actually a free energy device.

I know the whole story and I have picked my side. 😁

[-] PanGodofPanic@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 4 days ago

"I choose to believe the factually incorrect thing" I'm hoping this is a joke but it's hard to tell on the internet

[-] Quexotic@beehaw.org 1 points 4 days ago

Half joking. The design worked by electrolyzinh water and intaking the resultant gasses into the air intake, also it was with a dune buggy, also water vapor alone improves ICE efficiency, so it's not that unreasonable that he'd get 100mpg.

Also, the petrochemical industry would totally murder over something like that.

It did not literally run on water. That was just marketing.

[-] JillyB@beehaw.org 3 points 2 days ago

Any electricity used for electrolysis came from gasoline. If you turn on a bunch of electronics in your car, your alternator gets harder to spin and your engine consumes more fuel to do it. Then you're putting energy into breaking bonds which is energy you will partially (but not fully) recover by burning them. It's impossible for this system to result in a more efficient engine.

[-] Quexotic@beehaw.org 1 points 2 days ago

Thanks

[-] Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 days ago

Instructable or it didn't happen! /s

[-] doleo@lemmy.one 3 points 4 days ago

still a car, tho

[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago

aaaaand scrapped.

[-] mesamunefire@piefed.social 1 points 4 days ago

I wonderif its street legal.

[-] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

As an actual highway-legal car, certainly not. But there are plenty of other categories you can stuff random vehicles way easier that could still be useful, such as the European L6e/L7e Quadricycle.
The US equivalent is the NEV.

[-] Quexotic@beehaw.org 2 points 4 days ago

Look at the frame under the hood. 100% not safe for impact.

[-] 18107@aussie.zone 3 points 4 days ago

Everyone has to start somewhere. This is a pretty cool proof of concept.

[-] Quexotic@beehaw.org 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I'm not yum-yucking, just stating what I see, it looks like an impact would be quite fatal.

It is very cool. I hope they succeed. I understand their odds though.

this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2026
159 points (99.4% liked)

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