Believe it or not, this week Detroit, America's big automakers, are saying they want to take gasoline out of the car business. Here's what GM's chief of global product development said Monday: “General Motors believes in an all-electric future.” As in electric cars. ... Self-driving cars will be electric.

http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2017/10/...ic-car-ford-gm

Now I know how the buggy makers and livery owners must have felt.

Just ruminating how such a move over time will shake up the transportation economy. Big oil, Dinan, Midas, AC/Delco, and a ton more large and small support industries that are specifically targeted to the internal combustion engine and it's components.

Realizing it will be decades for a full transition, but still, rather strange to anticipate a move away from something that we all grew up with.

Imagine the future performance discussion that will go on over coffee (or a beer), "What kind of range you gettin'?", "How many watts you runnin'?". "What of a reciprocal braking you gettin'?", "What level Autonomous rating you got?"

 

And, as folks get hooked on instant torque, and 0 to 60 in under 5 seconds under silent electric power becomes the new normal...

And gas stations become battery pack change out depots...

And wars break out over fights for access to rare earth metals for magnets and batteries...

Every new solution brings new sets of unanticipated challenges.

And progress is an illusion.

Glad I got to have a V-12, but I'll be thrilled to drive an electric car... fast.

 

Yeah me too. Just have to solve the electric outrages after hurricanes down here.

Maybe a Solar Array @ home or move here:

https://www.babcockranch.com/

Only place in Irma's path that didn't lose power, Internet or TV. 1Gbps fiber-optic internet wired to each home sounds nice too.

We are the "Jetsons".

 

SW FL = Too Hot

 

Sweden, and France, also others in EU, have mentioned outlawing new dinosaur fuel cars within 5 to 10 years.

You hear no regrets from Tesla owners, granted, they have money!!
Theres a pattern there.

 

I considered Tesla. Speed is cool. The rest of the car did not thrill. And I just couldn't wrap my head around the "look at me, I'm a cool Tesla owner who cares about all the right things."

And the thought of recharging up on Interstae 5 in August with the smell of cattle drifing in from Harris Ranch and having to chat with fellow Tesla owners while we waited for the car to fill with amps...

I'm cool with a rocket fast, instant torque electric future. Let's hope it's not the direction paved by the Cadillac ELR

 

That's my image for the day. A bunch of self-righteous Tesla owners eating Harris Ranch steaks while they wait for their cars to recharge and their buddies to fly their planes in to the private landing strip. That's the California version of a green future.

 

Follow the money...
Why do MINIS loose 50% sticker price in 2.5 years? Throw away cars. Wait until you need battery replacements. Just like your "surcharges" on your cell phones. It will be interesting. Seems like I get another "extended warranty" or "recall" on my F56 every few months. Think I only got 2 on my 2003 Justa in 10 years...

 

Welcome to the "Ultimate Leasing Machine".

 

It will be a strange day indeed when the internal combustion engine disappears. I’d love to drive one, but having to charge up 4 to 8 hours leaves me wanting an auxiliary power source just to make sure I can get to where I’m going.

 

Yes, as is, ranges and charge times do not seem practical for anything other than relatively short daily commutes or trips. If they can come w/ a 350+ mile range and a 20 minute recharge time at a station, I could see widespread feasibility. Still not ideal for a cross country jaunt, but for many that could work.

Battery degradation over time is another problem. Again, if technology could guarantee 200K mile service life of a battery pack that could be a start, but even then, as the vehicle ages and miles accrue, value will be almost nil as it nears the 200K mark. Failing that, battery replace cost would need to be brought way down in $, so replacement would be more in line w/ a major service charge on an internal combustion engine (perhaps somewhere in the $3K price range to get another 200K miles).

At present, range is the big issue. I need to know I can go 300 miles w/ everything accessory going in the car. We drive 100 miles to our cabin for a weekend. so 200 miles round trip + the running around while we are there. Naturally, I can plug it in to a 120V @ night while we are there and maybe get 30% back into the battery each night. So yeah, 300 mile range could work for me. But then we have battery life.

Leasing would be the only practical way to own one of these early on.

 

I think that eventually you will drive into the docking station at your electric fill up place and the battery cartridge will come out and be replaced with a fully charged one in a matter of minutes and off you go.

 

I've had a little experience with retrofitting a 72 volt DC electric wing motor onto my boat. The primary propulsion is a diesel but the electric is used for silent cocktail cruising around the bay for an hour or two at low speed.

After I got the bandage removed from my finger (which circumnavigated a drive pulley and drew the requisite amount of blood during the early tinkering phase of this project), I was able to get things all aligned and working nicely.

600 pounds of lead acid batteries. Some massive relays for forward and reverse, an industrial electric clutch, a custom fabricated motor bracket and sprocket.... I decided I would NOT maintain a spreadsheet of the project cost as this is a hobby and I don't wanna know what I've dumped into this.

The thing that is cool about electric drive, from what I've learned, is the amount of torque available starting with the first revolution of the motor. And the quiet is great. It is magical when the boat just starts moving without sound or vibration. Even quieter than a sailboat.

So I see the future of electric cars as a real possibility. And great engineering minds are improving batteries every year. The drive train mechanics have been essentially solved and they are much simpler than internal combustion power transmission for sure.

Most personal autos are used for short trips most of the time, so, for most people, electric range will not be an issue.

But in America, it is the idea of being able to "see the USA in your Chevrolet" that captured and has held the imagination for all these decades -- the idea that, if one wished to, one could fill up the tank and drive and drive and drive, from sea to shining sea. We pay a high political and social and environmental cost for the gas and go option. But it's in the psyche.

But the idea of a soulless automated appliance that silently whisks one from place to place, while the passenger has his head buried in a smart phone, oblivious to the world or to what the car is doing ... well, we are moving toward a different world. Cleaner perhaps and more convenient.

But I don't know....

 

I suppose nothing is as permanent as change.

I must admit, I am rather excited to see where this new technology leads us. I have a feeling that few will protest in the increased performance.

 

Yep. I'm looking forward to a 4000 pound Mini. Unless maybe the battery fairies come up with a paper/air technology. And short trips are relative to where you live. Grocery store 25 miles, restaurant 60 miles, doctor/VA 140 miles for me. Electric might make sense on the coasts and metro areas, but the rest of the country is a little more spread out. Heck, I wish the F56 had a bigger tank so I could go farther on a fill up. Now the 40 gallon tank on my Suburban... That's a gas tank! On a good day I can get 5-600 miles on a tank even towing 5 or 6 ton trailer. Show me an electric 3/4 ton living room on wheels (w/4 wheel drive) that can do that and I might consider it a little more seriously. I know this won't be a dilemma I actually have to deal with because I figure things won't progress that far before I'm gone, but I'm gonna pass my cynicism on to my Grandson who's just learning how the internal combustion engine works. Santa is bring him a DOHC visible V-8 engine for Christmas. Now that's fun to assemble and watch the inner workings do their thing. Building an electric motor? Not so much. For me the semi/efficient hum of an electric motor will never replace the ground shaking sound/feeling of a big block or the high revving scream of a small displacement engine. YMMV

 

Yup.

Even my wife, who loves silent bay cruising under electric power said, "I kinda miss the sound and feel of the diesel. Made the boat feel more organic. More alive."

But then, her first car was an MG Midget. British Racing Green.

 

I SERIOUSLY doubt that will ever happen. Tesla said they’ll do it but I don’t believe it. They are WAY too expensive, costing at least thousands of dollars. They wear. They are continually improving technology. They need cooling. Batteries for trucks are at larger than batteries for sub-compacts.
Maybe if we elect a functional government, we can organize such a five or ten year plan. But standardizing on a single cross-brand form factor is going to take a massive effort.

 

It’ll also put auto mechanics out of business. Electric cars need very little maintenance.
No oil changes
Brake pads last 200,000 miles
No muffler
no smog equipment
no spark plugs
no timing chain

once the battery cost problem is solved, they easily beat combustion engine vehicles.

 

Maybe they'll get Lucas to work on the problem.

 

The combustion engine has been dated for the past 100 years

 

I'll worry about electric cars when they run out of dinosaur sqeezin's. I doubt I'll outlast the internal combustion engine. Heck, I know I won't!

 

Elon Musk has proven that electric vehicle’s are superior. Period. I think we’ll see Formula One go Electric sooner than we think.

 

When you can drive that Tesla for 700 miles on a charge, then you can put a period on it.

 

Hmm electric cars. You know where one of the most polluted places on the face of the planet is? Answer, Sudbury Canada. You know why? Answer, nickel for car batteries.

 

Yup. A Prius is one of the dirtiest cars when the batteries are factored in.

But electric propulsion is great in many ways. I remember the old Rocket Rods ride at Disneyland. It was short-lived because it used some of the old people mover overhead tracks which were not beefy enough to support the fast-moving electric rocket rods. The torque in those vehicles was amazing.

If they can crack the battery problem, the electric drive train concept has great possibilities. Wonder if Borla can make an exhaust that will make an electric MINI sound right???