Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 528 posts

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#311

Post by jacobr1 »

ajross wrote: post #270
grandalf wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> am I right that you... support the fuel efficiency regulations passed in the 70's and 90's No I would prefer a carbon tax charged per vehicle based on miles driven per year and the pollution emitted from the vehicle. > If someone expert told you that similar regulation passed today would have a similar effect, would you support it? What effect did it have? Do you think automakers would have continued to use 1960s e…

> What effect did it have? I genuinely don't understand how a technical person can look at the graph in the linked article and ask that question. This is just willful disbelief..

The actual question implied was: "What effect did it have relative to other feasible alternatives."

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#312

Post by clarkmoody »

azinman2 wrote: post #165

For all the talk by liberatians and their ilk that regulation is bad and unnecessary, that chart of median fuel effeciency due to government requirements should give them pause. Wow. Well over a decade of non-progress until a path forward is mandated. Suddently the needle starts moving, with car owners, the environment, and energy import needs as big winners here.

Well if the government sets out to mandate something, it has the power to punish those who don't comply. So when the edict comes down to improve fuel efficiency, auto-makers comply.

Other dimensions not mentioned in the article: safety and affordability. A quick search shows that the affordability of cars has declined steadily, which makes it harder for the bottom of the economic ladder to get into a car. No car means it is harder to get to a job and climb up the ladder.

It looks like road fatalities have declined over time, but I couldn't find data on non-fatal injuries.

Also very interesting to see a whole lot of "they" and not a lot of "we" when defining what libertarians believe.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#313

Post by lend000 »

azinman2 wrote: post #165

For all the talk by liberatians and their ilk that regulation is bad and unnecessary, that chart of median fuel effeciency due to government requirements should give them pause. Wow. Well over a decade of non-progress until a path forward is mandated. Suddently the needle starts moving, with car owners, the environment, and energy import needs as big winners here.

> median fuel effeciency due to government requirements

As if engines weren't improving due to other factors as well, like market forces for lower fuel costs and improved overall technology? What if there were more sensible regulations that taxed externalities directly, like pollution taxes? This is a pointless, illogical politicization of a topic more complex than you're aware of.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#314

Post by davidgay »

timelol wrote: post #109
DamnInteresting wrote: post #73

A few weeks ago I bought a Chevy Bolt EV...according to the dealer it was the first one sold in my state (Utah). I'd been on a waiting list for almost a year. Sure, ICE engines are getting better, but EVs are rapidly gaining and will soon surpass. The Bolt is a bit expensive for a car of its body type, but "gassing up" at home is amazing, the 200+ mile range is great, and the sharply reduced emissions are a weight of…

I have an electric _bicycle_ that routinely dusts off ICE cars at stop lights. It just takes a while for all that machinery to start rolling.

I've always felt the biggest factor for dusting other vehicles is reaction time from the light going green...

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#316

Post by awqrre »

azinman2 wrote: post #165

For all the talk by liberatians and their ilk that regulation is bad and unnecessary, that chart of median fuel effeciency due to government requirements should give them pause. Wow. Well over a decade of non-progress until a path forward is mandated. Suddently the needle starts moving, with car owners, the environment, and energy import needs as big winners here.

Maybe the government should force mass transit modes... much bigger impact...

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#317

Post by brokenmachine »

DamnYuppie wrote: post #42
nightski wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would that be ironic? It has almost 1.5x the horsepower.

Porsche's are more known for handling than straight line speed. So I am readying the OP's comment to mean the newer versions ride and handling are MUCH improved over its predecessor.

I read it as the 2016 car being a pussified dentist mobile while the older one was a "glorious tire-smoking muscle car".

Even the use of the word "glorious" implies that he enjoyed the older one better. People don't buy Camaros for the handling, even if it may have been improved.

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#318

Post by conanbatt »

rubyn00bie wrote: post #230
azinman2 wrote: post #165

For all the talk by liberatians and their ilk that regulation is bad and unnecessary, that chart of median fuel effeciency due to government requirements should give them pause. Wow. Well over a decade of non-progress until a path forward is mandated. Suddently the needle starts moving, with car owners, the environment, and energy import needs as big winners here.

I would like to point out this is due to confusion by almost all peoples who haven't formally studied the economics of regulation. There are in fact, two types of regulation: "Safety and Soundness" and "economic." Economic regulation is almost always a bad thing and results in gross market inefficiencies like barriers to entry, cronyism, and destroys any hope of a functioning capitalist system. Think trucking regulat…

> and finally abandoned all of that to move to the far left. Because it's what makes the most scientific sense--

Can you share some literature for the non-academics? My personal study into economics turned me "pseudo libertarian", i dont see myself going to the left. I wonder what ideas could.

> and economics is in fact a science.

Thats a very right-wing approach to economics!

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#319

Post by conanbatt »

minikites wrote: post #179
azinman2 wrote: post #165

For all the talk by liberatians and their ilk that regulation is bad and unnecessary, that chart of median fuel effeciency due to government requirements should give them pause. Wow. Well over a decade of non-progress until a path forward is mandated. Suddently the needle starts moving, with car owners, the environment, and energy import needs as big winners here.

Based on the libertarians I've talked with about seat belt laws, their argument would probably be to hand-wave it away with "It would have happened anyway thanks to the magic of the market."

The seatbelt argument is not about saving people's lives, its about not forcing people to do a precaution. If you can make the argument that you can force someone to use a seatbelt for his own protection, can you ban alcohol? loud music? driving altogether? bad food? Bathtubs?

What is fundamentally different of the seatbelt than the other million things that endanger our lives everyday and we live with ?

Re: America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient

#320

Post by Too »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #40
trjordan wrote: post #20

My first car crush was in high school: the 2002 Subaru WRX. It would be fine to get some souped-up monster, and high-end BMWs are always fast, but when I first saw those silly little bug eyes and the trademark blue color? God did I want one. It was weird to figure out that it only came with a 2 liter engine. Apparently turbos help a lot. It was even weirder when the 2005 STI came out with the same engine ... and a bi…

In F1 they now have waste heat recovery systems, as I understand it (please, F1 engineers, correct me if I'm wrong) in the form of mechanically decoupled turbine and compressor wheels on the turbo. The (exhaust) turbine generates electricity which it can feed either to the battery or to the compressor wheel motor (acting like a regular turbo in the latter case). In this configuration, you can also electrically spool…

Volvo has something similar in their latest engines, they call it power pulse. It's building up the turbo with an electric compressor and opposed to audi e-turbo the pressure is also stored in a pressure tank instead of constantly pumped by the compressor, which at least on paper sounds like it would reduce the lag even more. Anyone got more experience?
Post reply on HN