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Top F1 designer says auto industry moving in wrong direction with electric cars

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Re: Top F1 designer says auto industry moving in wrong direction with electric cars

#31

Post by balaji1 »

strongpigeon wrote: post #4

Honestly, I feel like the submission title is overly editorialized. The part about the auto industry supposedly moving in the wrong direction is barely a paragraph all the way to the end. This is mostly about Newey's career.

I tried to link it to the direct section -- but somehow the url was auto edited by HN to drop the text highlight or I didn't paste the right link...

And I wasn't able to edit the URL (nor delete my post nor add as description), so I posted the highlighted url as the first comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31671139

I'm not defending my post, you make fair points. I kinda expected pushback from HN.

I should have found a tweet or smaller article that was just about the section where Newey talks about the auto industry. Or others articles that explore this angle.

Anyway there has to be an element of truth in the legendary engineer's comments -- or at least it is a different viewpoint to the popular narrative these days about EV and auto-industry. So I immediately thought the HN community might be interested in exploring this angle -- which other commenters did explore.

I will definitely be more careful when posting next time.

PS: I would think there are engineer fans of the sport that admire Newey as Elon is admired, sorta celeb engineer.

Re: Top F1 designer says auto industry moving in wrong direction with electric cars

#32

Post by balaji1 »

balaji1 wrote: post #31
strongpigeon wrote: post #4

Honestly, I feel like the submission title is overly editorialized. The part about the auto industry supposedly moving in the wrong direction is barely a paragraph all the way to the end. This is mostly about Newey's career.

I tried to link it to the direct section -- but somehow the url was auto edited by HN to drop the text highlight or I didn't paste the right link... And I wasn't able to edit the URL (nor delete my post nor add as description), so I posted the highlighted url as the first comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31671139 I'm not defending my post, you make fair points. I kinda expected pushback from HN. I should…

btw @strongpigeon your recent trending HN post was cool, that I recognized your handle.

Re: Top F1 designer says auto industry moving in wrong direction with electric cars

#33

Post by balaji1 »

rocgf wrote: post #27
majewsky wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did it actually go in the Netherlands? Was it "better bike infrastructure -> more bike usage" like you suggest? Or was it the other way around?

It was both. The Netherlands had relatively high bike usage before "the cycling revolution" in the 70s, but either way it's kind of a moot point. Either way, if you're trying to insinuate that you first need the bikes and then the infrastructure, you're going to have a hard time finding good arguments.

is there a case for electric bikes? I enjoy electric bikes. It seems to add significant functionality (and I find it super fun), without changing much of the characteristics of a bicycle, biking itself (except maybe slightly more risky) and infra to charge bikes would be much more scalable.

Re: Top F1 designer says auto industry moving in wrong direction with electric cars

#34

Post by raverbashing »

someweirdperson wrote: post #28
raverbashing wrote: post #13

For those who want the tl;dr: > “We now have electric SUVs – huge 4x4s with electric! Ludicrous. It just makes no sense whatsoever. It would just be nice to see cars getting a bit more efficient – whatever the propulsion unit might be, but in terms of the aero, weights, engine size. Agree > All these government organisations pat themselves on the back for the improved safety regulations but just like in F1 it makes t…

And still, motor cycles are still legal to buy and ride. But more dangerous than even the most flimsy car.

Yeah, those organs are not going to donation by themselves you know ;)

There aren't many ways of making motorbikes safer. But cars/SUVs are more dangerous to everything around them than the bikes.

Re: Top F1 designer says auto industry moving in wrong direction with electric cars

#35

Post by rocgf »

throwaway0x7E6 wrote: post #30
rocgf wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having cars as the primary and often sole viable method of transportation, under any circumstances, be it for a soda craved in the middle of the night, vacationing in a different state or daily commute, and having all the cities and the country designed for them is totally a ridiculous concept.

and until we get star trek tech, the only alternative to cars in a city is getting on a meatwagon and having your day enriched by drunks, junkies, crazies and numerous other vibrant urban characters and outside the cities, would you have buses run around the clock between little towns in the middle of nowhere on the off-chance that someone from a farm might need a ride in the middle of the night?

Cars and what you described are not the only two options.

Your perspective is way too American. Visit Europe and maybe you'll understand.

Re: Top F1 designer says auto industry moving in wrong direction with electric cars

#36

Post by iLoveOncall »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #26
iLoveOncall wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He also never says that electric is not the right direction. Here's the quote: > “We now have electric SUVs – huge 4x4s with electric! Ludicrous. It just makes no sense whatsoever. It would just be nice to see cars getting a bit more efficient – whatever the propulsion unit might be, but in terms of the aero, weights, engine size. All these government organisations pat themselves on the back for the improved safety r…

> To me he's saying that SUVs make no sense (rightfully so) By "SUV" are you referring exclusively to archetypical American models like the Escalade and Expedition? Or do you include somewhat more "polite" vehicles like the Range Rover and Honda CR-V? How would you categorize larger crossover models like the the Model X which Tesla always refers to as an "SUV" despite its shorter wheelbase and noticeably less rear-pa…

I'm mostly talking about the ones that you wouldn't see in a European city, those that consume more than 10L / 100km basically. Anything that their owner would call "my truck" even though it's a car.

Re: Top F1 designer says auto industry moving in wrong direction with electric cars

#37

Post by throwaway0x7E6 »

rocgf wrote: post #35
throwaway0x7E6 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and until we get star trek tech, the only alternative to cars in a city is getting on a meatwagon and having your day enriched by drunks, junkies, crazies and numerous other vibrant urban characters and outside the cities, would you have buses run around the clock between little towns in the middle of nowhere on the off-chance that someone from a farm might need a ride in the middle of the night?

Cars and what you described are not the only two options. Your perspective is way too American. Visit Europe and maybe you'll understand.

there's a number of differences between European (except a few, since some time ago) and American cities, and don't pretend you don't understand
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