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Electric cars: The death of the internal combustion engine

economist.com

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Re: Electric cars: The death of the internal combustion engine

#41

Post by bwanab »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #2

Anytime you make something cheaper, easier to use, more useful and/or more efficient you get an increase in usage. Autonomous electric cars are all 4, and will lead to a dramatic increase in the number of miles driven. Some of those miles we can imagine (for instance sending your car on a dead-head journey somewhere for somebody else to use it), but most of the increase will probably be from new usage models that we…

Congestion? I don't think you're taking into account the huge advantage that autonomous cars have with respect to coordination among themselves. Much, if not most, congestion is caused by human drivers attempting to accrue advantage to themselves through maneuvers that disadvantage everybody else on the road.

Re: Electric cars: The death of the internal combustion engine

#42

Post by falcolas »

greedo wrote: post #24
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont' think it'll be so bad. Sure, you might not be able to do that at first as we won't have the infrastructure and accessories built for it. But we will. Folks enjoy such things. I can imagine being told: Now, as part of your trailer, you have extra energy storage, perhaps some solar capacity to refill the trailer batteries, possibly using the movement of the vehicle itself too. Trailer too much? You also have th…

A wind turbine that works as you drive? Nonsense on stilts...

> Nonsense on stilts

Sigh. Time for a new keyboard.

I'm keeping that one around for awhile; thanks for the laugh.

Re: Electric cars: The death of the internal combustion engine

#43

Post by iamgopal »

Electric car will be new smart phone. Without adding new features, electric car price can be reduce dramatically. A electric motor drive and tons of investment in battery tech can reduce entry level car price to four digit. But that is not at all wanted by industry. So automotive industry will keep adding automation and smart configurable suspension and other such nonsense to keep the price high. Good news for software industry nonetheless.

Re: Electric cars: The death of the internal combustion engine

#44

Post by baron816 »

ph0rque wrote: post #18
baron816 wrote: post #12

If I had to choose between a world where 1) everyone owned electric cars 2) no one owned cars but just hitched rides on autonomous ones and 3) no one used cars at all, I would take the third option. I think it's possible if we start building new cities designed for walking, instead of just expanding our current cities, with all the problems that presents. I think the trick would be to strictly limit their footprint t…

> I think the trick would be to strictly limit their footprint to something that would allow anyone to walk from one end to another in ~30 minutes. How many inhabitants do you think that will be?

The Upper East Side of Manhattan (one of the wealthiest and most desirable neighborhoods in the world) has over 200,000 residents. The UES doesn't have much office space though, which would be needed. But you could probably have a little bit bigger footprint than that, and certainly many more much taller buildings. So, I don't really know, but maybe 100,000 to 400,000 residents?

Re: Electric cars: The death of the internal combustion engine

#45

Post by lordvon »

pilom wrote: post #36

US drivers drive 3.1 Trillions miles per year [0]. Every month, the 12 Month moving average has been going up at 5 billion miles [0]. So every month we need to install enough charging stations to charge 5 billion miles/year. Lets use a Level 2 charger that adds ~25 miles of charge per hour. So 5B miles / 25 miles of charge per hour / 24 hours per day / 365 days per year = about 23,000 Level 2 chargers need to be adde…

How do you account for charging at home?

Re: Electric cars: The death of the internal combustion engine

#46

Post by kumarvvr »

lightedman wrote: post #8

As if ICEs are going to be replaced for emergency power generation any time soon. And with new tech coming out where regular gasoline engines can be as efficient as diesels (in fact using the Diesel cycle to a degree) if not more, you're going to find a resurgence of them in hybrid-electric vehicles. I doubt you're going to be rolling around with a solar-powered weed-eater to do your yardwork. I can guarantee you are…

You could have a highly efficient ICE that powers a DC bus in your home, that is also connected to your Solar array, that provides clean / efficient power to all our devices.

With recent advancements in electronics, DC power seems to be a good bet, especially when considering the ubiquity of solar systems.

Re: Electric cars: The death of the internal combustion engine

#47

Post by [deleted] »

pilom wrote: post #36

US drivers drive 3.1 Trillions miles per year [0]. Every month, the 12 Month moving average has been going up at 5 billion miles [0]. So every month we need to install enough charging stations to charge 5 billion miles/year. Lets use a Level 2 charger that adds ~25 miles of charge per hour. So 5B miles / 25 miles of charge per hour / 24 hours per day / 365 days per year = about 23,000 Level 2 chargers need to be adde…

[deleted]

Re: Electric cars: The death of the internal combustion engine

#48

Post by cbowal »

pilom wrote: post #36

US drivers drive 3.1 Trillions miles per year [0]. Every month, the 12 Month moving average has been going up at 5 billion miles [0]. So every month we need to install enough charging stations to charge 5 billion miles/year. Lets use a Level 2 charger that adds ~25 miles of charge per hour. So 5B miles / 25 miles of charge per hour / 24 hours per day / 365 days per year = about 23,000 Level 2 chargers need to be adde…

For comparison, there were approx. 168,000 gas stations in the US in 2004 [1] and that number had been steadily decreasing during the decade before (202,000 in 1994).

[1] https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/quizzes/answerQuiz16.shtml

Re: Electric cars: The death of the internal combustion engine

#49

Post by neon_electro »

iamgopal wrote: post #43

Electric car will be new smart phone. Without adding new features, electric car price can be reduce dramatically. A electric motor drive and tons of investment in battery tech can reduce entry level car price to four digit. But that is not at all wanted by industry. So automotive industry will keep adding automation and smart configurable suspension and other such nonsense to keep the price high. Good news for softwa…

Does the new car market need to offer EVs for less than $10,000 if the used market already is? I purchased my 2013 Nissan Leaf SV for $11k in 2015.

Re: Electric cars: The death of the internal combustion engine

#50

Post by kumarvvr »

iamgopal wrote: post #43

Electric car will be new smart phone. Without adding new features, electric car price can be reduce dramatically. A electric motor drive and tons of investment in battery tech can reduce entry level car price to four digit. But that is not at all wanted by industry. So automotive industry will keep adding automation and smart configurable suspension and other such nonsense to keep the price high. Good news for softwa…

Ohh yes. I can imagine a tuk-tuk, vehicles that transport millions in third world countries, converted to electric vehicles.

- No AC - No Heaters - Light weight - Ample amount of luggage space - Not much range required

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