General Motors announces the end of the internal combustion engine is coming

[riozlander]

I welcome this change but am saddened by it at the same time. Soon buying performance parts will be a classic car culture and you will just plug in a laptop and be able to change setting your self all that will be left is better electric motors and higher output batteries rims tires and exterior mods. There is positive and negative's for everything.

I'm sure when I'm a old cranky man ill enjoy the quiet ride and money saved on fuel for whatever Dino burning car ill keep in the garage

[5thGenOwner]

Originally Posted by riozlander

I welcome this change but am saddened by it at the same time. Soon buying performance parts will be a classic car culture and you will just plug in a laptop and be able to change setting your self all that will be left is better electric motors and higher output batteries rims tires and exterior mods. There is positive and negative's for everything.

I'm sure when I'm a old cranky man ill enjoy the quiet ride and money saved on fuel for whatever Dino burning car ill keep in the garage

I don't know if you saw what happened in Hurricane Irma with the Teslas, but it wasn't the 'owners' who made changes to the settings, it was Tesla. There was an interesting discussion on this and should have raised eyebrows. Because in the future, we likely won't have any control over the vehicle we 'ride in'. We won't own it, and we won't be able to modify it; whether it be the manufacturer (Tesla) or the government (most likely)... it won't be up to us anymore.

I feel the future of automobiles will be like riding on a personal bus/train to your destination. There will be very little room for 'enthusiasts' on the road, until they are banned completely. And you should expect the government regulations and control to become even more so the closer we get to computers driving these multi-ton massive machines on our roads.

Just my thoughts, but we now live in a world where the answer to everything is either The Government or Technology. The irony, technology is taking away our freedom and the government is gaining more control.

[redcoats1976]

hadnt heard about the teslas and hurricane irma.could you point me at a thread or fill me in?they are interesting cars,just way too spendy for my tastes.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by 5thGenOwner

I don't know if you saw what happened in Hurricane Irma with the Teslas, but it wasn't the 'owners' who made changes to the settings, it was Tesla. There was an interesting discussion on this and should have raised eyebrows. Because in the future, we likely won't have any control over the vehicle we 'ride in'. We won't own it, and we won't be able to modify it; whether it be the manufacturer (Tesla) or the government (most likely)... it won't be up to us anymore.

I feel the future of automobiles will be like riding on a personal bus/train to your destination. There will be very little room for 'enthusiasts' on the road, until they are banned completely. And you should expect the government regulations and control to become even more so the closer we get to computers driving these multi-ton massive machines on our roads.

Just my thoughts, but we now live in a world where the answer to everything is either The Government or Technology. The irony, technology is taking away our freedom and the government is gaining more control.

Tesla has been making arbitrary updates and changes to their cars without owner authorization for some time now. I wouldn't buy one for that reason alone.

IIRC, there used to be a (possibly undocumented) way of turning Teslas' stability control completely off, until a Tesla update took that capability away.


Norm

[Wizard1183]

Originally Posted by oldman14ss

I've been an electrician for 34 years and have been working solar for the past 4 and the utility companies own the solar and wind fields that's why your price hasn't gone down they inflate and say they are giving you credit for putting back into the system. look up what is called graphene ? Spanish scientists were given a grant to develop it. I'm getting older and forgetting. but it will be developed to impregnate the roads and your car will ride along and constantly charge similar to the old slot cars but real life. car panels will be made of it it charges just like a solar panel . the roof of your car will be made of it to convert sun power. I'm telling you folks graphene or a derivative there of is coming. you want to be a millionaire invest in it. it's coming we have not had a founding technology since the cell phone. and that's been at least 30 years ago.

Graphene...strong enough to withstand the weight of an elephant on a pencil. Probably the strongest material out there manmade.

[IMadeYouReadThis]

Originally Posted by Olddudesrule

It's called inevitablity....like it or not, it WILL happen whether it's 50 or 100 years down the road. I'm enjoying the ride as long as I can afford to.....love the renaissance of the muscle car!

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by Hixson

The cars are still amazing, they just aren't as loud, you cant work on them or mod them yourselves anymore, and they have less character

↑↑↑ Somebody else gets it


Norm

[Scalded Dog]

The biggest problems with EVs are the range and the recharge time. The solution to both will come with widespread use, and the recharge stations.

Once there are enough EVs out there, there will be (okay, there SHOULD be) stations out there that simply swap out batteries. You drive your vehicle over some sort of bay, press a button, and a machine pulls your weak battery out, and inserts a fully charged one. Your car is ready before you've even finished buying your pistachios and Dr. Pepper.

Back when internal combustion cars were coming into the public realm, the chicken- or- the- egg issue was at hand: How to get fuel stations out there, so that people would want to drive places... and how to get people to buy cars, when there were very few places to buy gasoline? Or phones... who wanted a phone, when nobody else had one? In order for EVs to really work, more people need to drive them, so more stations can service them, so more people will buy them... and so forth.

I know... I love the simplicity and mechanics and sounds and possibilities that an IC engine provides. But... there's no denying that those freakin' EVs are fast, quiet, powerful, simple, and COULD be powered by things that do not produce as much in the way of emissions as today's cars do. The technology will improve, power restoration facilities will improve, and someday you won't even need earplugs at the drag races.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by Scalded Dog

The biggest problems with EVs are the range and the recharge time. The solution to both will come with widespread use, and the recharge stations.

You're handwaving away what might be the biggest problem.

What's it going to take to make the electrical grid generate and distribute all that extra power demand? What about reserve capacity to cover for plant downtime and other outages?

I doubt that either businesses or individuals are going to cut back on their air conditioning usage in order to get even some of it.


Norm

[jd10013]

Originally Posted by Norm Peterson

You're handwaving away what might be the biggest problem.

What's it going to take to make the electrical grid generate and distribute all that extra power demand? What about reserve capacity to cover for plant downtime and other outages?

I doubt that either businesses or individuals are going to cut back on their air conditioning usage in order to get even some of it.Norm

obviously, you build more generating capacity. and there is already a great deal of spare capacity. it's never utilized except for the hottest and coldest of days. but the demands aren't a great as you think. I know people with EV's and the amount of electricity they use to recharge their cars a per month is almost negligible. less than $50. right now at least a third of all electricity is lost in transmission, or poorly run grids. the savings from that alone would take care of the needs of electric cars.

sure, updating our very old and inefficient grid would be expensive, but so long as there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it will happen. the potential of selling electricty from one end of the country to another at tens of thousands of charging station will inevitable attract investors and venture capitalist to fund. As scalded dog was saying, you just need the cars out there first. somebody will build the better mouse trap.

[Whoomba]

Just read an article that researchers at Rice university found a way to make lithium batteries recharge in minutes and last longer. That's the key.

[70T/A400]

A Toyota Prius battery starts life in Canada. Then the nickel gets loaded onto a container ship like the Emma Maersk to journey to Norway where it gets made into a battery.

Then the battery gets loaded into another container ship to run from Norway to Japan. Finally the Prius gets loaded onto the final container ship to North America or Europe.

Container ships burn heavy fuel oil, not electric, not solar, not wind power, no about 14,000 litre of heavy fuel oil per hour.

And pure electric vehicles that use lithium ion? Where are these rare earth materials? They are no abundant and they aren't in North America.

I am staying with a gas powered V-8 for protecting the environment and jobs.

[redcoats1976]

Originally Posted by Norm Peterson

You're handwaving away what might be the biggest problem.

What's it going to take to make the electrical grid generate and distribute all that extra power demand? What about reserve capacity to cover for plant downtime and other outages?

I doubt that either businesses or individuals are going to cut back on their air conditioning usage in order to get even some of it.


Norm

graphene...the roof and hood of my 2025 SS will be so strong i can give elephant rides with no dings.and i wont have to plug in to charge...itll be great.

[gringo]

You know, I wouldn't mind if we went back to riding horses. I like horsies!