<story><title>Ohm (YC S15) is a smarter, lighter car battery that works with your existing car</title><url>http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/12/ohm-is-a-smarter-lighter-car-battery-that-works-with-your-existing-car/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>atourgates</author><text>If you look at this purely from the standpoint of the benefit to a consumer, it doesn&amp;#x27;t seem like a great deal.&lt;p&gt;You gain:&lt;p&gt;* Auto-shutoff when your battery gets too low.&lt;p&gt;* Possibly some increased lifespan&lt;p&gt;* ~34lbs in weight reduction, which might deliver a small performance increase.&lt;p&gt;You lose:&lt;p&gt;* 78% of your battery capacity&lt;p&gt;* $20-$150 on the purchase price of the battery&lt;p&gt;Personally, I don&amp;#x27;t like the idea of paying more money for less battery capacity.  If, however, Ohm came with a rock-solid 7-year replacement warranty, I might be able to get over that.</text></item><item><author>sandworm101</author><text>(1) Those nasty things inside car batteries are easily recycled and in fact are recycled more often than not (like 95%+)&lt;p&gt;(2) Car batteries do not last only 3-4 years as per the OP.  Car batteries can last decades.  There are many variables, but the car in my battery is far older than 4 years. (lol)&lt;p&gt;(3) Replacing an easily-recyclable product with a less-recyclable one is no step forwards.&lt;p&gt;(4) XX addressed by OP comment, see below XX 
This thing is a capacitor?  What&amp;#x27;s the voltage potential in there? Any device with internals significantly beyond that may be a serious fire risk in a crash..&lt;p&gt;(5) Car batteries are not needlessly heavy, nor are they a stock size.  Manufacturers do care about performance.  If they thought the car could do with lighter battery they would use one.  Have some respect for the thought behind stock engineering before replacing it.&lt;p&gt;(6) Shutting down the voltage supply can be a real pain.  A &amp;quot;dead&amp;quot; battery generally still has enough juice to keep electronics ticking over.  Cutting it completely is not like turning off a switch.  It often means resetting&amp;#x2F;rebooting stuff once the voltage is restored.  For some (BMW) it can even mean a trip to the dealership for a special new battery ritual.
&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bimmerforums.com&amp;#x2F;forum&amp;#x2F;showthread.php?1355106-Why-can-t-I-replace-my-own-battery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bimmerforums.com&amp;#x2F;forum&amp;#x2F;showthread.php?1355106-Why...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>fredkbloggs</author><text>Suppose they did offer a 7-year warranty, with strong language.  Would you really expect Ohm to be around in 7 years?  If they want people to take a warranty seriously, it needs to be backed by at least an A-rated insurer, not whoever is funding these guys.&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s also the problem that they apparently offer only a single size&amp;#x2F;form factor (which is roughly equivalent to 34, 34&amp;#x2F;78, 75&amp;#x2F;25, or 35), and that for many applications this device does not offer enough starting power.  Never mind reserve capacity.  But even if this size is appropriate to your car, there are other reasons to be skeptical.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ohm (YC S15) is a smarter, lighter car battery that works with your existing car</title><url>http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/12/ohm-is-a-smarter-lighter-car-battery-that-works-with-your-existing-car/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>atourgates</author><text>If you look at this purely from the standpoint of the benefit to a consumer, it doesn&amp;#x27;t seem like a great deal.&lt;p&gt;You gain:&lt;p&gt;* Auto-shutoff when your battery gets too low.&lt;p&gt;* Possibly some increased lifespan&lt;p&gt;* ~34lbs in weight reduction, which might deliver a small performance increase.&lt;p&gt;You lose:&lt;p&gt;* 78% of your battery capacity&lt;p&gt;* $20-$150 on the purchase price of the battery&lt;p&gt;Personally, I don&amp;#x27;t like the idea of paying more money for less battery capacity.  If, however, Ohm came with a rock-solid 7-year replacement warranty, I might be able to get over that.</text></item><item><author>sandworm101</author><text>(1) Those nasty things inside car batteries are easily recycled and in fact are recycled more often than not (like 95%+)&lt;p&gt;(2) Car batteries do not last only 3-4 years as per the OP.  Car batteries can last decades.  There are many variables, but the car in my battery is far older than 4 years. (lol)&lt;p&gt;(3) Replacing an easily-recyclable product with a less-recyclable one is no step forwards.&lt;p&gt;(4) XX addressed by OP comment, see below XX 
This thing is a capacitor?  What&amp;#x27;s the voltage potential in there? Any device with internals significantly beyond that may be a serious fire risk in a crash..&lt;p&gt;(5) Car batteries are not needlessly heavy, nor are they a stock size.  Manufacturers do care about performance.  If they thought the car could do with lighter battery they would use one.  Have some respect for the thought behind stock engineering before replacing it.&lt;p&gt;(6) Shutting down the voltage supply can be a real pain.  A &amp;quot;dead&amp;quot; battery generally still has enough juice to keep electronics ticking over.  Cutting it completely is not like turning off a switch.  It often means resetting&amp;#x2F;rebooting stuff once the voltage is restored.  For some (BMW) it can even mean a trip to the dealership for a special new battery ritual.
&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bimmerforums.com&amp;#x2F;forum&amp;#x2F;showthread.php?1355106-Why-can-t-I-replace-my-own-battery&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bimmerforums.com&amp;#x2F;forum&amp;#x2F;showthread.php?1355106-Why...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dzhiurgis</author><text>I guess the pitch is that you do not need the extra battery capacity?&lt;p&gt;Are you sitting in parking lots listening music these days? That did sound cool when you were kid, but majority will never do that (or take their car camping).</text></comment>