Carmageddon is coming

This is an interesting article on the electric car and how it will change society as we know it, the parts of these vehicles will be far cheaper and far fewer parts will be needed, couple that with autonomous vehicles and you have a very cheap effective transport system which would literally transform the way people go about their business, like a taxi at the cost of a coffee. That will radically change how people use transport, no need for a car in the garage paying insurance, rego, licence etc when you can just pay a few dollars in Autonomous vehicle that is in service 24/7 .!

A few things that stuck out to me is the prediction that the combustion engine will not fizzle out slowly but literally be worthless in the next 5 to ten years, with all major companies looking to go electric/Autonomous maybe its time to ditch petrol and go electric that's in my opinion likely not that far off the mark.

How do you guys feel about this and where we are headed ?

Carmageddon

The first of the three waves is something most of us have already experienced: the ability to summon a car and a driver with your phone. Millions of people use ride sharing every day. When the CEO of the world’s biggest ride sharing company behaves like a dick and is forced to quit, it makes headline news around the world. Incidentally, now that Uber doesn’t have a CEO, COO, CTO or CFO we guess this is the closest it’s ever been to a self-driving car company? (nice one, Mariya Yao)

I'm all for it, and the sooner the better! Cars are literally a money drain.

I think I might let other people test out self-driving technology for a while, though

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
Rememberwhat the digital watch did to the Swiss watch industry.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
Rememberwhat the digital watch did to the Swiss watch industry.

As far as I was aware it only took a chunk out of it, the real killer surely would have been the mobile phone ?

will stick with my non computerised , petrol burning , manual transmission , convertible , sportscar .

You can have the wimpy , computerised , electric piece of # .

The cost and complexity of batteries will hinder the adoption rate- self driving cars will run petrol for some time.

Self driving cars will also be limited to the city for a long while. Get 20 miles away from the nearest starbucks in a place that sees more than a foot of snow every year- you won't see that tech daring to step foot out here for another 15 years, at least.

Still though, I'm more and more wanting to convert my 85 Toyota to electric. Lots of torque with no noise... That's my kind of toy car.

To many powerful people have a vested interest in Fossil fuels, we would see a major conflict instigated by the same ilk before we had a watershed moment of major overnight conversion to clean transport technology.

I would also be very concerned when we get to a stage where we depend on "rental" only transport offered by corporations that no doubt will just buy up every start up to monopolise the industry.

The tech has been there for a long time to have non fossil fuel vehicles but it will not be mainstream until "they" want it to be...


RA

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

If I like my Subaru can I keep my Subaru?

Yeah, not going to get a computer car.

a reply to: slider1982

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

I think the Netherlands have said all cars from 2022 must be electric.
I really hope we do the same in the uk it will save 5% of pollution caused deaths per year.
Plus I got to ride in a tesla holy cow it was fun.

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
The Swiss watch industry (which charged very high prices based on pinpoint accuracy in hand-crafted technology) certainly felt devastated at the time.I remember reading articles about it. They had to invent the Swatch in order to win back sales.

The mobile phone would presumably affect wrist-watches in general. I still don't see why, frankly. If someone is running to catch a train and wants to check his progress, how can pulling out a phone and pressing buttons possibly be more convenient than simply glancing down at the wrist?

Electric cars or anything manufactured by someone calling themselves an auto maker is not at all the future. Nor are things as old as electric cars, or their concept, going to be.


The future is in 3d Printing. Need a new ride? Print one for $500 + receive a plug and play engine to boot in the mail.


Manufacturing, especially of cars, is going to be dead, period.

I keep seeing timelines for the phasing out of internal combustion engines at anything from 5 years to 50 years, same too for the autonomous technology being tested.

The problem I see with autonomous vehicles is the human factor. Last year I read a report on studies of accidents involving autonomous cars, and in almost all cases the accident was caused by the human driven car. So, having a mix of human driven / autonomous vehicles will, I think, be a recipe for disaster!
There are cars already out there that tout "autonomous" technology but to be honest, I still regard anyone stupid enough to take their hands off the wheel and not pay attention to what is around them as not only a danger to themselves but other road users too.

As for the electric car revolution, there needs to be a huge increase in the infrastructure to support them, as well as the availability of accessible pricing. Not everyone can afford the current ones available as the price is on the very high side at the moment, so a large price reduction is needed, but maybe that will come through higher adoption rates and production numbers?
The Infrastructure part is another big issue right now as this will need to be in place before any rise in electric vehicles really happens, both at the highway and domestic level. Yes, domestic electricity supplies can handle charging your car, but when it gets to a large number of people charging in a given area, the infrastructure may not be able to handle it, as has already been mentioned in an article I saw on the Autoexpress website in the UK a while ago.

Another issue that will need to be addressed is the loss in revenue - fuel taxation - to the government. They will obviously stand to lose a very large chunk of tax revenue, so will need to look at how to make up for the losses in other ways which is something I have seen no politician even mention yet.

So, I think the old ICE will be with us for a while yet. When they can make a decent family sized electric car at a price that is equivalent to current petrol engined models, I may be interested.

originally posted by: VengefulGhost
will stick with my non computerised , petrol burning , manual transmission , convertible , sportscar .

You can have the wimpy , computerised , electric piece of # .

That’s why Daimler-Mercedes, the world’s oldest car company, is planning to spend $15 billion on building ten new models of electric vehicle by 2022. It’s why legendary car designer Henry Fisker just unveiled a new car that has a top speed of 250km/h, a range of 640km and charges from totally flat to full in 36 minutes.

You call that wimpy ?

a reply to: testingtesting

Plus I got to ride in a tesla holy cow it was fun

Once people get past the stigma of electric it will soar, the simple fact that they need far less parts, there is no lag in acceleration, so that means its goes faster and breaks down less. All I know is I am in , I love my v8 but I'm betting I could love something faster that costs less.

a reply to: DISRAELI


The swiss watch was the pinnacle of engineering and quality for its time, but in this day and age its outdated and frankly belongs in a museum.

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

originally posted by: VengefulGhost
will stick with my non computerised , petrol burning , manual transmission , convertible , sportscar .

You can have the wimpy , computerised , electric piece of # .

That’s why Daimler-Mercedes, the world’s oldest car company, is planning to spend $15 billion on building ten new models of electric vehicle by 2022. It’s why legendary car designer Henry Fisker just unveiled a new car that has a top speed of 250km/h, a range of 640km and charges from totally flat to full in 36 minutes.

You call that wimpy ?

Means nothing unless it is a "car for the people".. Merc producting 1000 cars in that time would have little bearing unless it was affordable to mr 9-5 average Joe. As a tech experiment yes but as a mass produced clean energy car no.

Unless you get a VW beetle type car then I cannot see how the tech can be made viable to the average person, I would expect to see electric or alternate power scooters for the Asian market before I see a cull on fossil fuel cars in the west in a carmaggeden scenario, The cash cow just isnt ready to be slaughtered.


RA

a reply to: lordcomac

The cost and complexity of batteries will hinder the adoption rate- self driving cars will run petrol for some time.

I would have thought the major hurdle would be making an energy source that could get away from fossil fuels, at least at this point they are fueled by coal seam gas and will be until there is a game changer.

However as the article points out it will devastate the car industry as we know it and that is why the major players are in full conversion mode.

Y'know, I despise change. Not that I need to worry about this much... no self driving or electric car could survive an Alaskans winter. So I'll continue to enjoy my gas pig SUV and her 4 wheel drive goodness.