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Nobody says car buyers of the future have to buy an EV. This transition is not unlike the shift from film cameras to digital imaging. Film is far from dead, bu
by ISL 7y ago
Nobody says car buyers of the future have to buy an EV.
This transition is not unlike the shift from film cameras to digital imaging. Film is far from dead, but the economies of scale, particularly in film-camera manufacturing have disappeared. The romance of the photographic darkroom is still alive and well.
If self-driving cars live up to the hype, in the distant future, insurance companies may charge more to insure human drivers, and carbon taxes may make ICEs slightly more expensive to operate, but otherwise, it is an open road.
From a technical perspective, nothing about EV design forbids tight suspension, responsive steering, and quick acceleration/braking. Indeed, stripping all the comfort from a car will tend to make it lighter, and electronic control is likely to permit quicker response times all around.
The only thing that an EV cannot deliver is the noise of an open pipe (without the silliness of a retrofitted speaker). I backcountry ski a lot, in areas shared with snowmobilers who love the 'BRAAP' of a barely-muffled two-stroke. I keep hoping for a competent electric snowmobile, not just for the quiet, but also so snowmobilers might glimpse the life-changing experience of being immersed in both deep powder and silence at thirty miles an hour.
Run silent, run deep. (and, well, when an F/A-18's afterburner rips the sky in half, elate, 'cause that's rad, too.)
- wcarron 7y ago> Nobody says car buyers of the future have to buy an EV. With increasingly stringnent emissions controls, it is only a matter of time until ICEs will not be manufactured. > From a technical perspective, nothing about EV design forbids tight suspension, responsive steering, and quick acceleration/braking. Braking, yes. The absolutely absurd weight of EV batteries makes it hard to match braking performance of the inherently lighter ICE platform. A Tesla Model S is almost 5k lbs! That's 500 lbs more than the fat boat we call a Dodge Challenger! Compare that to a porsche 718/911. > electronic control is likely to permit quicker response times all around. Throttle-by-wire is already present in many ICE vehicles and does just that already. My KTM 790 duke has it, and various throttle mappings. There is little to want in quick response times in performance ICE vehicles. > The only thing that an EV cannot deliver is the noise of an open pipe That and shifting. Which is the whole point. People like me sometimes buy cars specifically for the soundtrack. a BMW M4 is faster than a Ford Shelby GT350 R. But the GT350R sounds worlds better, and for that reason alone, I'd buy it over the M4. That is the crux of the issue. We want noise, and lots of it; we want shifting; and FFS, we want the ability to work on our vehicles: Something you can't really do with an EV.