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VW Says the Next Generation of Combustion Cars Will Be Its Last (bloomberg.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Volkswagen AG expects the era of the combustion car to fade away after it rolls out its next-generation gasoline and diesel cars beginning in 2026. "Our colleagues are working on the last platform for vehicles that aren't CO2 neutral," Michael Jost, strategy chief for Volkswagen's namesake brand, said Tuesday at an industry conference near the company's headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany. "We're gradually fading out combustion engines to the absolute minimum."

The world's largest automaker has started to introduce its first wave of electric cars, including next year's Porsche Taycan. The rollout across its stable of 12 automotive brands is forecast to comprise about 15 million vehicles, as the company earmarks $50 billion over the next five years to spend on its transformation to self-driving, electric cars. Production of the VW brand's I.D. Neo hatchback will start in 12 months in Germany, followed by other models from the I.D. line assembled at two sites in China as of 2020. VW plans to launch fully or partly electric versions across its lineup of more than 300 cars, vans, trucks and motorbikes by 2030.
The company "will continue to modify its combustion engine technology after the new platform is introduced next decade," reports Bloomberg. "After 2050, there may still be some gasoline and diesel models in regions where there is insufficient charging infrastructure, according to Jost."

502 comments

  1. Future Business Case Study by 0101000001001010 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's a bold statement to come from the world's largest car maker. Automotive development cycles are long. What if they get it wrong and EVs don't prove to be universally applicable; for example because some can't charge at their homes?

    If I were in their shoes I would want to milk at least some ICE cars for the profit and to have a fallback plan. Wait until demand has fallen sufficiently for these legacy cars and then pull the plug.

    Unless of course that is their plan and they simply won't be updating their platforms anymore but continue selling them for as long as possible. Sort of how the Crown Vic soldiered on with the same platform for a quarter century.

    1. Re:Future Business Case Study by hipp5 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I imagine it's one of those things where we're hitting the "no waffling" decision point; aka "s*** or get off the pot". Up until now, automakers have been cramming EVs into their existing automobile platforms. The result is a kludge, because ICE platforms have a lot of different needs than EVs. You can build a much-better performing, more cost-effective, safer EV, if it's built on a platform that is built to accommodate batteries and doesn't need a front that accommodates a huge ICE. Tesla, of course, has been so successful partly because they're not invested in old ICE platforms, so could do it correctly from the start.

      Now manufacturers are looking at their next generations of platforms. This means complete retooling of factories and is a huge investment. Do you go conservative and lock yourself into a kludge for the next 10-20 years? Yes, you get to hold onto ICE production, but you very much risk becoming absolutely obsolete when makers of proper EVs steal the market.

      Up until now, automakers could afford to hand over the EV market to Tesla, but the writing is on the wall: EVs are the future. It'll certainly be interesting to see how it all plays out and who wins and loses.

    2. Re:Future Business Case Study by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Risk is the nature of business. If VW does nothing new, they could be on a case study on how a company treaded too carefully in a market that seems to be changing more rapidly then before.
      I expect most car companies have an electric car plan in the works. I think most are just waiting for battery costs to go down for wider scale release.
      The electric car isn’t new technology and the charging infrastructure is growing too. And charging stations are much easier to implement then gas stations. A shopping mall can have a charging station implemented in a couple of days. Vs taking weeks to dig for tanks and make sure they are environmentally safe.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    3. Re:Future Business Case Study by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Most of Europe has set deadlines for the end of general sales of fossil cars, so chances are every manufacturer is viewing this generation as the last that will be primarily fossil fuel based.

      Governments will have to step up to get charging sorted out. Some countries are doing really well, adding charging to every lamp post, installing posts along residential streets, and encouraging employers to offer it. Fortunately 99% of the infrastructure is already there, it just needs last 1%, the socket and maybe some metering, to be installed.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Future cars will run on Clean Coal

    5. Re:Future Business Case Study by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      That's a bold statement to come from the world's largest car maker.

      Or, not so much. He (she/it) is making a statement that seven years from now they'll stop DESIGNING IC engine cars. NOT that they'll stop MAKING them then...

      So, the current head of VW is saying that his successor (or his successor's successor) is going to stop with the IC engines.

      Note that most modern cars will last a couple hundred thousand miles (say, 15-20 years), so this is a promise (?) that there won't be any VW internal combustion cars on the road by 2050 or so....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    6. Re:Future Business Case Study by DigiShaman · · Score: 0

      France is undergoing revolt over taxation and the UN is talking about reshaping society to protect the planet. The IC isn't going anywhere. It will take several generations and massive infrastructure upgrades before EVs become mainstream. Also consider many first-time car buyers purchase USED vehicles, and there's not that many used EVs on the market at a low enough price point.

      Basically what I'm reading is VM is committing suicide. Fine, so be it. Do it on their own accord, but don't piss on my shoes and tell me it's raining.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    7. Re:Future Business Case Study by Dorianny · · Score: 1
      They are still in the middle of the current development cycle. It will be at least 5 years before they will hate to seriously consider putting their foot where their mouth is.

      I don't really see EV's becoming universally usable until cities make very large investments in charging infrastructure to make EV's even a consideration for curbside parking, apartment dwellers

    8. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many European governments have committed to banning sales of new fossil fuel cars in a few years time, so VW's next generation of gasoline cars "beginning in 2026" can already expect a diminishing market. VW are simply responding to necessity.

      Growing charging networks and improving battery technology should minimize the cases where users have difficulty charging. There are already EV users who get by without a home charger; imagine how easy it will be when there are charging posts in every parking lot. It will certainly happen in the next 20 years.

    9. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then why not hedge their bets and go half EV.

      The tech is far from perfected and it's only Just becoming usable in 2018

    10. Re:Future Business Case Study by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      Many countries have set a deadline by which no more new ICE vehicles can be sold. It tends to be either 2030 or 2040. But in truth by then there will be no consumer demand for them anyway. And manufacturer that is not switching it's focus to EVs, is committing suicide.

    11. Re:Future Business Case Study by Rei · · Score: 5, Informative

      I hardly see it as that ambitious of a statement. They'll be introducing the new generation in 2026. A platform can last decades.

      That said, of the major automakers, VW is the most ambitious regarding EVs. It'll be interesting to see how they translate their talk into action over the coming years; I'm watching them closely.

      I was disappointed to find out recently that the Ionity network which was supposed be the first real competition with the Supercharger network in Europe is... I hesitate to call it a "fraud", so let's just call it "poorly advertised". They're billing it as a network of 350kW chargers, but what they're actually installing at present in most locations is just your typical high-end V1 CCS chargers (maxing out at 200A - and some people are claiming that it only supports ~400V charging, although I don't know if anyone has actually tested ~800V charging on it). The 500A V2 CCS charging is supposed to be a "modification at a later date". Basically more of the "okay, not today, but we'll be competitive tomorrow" stuff we've been getting from major automakers for the past decade.

      To major automakers and infrastructure developers: I'm a big Tesla fan, but I don't want you guys pulling this sort of stuff. I want you guys to be competitive. Put up a fight, for Thor's sake, don't just talk about doing it "in the future"!

      A recent survey found that 45% of current non-Tesla EV owners want their next EV to be a Tesla (I expect these numbers to apply to the "buying their first EV" crowd as well). This was celebrated as great news for Tesla. But it also means that there's 55% of non-Tesla owners out there who want their EV to be a non-Tesla brand. We need you guys to serve them. We're not even close to this being a zero-sum game; right now, and for the forseeable future, the game is "cannibalize the ICE market".

      Make it happen. VW (and Porsche), you're my best bet on serving the non-Tesla crowd. Let's see it. :)

      --
      Seen on a Japanese food processor: "Not to be used for the other use."
    12. Re:Future Business Case Study by bazorg · · Score: 2

      That's a bold statement to come from the world's largest car maker. Automotive development cycles are long. What if they get it wrong and EVs don't prove to be universally applicable; for example because some can't charge at their homes?

      Perhaps the change from ICE to other-powered-vehicles will also result in redefining market segments and regions where they want to sell. With the knowledge of the markets these guys have, maybe they understand what are the markets where they are going to be big winners and those where divesting makes more sense.

      VW Group owns many brands, and they don't mean the same to customers in different geographies. It could happen that VW and Audi move 100% carbon neutral, while Skoda or Seat retain a few petrol variants for specific markets. Ducati are also owned by the group and they will probably want to keep selling exotic V twin engined bikes for a long time.

      If the VW group also has heavy goods or military or emergency vehicles in their portfolio, some will be well suited for electrification and others might not be at all. The group can look at their data and make big decisions about all those matters.

    13. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      for example because some can't charge at their homes?

      I would bet there will be a lot of business for the contractors in the near future because of this, most likely in the areas of electrical and HVAC rework and redesign, structural work, installations, wiring and data.

    14. Re: Future Business Case Study by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      They actually have plans for limited ICE cars for some areas. However going 50/50 is often a good chance of wasting 50% of your money. There is more risk going 90/10 but the reward is much greater.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    15. Re:Future Business Case Study by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      What are these "massive infrastructure upgrades" you speak of?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    16. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The day you forget to recharge your car at home will be a very bad day the next.

    17. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At most ten years after electric cars have become cheaper to buy than ICE cars, you will have to pay people to take your ICE car. Over that time, used cars will start to flood the market. You can't build an ICE car cheap enough for that scenario.

      Electric cars are already cheaper to operate. All that's in the way of mass adoption is the initial investment.With falling battery prices, economies of scale and initial development out of the way, the days of ICE cars are truly numbered.

    18. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's a bold statement to come from the world's largest car maker. Automotive development cycles are long. What if they get it wrong and EVs don't prove to be universally applicable; for example because some can't charge at their homes?

      And you know what? Some companies still built vehicles meant to be drawn by horses long after Ford's day, and even to this day, because some farms etc just don't have convenient access to gasoline. Apparently they're willing to leave that edge case to other manufacturers while they tool for EVs. Someone will still build combustion engines until gasoline engines go the way of leaded fuel engines and are legislated out of existence, but there's no reason VW should be that someone.

    19. Re:Future Business Case Study by shilly · · Score: 1

      A vanishingly small percentage of drivers use all their range each day.

    20. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not bold. 2050 and still some ICE models. Stronger would be “we won’t sell in those markets”.

      32 years is enough for three more Tesla’s to come and go.

    21. Re:Future Business Case Study by rkordmaa · · Score: 1

      It's a bold bet, but then again the writing on the wall is as clear as it ever gets for such a long outlook. Electric will take over transport market during the next decade. As such, every sensible carmaker is scrambling to not be left behind. Overbetting on electric can be recovered from, failure to keep up is certain doom. Or at least, that's the current outlook. If self driving cars take off or not, is much more of an open question. There are quite a bit more unknowns on that front.

    22. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup, that is how France is. So if they want to go electric, they need something other than just "make gasoline even more expensive". Or perhaps they could tax gasoline some, if they weren't upping a lot of other taxes all at the same time.

      Still, if Germany and some other parts of western Europe goes electric, then ICE will become old fashioned on this continent. ICE cars will become harder to get with fewer models to choose from - and then they'll be hard to use on a trip to Germany when their gas stations gets phased out.

      In Norway, half of the new cars sold are electric already. And it'd be more, if there were more models to choose from. Which these VW plans are sure to bring, as well as all those upstart EV companies. The tipping point has been reached here, and Germany is trying to catch up. It won't matter if the french drag their feet for a while.

    23. Re:Future Business Case Study by rkordmaa · · Score: 1

      There's enough playroom in these deadlines, if the tech doesn't get there on time, they won't happen. Depending on lobbying efforts they might not happen regardless.

    24. Re:Future Business Case Study by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      a very bad day the next.

      No worse than running your battery out, finding a flat tire, car won't start, etc. People who drive already have a backup plan - for me it's a call to AAA and an Uber. I drive cars into the ground so I'm pretty good at this by now. "Forgetting to charge" has a pretty stiff feedback loop, so I don't think it will be that frequent. Like "forgetting to fill up", which happened to me once - after a 3 mile walk with a gas can I remembered not to do that again.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    25. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The day you forget to recharge your car at home will be a very bad day the next.

      Nope. I use an electric car, and I don't recharge every day. One charge is enough for a weeks commute. And if I forget to charge up before a longer trip - I just visit one of those fast chargers that provides 50kW or so.

    26. Re:Future Business Case Study by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      I think it's an issue of scale - unless they go all-in, they'll never get the costs down.

      Charging at home is a problem solved by EV sales volume rising - the more of them are out there, the more incentive people have for building charging infrastructure. Anyone who owns their home can install a charger - I did in an hour or so; anyone who rents (depending on the person / company you rent from) can request chargers to be installed adding a marketable amenity to their property. The more requests, the more likely the owner will do it.

      Eventually the owners will have to, or their properties will become vacant as people move to homes that have owners that provide needed amenities.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    27. Re:Future Business Case Study by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      for example because some can't charge at their homes?

      True, some people can not charge at home. And some people will not buy pickup trucks. Does it mean there is no market for pickup trucks? The number of people who can charge at home will outnumber those who can't. The market will serve them.

      The ICEV market is not a monolithic all or nothing affair. BEV will peel off customers. Initially it is the early adapters, tree huggers, acceleration fanatics, ... Then cost conscious people who can charge at home, if the price is right, As the BEV sales increases, more charging will develop. HOAs will relent when lots of the home owners are clamoring for charge points, Apartments will see a revenue stream selling parking spots with charging points ...

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    28. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People who cannot charge at home, can still charge at a charging station. They're conveniently located at places where you might want to spend some time anyway, such as shopping malls. Larger gas stations usually install a charger too, so that they get business from EV drivers too. (Their business is not so much the fuel/electricity - where the margins are thin. They make their profits on overpriced fast food, doesn't matter what kind of car it is as long as it stops there.)

    29. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are already EV users who get by without a home charger

      I assume you mean without a fast charger at home?

      There are probably plenty of commuters that doesn't need more than nightly slow charging at home.
      Having to go somewhere else to charge makes it as inconvenient as ICE vehicles.

      Long term slow charging will probably not be that much of a problem with current infrastructure.
      As you replace streetlights with LED the cables will have extra capacity to put up chargers.

      It is the fast chargers at diners or other rest areas along the highways that are missing and there you will need to run new cables.

    30. Re:Future Business Case Study by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Up until now, automakers have been cramming EVs into their existing automobile platforms.

      That's not really fair. The Nissan Leaf was an EV only from the start. The new Hyundai Kona and Kia Niro were both designed as EVs from the start. The BMW i3 was an EV from the start.

      And before someone says they share some common parts with ICE models, so do Tesla. They don't make all the parts for their cars, they buy various bits from other manufacturers.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    31. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And here I'm still waiting for my flying car...

    32. Re:Future Business Case Study by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      350kW chargers have only recently become available, that's why they are only now being installed. They didn't exist before. There are no 800V cars out at the moment either, so it would have been a bit premature to start installing them. Better to get more rapid chargers capable of delivery 150kW to current cars than to push the 350kW ones before they were ready and before anyone could use them.

      There are some test sites already active in Europe, on free vend for the moment. Bjorn tested one, it worked great although of course his car couldn't pull 350kW from it.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    33. Re:Future Business Case Study by Rei · · Score: 2

      200A does not deliver 150kW to a 400V EV. And that's the problem. What they've only just started installing only a bit over 2/3rds the power of where the Supercharger network (vastly more extensive) stands today. But Tesla is switching to more powerful V3 superchargers starting early next year.

      I had thought that Ionity was an attempt to catch or surpass the Supercharger network. This is not a promising start.

      And no car could pull 350kW from the site he visited (I assume you're talking about the one he visited in Norway the other day). It's physically incapable of doing so.

      --
      Seen on a Japanese food processor: "Not to be used for the other use."
    34. Re:Future Business Case Study by NetEngDude · · Score: 1

      If the likes of VW, Uber, Tesla, Lyft, Waymo, Apple and any other new comers start operating self-driving ride-hailing fleets, then the argument of lack of charging infrastructure goes away. This can be centralised at the operators' hub sites.

    35. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not bold. The next generation of cars will be refined over the next 25 to 30 years.

    36. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh it will be fine. By that date the current execs will have left the building and it'll be someone else's problem.

    37. Re:Future Business Case Study by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 1

      Unless of course that is their plan and they simply won't be updating their platforms anymore but continue selling them for as long as possible. Sort of how the Crown Vic soldiered on with the same platform for a quarter century.

      Exactly. A platform can last a long time as it is the base on which vehicles are built. One platform can be used in a variety of vehicles, and the vehicle's shell redesigned as need in periodic refreshes. Car manufacturers do that toady with vehicles undergoing mid-production life face lifts to update the design, add new features, etc. The basic platform can soldier on for years even though the vehicles do not look similar. More telling is VW's comment:

      “We’re gradually fading out combustion engines to the absolute minimum.”

      The "gradually" tells me not to expect to see VW being all electric anytime soon. Which makes sense since it will take time to build up infrastructure, work out design and engineering issues, gain public acceptance of EVs as an ICE alternative, etc.

      "Absolute minimum" means to me "Keep enough around to have a steady cash cow while we do the switch."

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    38. Re:Future Business Case Study by 110010001000 · · Score: 2

      You do realize that "deadlines" are just politician promises? Much like climate change emission reduction "promises", they don't mean anything. How naive.

    39. Re:Future Business Case Study by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      Brownouts occur under peak load. The grid only has so much capacity. But when you're talking about moving to EV, and away from petrol, that energy has to be off-set somehow.

      TLDR, there will be transformer replacements, additions, and increase in high voltage transmission lines going into place. This will be easier for some nations than others.

      BTW, have you see the electrical infrastructure in India? Holy shit!! It's truly a "rats nest". I guess throwing it all in a dumpster fire and rebuilding from the ground up will be a mixed blessing; because that's what it take. Honestly!

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    40. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      find a flat? Get the spare and get yourself to a tire shop.
      Battery dead? Have jumper cables and use your car at least once a week to ensure a charge.

      forget to charge an EV the night before? call AAA or Uber?
      Maybe I missed the part where an issue can be solved by yourself and maybe a friendly passer by. instead of paying money for a taxi and road side assistance .

    41. Re:Future Business Case Study by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 2

      With the next generation platform coming out in 2026, and a likely life of 15-20 years, I think your point is well understood. This is likely the most logical timeline any manufacturer could offer, where they won't fully destroy themselves in the process.

      Cars today seem to have an average life of about 12-15 years, but let's say 20 years for shits and giggles. That means we have little under 50 years before the last generation of ICE vehicles times out, and a whole lot of time for the world to prepare for EVs in a rational way.

      Compare and contrast with Ford. They are essentially ditching their car platforms today, and will focus on the truck platforms. They are likely not that far behind VW on their planning/investment horizon for ICEs (maybe another 5 years)-- but haven't committed to anything yet. They have no serious EV plans. They are the ones who will likely shoot themselves with their lack of planning.

    42. Re:Future Business Case Study by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Those 150kW chargers support 200A and 500V on the existing CCS 1 system for cars that support it. What's a shame is that they don't support dual 75kW charging from the same unit.

      If you look at the video Bjorn shows the data plate on the charger. It is capable of 920V and 500A. Obviously not at the same time. The charger will likely have some kind of cable upgrade when 350kW capable cars become available, to provide water cooling. For now they are field testing the chargers for reliability and putting them in place ready for the upgrade.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    43. Re:Future Business Case Study by hey! · · Score: 1

      That's a bold statement to come from the world's largest car maker.

      Sure, but what reason could we have to possibly doubt Volkswagen's word?

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    44. Re:Future Business Case Study by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      I have a feeling unless someone else (the government) just pours assloads of money into EVs the external costs (namely the batteries, but several other factors as well) are simply gonna make it nonviable for large sections of the USA.

      The issue is gonna be the Lithium batteries which last I checked really REALLY don't like extreme changes in temp and most folks? Yeah they don't have climate controlled garages. In my own state we go from 110f in the summer to low teens in winter, how long do you think Lithium batteries are gonna last with it sitting in a driveway or in a parking lot having to go through those kinds of temp shifts? This of course isn't even figuring in the environmental cost of mining the lithium, refining, manufacturing, and disposing of the used batteries and coming up with a way to generate all the power to feed millions of EVs with NIMBYs making damn sure its hard to build any kind of power plants here, especially nuclear.

      So unless we come up with some new battery tech that can last a decade plus in wildly shifting temps and find a way to tell NIMBYs to have a heaping cup of STFU I really do not see this tech working in a country with as much variation in temp and weather conditions (not to mention mileage) as the USA. Hell how are you gonna dispose of all the used EVs nobody wants? Once these things get 6-7 years old in places with large climate shifts nobody is gonna want them as the cost of replacing the batteries is gonna cost more than the car is worth. What are the poor gonna drive? In the rural states you are looking at tons of sub $10k cars sold as its really not hard to keep an ICE vehicle on the road for decades but with EVs again the battery bites you in the ass and public transport simply doesn't work with rural states where everything is so spread out.Then there is the huge cost of sitting up power charging stations or having battery swaps for long trips,upgrades to the power grid to handle all the extra power draw from all those cars charging every night, etc.

      There is just so many downsides to EVs that it doesn't seem anybody has taken a really hard look at and crunched the numbers and like them or not ICE vehicles at this time are not only cheaper but the cost is born by the individual whereas with EVs a shitload of the cost of setting all this up is gonna be bore by the state which is gonna mean more taxes, more red tape, more bullshit. I just don't see this becoming viable by 2026 to just toss ICE vehicles completely, just too many things we haven't figured out yet.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    45. Re:Future Business Case Study by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

      The very simple solution to that is to encourage slow charging overnight with discounted rates. Demand is low at night anyway.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    46. Re:Future Business Case Study by SomeoneFromBelgium · · Score: 1

      No action is not guaranteed to be risk free.
      I think you made the classic mistake that assumes that continuing as you are is the most risk averse option.

      With Tesla coming to Europe and other mayor car brands jumping on the bandwagon (Mercedes, BMW) this seems not to apply in this case.
      On the other hand they are planning to milk the maximum out of their current investments. They just decided that the generation afther the one they are currently working on will be electric only. So, they are winding down their investements into a technology that is clearly going to be phased out.

      Sensible. Further investing in it would be very risky. The current approach already assumes that they will be able to get the investments out of the currently developed platform. Which is not necessarily the case if customers start switching to EV massively.

    47. Re:Future Business Case Study by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

      Installing a network of 350kW chargers will have significant local grid impact, even if they are fully buffered with local storage (25% assumed utilization, 50% off-peak recharge) still puts you around 100kW daytime average load. This is comparable to 100 homes or an office of 85 people for a single charging station.

      That charger is (in theory) adequate to support the needs of either the homes or the offices (assuming 40-mile average commute and 300Wh/mile), so essentially what you end up with is a doubling of demand. When the chargers are unbuffered then it can easily be a quadroupling of circuit demand. Most utility distribution circuits are loaded around 70% nominally, and substations are closer to 80% nominal.

    48. Re:Future Business Case Study by fred6666 · · Score: 1

      That's a bold statement to come from the world's largest car maker. Automotive development cycles are long. What if they get it wrong and EVs don't prove to be universally applicable; for example because some can't charge at their homes?

      If 80% of the people switch to electric, and the remaining 20% stick to combustion because they can't charge at home, do you realize what will happen? The number of gas station will fall. The offer of combustion cars will also fall. It will be a pain to drive a combustion car at that point. So most condos/apartments/parking lots will have to adapt one way or another.

    49. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What if they get it wrong and EVs don't prove to be universally applicable; for example because some can't charge at their homes?

      Since you are now arguing against electric cars using edge cases rather than mainstream reasons, I think it's a safe bet.

    50. Re:Future Business Case Study by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      You must be a very religious person.... if you just pray you don't have an emergency that requires you to do more driving than planned.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    51. Re:Future Business Case Study by fluffernutter · · Score: 0

      EVs absolutely won't fit into my life. There is no place other than my home that I ever, ever want to spend time at. It is that simple. Except when I am on vacation, then I want to either be out seeing things or at my hotel. But sitting at a place to shop or a coffee shop... never.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    52. Re:Future Business Case Study by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      The Crown Victoria soldiered on because it was the car of choice for police departments. Body on frame construction, cheap and easy to replace damaged body components. Tons of extra electrical power for accessories. A supporting infrastructure that helped this obsolete car continue long past its expiration date. It's a cautionary example of what the power of government buying can do against the forces of progress.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    53. Re:Future Business Case Study by stevelinton · · Score: 1

      I just don't see this becoming viable by 2026 to just toss ICE vehicles completely, just too many things we haven't figured out yet.

      A lot of these problems actually have solutions, but that's incidental. VW Is saying they will start selling their final ICE ranges from 2026. They don't plan to produce a new "platform" after that, so they ar ebetting that ICE cars become niche by 2040 or so.

    54. Re:Future Business Case Study by b0bby · · Score: 1

      This new platform can do both ICE and EV; they are "gradually fading out combustion engines to the absolute minimum", not halting them suddenly.

    55. Re:Future Business Case Study by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Homes in the UK are typically wired with a 100A fuse, so about 20kW max load. In the evenings with the cooker, kettle and shower/immersion heater on 10kW isn't unusual. So at worst it's about 35 homes.

      A 350kW charger doesn't pull 350kW constantly anyway, and they are designed to operate in banks so that they can distribute load between them and be thus operate on sites that can't supply the full load at once.

      Thing is, 350kW chargers will only be common on motorways and at certain destinations. Most charging will be done on 3kW or 7kW AC, and will be mostly at night.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    56. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sell me an EV with an 800 mile range.

    57. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > The new Hyundai Kona and Kia Niro were both designed as EVs from the start.

      Not true. They were designed to accommodate all three types of powertrains. Of course that requires design compromise

    58. Re:Future Business Case Study by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      And those solutions are....what exactly? Because the only "solutions" I've seen offered are treating the government as Daddy Warbucks and having everything paid for by the government which of course means a shitload of higher taxes on the poor (as the rich will always have their tax dodges).

      The ICE infrastructure didn't just appear overnight, its taken the better part of 70 years to get where we are now, hell in my home state when I was a child paved roads outside of the cities and freeway were a luxury and you pretty much had to have a large truck capable of taking the abuse of dirt roads, much less gas stations all over the place. How do you get all the rural states infrastructure built up to take all the extra power, charging stations, places to put the EVs where the weather isn't gonna kill the batteries, etc without spending trillions of dollars that will never see a ROI?

      Hell the USA has one of the lowest corp tax rates already and we still have corps like Apple pulling Irish Whips and Double Dutch to keep from paying taxes, how are you gonna raise the trillions required to switch the entire country to EV in a reasonable amount of time (because until the infrastructure reaches a tipping point you are gonna see EVs screwed by the "chicken or egg" problem) without royally fucking the poor and rapidly dying out middle class?We have Walmart replacing their janitors with robots and we still have no clue what to do with the millions who simply do not have the IQ to compete in a super high tech society, where is all this money gonna come from?

      All these "solutions" I've seen is simply "get the government to foot the bill" with no actual explanation of HOW are they gonna pay for it and I just don't see where all this money is gonna come from while continuing to take care of the rapidly growing masses of uneducated and low IQ poor folks we have in this country, poorly cared for infrastructure, ever growing national debt, and the dozens of other serious issues we have in this country.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    59. Re:Future Business Case Study by goose-incarnated · · Score: 1

      Many countries have set a deadline by which no more new ICE vehicles can be sold. It tends to be either 2030 or 2040. But in truth by then there will be no consumer demand for them anyway. And manufacturer that is not switching it's focus to EVs, is committing suicide.

      Your post makes no sense: why ban new ICE vehicles if there is no consumer demand for them? My reading on proposed bans is that without threat of physical force people won't change over to EVs.

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
    60. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tesla's are still born.
      Just on Sunday I drove from Phoenix to Salt Lake City in heat at the beginning and snow at the end, via middle of nowhere, in 13 hours.
      Try doing that in a Tesla... In a Tesla it would have taken 2 days minimum and would have put my life at risk when I hit the snow patch, the battery would have been so low and diminishing from the cold that I could have gotten a frostbite by the side of the road. Not to mention that while in Phoenix I was staying in a place that does not have any place to permanently park or recharge.
      EVs are also stillborn if they don't have guaranteed minimum 320 miles range on a single charge with all systems running at full blast, and a full charge takes less than 10 minutes. If you don't own a house with a garage or a driveway, EVs are no go.

    61. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      funny reading all these millennial and gen-z folk seriously believing that the politicians can simply wave their hands and things will happen.

    62. Re:Future Business Case Study by hackertourist · · Score: 1

      Compare and contrast with Ford. They are essentially ditching their car platforms today, and will focus on the truck platforms.

      To be fair though, that's just Ford USA. Ford Europe is not anywhere close to ditching the Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo.

    63. Re:Future Business Case Study by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Many countries have set a deadline by which no more new ICE vehicles can be sold.

      Oh wow....

      So, what happens to the motorcycle?

      I hate to see the end of the motorcycle....and I just can't imagine an electric one would be all that much fun.

      :(

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    64. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And 2026 is 8 years away. They could alter their plans, if something untenable happens.

      But as you say, they can exist on that same final platform for a long time. Hell, the longer a platform is in use, the more stable it becomes! Little tweaks here and there, fixes for known issues -- Volvo did this, and stable was its name.

      That same platform at 2050? Well, VW is well known for selling its last generation platform, to 3rd world nations. So that really gives them a loooong time, to sell to markets that can't handle (perhaps) EV.

    65. Re:Future Business Case Study by AuMatar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why wouldn't it be? The fun of a motorcycle is the open road, feeling the wind, the speed and the power. What tech the bike uses to go forward doesn't matter so long as it goes.

      --
      I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
    66. Re:Future Business Case Study by PPH · · Score: 1

      So most condos/apartments/parking lots will have to adapt one way or another.

      EVs will be for people who can afford their own houses with garages. Seattle (for example) is pushing zero parking condominiums and apartments. Making the tenants scurry after limited on-street parking.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    67. Re:Future Business Case Study by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Yes, of course I normally jump my own car and change my own tire. My wife does not, and I've used the free AAA towing for more serious problems. I think you missed the point, which is that car owners already have strategies for when their car doesn't work.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    68. Re:Future Business Case Study by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Why wouldn't it be? The fun of a motorcycle is the open road, feeling the wind, the speed and the power. What tech the bike uses to go forward doesn't matter so long as it goes.

      Actually, half the fun to me is...the vibrating motor, the rumbling engine, the sound and smell of it are a big part of the entire motorcycle experience.

      I like cruiser bikes, not into crotch rockets....and that big engine is a big part of the fun while cruising around town.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    69. Re:Future Business Case Study by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      That sounds like exactly what they're doing. Note the timelines in the summary. They're going to start rolling out their electrics and hope to have something at least partially electric in each category by 2030 (twelve years from now). They expect that almost everything will be electric by 2050 (32 years from now) but they're going to keep some internal combustion stuff going at least until then.

      It actually sounds quite cautious. Many entire countries have announced plans to ban sales of internal combustion vehicles well before Volkswagen thinks they're going to stop selling them.

    70. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must not be familiar with Floirida.

    71. Re:Future Business Case Study by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      That said, of the major automakers, VW is the most ambitious regarding EVs. It'll be interesting to see how they translate their talk into action over the coming years

      After their little problem with cheating diesel engines, VW kind of has to "go big" to recover their brand. They won't be able to do that with ICE vehicles, thanks to the cheating. So, that leaves electric.

    72. Re:Future Business Case Study by shilly · · Score: 4, Informative

      The Zero is pretty exciting.

      https://www.zeromotorcycles.co...

    73. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Strategy for having forgotten to charge the car: plug it in and wait an hour. Or take the bus / taxi. Or drive it to work and charge it there

    74. Re:Future Business Case Study by shilly · · Score: 1

      You've explained elsewhere how EVs won't fit into your life. But the reason you give here doesn't fly: doesn't it take you at least 30mins to get round Costco? That's enough time for an 80% charge. And anyway, I'm sure you have off-street parking at home. The post you were responding to was addressing the question of urbanites with no off-street parking, and I'm sure that's not you.

    75. Re:Future Business Case Study by shilly · · Score: 1

      In the UK, commercial properties routinely have three phase power capable of supplying 22kW. That's good enough for most EVs to get a decent amount of charge in 30mins. So no new cabling required.

    76. Re:Future Business Case Study by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      But if I'm going to Costco then I'm at home and I can charge in my garage. What I'm talking about is being on a road trip and having to stop at some diner in the middle of nowhere and sit for 30 minutes. That's what I don't want. Especially if it is cold outside, but that just means I will need to do it more.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    77. Re:Future Business Case Study by shilly · · Score: 3, Informative

      Let's tackle a few of these:
      1. Temperature shifts. Battery packs in EVs come with battery management systems. The evidence to date is that they provide excellent protection of battery state of health. EVs are pretty common in Norway, which gets pretty damn cold, for example.
      2. Environmental costs of lithium extraction. There are worse chemicals in most EVs. Lithium extraction is about as benign as you can get for a metal. It's certainly nowhere near as damaging as extracting oil.
      3. Power generation. Most EVs will be charged at night, and this is when other power demands are low. So the net additional capacity required is low as a result. Additionally, the average American car is driven 30 miles per day. At 3 miles per kWh, that's 10kWh of power. So that would be just over 3 hours of a 3kW outlet. Not exactly a massive strain between say 2 and 5am.
      4. Disposal of used EVs (due to batteries wearing out in 6 to 7 years). Battery packs last a lot longer than that. Once they do wear out -- likely 10 to 20 years in the future, they can be second-lifed as home power management systems (where SoH matters less). Once they're no good for that either, the lithium can be recycled. That makes them much easier to manage than engine blocks.
      5. Cheap EVs. Second hand EVs are routinely available for under the $10k you mentioned. Not there with new EVs yet, but it'll happen.

    78. Re:Future Business Case Study by shilly · · Score: 1

      Sure, but that's not what the OP was talking about. They explicitly said they were talking about people who have nowhere to charge at home.

    79. Re:Future Business Case Study by ceoyoyo · · Score: 2

      Because banning X ten years from now gets you political points with the people who don't like X, and doesn't lose too many with people who do like X. It also means absolutely nothing will happen until you're either safely out of office or everyone has forgotten that it was you who instituted the ban in the first place.

      Bonus points if in ten years the object of the ban is eye rollingly anachronistic.

    80. Re:Future Business Case Study by ceoyoyo · · Score: 3, Funny

      I believe there's an industry that's pretty good at making electrical vibrators. Electrically powered sound reproduction has been a think for a long time.

    81. Re:Future Business Case Study by rogoshen1 · · Score: 1

      The way you described the crown vic comes across as saying "this is a great police car. they were very sensible in continuing to use it"

      Why would they switch from something that does exactly what they want, and is cheap/easy to maintain??

    82. Re:Future Business Case Study by Rei · · Score: 1

      Those 150kW chargers support 200A and 500V on the existing CCS 1 system for cars that support it

      Now multiply 200A times 500V. That is the best case (read: not real-world) charge rate you can get from it, in kilowatts. 100kW. Versus the advertised 350kW. The highest-reported charge rates for real-world EVs on such chargers are in the lower 70s (Hyundai / Kia) and mid 80s (I-Pace).

      It is capable of 920V and 500A.

      That's certainly the design spec. But there is no way on Earth that they would build a charger cabinet that has all of its inverters (the expensive part) for 350kW but leave off high-power cables (the cheap part). I guarantee you, if you open up those cabinets, you're going to find a bunch of racks for the extra inverters to be installed in when they upgrade the stations.

      The simple fact is that they've been selling these as 350kW stations... and they're not.

      --
      Seen on a Japanese food processor: "Not to be used for the other use."
    83. Re: Future Business Case Study by Rei · · Score: 1

      Why?

      Do you not eat or take breaks when driving?

      If so: get off the road. You're a danger to everyone else.

      --
      Seen on a Japanese food processor: "Not to be used for the other use."
    84. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Not when you're using solar power and there's no sun at night to charge the batteries you're draining to have reserve for the next cloudy day.

    85. Re: Future Business Case Study by houghi · · Score: 1

      Plenty of cars are produced that ate an older generation. The old beetle was produced till 2003. They will even do some improvements. Just not a complete new model. So we are good for another 20 years or so.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    86. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The ICE isn't universally applicable. Some stupid war or embargo can make it unusable. Power generation has a shorter tail and a smaller footprint.

    87. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not about getting off the road to eat. It's about my habit of driving far from anywhere with grid power.

    88. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be fair, upgrading a charger can be as simple as wiring in some extra modules and changing some firmware options.
      I haven't had a good look at EV charger innards, but IIRC they're often made from 20 kW modules.

    89. Re:Future Business Case Study by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Sorry I confused you. The 150kW chargers are rated for 200A/500V currently. They can deliver 150kW but need upgraded cabled because CCS1 is 200A max. In time the cables will be upgraded an the full 150kW will be delivered, but right now since there are no cars that can use it they aren't going to do upgrades that might need to be reworked later.

      The 350kW chargers can provide 350kW (i.e. the AC/DC converter can push that much energy) but are also waiting for CCS2 cars and cable upgrades. The really expensive bit is the converter and rolling it out early and testing at up to 100kW is a good field trial with real cars and real users. Although not maximum load it will be experiencing the range of weather conditions and different cars, and also allows them to test the new CCS connector which is the same shape but has silver coated contacts to reduce resistance.

      The water cooled cables are still being actively developed.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    90. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And if V2G becomes popular, EVs can even help chop the tops off of the peaks.

    91. Re:Future Business Case Study by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Many countries have set a deadline by which no more new ICE vehicles can be sold. It tends to be either 2030 or 2040. But in truth by then there will be no consumer demand for them anyway. And manufacturer that is not switching it's focus to EVs, is committing suicide.

      Yeah that's nice, but the reality is if you live outside of a city. ICE is the only way life goes forward. That's life in the US, doubly so in Canada. Unless battery technology jumps in leaps and bounds and becomes dirt cheap by then, and can hold enough of a charge to get you 500km/300mi in a single trip with no issues when it's -35C or colder outside.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    92. Re:Future Business Case Study by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      You say they don't mean anything, but Europe's emissions have been dropping consistently for decades. Europe's use of renewable energy has been increasing consistently for decades. Europe has been getting more energy efficient for decades.

      Look at Germany. Said they were closing all the nuclear plants and going big on renewables, and did it. They have been doing it for a decade and are not due to finish until the mid 2020s, so well beyond the lifetime of a single government, and yet somehow the policy has survived.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    93. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The day you forget to recharge your car at home will be a very bad day the next.

      Nope. I use an electric car, and I don't recharge every day. One charge is enough for a weeks commute. And if I forget to charge up before a longer trip - I just visit one of those fast chargers that provides 50kW or so.

      I've looked at ranges for electric vehicles and I couldn't go two days on a single charge. It must be nice living so close to your work-place.

    94. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The very simple solution to that is to encourage slow charging overnight with discounted rates. Demand is low at night anyway.

      Demand is low at night until everyone with an EV starts to charge at night.

    95. Re:Future Business Case Study by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      No worse than running your battery out, finding a flat tire, car won't start, etc. People who drive already have a backup plan - for me it's a call to AAA and an Uber. I drive cars into the ground so I'm pretty good at this by now. "Forgetting to charge" has a pretty stiff feedback loop, so I don't think it will be that frequent. Like "forgetting to fill up", which happened to me once - after a 3 mile walk with a gas can I remembered not to do that again.

      So, let's see. It's a call to AAA or Uber...and you just got 4-10" of snow, that'll be a 2-8hr wait, and there won't be any "easy charge" service rolling out the block to start with either. To do a charge, you're going to have to roll off the other vehicle and it'll be ICE, likely diesel or natural gas for the generator...and, and, and.

      A 3 mile walk is nothing, how about 25 miles? Plenty of places like that even in Southwestern Ontario between gas stations. Lots of 180km+ areas like that too, gets worse when you get into northern ontario but that's the reality. Try not to freeze to death either, or pray you can get cell service and the provincial police will ask someone to come and rescue you on a snowmobile.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    96. Re:Future Business Case Study by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      after a 3 mile walk with a gas can I remembered not to do that again.

      Been there, done that walk of shame. Never again.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    97. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As you replace streetlights with LED the cables will have extra capacity to put up chargers.

      Depends on the locale! Where I live, they tried to go LED for the streetlights, but LEDs don't produce enough heat to melt the snow in the winter, so they've either switch back or add heaters.

    98. Re:Future Business Case Study by vakuona · · Score: 1

      Germany has essentially had the same people running it for decades. I mean, Merkel was Schroder's protegee, who was in turn Kohl protegee. So since the CDU has been in power since 1982. Of course, with such stability, you can plan long term, or ate least longer than the typical 4/5 year political cycles.

    99. Re:Future Business Case Study by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      lol we already use water cooled cables in heavy industry. Lot of things you have to watch out for too, like the accumulation of hydrogen inside the conduit. But they have to be in heavy gauge shielded conduit as well. 2/0-2/0-2/0-1(that's 3-phase+ground) is pretty common at those voltages and amps you're talking about too. Speaking of which, when they ground or short out at those levels it's right down spectacular too. The copper or aluminum usually flashes out into giant globs of molten metal if it simply doesn't ground out and draw the metal into the grounding surface, the arc flash blinds you for several days, and it's usually hot enough to crack concrete. And that's all before the fuses blow. Not even touching on the rubber, plastic, and conduit when they go up.

      Here's the problem to boot, where are you going to get all of this power to charge all of these vehicles when you have the major power producers turning around and pulling the plug on cheap nuclear energy and flipping around with unreliable green energy that can't handle base loads.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    100. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the original VW bug was manufactured from 1938 until 2003, the Crown Vic has nothing on the original bug. Its not like they are going to destroy all of the tooling and hop into EV's, they will still have all the institutional knowledge and the assembly lines and tooling will just be shipped closer to where the demand for those cars are.

      Even the summary states that they will continue to make ICE cars for areas lacking in the infrastructure for charging (you know, like large parts of Africa and south America)

    101. Re:Future Business Case Study by dbitter1 · · Score: 1

      No big deal. Plenty of space in the physical pipeline between refinery and consumption that the electricity replaces to put a HV powerline. Just replace the refinery with whatever, and the end of the pipeline with an electric substation.

      --
      For us carnivores, "Sucking the marrow out of life" isn't a transcendentalist philosophy but a practical instruction.
    102. Re:Future Business Case Study by eth1 · · Score: 1

      ... for example because some can't charge at their homes?

      This seems to be a huge issue that just isn't being addressed. Around here, tons of new high-density apartments are going up, and NONE of them, as far as I know, are set up to support even a mediocre percentage of residents with electric cars. I see Teslas all over the place here (Dallas area), but you just can't run one if you don't also own a single-family home. Back when I was in an apartment, I had a garage, but there wasn't even a 110v outlet in there, much less something to charge a car on.

      I also wonder how many apartment complexes have electric service that could even handle 400 people showing up between 5 and 6p and plugging in their cars. Even if they did, it would probably be one of those setups where the chargers are owned by the complex, and you have to pay them extortionate rates to use them instead of it coming from your own electric bill.

    103. Re:Future Business Case Study by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Right, they exist but aren't exactly ready for consumers to be using day-in day-out.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    104. Re:Future Business Case Study by toadlife · · Score: 1

      Just on Sunday I drove from Phoenix to Salt Lake City in heat at the beginning and snow at the end, via middle of nowhere, in 13 hours.

      Good for you. I've driven that far one time in 22 years of driving.

      Your standards for what everyone must have in an EV are arbitrary.

      --
      I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
    105. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah because nothing is more fun than having straight pipe exhaust that rattles the windows of everyone you pass by.

    106. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, half the fun to me is...the vibrating motor, the rumbling engine, the sound and smell of it are a big part of the entire motorcycle experience.

      ... and the stares, from people wondering why this self-centered asshole is creating so much noise pollution for his own enjoyment.

    107. Re:Future Business Case Study by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      If you can't figure out how to charge a car at your home, it's probably because you're still using a horse and buggy anyway.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    108. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jesus, how far do you drive each day? And why?

    109. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have doubts about this statement unless they get the prices and performance inline with combustion engines.

      Are EVs outselling or equal with ICE systems today? Why do we need someone to tell us what the future holds. Why canâ(TM)t the sales numbers show us? Likely because they need to say these things to get EV sales up.

    110. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just for the shits and giggles, would you care to provide an estimate of the number of people in North America who regularly face a day of -35C? The coldest large city in the US is Minneapolis. The coldest month in Minneapolis is January. In January 2018, the coldest day was Jan 1st, which had a low of -32C and a high of -27. There were 6 other super-cold days in January, but none was a cold as that. 400k people live in Minneapolis. And what percentage would be driving 500k in that weather? Possibly 1 in a hundred at most.

      Youâ(TM)re kind of talking about an edge case

    111. Re:Future Business Case Study by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Yeah because nothing is more fun than having straight pipe exhaust that rattles the windows of everyone you pass by.

      Well, there's a difference between obnoxiously loud straight pipes (which are already illegal)...and a well tuned exhaust note. This is the same on cars as well as motorcycles.

      It is ok for a bike to BE a little loud, as that it helps people in cars realize you are there when often they don't seem to see you.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    112. Re: Future Business Case Study by Kumiorava · · Score: 1

      As the summary said, there will be special use cases for ICE cars all the until 2050 (and possibly longer), but that does not make the concept false. If you go for 800 miles off the grid then you will be one of those people needing an ICE for the forseeable future. For me and my 5000 miles a year usage an EV with around 150 miles of range will be perfect. Our mileages may vary, pun intended.

    113. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is also a VW statement. This is not a company renowned for truth.

    114. Re:Future Business Case Study by balbeir · · Score: 1

      And we're not even talking about the bladder size of the passengers. Most of them needing a pitstop before even half of the battery has been used.

    115. Re:Future Business Case Study by greythax · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't have anything valuable to add, I just wanted to mention this conversation is EXACTLY what I would have expected if anyone asked me, "What would it look like if nerds argued about cars?"

    116. Re:Future Business Case Study by aix+tom · · Score: 1

      Of course we will have to switch organic peat as quickly as possible to get all the electricity we will need...

    117. Re:Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's still exceptionally strange how the media managed to put the blame entirely on VW, even years after it turned out everyone else cheated too and generally significantly worse so...

    118. Re:Future Business Case Study by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      This. Even my old EV with only 85 miles of range, I forgot to charge once... I still had enough charge to do the next day commute (and, there was a charger within 1/4 mile of work if I had needed it, but I didn't). That's been the only time I've forgotten....

      With the Tesla M3 I could forget 3 or 4 days in a row and still have enough charge...

      It really isn't a big deal with newer EVs with adequate range.

      BTW, a few weeks back we got an emergency call at 2:00 am... had to jump in the Tesla and drive halfway across the state... no problem, plus there were two superchargers if I had needed them, but I didn't... So, having a large battery negates a lot of these negative possibilities... Could you construct a bad scenario? Sure, but in practice, in 5 years, it hasn't happened to me.

    119. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jesus, how far do you drive each day? And why?

      30 miles between home and office each way. On really bad traffic days I take a different route (50 miles) which adds 15 minutes to my normal time, but avoids the major bottle necks. As to why I don't move - I bought this house in a good market and it's not worth relocating.

    120. Re:Future Business Case Study by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      Yeah that's nice, but the reality is if you live outside of a city. ICE is the only way life goes forward. That's life in the US, doubly so in Canada. Unless battery technology jumps in leaps and bounds and becomes dirt cheap by then, and can hold enough of a charge to get you 500km/300mi in a single trip with no issues when it's -35C or colder outside.

      Well, I have both a Volt and a Tesla... and for the people like you mention that BEV won't work for, PHEV can work pretty well, especially if the PHEV has a descent electrical range like the Volt (mine->42 miles, newer ones 50ish).

      That also takes care of the cold issue...

    121. Re:Future Business Case Study by kellymcdonald78 · · Score: 1

      How is this different from my kids leaving the light on in the Van and waking up to find the battery dead and having to call AMA for a boost (after the 2nd time this happened, I bought my own battery booster). Or any different from coming back the car after work to find a flat tire.

    122. Re: Future Business Case Study by Rei · · Score: 1

      Where would that be - Nunavut?

      --
      Seen on a Japanese food processor: "Not to be used for the other use."
    123. Re:Future Business Case Study by Hamsterdan · · Score: 1

      I don't know about AAA, but here CAA is buying mobile charge stations. So they will be able to give you a quick charge so you can get to the nearest charger. I'm already seeing a lot more Model 3s on the road, and it's a very nice car. Yes it's expensive, but as with any new tech, it will go down in price. I can buy a Bluray player for 50-60 bucks now, they were ten times more expensive when they came out. So yes prices will trickle down. Besides, if you take in account the only maintenance you have to do on an EV is make sure the washer fluid is filled up, an EV makes sense in the long run.

      --
      I've got better things to do tonight than die.
    124. Re:Future Business Case Study by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Congratulations, you belong to the 1% group regarding your car needs. Prepare to be screwed in the future.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    125. Re: Future Business Case Study by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Then why not hedge their bets and go half EV.

      They're considering it, but it's difficult to decide whether to go for E or for V.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    126. Re:Future Business Case Study by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      Actually, half the fun to me is...the vibrating motor

      So, put an unbalanced weight on the rotor axis? ;)

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    127. Re:Future Business Case Study by Rei · · Score: 1

      100kW is not a good "field trial" for anything; "100kW" CCS chargers have been around for quite some time (175kW, actually). There's nothing new to "trial".

      Nor is 100kW equal to 350kW, which is what they've been claiming endlessly in one breathless press release after the next that they're building. When in reality, that's "for some future date".

      If they're waiting for higher power-consuming CCS cars - let's ignore that they're already on the road (Kona, Niro, I-Pace, and lots more next year) - before making higher-powered chargers... hello, chicken-and-egg problem. You don't "wait" with EVs, or you fall behind. It's so stupid to pretend that you're "catching up" when in actuality you're "waiting".

      And again: I seriously, seriously doubt that all of the inverter racks are just sitting around gathering dust because someone decided "let's install a bunch of (expensive) inverters that won't even be powered on until we get around to retrofitting this place we just built".

      Glycol-cooled CCS cables have been available on the market since 2016.

      --
      Seen on a Japanese food processor: "Not to be used for the other use."
    128. Re:Future Business Case Study by tepples · · Score: 1

      Let's assume it takes half a charge to fill the passengers' bladders. Then good luck getting half a recharge on the drive to Walley World to be as fast as a number 1 stop.

    129. Re:Future Business Case Study by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      You know that the vast majority of the driving public doesn't have your wild edge-case requirements, right?

      If it's not right for you, you aren't forced to buy it. However it's important to realize that the world does not actually revolve around you, and that current EV designs are more than adequate for most people's needs. I understand how you might be confused about the orbital motion of the earth with such a supermassive ego, but ego doesn't actually cause gravitational attraction.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    130. Re:Future Business Case Study by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Trial of the 350kW AC to DC converter hardware. It's a new design, it needs to be validated in the real world before they do a massive roll-out and modifications become extremely expensive. That is the normal way that products like this are tested.

      By the way, I seem to recall Tesla releasing chargers with a higher watt rating than their cars could actually use, in anticipation of future car upgrades.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    131. Re:Future Business Case Study by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      So your only concern is that I forget to charge... during a snowstorm? LOL, that there is what we call an edge case.

      Yeah, my 3 miles was in warm weather and it still sucked. Actually the walk with the empty can was OK...

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    132. Re:Future Business Case Study by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      The number of people who can charge at home will outnumber those who can't. The market will serve them.

      I think this is highly dependent on which country you live in, and whether you live in a major city (but have a car).

      I think it's more like: we have to find a charging solution that works for people who don't live in a single family home. Some of that will be legislation (as in California) that forces landlords to provide charging infrastructure, but some of it will have to be designed to address people who are forced to park on street.

      Until we do that, we won't get as wide spread adoption of BEV as we need.

    133. Re:Future Business Case Study by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      Seattle (for example) is pushing zero parking condominiums and apartments. Making the tenants scurry after limited on-street parking.

      We're going to have to find a solution for on street parking... it's simply too common to ignore. There have already been articles about introducing chargers-in-light-poles, etc. Probably not the hardest problem we have to solve...

      Wireless charging for parking lots may be an option as well...

    134. Re:Future Business Case Study by Zobeid · · Score: 1

      quote: "Automotive development cycles are long. What if they get it wrong and EVs don't prove to be universally applicable; for example because some can't charge at their homes?"

      Autos made today also have a long service life. So, let's think about the used market. If electric cars take a substantial portion of the new market in the near future, there could be a glut of used combustion cars. Then companies still producing new combustion cars will find themselves squeezed on both sides, trying to compete both against desirable new BEVs and bargain used ICEs.

      You might consider what happened to film cameras. Hardly anyone is making new film cameras today, and nobody is doing it on a large scale. It's partly because the use of film has declined so much, but also because those photographers still shooting film find a seemingly endless supply of dirt-cheap vintage cameras on eBay.

    135. Re:Future Business Case Study by Zobeid · · Score: 1

      quote: "even years after it turned out everyone else cheated too and generally significantly worse"

      Examples? What's your source on that? This is the first I've even heard of anything like that, and I think I follow automotive news pretty closely.

    136. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I found a Guardian article from 2016 that claims 97% of deisel models tested were producing more pollution on the road than during emissions testing. Same thing VW got hammered for.

    137. Re:Future Business Case Study by clodney · · Score: 1

      The ICE infrastructure didn't just appear overnight, its taken the better part of 70 years to get where we are now, hell in my home state when I was a child paved roads outside of the cities and freeway were a luxury and you pretty much had to have a large truck capable of taking the abuse of dirt roads, much less gas stations all over the place. How do you get all the rural states infrastructure built up to take all the extra power, charging stations, places to put the EVs where the weather isn't gonna kill the batteries, etc without spending trillions of dollars that will never see a ROI?

      Pretty sure that the trillions of dollars that went to paving and road construction can be reused. I expect the number of gas stations to drop overall, as most people will do overnight charging at home. Since gas is a low margin commodity at retail, I expect most gas stations make a significant part of their profit as convenience stores. Unless the demand for convenience stores is enough to keep them all going, we will likely see lots of gas stations repurposed into something else.

      Refineries and oil pipelines go down, power plants and transmission lines go up. There will be winners and losers, but I don't know why you think the government needs to pay for it all. Power companies should be happy to sell more electricity, and will build out capacity accordingly (likely dealing with renewable/carbon free mandates at the same time).

      We might see oil companies trying to ditch polluted sites onto Superfund, as the amount of oil consumed goes down and their profits drop.

    138. Re:Future Business Case Study by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      I mean, Merkel was Schroder's protegee, who was in turn Kohl protegee.
      Rofl. Merkel is Kohls protegee ... Schroeder is from the other party, SPD, and has nothing to do with Kohl. However he ruled in a "great coalation" together with Merkel.

      Of course, with such stability,
      The stability was not such great. The Greens together with the SPD under Schroeder, planned the nuclear exit. After Merkel became Chancelor, she canceled the exit. But after Fukushima she re-established the exit, albeit with prolonged run time of the remaining plants.

      The only thing that is continuous is the shift to renewables. And behind that programs to help house owners to improve insulation etc.

      The european democracies are fundamentally different than the american one. After all we have no stupid president who thinks he can rui^Hn the country. Oh, the french have ...

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    139. Re: Future Business Case Study by Barsteward · · Score: 1

      so how do you fill up with gas in these areas? i'm sure service stations require power to pump gas

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    140. Re:Future Business Case Study by someoneOtherThanMe · · Score: 1

      The kona and niro both have ICE or hybrid versions. And the EV ones have huge empty space under the boot. And (at least the Niro has) raised floor at the rear where the batteries are, making for less comfortable seating in the rear row.

      The i3 is a fashion statement. Not any roomier inside than a VW up or smart forfour, and stupid doors.

    141. Re:Future Business Case Study by someoneOtherThanMe · · Score: 1

      Nope, Schröder is from "the other side".

    142. Re:Future Business Case Study by Barsteward · · Score: 1

      Just shut down the petrol processing plants as they use the power of a town. The UK grid says there is no problem with EV charging.

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    143. Re:Future Business Case Study by Barsteward · · Score: 1

      and you don't mention wind, hydro or nuclear power.

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    144. Re:Future Business Case Study by Barsteward · · Score: 1

      so for a long journey, you never need to stop for a piss break for you or your passenger and for a longer journey you never stop for lunch?

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    145. Re:Future Business Case Study by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Right, they exist but aren't exactly ready for consumers to be using day-in day-out.

      They likely will never be unless there's such a stratospheric change in safety surrounding them either. That would be putting the battery or pulling it from the vehicle and replacing it with a freshly charged one and/or a fully automated charge system. The amount of crap required to do maintenance on this stuff right now is staggering, everything from grounding lines, to wearing cotten-copper-weave clothing to stop you from getting cooked to death if something went wrong and there is still of enough of a charge in the system. Even then, people still die doing basic maintenance because of safety failures, faulty safety gear, and so on. The safety requirements are actually higher then the people(cable monkey's as we call them over here) who work directly on live high-voltage transmission lines, or live transformer stations.

      Just from experience dealing with high voltage lines, machinery, caps, transformers and switching stations, and seeing the serious injuries from people screwing around instills a healthy sense of "we really need massive safety regs" if people are going to be using this stuff to charge cars.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    146. Re:Future Business Case Study by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      How is this different from my kids leaving the light on in the Van and waking up to find the battery dead and having to call AMA for a boost (after the 2nd time this happened, I bought my own battery booster). Or any different from coming back the car after work to find a flat tire.

      Easy. In both cases, the fixes are fast. You can get a jump, or change the tire yourself. In this case you need to get a charge to the minimum level(around 25%) of the battery before there's enough to engage the electronics and start moving it. Much harder to do when there's no easy source of power within reach.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    147. Re:Future Business Case Study by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      So your only concern is that I forget to charge... during a snowstorm? LOL, that there is what we call an edge case.

      Edge case? Then why are the response times from say AAA or CAA over 6 hours on average after an event like that?

      Yeah, my 3 miles was in warm weather and it still sucked. Actually the walk with the empty can was OK...

      And so you get lucky. Right now it's only -3C with a windchill of -9C. So, figure you're not wearing a heavy enough coat, good enough boots, and no gloves. Well you're probably still better off waiting for a car(with a candle lit) if you're say in a small town in Ontario right now.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    148. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dieselgate is too much for them. Theyâ(TM)re partner brands can do that

    149. Re:Future Business Case Study by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      There are no 800V cars out at the moment either, so it would have been a bit premature to start installing them.

      Only if you don't mind replacing them all down the line. They want to be installing the most future proof ones they can.

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    150. Re: Future Business Case Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget that the EU has targets it is trying to meet. 2026 is still 8 years away, and that generation of cars may be in production for a while.

    151. Re:Future Business Case Study by necro81 · · Score: 1

      Why wouldn't it be? The fun of a motorcycle is the open road, feeling the wind, the speed and the power. What tech the bike uses to go forward doesn't matter so long as it goes.

      Ever been to Sturgis? Laconia Bike Week? Any beach in the summer? Apparently, the fun of a motorcycle is heavily linked to its ability to make a shit-ton of noise. It's the ability to announce to everyone for half a mile that YOU ARE ENJOYING THE OPEN ROAD, BITCHES!

      I'm not sure when someone's individual freedom to feel the wind and enjoy the open road gave them license to annoy the hell out of everyone in earshot, but apparently that is gospel in a significant portion of the bike set (and a subset of car and truck owners, too.)

      Would motorcycles' popularity be as great if they were nearly silent?

    152. Re:Future Business Case Study by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Edge case? Then why are the response times from say AAA or CAA over 6 hours on average after an event like that?

      I'm saying that the Venn diagram of "Times I forget to charge" and "Times there is a major snowstorm" is going to have a very tiny overlap.

      Right now it's only -3C with a windchill of -9C.

      That's not too bad. You could go all day in that. Ontario is fairly temperate by Canadian standards, right? That sounds like the weather here in Philly yesterday (it was between -3 and 1)... I walked my kid a mile to school just for the exercise. Anyway, the point is that you don't run out of gas very often because it's such a pain in the ass... you remember the lesson!

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    153. Re: Future Business Case Study by hipp5 · · Score: 1

      Then why not hedge their bets and go half EV.

      The tech is far from perfected and it's only Just becoming usable in 2018

      Because there's a risk that you spend billions of dollars retooling for the next-generation ICE platform only to have that asset stranded when the market demands EVs. VW has obviously done their research and is of the opinion that there's more risk of ICE-manufacturing infrastructure getting stranded than EV-manufacturing infrastructure not getting used.

    154. Re:Future Business Case Study by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      We pack a cooler and eat on the road. And yes we have piss breaks, not everyone holds the gas nozzle while the car is being filled.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    155. Re:Future Business Case Study by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      If VW does nothing new

      I would be more concerned about Mercedes. VW at least seems to have been forced to take the situation seriously. Mercedes CEO's are the ones who have openly declared the ICE car and their business will never go away.

    156. Re:Future Business Case Study by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      The day you forget to recharge your car at home will be a very bad day the next.

      Why? Do you routinely drive >150miles per day?

      I'm pretty sure I could forget to charge my electric car all week without any real problem. And there's these things called chargers too. At least if my car is dead at home I can do something about it, unlike with my petrol car where I would need a jerry can and a long walk or call AAA.

    157. Re:Future Business Case Study by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Why wouldn't it be?

      This. I know someone who recently bought a Mercedes E63 with it's 600bhp because he said he's worried the future of cars means they won't go fast anymore and he wanted to experience some real speed and accelelration on the road.

      He was genuinely surprised when I pointed out to him that a Telsa has the same top speed (speed limiter on both) and would smoke his E63 on a dragstrip.

    158. Re:Future Business Case Study by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      The trick is to do this intelligentally to limit charging to overnight rather than just as people get home. Demand is highest right when people get home. For this we need somewhat intelligent chargers / power supplies because people are inherently lazy.

    159. Re:Future Business Case Study by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      Guess what. Most people never encounter -35 degrees. And if they did, their diesel would be freezing anyway.

      Let me deal with your next comment. Yes there are ways of dealing with diesel freezing, There are also ways of dealing with cold batteries - its called preheating the battery.

    160. Re:Future Business Case Study by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      Because putting a deadline on it causes the car companies and the consumers to start considering it now. Having a deadline means that most people will have changed over before the deadline.

    161. Re:Future Business Case Study by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      You can't imagine? Then that's a limitation on your imagination, not the technology.

    162. Re:Future Business Case Study by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      So if that's what matters, you could just buy an engine. You don't need the rest of the bike.

      But in reality it's having this machine that you sit on and transports you around, that you can weave round corners and traffic by leaning.

      I can tell you now that when people drive electric cars they usually find them more fun than ICE cars, not less.

      I can't speak for electric motorcycles because I haven't ridden one. But it's probably the same.

    163. Re:Future Business Case Study by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      Fortunately 99% of the infrastructure is already there

      I'm not at all convinced of that. From some quick searching is seems a house in the UK averages about 500 watts (it peaks much higher than that of course). The average driver drives about 8000 miles per year which works out to and a Tesla model 3 supposedly takes 26KWH per 100 miles which works out to about 2000 KWH per year or about 230 watts on average and there are about 1.3 cars per household so that is an extra 300 watts per household. That does not seem like an insignificant increase to me.

      If charging is done the "dumb" way I would expect the peaks from EV charging to line up with other peaks in residential demand, People are likely to plug in their EV at about the same time they start cooking their dinner. I think if EV charging is going to work on a large scale without requiring major grid reinforcements then EV chargers will need to be smarter and tied into time of day based electricity pricing.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    164. Re:Future Business Case Study by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Averages 500W, but in the evenings with the cooker and the kettle and the shower going it's about 15-20x that much.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    165. Re:Future Business Case Study by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      Many countries said they were going to ban incandescent lightbulbs, and gave a series dates for different kinds. And guess what? They kept to those dates.

      It's not naive to point out government deadlines at all. Whilst they might be dropped, they are usually not.

    166. Re:Future Business Case Study by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      I'm saying that the Venn diagram of "Times I forget to charge" and "Times there is a major snowstorm" is going to have a very tiny overlap.

      Your venn diagram is pretty shit then. You can see a major snowfall accumulation 3 times a week some years, and a major snowstorm every 4-5 days. A few years ago around here we had major snowfall events of greater than 12" of snowfall every 4 days. For the kids, that was some pretty fun times. Though the paths cut into sidewalks with the snow being 4' all around you was far more interesting.

      That's not too bad. You could go all day in that. Ontario is fairly temperate by Canadian standards, right? That sounds like the weather here in Philly yesterday (it was between -3 and 1)... I walked my kid a mile to school just for the exercise. Anyway, the point is that you don't run out of gas very often because it's such a pain in the ass... you remember the lesson!

      Sure, it's fairly temperate. Meaning that -20C for most of the winter is the average, where as the plains/western canada, quebec, eastern provinces, minus BC. The average temperature for most of the winter is -30C with lovely week or month long periods of -40C or greater. When I was working out in Alberta a few years ago, the average winter temperature was -38C, we did have 3 weeks of -45C to -51C with a windchill of -65C. At those temperatures, exposed flesh freezes in about 3 minutes.

      The point is, unlike countries where there is no shortage of "nearby" cases where you can get fuel/charge your vehicle and so on. Even here in Southwestern Ontario, we have to go out and save people every winter who get stuck with a sudden 4" snowfall along the 401, 402 and 403 from freezing to death. That's not county the main country roads like Hwy's 6, 10, 11, or the transcanada(Hwy 1).

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    167. Re:Future Business Case Study by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      You can see a major snowfall accumulation 3 times a week some years, and a major snowstorm every 4-5 days.

      My point isn't whether my solution will or will not work for you. So CAA isn't an option for you... do whatever you do today when your car won't start, runs out of gas, has a bad battery, etc. and simply do the exact same thing when you forget to charge your electric car. From the few electric car owners I know, charging is not something they often forget to do. I think Tesla even sends you a text when you forget to plug it in.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  2. But what about the broom broom sound. by jellomizer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I just remember and old VW commercial advertising its clean desiel cars. And they were making fun of hybrids because they were less cool because they didn’t loud engine noise.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:But what about the broom broom sound. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Happy GTI owner here, previously owned a TDI that was part of the recall. The GTI already synthesizes the engine sound both within the cabin and outside (and has done this since at least 2009). I was very happy when found the setting that would let me get "sport" performance with "normal" sounds.

    2. Re:But what about the broom broom sound. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I just remember and old VW commercial advertising its clean desiel cars. And they were making fun of hybrids because they were less cool because they didn’t loud engine noise.

      It's interesting seeing car adverts from companies currently, especially in different markets. Driving around Germany listening to the radio and then giving someone a lift with a Dutch mobile phone with Spotify installed:

      Smart advert on German Radio summarised: "Times are changing, in the future electric will be the only thing on the market. Buy a Smart Fortwo Diesel while they are still available."
      Smart advert on Dutch Spotify summarised: "Times are changing, and so are we. Buy a Smart EQ Fortwo Electric today!"

  3. Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They also said their cars passed emissions tests. Why should we believe this?

  4. Volkswagen AG expects the era of the combustion car to fade away after it rolls out its next-generation gasoline and diesel cars beginning in 2026.

    Ah, the politician timescale ... it feels so near, yet is safely far away ....

    1. Re:huh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, Next generation problem.

      LION - safe to mine, safe to use, safe to eat. Beats that bad old dirty CO2 any day.

    2. Re:huh by perpenso · · Score: 1

      LION - safe to mine, safe to use, safe to eat.

      And abundant at scale when all ICE passenger vehicles and commercial trucks are replaced with electric, all power plants renewable with battery backup, etc.

      And sourced without any messy geopolitical issues.

  5. Coal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I think cars should run on coal. It would be great. Jobs! -- Reginald Drumpf

    1. Re: Coal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, we'll see after his second term how things shake out.

      If coal looks promising maybe we can change the rules so he can be president for a life term instead of just two elected terms, so he can see his plans through.

    2. Re: Coal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, we'll see after his second term how things shake out.

      If coal looks promising maybe we can change the rules so he can be president for a life term instead of just two elected terms, so he can see his plans through.

      Naahh! We don't have to go through all that trouble with changing amendments and stuff. We can just declare that the meaning of the 22nd Amendment isn't what is plainly written and just ignore it. Better yet, we can file a lawsuit in the 9th Circuit and argue that the President's nebulous civil rights and right to due process are being violated by such an arbitrary limitation.

  6. /. where is the love thread continues by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    giving away more than we keep & still having more than enough will be the new normal? with spontaneous outbreaks of cease fire stand down peace being reported, the neverending wmd on credit holycost may end abruptly? truth+mercy=justice universal spiritual axiom kicking in.. see you there.. no need to keep our heads quartered in the wide open clouds with 2tb drives costing 2$ each? greed fear ego based hoarding/culling by inbred psychotronic crown royal gangsters has become obsoletely fatal to us unchosen wanderers?

  7. Better Product by monkeyxpress · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The interesting thing is that this is not going to be because of the whole 'green' thing. Sure for some people that is important, and it is a nice add on, but if people really cared about that they would buy city cars instead of trucks or luxury sedans.

    No, the reason this is going to happen is because they are better products. I live in a central city area, and after 5 years being carless am looking at buying a second hand car for work. I fix my own cars, but don't have the time to do that anymore. It is extremely annoying having to deal with timing belt changes (thankfully not so common now), potentially expensive emission control problems, changing spark plugs, water pumps, flushing coolant, engine oil every 6 months. As they get older (~100km for many modern cars) you have a whole bunch of gotchas that will empty your pocket. On one model of Nissan/Renault (would never buy) a friend had the direct injectors fail. They basically had to strip the head to fix it, and it was half the value of the car to fix. That's just incredible. Gas cars also have incredibly complicated transmissions and these can cause problems.

    With an electric car you don't have to do any of these issues. You just charge and go. You don't even need to change the brake pads these days. And depending on your housing situation, not having to go to a petrol station and having a fully filled car every morning is a positive not a negative.

    The other thing is that the cost of these things is going to keep going down. I see another trend on the horizon which will be battery replacements. I expect that once there are enough old electric cars with poor batteries, someone will start making replacement packs enmass. These will be cheap (as batteries have gotten cheaper) or have better capacity. So you can probably keep the same car for much longer and just keep changing the tyres and upgrading the pack as required.

    Outside those with the money to burn, most people just want a car that is reliable and cheap to maintain. Electric cars will do that for them, and for that reason alone nobody will want to touch a thousands-of-things-can-go-wrong gas car once the cost becomes competitive.

    1. Re:Better Product by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      The interesting thing is that this is not going to be because of the whole 'green' thing. Sure for some people that is important, and it is a nice add on, but if people really cared about that they would buy city cars instead of trucks or luxury sedans.

      People are already doing that around here in Europe and it's not enough. How would doing more of the same help?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because of the state fatwas, yes cars are no longer serviceable.

    3. Re: Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You think emissions testing and parts wearing out is a side effect of not being electric powered or well designed??

      This is a golden age for cheap EV. When they're mainstream they'll be regulated to hell.

      Not to mention the inability for average Joe to work on his own vehicle will be a massive problem, as you'll be at the whim of the corporation that owns your transportation.

    4. Re:Better Product by Dorianny · · Score: 0

      While there is definitely savings in regular maintenance with EV's, there is no reason to assume that they are any more reliable then internal-combustion cars, especially since they have only been on the market for less then a decade and we don't have data on long term maintenance costs. In-fact since nobody but a dealer can perform any serious repairs on EV's and the expensive battery-pack will need replacement every 8-10 years, it might end up being more expensive to maintain.

    5. Re:Better Product by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      Unless going back to mineral oil, like in old citroens, you still have to change the braking fluid, preferably yearly. Even if the brakes are rarely used.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    6. Re:Better Product by shilly · · Score: 1

      Of course there's reason to assume greater reliability -- they have far fewer moving parts to fail.

      And there's no basis to say battery packs will last only 8 to 10 years. The likelihood is they'll still be delivering 80% or more of original range when they've done 200k miles, because the BMS is very effective (and gets better OTA).

    7. Re:Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      100km ?

      I get much more out of my car before it starts to get old. :-)

    8. Re:Better Product by shilly · · Score: 1

      I agree with much of this, but not the battery replacement part. Packs might well outlast the chassis, BMS systems are so good.

    9. Re:Better Product by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      The interesting thing is that this is not going to be because of the whole 'green' thing.

      You are 100% correct on this. Because tree hugging liberals ranting about fossil fuels evangelize so much about BEV, there is an impression it is for the "environmentally conscious people willing to sacrifice money and time and convenience". Nope. Not true at all. I am thankful for them for funding the early R&D and overpaying for their Tesla model S and X to make BEV practical.

      Truth be told, I am one of them too, in a smaller degree, (I only overpaid for my Model 3 ). But BEVs will take over the world, and batteries will kill the oil industry, not because they are good for the environment, but because they are cheaper. It might even be possible batteries create toxic waste in manufacturing, recycling or retiring process. Still, if they are cheaper they will take over the world, despite all the protests by tree huggers and/or concern trollers bemoaning the pollution of battery making process.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    10. Re: Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to mention the inability for average Joe to work on his own vehicle will be a massive problem

      Why shouldn't average Joe work on his EV? Greenie nerds already built their own EVs before there were commercial alternatives. Average Joe will no longer need to to easy maintenance like changing plugs & oil, but he can still fill up the tires - and do as much maintenance on suspension, brakes & steering as he is capable of. As well as installing custom stereo stuff and other pimping.

      Also, the above-average gearhed Joe can replace the motor controller to get better acceleration and higher top speed. Might void the warranty - but that applies to old fashioned engine upgrades/tuning too. The AC induction motor is a simple device to mess with, with its three wires supplying power. Fitting a different motor controller is not that hard. Many has done so with e-bikes already.

    11. Re:Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      there is no reason to assume that they are any more reliable then internal-combustion cars

      All moving pars wear out. EV's have fewer of them.

      The things that are the same you will have to replace at the same interval but the things you don't have doesn't need to be replaced.

    12. Re:Better Product by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 2

      a

      The other thing is that the cost of these things is going to keep going down. I see another trend on the horizon which will be battery replacements. I expect that once there are enough old electric cars with poor batteries, someone will start making replacement packs enmass. These will be cheap (as batteries have gotten cheaper) or have better capacity. So you can probably keep the same car for much longer and just keep changing the tyres and upgrading the pack as required.

      I agree replaceable packs will be eventually part of an EV's design. However, I think there will be some issues with them:

      1. I would be willing to bet manufacturers will do everything the can to prevent 3rd party packs from becoming widely available. DRM to detect and not 3rd party packs, non-standard designs along with specialized mounting hardware to make it less economical for 3rd parties to manufacture or refurbish, design patents, etc. With less maintenance work they will look to ways to replace the lost revenue to dealers and to them for parts.

      2. Even if 3rd party packs are readily available they could require reprogramming of the car's engine control system to recognize a new pack and properly charge it. BMW already does that with IC cars, where replacing the battery with an aftermarket one at 1/2 to 1/3 the cost of one with a BMW sticker still requires a trip to the dealer to reset the computer so it charges properly. Granted, you can buy a 3rd party reset tool but most owners won't or can't do the swap themselves, thus an expensive (I know, redundant when saying BMW) trip to the dealer.Some dealers may not even do a reset for non-BMW batteries to avoid complaints later if there is a problem with the battery.

      3. It will be interesting to see how battery degradation as it ages is handled. You can live with a phone that holds 80% of a charge without too much impact on its usefulness but when a car's mileage goes from say 400 miles to 320 per charge the impact is more noticeable, especially for drivers who typically drive longer distances. While I think the impact will be more psychological for most owners, given most don't do 400 miles all at once, seeing your car start reporting less and less range would be upsetting. A vacation trip could become problematic, especially near EOL for the battery. Building in spare cells that cut in as the battery degrades could address the degradation issues, as well as give the manufacturer a way to build in special electronics that a 3rd party can't replicate.

      4. Even refurbishing batteries, similar printer cartridges know, could be thwarted by tying a pack to a specific VIN so when it is pulled the electronics will not work in another vehicle

      5. Manufacturers could also not sell you the battery, instead lease it to you for a small monthly fee and when it reaches a certain capacity simply swap it out with a new one and recycle the old one. That may be attractive to regulators since it would ensure the batteries are properly disposed of and recycled and let manufacturers design packs for recycling and reuse; plus they could build in a desired profit margin in the lease costs.

      I think EV's are the future, and will offer the same variety and performance options as we have today. In some ways they'll be even more fun given the capabilities of an electric motor, such as gobs of torque, as well as much greater flexibility in the design and placement of electric motors vs IC engines.Four wheel drive with one motor driving each wheel? Try that with an ICE. Sealed drivetrain that can ford a river without worrying about water lock? Sure. Running electronic devices in a camper without a generator? Just build a bigger battery pack in the camper version.

      While I agree power train problems and maintenance will be less (although cars are pretty reliable now); many of the other problems will persist. Window regulators will break, power seats malfunction, windshield wiper motors fail, and all the other non-power train issues car face

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    13. Re:Better Product by Dorianny · · Score: 1

      BMS can only do so much, a lot of it will be up to the operator and how often they deep--discharge the battery pack, again we don't have data on how long they do last but considering that manufacturers have a 8-10 year battery warranty (between %60 and %70 capacity) it is a reasonable assumption that that's the cutoff where the manufacturers no longer feel conformable covering the replacement

    14. Re:Better Product by cnaumann · · Score: 1

      Sounds like you are making work for yourself.

      Many car manufactures recommend oil changes only every 15,000 miles (yearly) and that is likely only to keep dealers happy. With full synthetic, you could go likely go several years between oil changes. When was the last time you had a car that was scrapped or in for any major repair that could possibly been oil related? (not counting running out of oil, that is a different matter.j Coolent? Maybe at 60,000 miles, but it is not even on the maintaince schedule for most cars. Spark plugs? Probably good for the life of the car. Emmision controls? Catalytic converts can crack, but they are warrented for 60,000 miles or so. Oxygen sensors last a lot longer than they used to.

      That pretty much leaves tires, filters and brakes. On hybrids, brake pads pretty much last forever, but it depends on your driving. Periodic fluid changs are stll recommneded, but thatis the same forelectrcs. Tires are the same, and you will still have to deal with the fault prone “TPMS” on any car. Cabin air filters are the only expensive and hard to replace filter, and again, same on any car.

      Most of the cars I have had to ditch were due to faulty electronics. Their is literally no way to diagnose and repair a car with a faulty CAN bus. What $2000 module are you going to replace first? Don’t even think about replacing the computer with a salvaged one, the immobilizer will prevent that.

    15. Re:Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >With an electric car you don't have to do any of these issues.

      Coolant will need to be changed. I imagine some of the parts must be lubricated, though I supposed they may be lubed for life (in other words, even more work because it's for the life of the part, not the car).

      As for transmission issues, drive a manual and chances are high you'll never have to do more than change the gear oil every several years.

      >You don't even need to change the brake pads these days.

      LOL. You will need to eventually.

      Also, the vast majority of repairs I've done with my car had nothing to do with emissions or engine issues, apart from the occasional rotten muffler (which is a joke to repair, so I don't care). Worn out wheel bearings/hubs, busted CV joints, worn out shocks, rust holes, cracked windshields, and various other stuff. In fact, the only time I ever had to do actual engine work (other than basic maintenance) was to replace the air intake manifold on a propane fuelled vehicle that decided to blow the fuel up in there instead of in the engine (thanks Ford for being lazy and having waste spark).

      If you are doing that much engine work, you need to spend a little bit of time investigating the history of issues for the vehicle you're buying!

    16. Re:Better Product by shilly · · Score: 2

      But you can't deep discharge the pack, because of the BMS. 0 range is not the same as 0 charge. A percentage of charge is reserved to avoid deep discharge. Manufacturers are understandably being cautious. I think you'd really have to be going some to get your pack to 60% SoH after 8 years.

    17. Re:Better Product by iainr · · Score: 1

      The last time I had a car actually break down on me was over 10 years ago (timing belt broke on a fiat panda, took about an hour to repair, cost about £20). My motorbike has had 4 recalls in the last 6 years all for electrical items, the throttle sensor position indicator has failed twice (notionally £800 a time) and the ECU has failed twice (notionally another £600 a time). The last two cars we've had have had major electronics items fail. In one case the car stopped making the "ticktock" sound when the indicators were in use and something major had to be replaced which took two days and involved removing the whole dashboard (dunno how much it cost thankfully it was still 1 week inside the warranty). The DVD/media player/satnav/convert to miles box went on the current one and it cost £120 to diagnose and we were quoted £1500 to replace it. Not having moving parts doesn't guarantee greater reliability and you know what happens when you assume.

    18. Re:Better Product by sinij · · Score: 1

      With an electric car you don't have to do any of these issues. You just charge and go.

      While there are less moving parts in the electric car, it isn't "just charge and go". There are still batteries, regenerative breaking, electric motors, suspension components and electronics to break.
       
      Additionally, there are other considerations. Like, "did I remember to plug in", "is my car charged", "is it cold outside".

    19. Re:Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please shut up.

    20. Re:Better Product by shilly · · Score: 1

      If you know the funny one about assume, I'll assume you also know the one about anecdote and data.

      The top ten maintenance issues for cars are:
      Oil/oil filter changed
      Wiper blades replacement
      Replace air filter
      Scheduled maintenance
      New tires
      Battery replacement
      Brake work
      Antifreeze added
      Engine tune-up
      Wheels aligned/balanced
      8 of those issues involved moving parts. Oil and engine tune-up are moving parts issues and ICE-only issues.

    21. Re:Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My Chevrolet Volt (2013) owner's manual says change brake fluid every 150,000 miles or every 10 years, whichever occurs first.

    22. Re:Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not having to contend with an ICE would allow for design choices to locate electronics in places that are easier to access. Right now, placing these parts on the bass-ack side of the dashboard is beyond stupid and it's mostly done because that's the way it's always been done, and mostly because the placement of the engine forced them to make bad design decisions in the first place.

      Make the electronics as plug in modules that you don't have to scrape off inches of skin to get at and you will make your maintenance folks ecstatic and the owners even happier because the bill for labor will be much lower.

      In a well-designed car, you should never have to remove a dashboard to replace an electronics module.

    23. Re: Better Product by jeff4747 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not to mention the inability for average Joe to work on his own vehicle will be a massive problem

      The average Joe gets his oil changed at Jiffy Lube or equivalent. The vast majority already turn to a mechanic for easy maintenance tasks.

      Getting rid of the vast majority of these easy maintenance tasks by changing to a power train that does not require such tasks is a good thing for the average Joe.

    24. Re:Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Regenerative breaking means you use the large motors that drive your vehicle forward to capture kinetic energy and return it back to your battery, all the while slowing the vehicle. If there are traditional brakes, expect them to be smaller and/or rarely used in favor of regenerative braking. If the brake hydraulic system is sealed, then it should need to be changed about as frequently as the battery pack.

    25. Re:Better Product by iainr · · Score: 1

      Oil/oil filter changed
      Wiper blades replacement
      Replace air filter
      Antifreeze added

      all of the above are scheduled maintenence.
      tyres, brakes, wheel alignment
      I've never had a car or biked tuned, they've all had ECUs and I've been driving 30 odd years.
      The claim was about about reliability, i.e. break downs not maintenence costs(*) My bet would be that the breakdown services get called out to far more electrical issues these days than they do mechanical.

      (*) I'll concede that, ignoring the battery, service costs should be lower for EVs equally I'm willing to bet that the servicing costs for EV's will miraculously work out to be about the same as ICE cars, at the main dealers at least)

    26. Re:Better Product by shilly · · Score: 1

      A service for an EV is about £90. Don't know what it costs for an ICE.

      I understand your point about reliability. But the list was a mix of scheduled maintenance and breakdown issues, and you've skipped over engine tune-up. As ICE cars age, it's the moving parts that wear out. An ICE car with 300k miles on the clock is going to have had many moving parts related to the engine attended to; not so with an EV.

    27. Re:Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It shows you know next to nothing about the modern car reliability. Most of the things failing these days are the sensors and electronic components that control most aspects of a modern ICE car. And the use of crummy plastic in a futile effort to keep the weight under control because the electrical sh*t is heavy.

      The barebone mechanical stuff is more reliable than ever, a car that would ditch all the stupid gadgetry would last forever and have an incredible mileage.

    28. Re:Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With full synthetic, you could go likely go several years between oil changes.

      not if you live in a cold climate, or if you don't drive your car regularly

      That pretty much leaves tires, filters and brakes.

      so you just forgot about the transmission, the cooling system, the electronic ignition, all big failure mechanisms

      Most of the cars I have had to ditch were due to faulty electronics.

      isn't that special? the vast majority of vehicles die from corrosion issues, so who cares about you

    29. Re:Better Product by iainr · · Score: 1

      googling, nissan list service charges PETROL FROM £199 / DIESEL FROM £219 / ELECTRIC VEHICLE FROM £149 so cheaper than a petrol, assuming they're all getting serviced at the same interval.

      I meant to say tyres, brakes, wheel alignment are normally wear and tear and I can't imagine they're significantly different on EVs. Brakes in particular seem to be an issue in Scotland because of the buildup of crud from the winter weather. with the bike I used to have a second set of calipers because it was easier to service them off the bike and just swap the caliper when the pads started sticking, I don't ride in winter these days.

      I didn't skip engine tune up, in 30 years of driving/riding I've never had one. Never asked for one, never had one suggested, never been charged for one.
      My first car got scrapped at 400,000 miles, mainly because sorting out the suspension was going to cost more than it was worth. The only work I've ever had done on engines is timing belt changes on cars and valve clearance checks on bikes, Both of which are again scheduled maintenance. Most cars have either been sold on at 200,000 miles plus or more than 6 years old and I've also run near scrappers as second cars at times,

    30. Re:Better Product by iainr · · Score: 1

      Over time I've seen the electronics, sorry the electrical bits move from the bottom of the dash towards the centre console and be replaced with electronics. the current cars issues were with the CD/SATNAV/Media unit, which also did things like run the parking sensors, store country settings (everything that still worked reverted to French) This did make the replacement fairly easy (it only took me about 15 minutes to get it out), but the unit cost £1300 to replace new and you needed to go to someone who had the dealer software to encode the VIN into the unit otherwise you were driving round with it going BEEEEP every 30 seconds or so. Yes, less labour charges but having all that electronics in one unit that had to be replaced was eyewateringly expensive. The previous ticktock problem was a previous generation of the same unit but the mechanics of the cd player and the electronics were in different places. I'd expected it to be a solenoid (that's what it was in my dads old astra) and for it to take 10 muinutes and cost ~£10, not two days.

    31. Re:Better Product by shilly · · Score: 1

      As I said earlier, the plural of anecdote is not data, and it really isn't convincing to try to argue that the moving parts in ICE cars aren't a source of a material fraction of reliability issues that those cars suffer. Every study I've seen builds lower maintenance costs into its modelling for the impact of EV. For example:

      https://www.mckinsey.com/~/med...

      Brakes get a lot less wear on an EV. Most of the time, they're not used because all the braking is done by regen. I would expect tyre wear to be higher for comparable cars (eg Zoe vs Clio) because EVs are heavier than equivalents.

    32. Re:Better Product by Bengie · · Score: 1

      "did I remember to plug in" and "is my car charged" can both be handled by smart phones.

    33. Re:Better Product by shilly · · Score: 1

      And EVs can do something funky about "is it cold outside" that ICE cars can't: pre-heat.

    34. Re:Better Product by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      As I said earlier, the plural of anecdote is not data,

      And you can keep saying it as much as you like. It will be a stupid statement every time, because data is nothing BUT multiple anecdotes.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    35. Re:Better Product by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      I have never once changed the brake fluid in any vehicle I have ever owned. The Dodge truck went over 210K miles over 14 years I owned it, and is still being driven by my brother.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    36. Re:Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Regular maintenance is of course different from infrequent but eventual repairs/replacements.

      If we are talking about the lifespan of cars and criticizing battery packs, you also have to consider those infrequent maintenance issues which are familiar to anybody who keeps ICE cars in good working order for decades, or who makes a decision to dump one car and replace when they cannot rationalize these larger repair costs. There is no such thing as "lifetime" components unless you have arbitrarily decided that the lifetime of the car ends with when one of these components fails.

      In a BEV, you eliminate fuel storage and fuel delivery as well as all the care and feeding that system needs. No fuel filters, fuel pumps, fuel lines, fuel level sensors, etc. You also eliminate the exhaust system with catalytic converters, mufflers, pipes, and various hangers that are all subject to wear, corrosion, and easy damage due to road debris etc.

      You usually eliminate a transmission, so no transmission fluids, torque converters, clutches, or gears. Most BEV designs seem to use a motor for each axle, so no central driveshaft nor differential even with all-wheel drive. The whole set of mounts and bushings that suspends an ICE+transmission+driveshafts is vastly simplified. Since nobody has figured out an effective way to design lightweight motors which could fit in the unsprung wheel hubs, expect to retain a differential and half-shafts for each drive axle.

      Power steering is electric, so no hydraulics in front. But, that is also happening for many ICE designs now and so is not purely a BEV advantage.

      The liquid cooling system for batteries, motors, or power electronics is potentially much more reliable than that in an ICE. It doesn't experience the same amount of vibration and relative movement, nor the same risk of system contamination you get piping coolant through the ICE, so close to oiling system and combustion byproducts.

      Similarly, the ICE itself is a complex component with many internal and accessory elements that you no longer have to maintain. The oiling system, valve train, crankshaft, pistons, rings, flywheels and counter-balances, starter motor and alternator, countless bearings, countless gaskets.

      A BEV motor or power controller is more analogous to one element of an ICE. A general mechanic will swap out one unit for another, not spend hours tearing down and servicing the windings of a motor or the transistors of one power module.

    37. Re:Better Product by shanen · · Score: 1

      I've known what "assume" makes of you and me for decades, but you have me wondering about the possible relationship between "anecdote" and "data".

      Hmm... That suggests an obvious search. Possibly "The plural of anecdote is data" is your reference? Not sure how that relates to your reply because your list is short of anecdotal.

      Anyway, the actual reason I'm here is because it was an active discussion so I hoped to find some funny comments. No such luck. You weren't even moderated funny, but just used the word.

      Hmm... So applying my General Theory of Relatively Funny Stuff, it's beginning to seem like Slashdot has reached peak "nothing to learn here". My glorious theory of humor is that we basically laugh to learn, but the lack of laughter seems unlikely to indicate any omniscience of Slashdot.

      --
      Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    38. Re:Better Product by iainr · · Score: 1

      Well equally where's your data? you've produce a shopping list of maintenence issues most of which are thngs that need to be done as part of routine servicing. I've accepted from the start that servicing costs are likely to be cheaper with EVs and have even been impressed that Nissan at least is not stiffing their customers completely.

      Looking at the AA top 10 breakdown list, top of the list is a flat battery, then lost keys, there are three "mechanical" items in that list, the alternator, the starter motor and the clutch cable.

      Misfuelling I'll accept as a ICE only fault (unless there are different incompatible charging systems for EVs) but that's not a mechanical issue. spark plugs...again is not mech. HT cables...again not mechanical, The equivalent RAC list is more of the same although they explicitly list electric cars running out of power.

      Based on those lists I'd say the biggest factor in the reliability of any vehicle is the owner either doing dumb things or not servicing the vehicle properly.

    39. Re:Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      An 'engine tune-up' (whatever it may be) does not sound like maintenance. Also, 'scheduled maintenance' covers quite a few of the others.

    40. Re:Better Product by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      I had to replace the brakes on my Volt. The probable cause was that the calipers seized. Also, I can hear the pads on my Tesla after a couple days of non-use... I suspect the pads/rotors won't like not being used regularly in order to keep them clear of rust.

      They'll probably outlast an ICE car, but I have a feeling they won't be as trouble free as everybody thinks. Probably will depend somewhat on whether you try for almost 100% regen, or use the friction brakes regularly when driving...

    41. Re:Better Product by shilly · · Score: 1

      Really, data is not just multiple anecdotes. You have to be pretty spectacularly ignorant of science to think that.

    42. Re:Better Product by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I think most manufacturers recommend brake fluid change every 2 years, but I also have never done that in 45-50 years and have never had problems that I would associate with water in the brake fluid... (i.e. I can't remember ever having to deal with master cylinders and such... it's always been pads and rotors, maybe calipers on Fiats but that wasn't because of the brake fluid, it was because of the crap Fiat design :-)

    43. Re:Better Product by shilly · · Score: 1

      Well, I did provide a link to a study just before in a post. There are dozens more. Here's another one
      https://www.sciencedirect.com/...

      In any event, spark plugs can't fail in an EV (obviously) and running out of charge, like running out of fuel, is not a reliability issue.

    44. Re:Better Product by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      In our days breaking fluid is nothing you usually change. Sometimes you have t refill it a bit, but changes less than every ten years are completely unnecessary.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    45. Re:Better Product by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      I'll assume you also know the one about anecdote and data.
      I guess if you have enough anecdotes, you have enough data, too.
      Or what is your point?

      Next time you make a top ten list, please order it by importance or in your case frequency.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    46. Re:Better Product by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      And what is the difference between 1000 anecdotes and 1000 data points you got by hunting them yourself?

      Idiot ...

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    47. Re:Better Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As they get older (~100km for many modern cars)

      I initially read that was 100 kilometers, until I realized you probably meant 100K miles.

    48. Re:Better Product by shilly · · Score: 1

      Are you fucking kidding me? "The plural of anecdotes is not data" is a dictum about *science*. It says that the gap between what an individual experiences and whether, for instance, a drug can be said to be effective, is significant. It requires the scientific method to fill.

    49. Re:Better Product by shilly · · Score: 1

      This is exactly the point I was trying to get across. Thanks for expressing it clearly.

    50. Re:Better Product by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      There is no gap.

      Except you have perhaps a gap in your mind.

      So no, I'm not kidding you. You simply don't know what you are talking about.

      At my place it is right now 20C. That is an anecdote. If you had an internet connected thermometer you could verify that and write it into a file. Both is data.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    51. Re:Better Product by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      DOT 5.1 is hygroscopic and you most certainly don't want water in your brake hydraulics when going downhill - it will quickly heat up and turn into steam, and since steam is compressible, you will lose your brakes.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    52. Re:Better Product by Whorhay · · Score: 1

      Are they making spark plugs now that don't wear down? I remember replacing some on my families van that had worn down almost past the sleeve before having a noticeable performance impact. Spark plug wires used to be a common failure point as well, the insulation would get cracked after cooking in the engine compartment for long enough. Then as dust worked it's way in you could get shorts jumping between the wires.

    53. Re:Better Product by shilly · · Score: 1

      Wow, you really really don't seem to get it. I take a drug and I feel better. Lots of people take a drug and they all feel better. Does that mean we know whether the drug works? No, because we actually need to test the drug under controlled conditions, and that means that not all data are considered high enough quality to include.

      This is really basic. Like 7 year old science class basics, about the need to control for confounding variables, the need for accurate calibration of measuring instruments, etc etc.

    54. Re:Better Product by ravenscar · · Score: 1

      Tell your brother to have fun completely replacing all the braking components when everything finally lets go. My buddy did the same thing on his truck and was driving down the road when his brakes completely failed - pedal to the floor with nothing happening at all. He managed to get things stopped by downshifting and using the mechanical parking brake. He then called me for help fixing things (working on cars and motorcycles is a hobby of mine).

      I asked when he last bled his brakes. He replied "what's that?" Brake fluid is hydroscopic and, once it absorbs water, all kinds of fun things happen - most notably that the boiling point of the fluid changes and it becomes corrosive to the internals of the braking components (metal lines, master cylinder, slave cylinders, the metal portions of the lines, etc.). When I finally bled the brakes for him the fluid was full of rust. A quick inspection of the master cylinder showed it was not holding pressure properly. Let's just say that there was a ton of work to do.

      All could have been avoided by spending 30 min and $15 every couple of years to bleed the brakes. It's a super easy job and if you do it when changing pads (so your wheels and everything are off already) it adds maybe 10 minutes to the process.

    55. Re:Better Product by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Does that mean we know whether the drug works?
      Nope. And why is that relevant or what has it to do with your anecdotes versus data insanity?

      Like 7 year old science class basics
      In which school do you have 7 years of science? Most certainly in none in your country ...

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    56. Re:Better Product by shilly · · Score: 1

      Nope. And why is that relevant or what has it to do with your anecdotes versus data insanity?

      Because, as I said before, that quote is a dictum about science. You don't seem to understand how debate works. The idea is for you to rebut what I say, not merely repeat the same questions. For example, you could say "it's not a dictum about science and here is my reasoning". C'mon, treat yourself and me with a bit more respect.

      In which school do you have 7 years of science? Most certainly in none in your country ...

      Given you weren't bright enough to be able to read the plain meaning of my sentence ("a science class for 7 year olds"), your snark about education in the UK just adds to the general air of stupidity.

    57. Re:Better Product by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      7 year olds usually don't have science classes ...

      As we don't have a debate, there is nothing to debate.

      I simply pointed out that there is no difference between my anecdote and your data. In the end it is the same.

      Collect 1000 anecdotes and you have 1000 data points ... if you think otherwise that is up to you.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  8. VW Beetle lasted ~50 years. 30 without major... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    changes in Brazil.

    Why do I bring this up? Because they said they are designing their last generation of ICE cars. That doesn't mean that generation won't last far into the foreseeable future, so long as the profits outweigh the manufacturing costs.

    Really, if they were smart, they would be taking the old school VW platform, updating it with limited safety features, then replacing the gas tank up front with a LION pack, and putting a manually controlled electric motor in the back, minimizing cost and maintenance burden for customers. The entire third world with steady electrical access would be buying those cars. The pack location could make it easy to swap for long trips at service stations, and given the recent (current?) third party support for the external aspects of the vehicle, the only real changes would be inside of the frame to ensure the battery wouldn't rupture in all but the worst accidents, and that the driver and passengers would have adequate crumple zones to survive to whatever the current standard is. Done right they can continue selling new cars and even refurbishment frames for decades to come, while producing complicated luxury vehicles for the wealthier markets, supported by a steady sale of staple vehicles that would be lost risk and consistent profit.

    1. Re:VW Beetle lasted ~50 years. 30 without major... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is VW we’re talking about. The reigning queen of shoddy workmanship. I seriously doubt that any ICE model they put on market today will be on the roads 10 years from now, as the cost of ownership shoots up right at the 4-5years mark, almost like clockwork. That’s German engineering at its finest.

    2. Re:VW Beetle lasted ~50 years. 30 without major... by bkmoore · · Score: 1

      ....if they were smart, they would be taking the old school VW platform, updating it with limited safety features, then replacing the gas tank up front with a LION pack...

      The reason VW ended production of the Beetle and all the Type-1 derivatives such as the microbus is because of crash safety. There was no practical way to update the frame to pass a modern crash safety test. Any new EV would be a clean sheet design and would have as much to do with the Type-1 as the Golf-based new Beetle had.

  9. Parts by gazelam · · Score: 1

    As long as I can still get parts for the wife's Audi, I'm OK. She plans to live another 50 years and will not surrender the car. I will likely die before she is willing to give that up.

    1. Re:Parts by jawtheshark · · Score: 1

      Same here. I have no intention of replacing my (next February) 19 year old Audi. It's got 375000km, and is doing just fine. Keeping your car well maintained and as long as possible is most likely both the most economical and the most ecological choice you can make.

      Apart from that: the prices for electrics are way too high. The only game in town for a family car electric is the Tesla S or Tesla X and those are just prohibitively expensive. This is why we chose a new gasoline car for my wife last year instead: Transporting newborns in small cars is extremely cumbersome. Sure, TCO of an electric is probably lower, but we still needed to cough up the cash upfront for the new car and there is only so far you can go with borrowing money without borrowing yourself into a corner.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
  10. Re:Don't believe it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Exactly.

  11. Re:Awesome. Fuck rural AmeriKKKA... by jellomizer · · Score: 1

    Gasoline still offers higher energy density and is rather safe.
    It only recently battery technology is getting good enough. Mostly due to advancement needed for cellphones and laptops. While not always the same type of battery it means the money from the technology r&d went to side development of what can be a good automobile battery.

    Now There is a problem where a business sector is becoming obsolete and there is more of an effort to keep it on life support vs having a migration plan. Because the fossil fuel industry has an other generation of work to be done.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  12. Re:Awesome. Fuck rural AmeriKKKA... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, fuck the farmers that make our food! And the forestry workers to gather our wood! And the miners to gather our metals! How dare they not move into the city.

  13. Classic VW Beetle, 60 year production run by perpenso · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't the classic VW Beetle be a better example of a design with longevity, 60'ish years from about 1940 in Germany to about 2000 in Mexico? ;-)

    Personally I wouldn't go so far as to say they won't be updating a platform, rather they won't be designing a brand new platform. Certainly incremental improvements to the platform would be made if appropriate. And certainly cosmetic and/or luxury and/or tech based changes can be made to the body and passenger cabin. I doubt their cars will be unchanged year to year to year.

    Plus we are talking a timescale of decades so gasoline/diesel produced from biological sources (ex algae) may make these fuels carbon neutral. Its a bit silly to think such high density fuels are inherently petroleum based, that is merely the most cost effective production route at the moment. Scientific and engineering advances may very well change that.

  14. This matches Amazon's statement: by LordHighExecutioner · · Score: 1
  15. Vroom vroom from speakers by perpenso · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You can get vroom vroom from speakers. Seriously, EVs will probably be required to make some noise as a safety feature for pedestrians and cyclists at some point. Especially at low speed, parking lots, crosswalks, etc.

    1. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by shilly · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I really hope that this continues to be a feature you can switch off, as it is today in the UK. One of the enormous benefits of EVs is that they are so much quieter. Our cities and motorways will be utterly transformed for the better once most vehicles are EVs.

    2. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by perpenso · · Score: 3, Insightful

      We probably only need external speakers producing sound at extremely low speeds. As speed increases the road noise (ex. tires on pavement) begins to mitigate the need for speaker produced noise.

    3. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've never understood this. Why do EV proponents claim that EVs are so much quieter? Yes, they don't make engine noise, but they do make a very distinct buzz when the accelerate. But in all but the most obnoxious cars that are trying to be loud, the bulk of the noise isn't engine noise. It's tire noise. Seriously, walk down a lane of traffic and actually listen to the noise. You'll hear a slight undertone of engine, but you have to search for it. And where I live, we've got quite a few Teslas. They make just as much tire noise as every other car. And that noise starts coming at really low speeds. Even in parking lots, unless it's some big effing diesel truck, I hear the tires, not the engine. Most modern sedans aren't very loud.

    4. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps.

      On the other hand a large reason to why EVs are perceived as being silent is that all other cars makes a lot of noise and drowns it out.
      Without all other noisy things around the road noise might be sufficient.

    5. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I really hope that this continues to be a feature you can switch off, as it is today in the UK. One of the enormous benefits of EVs is that they are so much quieter. Our cities and motorways will be utterly transformed for the better once most vehicles are EVs.

      Until you get sued for running over a blind pedestrian.

    6. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by shilly · · Score: 1

      That's exactly how it works today. The Zoe has a pedestrian warning sound below 18 mph. You can switch it off if you want -- I tend to. And you can choose between three different sounds.

    7. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by perpenso · · Score: 1

      I think it is only an issue at very low speeds. Zero to some single digit mph possibly. The material and maintenance of the road or parking lot being a factor too.

    8. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by perpenso · · Score: 1

      I was envisioning the artificial noise at speeds half that or less. :-)

    9. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by shilly · · Score: 1

      I think they (Renault along with the EU) did quite a lot of work to find out the minimum speed for tyre and wind noise to become audible to pedestrians, and it turned out to be 18mph. Anyway, that's why I like being able to switch the noise off. Sometimes, being silent is exactly what you want.

    10. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Until full autonomy happens, stop and go traffic will be terrifyingly annoying with beeps and such. I pray that this can be turned off, or at least it is disabled on major highways.

    11. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

      Sometimes, being silent is exactly what you want.

      Except the noise isn’t being added for YOUR benefit...

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    12. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by shilly · · Score: 1

      I know. That's why I think the ability to turn the noise on and off might be removed. It would make me sad. But that's the tragedy of the commons innit?

    13. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by SCVonSteroids · · Score: 1

      Eh...

      If you think kids are annoying now with their dumbass 4" custom exhausts that sound god awful, you just wait if they can control that through speakers!

      --
      I tend to rant.
    14. Re: Vroom vroom from speakers by houghi · · Score: 1

      Let Darwin take care of it. In just a few hundred generations, we will be able to sense the arrival of a car.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    15. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by eth1 · · Score: 1

      You can get vroom vroom from speakers. Seriously, EVs will probably be required to make some noise as a safety feature for pedestrians and cyclists at some point. Especially at low speed, parking lots, crosswalks, etc.

      The problem isn't quiet cars, it's inattentive pedestrians. I have a car with a sort of loudish sport exhaust, but at low speeds (ie. driving through my neighborhood full of playing kids at 15MPH in 2nd gear), it still makes so little noise that I end up sneaking up on people not paying attention. Most ICE cars are even quieter at those speeds.

    16. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 2

      I've never understood this. Why do EV proponents claim that EVs are so much quieter? Yes, they don't make engine noise, but they do make a very distinct buzz when the accelerate. But in all but the most obnoxious cars that are trying to be loud, the bulk of the noise isn't engine noise. It's tire noise. Seriously, walk down a lane of traffic and actually listen to the noise. You'll hear a slight undertone of engine, but you have to search for it. And where I live, we've got quite a few Teslas. They make just as much tire noise as every other car. And that noise starts coming at really low speeds. Even in parking lots, unless it's some big effing diesel truck, I hear the tires, not the engine. Most modern sedans aren't very loud.

      The issue is this... you're walking through a parking lot to find your car. You're walking past car after car after car. Then one of them suddenly backs out of its spot into you, or at the least into your path. You didn't hear its engine start as a clear and obvious signal that it might be about to move, because it doesn't have an engine.

      Back-up sensors and cross-path sensors and several cameras may assist with this, but the sound of an engine signaling "this death-dealing device is ON" was a very useful attention-getter for pedestrians.

      The discussion about making sound isn't about cars that are obviously already in motion.

      --
      "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
    17. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by Sir+Holo · · Score: 1

      You can get vroom vroom from speakers. Seriously, EVs will probably be required to make some noise as a safety feature for pedestrians and cyclists at some point. Especially at low speed, parking lots, crosswalks, etc.

      Several do. I don't recall the brands, but they emit a Jetson's-like sound.

      It is stupid to have electrics hum, and not just for noise pollution reasons. Streets are noisy mainly because of ICEs. Once their numbers are down, that won't be an issue.

      And in any case, road noise from the tires is enough to alert a pedestrian to a car's presence.

    18. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The noise would depend on road surface as well as speed. The required amount of noise would depend on ambient noise levels.

      With some sensors, I could imagine the artificial noise eventually being adaptive to conditions, making it loud enough but not too loud. Crunching down a gravel driveway at 5 mph, it's already making more noise than anything around. Driving through an industrial yard, perhaps it should make a loud chirp and even strobe the LED marker lights...

    19. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by shilly · · Score: 1

      At urban speeds, and particularly in relation to acceleration and other situations when an engine is having to work hard, eg driving up a hill, the difference between an EV and an ICE car is absolutely vast. Also true when stationary (unless your ICE has stop-start).

    20. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      Funny, when I was a kid my folks trained me to look for the reverse lights to come on a car, and when I saw them to not walk behind that car - to wait until the car pulled out and left (or you made eye contact with the driver).

      But as a driver, I can't count how often people walk behind my car even after I start moving out of the parking space. Are they hoping I'll hit them for a big cash award? I'm very very careful in a parking lot, but this happens all the time (it happened in my VERY loud Subaru STi, and it still happens in my silent Tesla M3 so it's nothing to do with engine noise or lack thereof).

      I personally like the silent Tesla. My old EV (Honda Fit EV) made a weird UFO sound below 13 mph, and instead of warning people to look out, they would be staring at the sky looking for spacecraft. Seriously, I don't think it was effective, partly because the sound wasn't particularly directional. I'd rather have a silent car, and I simply move slowly and keep my head on swivel when I'm driving in a parking lot.

    21. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by Barsteward · · Score: 1

      Even drivers of loud cars will get done for running over a blind pedestrian. Top range cars like Rolls Royce, Mercedes etc are very quiet - is that a problem too?

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    22. Re:Vroom vroom from speakers by Barsteward · · Score: 1

      "Most modern sedans aren't very loud." true but still nowhere near as quiet in the cabin as an EV - its the lack of cabin noise they are talking about mainly not external tyre noise

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    23. Re: Vroom vroom from speakers by perpenso · · Score: 1

      Let Darwin take care of it. In just a few hundred generations, we will be able to sense the arrival of a car.

      A Darwinian force would include the lawsuits directed at "silent" car operators, owners and manufacturers. Or the fear of such lawsuits. So Darwinian forces are what is causing the low speed alert sounds to be included in cars. This alert sound increases the likelihood of economic survival in a litigious environment. Cars are adapting to this environment.

  16. Re:So then power-plant software needs "tweaking".. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But with each coal/oil/gas power plant being replaced by a renewable one all E-cars will get a bit cleaner.
    Which is a huge win - compared to the non-E-cars that will continue to poison the environment.

  17. In other news by fuzznutz · · Score: 2

    The tech is far from perfected and it's only Just becoming usable in 2018

    In other news: Microsoft announces that Windows 10 will be the last version of Windows ever. We all know that has gone just swimmingly.

  18. because you can't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    fake emission numbers if you don't have any!

    hopefully is just more than a PR stunt

  19. Hurricanes and gas shortages by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Every time a big hurricane hits the Gulf Coast, we run out of gas were I live. It once took a week for more gas to show up.

  20. Fuel not vehicles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We need carbon neutral fuels not vehicles, it doesn't matter if you have an EV since your are charging it from somewhere probably a coal or gas power station.

    The future is going to be using off-shore wind farms to crack water & CO2 from the air to make fuel that is carbon neutral cycle, returning only, surplus wind energy can be used to removed extra CO2 from the air and pump it back underground into reservoirs, or use the hydro-carbons from water and air to make plastic.

    1. Re:Fuel not vehicles by Bengie · · Score: 1

      You can do that, but that process is going to be like 10% efficient. Even hydrogen fuel cells are only about 30% efficient fuel-to-wheel, and they have a 95% efficient motor. All electric vehicles are about 70% fuel-to-wheel efficient.

  21. VW owner since 1974 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd like to take this moment to admonish the past auto workers in the VW Westmoreland, PA plant who built my 1982 Rabbit, by far the worst car I have ever had. On the other hand props to the hombres in Puebla, Mexico who assembled my 2010 Jetta sedan. I owe you margaritas. Fantastic car that I still have and is still super fun to drive. Stick!

    The energy content and extant infrastructure will keep gasoline around for decades yet. I don't know what the solution will be but it isn't batteries. And please, dudes with the huge pickups sitting in the cul-de-sac? You're a parody of yourselves.

    Happy to bring you this OT but Trump-free content.

  22. VW is fairly on top of things ... by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    ... in the "decommissioning ICE" department. Much unlike some other German carmakers that wil get a huge kick in the balls in the next few years, loss 100 000+ high quality German industry jobs included. Our politicians deserve a clobbering for this bullshit, inlcuding sucking up to the auto-industry over here for so long, with the current Diesel scandal and all.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  23. and the next yellow shirt goes to by fluffythedestroyer · · Score: 1

    Sure electric cars are nice but they aren't free. They cost more for the people who wants to buy them. They could force everyone to buy one and do all kinds of policy but if the car is too costly it will stay costly no matter what. What do you think is happening in France. Gov may put incentive for bonuses when you buy an electric vehicule and put policies increase electric cars and reduce petrol cars but if the is too costly, poor people or people that cant afford it wont be able to buy it. Money doesn't grow on trees.

    1. Re:and the next yellow shirt goes to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As always, the rich will have new cars and the poor will have second or third hand worn-down cars. A switch to EVs doesn't change that at all. In 2030, the poor guy will be driving a rusty 2016 Tesla with 44% or so of the original battery capacity left, loosing a few percent each year. As well as worn out suspension, a broken headlamp and a radio that doesn't work.

    2. Re:and the next yellow shirt goes to by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Electric cars are generally simpler (and thus cheaper) to make than internal combustion ones. Their maintenance costs are also lower.

      The reason they appear to cost more now is threefold: (1) they benefit less from economy of scale because they're made in smaller quantities; (2) they're new so research and development costs are higher; and (3) they're targeted at early adopters with lots of money to spend.

      All three of those factors will lessen (and have lessened) as electric cars become more common.

    3. Re:and the next yellow shirt goes to by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      Sure electric cars are nice but they aren't free. They cost more for the people who wants to buy them. They could force everyone to buy one and do all kinds of policy but if the car is too costly it will stay costly no matter what.

      ICE costs, adjusted for inflation, have been rising in recent years. In the mid '60s, a car would cost the equivalent in today's dollars of about $23K. That stayed about the same until the early '80s when the price started to steadily increase to $25-$28K. The prices plateaued and even dropped back to $25K around 2008 (because of the global financial crisis preventing many people from buying new cars).

      In just 5 years we've seen EV and PHEV prices drop by $10K, from $45K to $35K and all indications are that that will continue until BEV prices drop below ICE prices, probably around 2025.

      My own experience was leasing a Honda Fit EV which was a really nice little car (which Honda may be putting into regular production soon). It only had 85 miles of range so it wasn't a complete replacement for an ICE vehicle, but it was nice enough that I knew I would go BEV as soon as possible. That car got crashed and we replaced it with a used Volt (3 years old, for $13,000 - quite a deal) for use by my two daughters. Meanwhile I had my last of 3 Subaru STi sports cars which I loved, but I have to admit that towards the end of owning it I was really starting to get tired of the noise and the $50 fill-ups.

      I waited for about 5-6 months for my Tesla Performance Model 3 and I have to say, I would never go back to an ICE now. If something caused me to have to sell the Tesla I would replace it with another BEV... They are that much nicer to drive than an ICE.

      The Tesla is the most expensive car I ever purchased, kind of a splurge, but I've always driven sports cars so the Volt and the Bolt didn't tick that box for me, but I'm confident that we'll see plenty of sporty BEVs besides the Tesla become available in the near future. Still, if I hadn't been able to afford the Tesla, I probably would have gone with a Bolt... even though it's no sports car it's still a fun car to drive, much more fun than an ICE.

  24. Electric cars are not happening by xack · · Score: 1

    See previous comment. We still have steam locomotives in use as an another example.

    1. Re:Electric cars are not happening by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

      There are electric cars parked outside my office right now... mine is still an ICE but I don't imagine I'll be likely to replace it with one.

  25. Re:why is this push so rabid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    On top of that, does electricity make less CO2 overall? Does anyone even know if this is an efficient changeover?

    Only if clean coal is used. Clean, plentiful coal. #MAGA!

  26. Won’t buy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That’s one more reason I’ll wont buy a VW.

  27. What about urban use? by chrysrobyn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Customers in the suburbs and rural areas have decent access to plugs. With a little infrastructure work, level 2 chargers could proliferate and this could be good for a lot of reasons.

    For urban life where on-street parking is the norm, what are you gonna do? It's not like it's practical to deploy level 2 chargers (or anything else) along the sides of the road. Many of them are on the driver's side, which means those plugs would be subject to additional splashing and kick-up from passing road traffic. Additionally, those huge L2 plugs are now going to stick out an extra few inches. How do you do that without creating tripping hazards?

    I'm all for increased electric car deployment. I was shopping hard for a pure electric car that would serve my needs, and failing that, a plug-in hybrid. My problem is that I need to go for trips with the Boy Scouts where I can tow a trailer over 1500 pounds (which drops all plug-in hybrids and I think only leaves the Model X for all-electrics) and those trips average 2-3 hours away (range is a problem). Stopping with a carload of boys to charge for 2 hours along the way is ... not going to sell cars.

    VW (and the rest of the car makers) have a lot of work to do to overcome those challenges.

    1. Re:What about urban use? by shilly · · Score: 1

      Re on-street parking -- I expect lamp-post charging such as Ubitricity will proliferate. And car park charging. You'll get a bit of charging done most times you park. It's a different model from empty-to-full refuelling, just as wireless devices create different usage models from wired devices.

      Re your needs. I think it's going to be a while before your needs are met. Maybe as much as 5 to 10 years at a competitive price point. But it's fairly unusual as a usage pattern.

    2. Re:What about urban use? by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

      Expect some streets to be re-striped with angled parking on one side rather than parallel parking on both for a block, with EV chargers. The good thing about city driving is fewer miles per day, so even a slow Level 2 charger can get you on your way in an hour. Add faster chargers, and you can charge for several days in an hour.

    3. Re:What about urban use? by chrysrobyn · · Score: 1

      Re your needs. I think it's going to be a while before your needs are met. Maybe as much as 5 to 10 years at a competitive price point. But it's fairly unusual as a usage pattern.

      I don't disagree, but I expect there is a pretty big percentage of people with what could reasonably be considered "fairly unusual usage patterns". Not that everybody has to do what I do, but just not fit in the standard "commute 10-30 miles to work twice a day" or "run 30 miles of errands" per day buckets. I also think there's a huge mental block between "does what I need it to do 360 days a year" and "I could reasonably rent a car to make up 5 days a year and still come out ahead".

    4. Re:What about urban use? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Re your needs. I think it's going to be a while before your needs are met. Maybe as much as 5 to 10 years at a competitive price point. But it's fairly unusual as a usage pattern.

      I don't disagree, but I expect there is a pretty big percentage of people with what could reasonably be considered "fairly unusual usage patterns". Not that everybody has to do what I do, but just not fit in the standard "commute 10-30 miles to work twice a day" or "run 30 miles of errands" per day buckets. I also think there's a huge mental block between "does what I need it to do 360 days a year" and "I could reasonably rent a car to make up 5 days a year and still come out ahead".

      You can always buy a truck from an American manufacturer

    5. Re:What about urban use? by shilly · · Score: 1

      There's definitely a big chunk of people whose usage patterns aren't going to be served by an EV any time soon. That said, EVs are good for quite a few use cases beyond 30 miles of commuting per day. I could do a working week of 30 miles per day in my little EV before needing to recharge. My car could cope with a 140 mile round trip commute (not that I could, but...) and have a full charge every morning. And it fits 5 people and a reasonable amount of luggage (albeit that what I think is reasonable and what a typical US family thinks is reasonable probably differs a lot).

      I think EVs will get to scale being adopted as second cars. I seem to remember half of US households have two or more cars. And the percentage who need that second car to do 300 miles before refuelling has to be pretty low.

    6. Re:What about urban use? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's fucking ironic that the whole reason we have gas cars is because a century ago rural areas didn't have electricity. Now it's easy as pie for rural areas to have the infrastructure in place and the cities are the ones that are having difficulty figuring out the infrastructure. They're also the ones most concerned about having clean air.

    7. Re:What about urban use? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      Some day there will be a BEV to suit your needs. Till then chill and use a gas car.

      BEV will peel away market share, slowly at first, with momentum later.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    8. Re:What about urban use? by chrysrobyn · · Score: 1

      You can always buy a truck from an American manufacturer

      AC, I fail to see how it has any relevance to any discussion involving the proliferation of electric vehicles, or the segue into the support infrastructure that will need to drastically change for them to make them relevant to urban drivers, but I bought #6 on the list of cars that will have the biggest impact on the American economy. Of course, with such a throw-away comment, you may have a horse in the game. Are you also embarrassed at how few "American" cars made the list (Ford, GM, Chrysler, Jeep, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Dodge, etc)? 4 of the top 10 are "Japanese", for whatever that actually means anymore.

    9. Re:What about urban use? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      . My problem is ... . Stopping with a carload of boys to charge for 2 hours along the way is ... not going to sell cars.

      You are correct. It is your problem.

      You missed a crucial word, let me fix it for you: Stopping with a carload of boys to charge for 2 hours along the way is ... not going to sell cars to me

      There are plenty of people who can use BEVs that are made today. Lot more will buy cheaper ones in the coming years. Someday, it might even include you.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    10. Re:What about urban use? by will_die · · Score: 1

      I live in a ruralish area, have buzzards, skunks, deer and opossoum viewable from the windows at various times. However that is not the problem, where the problem is is these are apartments. They are not going to dig up the 150+ parking spots to install electrical plugs. This is going to be more of an issue with parking garages.

    11. Re:What about urban use? by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      For on-street parking I wonder whether buried wireless charging is the way to go... I know the ones that are coming to market now have guides in the info-tainment system to help you park so that your car's receiver is above the transmitter. I can see parallel parking in a spot and moving forward until the system tells you the receiver is properly positioned.

      Someone else mentioned lamppost charging cables, but I think that will be interim. Too many problems in bad weather, and with inconsistent placement of charging doors on cars.

      Check out WiTricity for an example of a wireless charger (that isn't intended for on-street parking).

    12. Re:What about urban use? by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      I agree with you, and this fits a bit with my own experience. I always get shouted down by the purists for saying this in the electric vehicle forums, but I think that PHEV will be the first electric car for many people, and then their next car will be BEV. As you say, there's a mental reluctance to jump into the BEV pool without knowing for sure that it will meet your needs.

      Having had a Tesla for a couple months, I can say there's nothing like having a big battery. It alleviates most of your range anxiety. I've had work days where I've had to drive all over Massachusetts and it works out just fine... So, either big battery or PHEV and most people will be happy. (of course we see some PHEVs with really crappy range like the new Subaru with 17 miles... Hopefully we'll see more and more like the Volt with 40-50 miles of electric range... With range like that it's pretty easy to use almost no gasoline at all).

    13. Re:What about urban use? by shilly · · Score: 1

      I think a ton of solutions will get tried. Buried wireless is a nice idea, but the costs are pretty high for deployment, and we're several generations away from having cars that can use it.

      Not sure what problems you think lamppost charging would have in bad weather? It's just a charging cable, which works fine in the winter in Norway when the weather is pretty shit. Similarly, the inconsistent placement of charging ports on cars is an issue today with charging posts whether they're in a lamppost or not, but BEV drivers manage fine.

    14. Re:What about urban use? by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      Well, we already have the problem that depending on the location of the charging port, it can take a pretty long cable to reach it. The Tesla is probably the worst because the charging port is on the road side of the car, so the cable has to be long, which means in snow and ice situations you're going to encounter the cable frozen to the ground when you try to drag it to your car... All while trying to negotiate icy streets/sidewalks. And having a long cable is asking for a snowplow to snag it as it goes by. And you know, just that much more of a chance of falling as you're trying to do this in a windy snowstorm. And making sure the charge cable isn't covered in snow that's going to eventually corrode the receptacle in your car. Just a bunch of minor annoyances.

      Driving into the parking space and activating the wireless charger before you even shut off the car seems a whole lot more convenient.

    15. Re:What about urban use? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Stopping with a carload of boys to charge for 2 hours along the way is ... not going to sell cars.

      Two things:
      1) The outdated idea that it will take 2 hours to charge your car. Even now in under an hour your X would be almost full, and that's not considering the larger superchargers that are going in everywhere.
      2) Why do you subject your poor scouts to such a long trip without a break? It's not healthy to be cramped in a car that long, and it certainly goes against all safety recommendations for driving such distances for a driver. If we can take a bus full of kids on a 12 hour road trip stopping several times for lunch for an hour at a time I'm sure your Model X would be more than suitable.

    16. Re:What about urban use? by shilly · · Score: 1

      I don't understand what you mean when you say: "you're going to encounter the cable frozen to the ground when you try to drag it to your car". EV drivers have cables that they carry with them. While a cable is being used to charge a car, it's going to create sufficient heat that it won't freeze to the ground.

      Charging cables are carefully designed to be usable in the snow and rain without corroding the car charging port.

      Honestly, these concerns you have are outside-in theoretical issues that haven't been an actual problem in practice.

    17. Re:What about urban use? by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      I've driven EVs for 5 years now and I don't carry a charging cable with me. I would say most people here don't unless they're going on a road trip and their worried that they may need to plug into some random electrical outlet like in an RV park...

      Sounds like you have a different setup where you are at (the public chargers I'm used to, the cord is part of the charger). Maybe light-pole chargers (sounds more like a plug, actually) won't have a cord and you'll have to carry one with you (which sounds pretty inconvenient if it has to be 20 feet long to make it from the charging port on your car to the light pole). It still is going to lie on the ground. And while it might generate enough heat to keep it above freezing while charging, if you show up at home and have to plug in, are you expecting that it'll still be charging the next day when you go to use the car? Or will it have stopped sometime during the night and cooled to ambient at which point it'll be frozen to the ground? (not to mention that L1 probably doesn't produce enough heat, and maybe even L2 wouldn't when the temperatures are below freezing).

      So what are the advantages to a setup like that versus a buried wireless charger in every parking space? I assume that on-street parking will be low voltage/current charging, meant to charge cars overnight, so the high voltage/current capability of a corded solution probably isn't that big an advantage in this use, compared to a high speed charger like a Supercharger. (WiTricity talks about 11 kW charging speeds, btw).

      I certainly think wireless is going to be more costly, so that's certainly a possible downside. Is there another reason that you don't like the wireless solution for on-street parking?

    18. Re:What about urban use? by shilly · · Score: 1

      The UK works on a very different setup from the US, clearly. People routinely have charging cables in their car here. I do, and so does every EV driver I know. They're 20ft long or more and look like this:
      https://www.evcableshop.co.uk/...
      They come in a neat little bag. They don't take up much room and aren't inconvenient.

      Buried wireless is obviously a better long term solution, but it requires new on-street infrastructure whereas lamp posts are already there, digging is super-expensive, induction won't charge as fast for a long while yet, any problems with the charger will be expensive to deal with because it will require more digging, and the cars themselves have to be totally redesigned. I'm more interested in near-term solutions.

  28. Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 5, Interesting
    VW always muddied the waters by using the term "electrified cars" to club together hybrids and pure electric cars. But it is now interesting it uses the term "combustion cars" and "carbon neutral". I hope they are not excluding hybrids from the "combustion cars" category.

    It is inevitable. The battery prices have been falling and have reached a tipping point. The battery pack cost estimate varies from 120 $/kWh to 150 $/kWh. (Battery cell prices range between 100 $./kWh to 130 $/kWh). The general consensus is when the battery pack costs 100 $/kWh the cost of electric power train (battery + motor + charger) will equal the cost of ICE power train (engine + transmission + emission control + gas tank). At that point BEV and ICEV will sell at the same price. BEV will cost three to five times less [FN1] compared to ICEV. At that point transition to BEV will be rapid.

    People who have never driven BEV are misled by the lack of visible charging infrastructure compared to gas stations. Tesla super chargers few and far between. What they don't realize is every home, every electrical outlet is a gas station. Charging time does not matter. Cars sit idle all night long, enough time to charge. In fact BEV people feel ICEV fueling takes too much time, having to stop by at the gas station every week or so.

    Also cars are the second most expensive thing bought by home owners, and the single most expensive thing bought by renters. When they see a big flux coming, things are unsettled, they post pone the decision to buy the next car. It will hurt ICEV companies a lot more than BEV companies.

    But vehicles are just the beginning. There is no new breakthrough needed in batteries. The breakthrough needed is in manufacturing, industrial engineering, assembly lines for batteries, volume production, etc, all are known issues with known solutions. We know how to do this, we are just struggling to figure out how to finance this. When battery packs cost 80 $/kWh in 2022 all vehicles, from 18 wheelers to earth movers to train locomotives will run on batteries. Oil demand falling by 50% creating a glut and gasoline price falling to 1 $/gallon .. even that will not stem the tide. ICEV will be more expensive than battery. At 60 $/kWh we can store three days worth of electricity used by the entire grid in batteries. Solar and Wind will be enough and all the coal/gas/oil fired powerplants will go bust.

    My friend works in a salt mine that ordered a 130 million dollar HVAC system because they are using diesel earth movers deep in the mine's confined spaces. In today's prices, you can buy 1 GWh of batteries, keep thm on 16 hour charge, 8 hour duty cycle, and run 40 earth movers, each using 500 HP motor operating 24/7. Only problem is 1 GWh of batteries is 2.5% of the world's battery making capacity! Look at the demand, look at the potential, the tipping point has been reached already. It is just a matter of ramping up the production volumes!

    [FN1] BEV, Tesla model 3, 75 kWh for 310 miles, 1 kWh = 12 cents, 2.9 cents/mile. Compare to 250 HP BMW X3 25 mpg, 3 $/gal, 12 cents. Ratio = 4.1, plug in your numbers, ratio can down to 2.5 or go up to 6.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gasoline at one dollar a gallon will kill electric cars. Sorry.

    2. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by shilly · · Score: 1

      Re that salt mine. This was an interesting Forbes story:
      https://www.forbes.com/sites/h...

    3. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Informative

      My 250HP Tesla 0 to 60 in 5 seconds. It is like getting gasoline at 75 cents a gallon. That is my running costs. You have no idea how cheap electrics are to run. Gasoline has to fall below 60 cents a gallon to match the running cost of BEV. It is the purchase price and lack of availability that is holding back BEV.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    4. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by svirre · · Score: 2

      Actually you do need a battery breakthrough. Current battery technology (lowest Co content available) would need 5-10x our current worldwide cobalt production if it were to be used in all personal cars alone, more if we were to use batteries for buses heavy transport, boats etc.

      To get battery production to scale we need essentially zero cobalt use or another tenfold reduction, but that would arguably mean the same thing: A completely new type of battery. Current zero Cobalt types of batteries is getting phased out due to too low energy density. (I.e. LiFePO4 and LiMn2O4.)

      Scaling up Cobalt production will take way too long. Cobalt is unfortunately not terribly abdundant and is mostly mined as a side product in copper and nickel mines.

      By the current rates we will start to hit a supply crunch of cobalt on around 2021-22

    5. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      Known reserves are one thing. Compared to how much we have spent on oil and gas exploration, cobalt is just starting. It is there, and we will find them.

      Amethyst was the most expensive gem in Europe for a while, more expensive than rubies and diamonds. Today you can buy a amethyst geode, several hundred pounds in weight, tastefully cut geode exposing the gem studded interior for a few hundred dollars in any natural curiosity store.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    6. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

      Yes, it would. Good thing that after taxes are deducted that puts you around $15/bbl.

      Gas will have its place for a long while-- I am surprised to not see much in the series hybrid (range extender) truck space for towing applications. But, it will be niche applications.

    7. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I can buy a Honda Accord new at $30K Canadian and buy another $30K of gas before I'm at your price point. That would probably take me the lifetime of the car.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    8. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by rl117 · · Score: 1

      In the US anyway. It's already very expensive in much of the rest of the world. And that's possibly not going to last. As electric takes over, it's going to reduce demand for liquid fuel, and that will have knock-on effects on refineries and the vast distribution infrastructure which delivers it to all the local stations. Once the negative feedback kicks in, and local stations close, the distribution network contracts and refineries are cut back, it's going to get increasingly expensive. And that will further drive electric adoption and be self-reinforcing. Probably not for a good while yet, but if electric takes off seriously it's just a matter of time. Plus, if the rest of the world switches over to electric before the US, there will be pressure due to supply chain economics as well.

    9. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You also get to use the roads for free since you aren't paying the gas tax. Thanks for that.

    10. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bought a used honda for $300 three years ago and I drive it all the time. Cost's $30 to fill it up every two weeks. I could drive for decades and still not have spent what you did for a Tesla.
      How much did you spend so you could pay 75 cents a gallon? I hope the virtue signalling was worth it.

      It's all the more funny when you realize climate models overestimate anthropogenic forcing, so you aren't even making a difference worth noting to begin with. LOL

    11. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Reduced demand brings prices down, not up.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    12. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It will be a cold day in hell before anyone here can afford to pay $30K for a car. Try 10. These luxury electrics aren't even on most peoples' radars.

    13. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by kackle · · Score: 1

      People who have never driven BEV are misled by the lack of visible charging infrastructure compared to gas stations. Tesla super chargers few and far between. What they don't realize is every home, every electrical outlet is a gas station. Charging time does not matter. Cars sit idle all night long, enough time to charge. In fact BEV people feel ICEV fueling takes too much time, having to stop by at the gas station every week or so.

      For complete discussion, millions of cars are not ever parked in electrified garages.

    14. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by dargaud · · Score: 1

      My 250HP Tesla 0 to 60 in 5 seconds

      Well, if you do that often, you'll pay in tires what you save in gas... A tesla owner once told me he has to change his tires every 4000km !

      --
      Non-Linux Penguins ?
    15. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by rl117 · · Score: 1

      In the short term, yes. But only the short term. Once there's less demand, that's going to result in knock-on effects in the medium term. Individual service stations aren't going to be economical, so there will be closures and consolidation (this already happened a decade or so back in the UK, due to the high prices). That means less deliveries, less road tankers needed, less storage capacity needed, and less demand for refineries, which will have to lower production. As demand reduces, the whole complex refining and distribution network will become less economical to operate. Once refineries themselves start to become uneconomical to operate, consolidating and closing, that will start to turn liquid fuels from a high-volume low-price commodity into a low-volume high-price specialty product because you'll have to get custom delivery from one of the few remaining refineries. The whole distribution network took decades to put in place, and it's costly to maintain. It will fall apart like a deck of cards when the foundation is knocked out. Without that distribution network, hauling your delivery is going to be expensive. A hundred years ago, hay production and distribution was of key importance to keeping cities and farms running, and was planned and monitored (such was the entrenched bureaucracy, original car registrations in London had a "hay allowance" IIRC). Today, hay is a niche market. The same will eventually come true for fossil fuels, and electric adoption will only hasten its demise. The transition might become sooner and more swiftly than we might think, once the tipping point is reached.

    16. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Well before that happens, EVs will need to be significantly more convenient. Right now they only work for 20% of the people 100% of the time. Before I buy one, I want to go out on the highway at -30C for eight hours or so and be very comfortable heat-wise and energy capacity-wise. I want to be able to drive out to my cottage and not worry about having to charge before turning around and driving back. Right now the early adopters seem to like them, but they are also the ones with no particular long range use.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    17. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Yeah fair enough. If you're talking about the masses, I think $10K is more reasonable to spend on a car.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    18. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      So Tesla Model 3 at 60K is the only thing competing with Accord? Soon, there will be a battery car with same level of performance and build quality as an Accord for the same price.

      Gas car or battery car, same price, take your pick. Think of two questions. 1. will I pick the gas car? 2. How many will pick the gas car.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    19. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      For complete discussion, millions of cars are not ever parked in electrified garages.

      They are parked near electric power lines. Adding a charger between the power lines and the car is not a difficult task. The only difficulty is scale, but you don't need every parking spot to have a charger all at once. So a gradual rollout will get the job done.

    20. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by rl117 · · Score: 1

      Absolutely agreed, it must be available and convenient to work. I'll bet that we'll see the existing service stations replaced by places you can relax for a bit while you wait for a charge half way. Coffee shops, cafes, restaurants, tourist attractions etc. with chargers in all the parking spaces. I'd be happy to take a half hour break four hours in. But even before we get to this point, the vast majority of trips are much shorter than this. The people I work with who have them (mainly Nissan Leafs) are all really happy with them, and either have a second family car or rent one for long distance trips. They use the electric for all their trips around town, school, work, shops, sports etc. and it already serves that need very well. They are now coming onto the second hand market in larger numbers, and I have no doubt they will affect the market economics of fuel powered vehicles over the next few years.

    21. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I think the biggest impediment to people buying EVs is the fact that an EV takes 30-40 minutes to 'fill'. Sure if they figure out how to get around that, EVs will start to sell to more people.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    22. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      When we go on a family trip, we pack a cooler and eat on the road so we can get to where we're going. No, we don't want to stop for a charge.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    23. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      No, it is not an impediment. It just shows you have not thought through EV ownership. That is all. I was like you, so it is not unusual.

      Just think how many days the car sat in the garage overnight for more than 4 hours. That is enough time to put in 150 miles of charge. Every day you start with full tank, so you are like to start with 150 miles already. So charging time is NOT the issue for your day to day driving.

      Long distance trips? Just think back. How many times in the last three years you drove more than 250 miles on a single day.. On those days, count the second and third filling you did. That is how often you would need "fast charge" or "super charge". It is not an issue at all.

      EVs will sell as soon as they reach price parity. There will be no reason to buy more than one gas car per family as soon as price parity is reached. As people get used to the idea of never visiting a gas station for city driving, always having enough range in the car in the morning, they will resent breaking their routine for a fill up. All the 10 minutes and 15 minutes saved during the city driving weeks will be spent on long distance driving. It would be at the most 45 minutes longer than using a gas car that is all. Given the cost savings, lots of people will accept it.

      But price parity must be achieved.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    24. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I got a used Chevy Volt (1st generation) for $12k. It still burns gas sometimes, but I've managed to save over $120 a month. They're damn efficient cars and at that price it's hard to come up with excuses not to get one. The newer generation is even more efficient.

    25. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      For complete discussion, millions of cars are not ever parked in electrified garages.

      For every car that is not parked in a garage, there are 10 cars parked in garages. We will get that market first. That market is big enough for BEV to thrive even if we never ever solve the issue of street parkers.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    26. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by kackle · · Score: 1

      I respectfully disagree. Look at any large, established city's street parking to see the scope of the problem.

      I live in the suburbs and don't want multiple, new (arguably dangerous) electrical outlets sticking out of the lawn 50'+ away from the house where the cars are parked.

    27. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 2

      Long distance trips? Just think back. How many times in the last three years you drove more than 250 miles on a single day..

      That doesn't matter at all if a requirement I have for the vehicle I buy is to take it on a long distance trip at least once.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    28. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      I am not an EV evangelist for environment reasons. I just want to deny the middle east their revenue source.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    29. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      The mistake you are making is, "if it is not good enough for me, it is not good enough for anyone".

      Fact is millions of other people would switch, and that is a big enough market for EVs to thrive.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    30. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Ok well I guess we will see won't we. Judging from the people I know, I am a fairly common use case.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    31. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Let me add, vehicles that people are falling over themselves to get don't normally need government incentives.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    32. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      Let us say you would not buy a quinoa burger. Does it mean, no body would either?

      World, is much much bigger than you. If you would not buy an EV, fine. No big deal, There are enough others who would.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    33. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      Good for you. That is 120$ not going to middle east every month.

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      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    34. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      True, and BEVs are getting there. BEVs will take over the world without any incentives. It will be sooner with incentives. In my opinion, it is a good thing and the government should expedite the transition with as much help as possible. I know you would disagree. You vote your way, I vote mine.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    35. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you just confirmed what OP was saying. That's not all of the equation though. There is far less maintenance on an EV needed. Some places get much cheaper electricity too, making EV even easier to run.
       
      I fall in a slightly different camp. I love EV's and want one. Not out of some cost savings, environmental savings, or anything of that sort. I just find it so stinkin' cool. Silent driving, crazy torque, the tech that goes into it. I find it all so interesting.

    36. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      ICEs need very little maintenance these days. You change the oil when you rotate the tires. Some vehicles need brakes more frequently then they should. That's about it. I've not even had to top up the coolant in anything made after 2000.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    37. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I think it's a pretty safe bet if I don't like quinoa burgers they will probably never replace regular hamburgers, if that is what you are asking.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    38. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      Yeah, do the math. For a Volt, on 110, if i remember the math it would take roughly 12 hours to fully charge. The Bolt i was looking at was in the range 4 miles/hour, or 50 hours to fully charge.

    39. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And what does the second family car use for fuel? I'm guessing it's not electricity...

    40. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For every car that is not parked in a garage, there are 10 cars parked in garages

      ...in some alternative reality where everything is reversed.

    41. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      The volts are really nice, it's a shame they're being discontinued. Everyone raves about the all electric Bolt, but to me driving the Volt felt like a car, while the Bolt felt like driving a kiddie car: all plasticy and vertical.

    42. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1 kWh = 12 cents

      You keep repeating that bullshit 140Mandak262Jamuna.
      Which utility company are you suggesting will tolerate you paying only half your electricity bill, because you refuse to pay them delivery charges for your electricity?

      And you obviously don't own a Tesla Model 3 (or any electric vehicle for that matter), if you're suggest BEV owners save electricity costs by not paying utility company delivery charges.

    43. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      What VW announced today is something like Oscar Meyer announcing it is not going to build any new real hamburger factories.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    44. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      Battery prices are falling. It looks like the battery + motor + charger cost is going to be equal to ICE+transmission+emission control+gas tank soon. There is no budget left to squeeze in an additional electric motor and another battery.

      Price parity between ICEV and BEV is on hand, withing 2 years. You will have a wide selection of cars, all shapes and sizes and prices, to your taste, same price gas or battery, take your pick. You might be disappointed by today's selection of BEV. It will change soon, and you will really really like a pure electric drive train. Handling and acceleration is amazing.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    45. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      Weekly gas fillings 10 minutes a week, (9 hours a year) changing oil and filter: one hour every four months, 3 hours a year ... These savings are not given their due credit when people obsess about 45 minute supercharge penalty on long distance driving.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    46. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      Thanks for the respect.

      Why do you think there are going to be outlets on the edges of lawns 50 feet away? Outlets will be in the garages and on the drive way. If will not be on the ground. Either on the walls, or may be on a short post.

      Have you seen what some folks do for their holiday lights? They casually run extension cords all over the lawn, without proper shielding or grounding in the snow and rain...

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    47. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      Tesla charges at the rate of 44 miles per hour at home.

      Tesla supercharges at the rate of 480 miles per hour (when the battery is low). Starting on an empty battery, supercharging is 8 miles min for 15 min, then 6 miles per min for the next 10, 4 miles per min for the next 20, 2 miles per min rest of the way.

      Now you know why Tesla is winning, right?

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    48. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Every company has a right to put themselves under.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    49. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      We don't change the oil and filter ourselves; we go shopping and have them do it and the vehicle is ready when we're done. As for 10 minutes a week, I consider it a more than adequate trade off if the alternative is to be stuck at a greasy spoon multiple times on a long trip.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    50. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      Look at any large, established city's street parking to see the scope of the problem.

      Which is what I was referring to when I called it a problem of scale.

      Fortunately, someone could make a lot of money by installing chargers, so the problem of scale will solve itself over time. And "over time" is an acceptable pace for this transition.

      It's not like we had tens of thousands of gas stations the moment Ford started building cars.

      new (arguably dangerous)

      Arguably under what possible criteria? We're not talking about a "surprised face" outlet like in your house. We're talking about something like in the picture in this article: https://www.reuters.com/brandf...

      The only "live" conductor in the plugs is the low-voltage one used to communicate between the car and the charger, and that (and all the other conductors) are covered by insulators. The conductors that actually supply power are inactive until the car and charger agree on what power to supply to the car. (And technically it's wrong to label the thing on the curb as the "charger". The charger is built into the car. The thing on the curb is supplying voltage to the charger)

      Also, there's these things call "Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters" if you believe it's actually possible to get around every other safety feature. While you're probably only familiar with the ones embedded in your kitchen plugs, the technology works at higher voltages.

      So what, specifically, is the dangerous thing?

    51. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      I don't know about arguably dangerous. The current chargers perform tests to insure continuity before non-signaling voltage and current are turned on.

      That said, I think that wireless charging is probably the future of on-street parking, and eventually public parking lots and parking garages as well.

      I think it's more a question of who's going to bear the cost of electrifying all those parking spaces?

    52. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      Well, unless you have a Tesla where the Superchargers make that simple.

      Hopefully all the other manufacturers will do the same thing. Certainly Tesla has shown that it's doable.

      Also, I know nobody likes to think this way, but if it was only once, or even once a year, renting a car is certainly a possibility. But I like the Supercharger approach even more.

    53. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by Trogre · · Score: 1

      $30k?

      Do you not have a second-hand EV market where you live?

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    54. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      We use the supercharger only for long distance trips. I save 10 minutes a week not going to the gas station. I save one hour per oil change, about 3 a year. Works out to some 12 hours saved per year. Typically a 500 mile one way trip will have one additional hour due to supercharging compared to gas car, once you include bathroom breaks and food breaks. That gives me 500 mile a day drives, 12 per year

      Yes, there are people who drive 800 miles without breaks. BEV is not suitable for such people. But for the vast majority of the normal people, 80 cents a gallon gas is the sweetener. If there is price parity between ICEV and BEV, the market will swing to BEV in a heartbeat.

      That tipping point is two years away. Three at most.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    55. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      So, if you can do something else during the oil change, then you dont count that time.

      But if I take a food / restroom break during my supercharging I don't get to discount that time.

      When I had my Prius I would drop it off at the dealer, and they have a shuttle that takes me to work. Evening they come to pick me up. It's pricey, 50$ for oil change. But my time is worth that. Still it is a pain, and I am glad I don't have to do that anymore.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    56. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      What? 90% of the cars are parked overnight in homes with garages. Are you thinking of parking garages that charge by the hour?

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    57. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      When you copy and paste you lose anonymity, my friend. You can do better than this. My electricity is 6 cents per kWh generation charge and 6 cents delivery charge. 200 amp service. Westpenn power.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    58. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      Take a look : https://shop.chooseenergy.com/...

      This is the generation charge. There is a 6 cent / kWh delivery and other charges from the utility.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    59. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      Current West Penn Power rate: 6.08 per KWh

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    60. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      It's not about you, it is about me. We pack a cooler when we go on the road and only stop for gas stops. So no, I don't want to add "eating trips" that we wouldn't normally make because of charging.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    61. Re:Interesting, "combustion cars" by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      They casually run extension cords all over the lawn, without proper shielding or grounding in the snow and rain...
      In my country extension cords have grounding build in. Thy are shielded just like any wire by plastic/rubber. You want to tell me you see folks running blank wires around?

      I live mostly in Thailand: the extension cords here even have their own fuse!! And they stop working if the grid frequency is shifting to much, aka: you plug the extension cord in and a power drain, the cord/plug does not connect if the grid frequency is out of shape already.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    62. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      I just want to deny the middle east their revenue source.
      Wow, how ignorant.

      The oil in "the middle east" is harvested by european and american oil companies. The "owners" of the land and oil get peanuts for it.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    63. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Reduced demand brings prices down, not up.
      In 101 (american) text book economics: yes.

      In the real world: no.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    64. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Right now they only work for 20% of the people 100% of the time.
      In your country/place perhaps.
      In my country they are convenient for 99% of all people.

      I want to be able to drive out to my cottage and not worry about having to charge before turning around and driving back. so your cottage is 500 miles away? Or you plan to visit a cottage nearby and then spend your time there driving around 500miles?

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    65. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Out here in the real world, only a few percent of homes have garages.

    66. Re: Interesting, "combustion cars" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Going bankrupt is not a form of winning.

  29. Scientific illiteracy on the political left by perpenso · · Score: 0

    why is this push so rabid

    Its due to scientific illiteracy on the political left. They can't separate high density liquid fuels and internal combustion from the current economical source of those fuels, petroleum. There is nothing standing between us and non-petroleum carbon neutral sources of these fuels other than some science and engineering.

    $1/liter $4/gallon carbon neutral gasoline may be feasible:
    https://reason.com/blog/2018/0...

    1. Re:Scientific illiteracy on the political left by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For that matter, there is nothing standing between us and cheap, long-lasting batteries other than some science and engineering? Or does it not work both ways?

    2. Re:Scientific illiteracy on the political left by perpenso · · Score: 1

      For that matter, there is nothing standing between us and cheap, long-lasting batteries other than some science and engineering? Or does it not work both ways?

      It does work both ways. However in certain situations the energy density of liquid fuels is advantageous. There is no universal solution, only one tool better for a particular job. If the sourcing of these liquid fuels could get to at least carbon neutral then ICE, jets, etc will have their particular niche jobs.

  30. CO2 Free by 2050 Study by prefec2 · · Score: 1

    Many EU countries want to be CO2 neutral by 2050. Even in Germany, where the government is overprotective of the car industry, had a couple of setbacks, i.e., in more and more cities older diesel cars are no longer allowed to enter town, even a highway will get blocked. So there is a lot of pressure to go out of fossil fuels. If your home market is changing, you have to adapt.

  31. "Full or partly electric" by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

    "Full or partly electric" doesn't mean that all of their cars will be 100% battery-electric. Sounds like a mix of battery cars and plug-in hybrids (yes, powered by ICE engines when not charged from the mains).

    1. Re:"Full or partly electric" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hopefully they don't do like a lot of car companies have done, have a plug in EV that goes some pathetic amount like 15 miles before switching to gas. I swear these only exist to get the good parking spaces.

    2. Re:"Full or partly electric" by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      Yeah, no. I almost bought a Chevy Volt , 53 miles on the battery before having to use gas to recharge the battery.
      The only thing that stopped me.
      1) the car i was replacing refused to die, and I'm a cheapskate
      2) I'd have to install better charging in my condo, and would have to deal with the HOA to do it.
      3) my job doesn't have chargers anywhere near, and it's approx. 85 miles round trip, meaning it would switch to gas for most of the drive back. However, in a more sane commute this thing would pretty much go all the way electric, and no worry about the battery dying.

  32. Re:So then power-plant software needs "tweaking".. by shilly · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Of course things are won:
    1. Powerplants can have better scrubbers and run more efficiently than cars, because they're much larger and the load is more predictable.
    2. You shift particulate and other emissions out of urban centres

    #2 alone is worth its weight in gold. I went to the University of Cambridge. The old buildings there had to have their stone washed down on a regular basis to clean off the soot from vehicles. If that soot were all shifted to the stacks of powerpoints, that would be great

  33. Bit premature if you ask me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lot of the world won't have anywhere close to being able to have the infrastructure to support all electric vehicles. I guess if VW wants to abandon sales in those areas then so be it. Personally, I think unless battery capacity improves greatly, or fossil fuels increase in price significantly. It will be a hard sell to go all electric in parts of the world. Its very possible that another fuel replacement will happen before electric can even get a foothold.

  34. Re:Awesome. Fuck rural AmeriKKKA... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, fuck the farmers that make our food! And the forestry workers to gather our wood! And the miners to gather our metals! How dare they not move into the city.

    Farmers? Who needs farmers? Just buy your food at the grocery store, you moron! That way no trucks or tractors are needed, and you can buy meat for which no animals needed to be killed! It's SO simple! Any fool can see it!
    .
    .
    .
    Yes - that was sarcasm. VERY heavy sarcasm.
    .
    And yet, there are snowflakes out there who believe that's how it all works.
    .
    Scary.

  35. Re: So then power-plant software needs "tweaking". by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You forgot nuclear, wind, my Solar panels. Besides, even coal plants are more efficient than individual motors wasting energy to heat and noise.

  36. Re:why is this push so rabid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So short sighted. If electrical infrastructure ever gets knocked out, or goes down, transportation is done.

    The market takes care of that. If people want a stable electric infrastructure, they pay for it. They do that where I live, and did even before EVs were a thing. I had 2 years uptime on a home server without UPS - electricity is that stable. And even if power comes and goes, an EV simply resumes charging when the power comes back.

    Now, if Iran and Saudi Arabia has a war, oil might get expensive. But my transport will be as cheap as ever.

  37. RIP VW 2026 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Executives around the globe are working hard to kill their own companies.

  38. No They Won't by segedunum · · Score: 1

    I'm sure their customers, and those of other companies jumping on the EV bandwagon, will pay for it though.

  39. Most amazing part by havoc · · Score: 1

    The most amazing part of this post to me is that VW is still "working on... vehicles that aren't CO2 neutral." I had imagined that after the huge scandal VW was involved in that they would have taken this opportunity to switch over to electric for nearly 100% of their consumer based product lines.

    1. Re:Most amazing part by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      Currently, the planet does not make enough batteries for VW to switch.

      That's a scaling issue though, so it should change over time. But it means VW can't switch right now.

  40. Re:So then power-plant software needs "tweaking".. by mark-t · · Score: 3, Informative

    f the "E" for the "E-cars" comes from coal/oil/gas power-plants, then nothing is won in terms of "avoiding to poison the environment"

    Actually, there still is.... even in areas where electricity production is still dirty, an electric car will still "produce" about 3 tons less carbon pollution per year than an ICE vehicle itself would. While that savings might not be as significant in terms of its environmental impact in areas where energy production is coal based, it is still quite far from "nothing".... and would definitely add up quickly as electric cars become more common.

  41. Re:why is this push so rabid by rkordmaa · · Score: 1

    "does electricity make less CO2 overall?" Unless you concoct some horribly biased comparison scenario, yes. For your average car and your average grid, electric is a clear win in terms of CO2. Not by like order of magnitude or anything, but by a simple fact that bigger heat engines are generally more efficient. Power plants are really big heat engines in comparison to car engines. If you have reasonable amount of carbon free or neutral power on your grid it's an even bigger win.

  42. So this means..... by bobbied · · Score: 0

    Volkswagen is going out of business so it's time to start the short selling.

    Seriously? VW, if it wants to stay in business, needs to be building the cars folks want to buy. If that's non-combustion cars, build those, it's internal combustion cars, build those too.

    The problem here is that EV's are basically viable because of tax breaks and subsidies here in the USA, oh and the CAFE fleet mileage standards which forces the price of internal combustion powered vehicles to subsidize EV offerings.

    Assuming they are serious, it's time to amass a pile of shorts... I figure they are as serious as the guy threatening to jump off a 1 story building...

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  43. Emergencies by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

    I"m waiting for someone to have a heart attack or other serious medical emergency at home and their car isn't charged enough to make it to the hospital. It's going to happen. Life events aren't always so predictable that you can wait overnight for a charge. Let's hope VW makes a car that can charge in 20 minutes or less.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    1. Re:Emergencies by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      I"m waiting for someone to have a heart attack or other serious medical emergency at home and their car isn't charged enough to make it to the hospital.

      If only there was some sort of emergency vehicle that was regularly employed to transport people suffering medical emergencies. We could even put lights and sirens on them so that they could get to the hospital far faster than driving a regular passenger car. Perhaps even staff the vehicle with medical professionals who could provide some care during transport.

    2. Re:Emergencies by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      There it is. The shark jumping moment for opposition to EVs.

    3. Re:Emergencies by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I don't know what paramedic services are like in your area, but I live in a sparsely populated Canadian province. Some people wait for an hour for an ambulance as it is. Also a lot can't afford it. They certainly don't need more pressure from people who have an unusable vehicle in their driveways.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    4. Re:Emergencies by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      Some people wait for an hour for an ambulance as it is.

      Vote for better politicians that will actually fund basic services.

    5. Re:Emergencies by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      So, this sort of happened to me... A few weeks ago we got an emergency call at 2:00 am and we had to jump in the Tesla and head halfway across the state. Since I wasn't planning a trip, the car was only charged to 70%... That was plenty to make the trip and back. There were two Superchargers I went by on that trip, so if 70% hadn't been enough I could have stopped for 10 minutes and gotten enough to finish the trip.

      What if the car had been driven down to 20% and I forgot to charge it? Again, 10 minutes at the Supercharger would have been enough to get to the destination, and then I could have charged at the other Supercharger before I came home.

      You have to construct a really unlikely scenario before a car like the Tesla M3LR won't work as well as an ICE.

      So, in a case like that I guess you call for Lyft or Uber... but it's not really realistic.

      Also, the scenario where the "car isn't charged enough" is pretty unlikely anyway, since you tend to plug in all the time. The car simply isn't sitting around uncharged in normal use.

    6. Re:Emergencies by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      But you payed a lot of money for a Tesla so you can use a supercharger. Most people aren't going to pay that much. They will have a Leaf. Would that have gone the same if you had a Leaf?

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    7. Re:Emergencies by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      I"m waiting for someone to have a heart attack or other serious medical emergency at home and their car isn't charged enough to make it to the hospital.
      What exactly is the difference between a car not charged enough or a car not having enough gasoline?

      Sorry, to rub it into your face: but if you are to stupid to call an ambulance but want to drive your beloved ones yourself to hospital, you either are an idiot, live in a third world country, or both! (or you have no health insurance ...)

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    8. Re:Emergencies by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      ... I live in a sparsely populated Canadian province.
      Nice, so you have universal health care.

      Also a lot can't afford it.
      Nonsense: as you have universal healthcare!

      They certainly don't need more pressure from people who have an unusable vehicle in their driveways.
      No idea what that is supposed to mean. What do you care if my vehicle in my driveway is unusable? ... wait for an hour for an ambulance as it is.
      Yeah, but that ambulance brings the doctor already. So ... you prefer to drive yourself and risk being stuck somewhere ... why?

      And if matters are really tough: the helicopter is certainly faster than your car ... regardless if gasoline driven or electric.

      WTF: why do you idiots always bring up stupid edge cases (which are wrong anyway) to argue why electric cars don't work?

      What about your cell phones reception ...

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    9. Re:Emergencies by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      We have universal healthcare, but we still have to pay for ambulances.. otherwise people would use them as a free taxi to the hospital. Each ambulance ride costs the government $2K so we are encouraged to bring ourselves in as much as we can.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    10. Re:Emergencies by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Sorry,
      I don't believe that you have to pay for an ambulance, that makes no sense.

      Each ambulance ride costs the government $2K
      Thats bollocks.

      The ambulance has a driver and a doctor. Lets cost them together $20,000 per month, and they work 20 days, that is $2000 per day not per call. And the cost of the car is neglible.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    11. Re:Emergencies by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Well, the fact that you don't believe me doesn't make it any less true. We don't pay the whole $2000, we pay something like $450.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    12. Re:Emergencies by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      My day is never quite complete if I don't get input from the anal retentive crowd. Thank you for that.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    13. Re:Emergencies by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      You want to tell me if there is a car crash and you call an ambulance for a dying driver that you have to pay $450 for the ambulance? Sorry: no way!

      Perhaps the person brought to hospital has to pay, and that will be payed by health insurance and not by the person in question. And in the example of the car accident such costs would be covered in the end by the "guilty" party who caused the accident.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  44. A: Because it disrupts the flow of the reader by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2

    Q: Why is it incredibly irritating to start a comment in the Subject: line?

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  45. lack of petrol will kill 'em first by petes_PoV · · Score: 1
    We won't stop driving petrol / diesel cars because the manufacturers stop making them. We will be forced off them as petrol stations close.

    Once the volume of sales makes orthodox refuelling stations uneconomic, or their is more money to be made from recharging electric cars, it will become more and more difficult to find somewhere to refill the tank. After that there will be a tipping point, where it is simply too hard to keep a non-electric vehicle running.

    Not only will the bottom fall out of the market, but the demand for electric vehicles will surge, since there will be no viable alternatives. This could all happen very quickly. Well before government target dates for the banning of new sales for non-electric cars.

    --
    politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
  46. Where are all the charging stations? by erp_consultant · · Score: 1

    Aside from California, very few states here in the USA have undertaken the effort of installing charging stations for electric cars. For most people, charging the cars at home is the only option. A few businesses have installed charging stations but those are few and far between.

    For fully electric cars to be successful we will need at least half as many charging stations as they are gas stations. Who is going to build them? Is our electric grid up to the task of handling all that extra load?

    1. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by poobah75 · · Score: 2

      Since owning an EV, this has to be the most common misconception, and the most common thing people ask about. Check out the https://www.plugshare.com/ map, and start zooming out for an assortment of options. I am fortunate that my closest charging station is in my garage. When I go on long trips, the supercharger map https://www.tesla.com/supercha... is built into my navigation, so I can see exactly where my next stop needs to be. It even tells me how much energy is needed for round-trip. In addition, my father-in-law runs a ranch in rural ND, and even he has a 50A NEMA 6-50 circuit for his welder I can plug my car into for 37 mile-per-hour charging.

    2. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      If someone removes a charging station, or a charging station breaks, are they legally obligated to report it to the website immediately? Because no way will I trust a website if I am on a road trip in the middle of nowhere unless people are required to update it or be penalized a huge amount. People are lazy, and these will get out of date. Meanwhile, I may be planning to get to that one charging station in the middle of nowhere.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    3. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by SpiceWare · · Score: 2

      With enough range, home charging is more than adequate for daily use. Saves time too, my time spent refueling went from 5-10 minutes per week to just 42 seconds when I traded in my Honda S2000 for a Tesla Model 3; that's 6 seconds per day, 3 to plug in when I get home and 3 to unplug when I leave.

      We're still early in the switch to EVs, so non-home charging will depend upon where you live. Here in the suburbs of Houston I have a number of options to charge while I'm out grocery shopping(Krogers, Whole Foods, etc.), dinning out (Rudy's BBQ, Cracker Barrel, etc), shopping (Kohl's, Target, Walgreens, etc), or even entertainment (AMC movies). I don't use any of them though, it's less expensive to plugin at home. There are a number of apartment complexes around town that feature EV charging, so home charging does not require you to rent or own a house.

      For road trips Tesla's where it's at for the time being, everything else is inconsistent and requires various memberships and such. They also charge a lot more for the electricity than what I pay at the Superchargers, about $4 for 100 miles of range here in Texas; about because they can't sell by the kWh due to state laws, so pricing is by the minute at 2 tiers based on the rate of charge.

      The grid has excess capacity in the middle of the night, so much so that many electric providers like mine (Green Mountain 100% wind power) offer free-nights electric plans to entice people to shift their usage patterns. I recently switch to this plan from one that was a flat rate of $0.1226/kWh (all taxes & transmission fees in these numbers). My new daytime rate is $0.2664/kWh, which seemed scary, but it's $0 from 8pm to 6am. I set my car to start charging at midnight, and learned how to use the delayed start feature on my washer & dishwasher. With those 3 changes most of my usage shifted to the $0 rate, which resulted in me averaging out at $0.0972/kWh for my November bill(down 20% from my previous plan).

      With that $0.0972 average, the electricity cost to make my Model 3 go 310 miles is $7.83. My S2000, which required premium gas, cost $43.50 in fuel for that same range.

    4. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      If someone removes a charging station, or a charging station breaks, are they legally obligated to report it to the website immediately?

      if a gas station shuts down, or runs out of fuel, or the pumps break, are they legally obligated to report it to whatever navigation site you're using? You might be planning to get to that one gas station in the middle of nowhere, only to find Jethro decided to close 3 hours ago.

    5. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      No, but there will always be another gas station down the street no matter where you are. Really, this isn't a problem with gas stations unless you are really in the middle of nowhere.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    6. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If a gas station runs out of fuel are they legally obligated to report it to a website immediately?

    7. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by shilly · · Score: 1

      Here's how one charge point provider in the UK thinks about this: people will charge where they were going anyway. That largely means one of four types of charging: at home, at work, en-route and destination charging. Many destinations will want to use chargers as a way to attract EV drivers. You know how people say "EVs are only for rich people"? Well, that makes EV drivers a pretty attractive segment if you're a supermarket, an easy way for you to drive up average basket spend in your stores. Indeed, Tesco in the UK are doing exactly that, offering 4 free 7kW chargers in each of 600 stores (plus a load of 50kW chargers too). Obviously, the marginal additional load of 28kW of potential charging is pretty trivial vs the existing load that a Tesco store will use (refrigeration, HVAC, lighting, bakery etc).

    8. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you need to clarify what a "road trip" is. Is it a trip in excess of the furthest round trip you can make from your home (one half of the estimated maximum range). If that is the case, and with the average total max distance of most cars falling under 80 miles (129 Kilometers). This then puts the trip I make once week between Chanhassen, MN and Oakdale, MN nearly into the "Road Trip" category, even though neither city is outside of the Twin Cities suburban metropolitan area.

      Realistically, electric cars should be accompanied by an uptick in public transportation, with personal vehicles relegated to trips between suburban points and all other trips taken on the local bus or train. This would take the strain off the roads and allow us to scale back on road construction and maintenance. Intercity fast rail connections would help as well

    9. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      No, but there will always be another gas station down the street no matter where you are. Really, this isn't a problem with gas stations unless you are really in the middle of nowhere.

      And the same applies to charging stations. There's lots, except for "the middle of nowhere".

      Also, as more EVs are bought, there will be more charging stations. Especially since they're incredibly cheap to install (compared to a gas station), and everything you need to "run" the charging station is already present - you need electricity. And that's it.

      Someone is going to make a shitload of money being the "Standard Oil" of car chargers. Just like someone made a shitload of money being the "Standard Oil" of gas stations.

    10. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      But my requirement for a charging station is higher than for a gas station. A gas station just has to be anywhere my car is when it is running out of gas. A charging station has to be somewhere I actually want to sit around for the time it takes to charge. I don't want to sit at a doughnut shop to charge if I don't also want a doughnut and coffee at that time.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    11. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Also, the creation of charging stations may not keep up to the amount of EVs bought. The wait for one may very well increase as more people have them.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    12. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      But my requirement for a charging station is higher than for a gas station

      Yes, but you're still thinking of the charging station as a gas station. It is not a place you go to every other week to charge, like a gas station is. It isn't 4 to 12 spaces that you use briefly during your day.

      Your primary charging station is at/near your house. You plug your car in when you get home from work and it's full in the morning. It doesn't matter if it took 4 hours to charge the battery, because you were asleep.

      If you're trying to do a road trip that's more than 300-ish miles, well first congratulations for being part of a very small minority of drivers. Second, you plug into something that will charge your car enough in about 30 minutes to an hour while you take a break from driving and eat.

    13. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      This might have been a legitimate concern with BEVs only having a range of 80-90 miles, but the newer ones with > 200 miles of range... it's similar to the gas station: if one charger is broken you have enough charge to get to the next one.

      I plan on arriving at my next charging location with 20% battery to spare. That's 60 miles in the Tesla at rated efficiency. Plenty to get to the next charger. And I'll second the plug (ha!) for Plugshare. People do check-ins so you know which chargers are broken (which isn't that common anyway). In fact, stupid ICE drivers parking in charging spots was a bigger issue than broken chargers. That'll be solved when municipalities allow a BEV to have an ICE towed when it blocks a charger...

      When I had a BEV with 85 miles of range I used Plugshare all the time... and never got stranded or even close to stranded. You can make up scary scenarios all day, but the reality is that it's not an issue, and especially so with the cars with large batteries.

    14. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      Also, the creation of charging stations may not keep up to the amount of EVs bought.

      You vastly overestimate how difficult it is to install a charger.

      The wait for one may very well increase as more people have them.

      You will not be charging your car like you fill up for gas. It isn't a brief stop during your day. You will be charging your car overnight, every night.

      If you happen to be among the very small number of people who do >200-300 mile road trips, you will be charging your car while you stop for a break and eat.

    15. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      But we don't take breaks when we are driving as a family. We just stop at gas stations. It's how we roll.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    16. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      30 minutes isn't a "brief stop"

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    17. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      I guess I'll just copy-n-paste this until you start actually reading all of it.

      You will not be charging your car like you fill up for gas. It isn't a brief stop during your day. You will be charging your car overnight, every night.

    18. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      And I've told people 100 times over, I"m not worried about when I am at home.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    19. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      But we don't take breaks when we are driving as a family. We just stop at gas stations. It's how we roll

      You are causing physical damage to you and your families bodies, as well as greatly increasing the likelihood that you will cause a car accident. Take breaks.

    20. Re:Where are all the charging stations? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Oh brother. It's not like we do it every day. And no we are not going to cause an accident.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  47. The Market by NetNed · · Score: 1

    So are all these automakers ignoring the market that doesn't want electric or self-driving cars? We are going to continue to act like people don't buy trucks and SUV's so much more than other vehicles? In addiction there have been so many studies that show EV are actually worse for the environment. We ignoring those too? We hear that they are doing so for the stock investors, but where have we ever seen it being a good business model to focus on things that don't sell? The best selling EV sells just barely over 8000 a year on good years, about 4000 in bad years. Compare that 890,000 plus trucks from Ford alone.

    1. Re:The Market by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No study shows that EVs are worse for the environment than gasoline vehicles. The studies carefully compare the environmental impact of the EV's entire production and logistics chain, and compare it to the pollution cost of *keeping* your old car and continuing to drive it on an ongoing basis.

      If you compare apples to apples, e.g. the production plus running costs of both, EVs clearly pollute less.

  48. deisel gate 2.0 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In other news VW has been proactively busted for hiding an internal combustion engine in their all electric cars that engages after testing is over.

  49. EV are the future by geekymachoman · · Score: 0

    When they solve the refilling problem.

    I'm not trolling, i'm just voicing my opinion of them so downvote if you have to.. but idea of not being able to "charge" my car within 3 minutes is a problem.
    Also, I don't know how car batteries work, but my tank doesn't loose capacity after 8 years of putting LPG or fossil fuels in it.

    1. Re:EV are the future by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I agree with you completely. I'd be very uncomfortable with a vehicle I couldn't have at full capacity within 20 minutes or so. I think EV proponents have very predicable lives but mine just isn't. There are unexpected emergencies and trips required from time to time.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    2. Re:EV are the future by jeff4747 · · Score: 2

      but idea of not being able to "charge" my car within 3 minutes is a problem.

      Why?

      The primary use for all cars is for commuting to work. That drive is, on average, less than 50 miles round-trip. The vehicles have >200 mile range when fully charged. So you do your commute and get home with 150 miles left in the batteries....and plug the car in.

      In the morning, you're back at 200 miles.

      With an EV, you don't stop at a "charge station" for a fill-up every other week. You plug it in every night.

      Road trips? They're actually quite rare these days. The majority of drivers never do one. If they do, you either plan your breaks around meals and charging, or you rent an ICE vehicle, or if you do them regularly enough you don't buy an EV.

      "But muh on-street parking!": If EVs take off as expected, chargers will be added all over the place because it would make money for the people who own the chargers. Much like gas stations were installed all over the place when gasoline cars took off.

    3. Re:EV are the future by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

      You're right about the 'refill anxiety', but I'm not sure that your fuel efficiency will necessarily be just as good once the car ages 8 years as it was when all those seals and sensors were new.

    4. Re:EV are the future by Ichijo · · Score: 1

      idea of not being able to "charge" my car within 3 minutes is a problem.

      Having to go to a gas station to fill up is a problem for me.

      my tank doesn't loose capacity after 8 years of putting LPG or fossil fuels in it.

      You can replace any failed battery cells.

      --
      Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
    5. Re:EV are the future by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      That's why i like the Volt. Charge away, but backup on gas if needed. Apparently GM doesn't agree with me.

    6. Re:EV are the future by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

      I have a Volt (and a Tesla) and I agree that a PHEV, especially one like the Volt with 40-50 miles of electric range is a great way to ease into EV for many people.

      I hope GM is planning on using the Volt powertrain to produce a crossover PHEV. Not sure, I know they said their future is BEV, but I think for the next decade a lot of people will want the insurance of having the gas engine for backup.

  50. Challenge: Replace this with pure EV by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It takes less than 3 minutes to put 90 gallons of diesel in my pickup truck (truck diesel pumps are 40 gallons/min). That 90 gallons gets me about 1000 miles round trip with my empty cargo trailer going out and 10,000lbs in tow coming back.

    Give me an HD truck that will do that on a single charge, at the same price (about $50K), and I'll buy it today. (you may use up to 40 gallons of the bed for battery storage, in allowance of my current 40 gallon in-bed aux tank)

    1. Re:Challenge: Replace this with pure EV by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      EVs will need to have a full day of driving on a charge in order to be practical for most. No one wants to lose the ability to choose where they stop on a road trip and for how long.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    2. Re:Challenge: Replace this with pure EV by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is why EVs are a no go for me. Until one can have the charge capacity to drive at 70mph down the highway for 14 hours and the speed charging to top of that nearly empty battery in the 10hrs or so one might stop at a hotel overnight, or the speed charging capability to take that high capacity battery from 3/4ths full to topped off in 15min or so that you might stop every few hours for restroom breaks and to stretch, I will keep buying ICE vehicles, or at least hybrids.

    3. Re:Challenge: Replace this with pure EV by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to mention I do not think the charging problem is solved for those who might only be city or suburban dwellers and only use their vehicles to primarily commute to/form work. The local distribution substations, grid and distribution transformers were not built out for the capacity of everyone in a neighborhood charging their cars overnight drawing the same kind of power draw over 6-8 hours that a typical house hold might use in a whole day or two. Just look at what happens today in regions that get heat waves and the power grid chokes from the air conditioning demand and rolling blackouts get put in place.

      My guess is at some point power companies will make scheduled pricing at the residential level more common and start instituting surcharges for high demand electrical use overnight to encourage people to charge at different times per day, rather than having everyone arrive home from work at 6-7pm, plug in their EV to charge and brown out the neighborhood grid during prime time in the evening from every car trying to charge at once. Or some policy put in place like the watering restrictions some regions have put in place, with particular addresses only being allowed to charge on certain days of the week, easily enforced with smart meters.

    4. Re:Challenge: Replace this with pure EV by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ??????

      I can only drive my ICE based vehicle for 5 hours before the tank goes DRY, what do you drive that goes 12/24 hours on a tank?!?

    5. Re:Challenge: Replace this with pure EV by jezwel · · Score: 1

      EVs will need to have a full day of driving on a charge in order to be practical for most. No one wants to lose the ability to choose where they stop on a road trip and for how long.

      Really? A full day of driving for the required range? When was the last time you drove for an entire day? How often do you drive for a full day? How often do 'most people' drive for a full day?

      Casting my mind back, the last time I drove for 'a full day' was in 2000, when I was moving ~1000 miles away and drove my car rather than having it shipped. A full day's driving has occurred maybe a dozen or two times in 30 years of driving - I seriously doubt that 'most' people will need 500+miles of charge before an EV becomes practical.

      Heck, 100 miles per charge would see me through ~99% of use cases, so make it 200 miles per charge and that's a lot of safety buffer.

    6. Re:Challenge: Replace this with pure EV by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      We always drive for a full day. Pack a cooler, eat on the road. 8 hours later and a couple gas stops and we're at our hotel. We don't spend money on restaurants, it's just not something we want to do.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  51. An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Instead of pumping it out of the ground, MAKE IT from the CO2 in the air using renewable (wind, solar, etc) power. This way we don't have to scrap the enormous fleet of ICE cars we already have in place. It would be a way to give us time to get to "near carbon neutral" using the infrastructure we already have in place!

    1. Re:An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by shilly · · Score: 0

      And the great thing about your proposal is that we don't have to solve any wildly difficult problems to make it happen! After all, we definitely know how to harvest CO2 at scale from the air and turn it into fuel.

    2. Re:An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by shilly · · Score: 0

      That was sarcasm, I should have said

    3. Re:An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by hipp5 · · Score: 1

      Instead of pumping it out of the ground, MAKE IT from the CO2 in the air using renewable (wind, solar, etc) power. This way we don't have to scrap the enormous fleet of ICE cars we already have in place. It would be a way to give us time to get to "near carbon neutral" using the infrastructure we already have in place!

      Maybe if we had an abundance of wind and solar power, but we don't. Any wind or solar capacity you used to convert CO2 to fuel would be energy diverted away from reducing coal use in electricity generation. And that's assuming you could find a way to do it at a cost that was even anywhere close to just pumping fuel out of the ground.

      And we don't have to scrap the enormous fleet of ICE cars; they scrap themselves over a period of 20 years. The key thing is to make sure their replacements are EVs as soon as possible, so we don't keep pushing out that scrap period indefinitely.

    4. Re:An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by orzetto · · Score: 4, Insightful

      While CO2 is wreaking havoc on the planet's climate, it is still a small fraction of air, around 500 ppm, and is chemically inert (well, it's a combustion product, so obviously...). Extracting CO2 from the air is very difficult. You can use current technology with biofuels, though these are obtained by fermentation and have a short shelf life. For example, biodiesel is OK for city buses because they run around regularly, but if you fill your diesel car with biodiesel and park it at the airport for 2 weeks while on holiday, you may find a nasty surprise when you try to start it again and the fuel has precipitated solids.

      The infrastructure for EVs is way more pervasive than fossil fuels today. I am en EV owner (Nissan Leaf) and I almost never need to use fast charging: overnight charging at 2 kW covers over 95% of my needs. Just connect it in the evening and it will be ready the day after. Fast chargers are a necessity for longer travels, but charging at home is a whole lot cheaper.

      And since I often hear the argument "but what if everyone charges their car at the same time?", well that just does not happen. The grid would collapse also if everyone started their washing machines at the same time, but that does not happen. Sure, the grid will need some strengthening here and there, but there is plenty of time to do it, consumers are not going to buy EVs all at the same time.

      --
      Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
    5. Re: An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, we do. We can plant and burn trees.

    6. Re:An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. The conversion process is inefficient. ICE vehicles are even more inefficient. The energy you put into velocity is converted to heat through friction in order to stop, in addition to carrying weight for the systems that bleed energy directly from the engine in order to keep it from overheating, in addition to the energy that goes directly out the tailpipe.

      Never mind the Walmart parking lots covered in oil puddles, that drain directly into the watershed where the salmon spawn.

    7. Re: An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by shilly · · Score: 1

      Did you miss the part about "at scale"? We can't plant enough trees to create the fuel to power all our vehicles, not even close.

    8. Re: An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      We can't plant enough windmills either.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    9. Re:An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      Sure, I'll just start up my carbon sequestration plant where giant vents suck in air, and oil comes out a pipeline on the other side of the building, as well as depleted-CO2-air being exhausted back out. I already have hundreds of these giant superclean industrial facilities utilizing technology that doesn't exist built for free, and the only waste product is rainbows and happy panda bears that are more than willing to reproduce and repopulate the species!

      While asking for solutions that don't exist and don't even have technology anywhere close to prototyping, why don't you just ask that world hunger and poverty should be solved tomorrow, and that everyone that wants one can get a pony too?

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    10. Re:An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Extracting CO2 from the air is very difficult." - Not really, you grow trees, turn them into paper and throw the used paper into the Carbon Sequestration Facility aka The Landfill.

      And you've confusing biodiesel with SVO, so you don't really know anything about biodiesel.
      The grid would collapse if people started their washing machines at the same time? That's completely BS.

    11. Re:An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The grid would collapse also if everyone started their washing machines at the same time, but that does not happen.

      Bad comparison. Most people would be charging their cars around the same time every night. Not everyone needs to do laundry every night.

    12. Re:An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Any wind or solar capacity you used to convert CO2 to fuel would be energy diverted away from reducing coal use in electricity generation.
      There are always surplus peaks. And At night you usually have more wind power than you can consume or store.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    13. Re:An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      but if you fill your diesel car with biodiesel and park it at the airport for 2 weeks while on holiday, you may find a nasty surprise when you try to start it again and the fuel has precipitated solids.
      That is bollocks.

      And if you ever had bought some oil in a super market to make salad, you knew that.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    14. Re:An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lots of organisms find extracting CO2 from the atmosphere to be pretty easy.

    15. Re:An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      does not happen because there just are not that many EVs on the road.. no way our infrastructure can handle even 25% of vehicles being electric right now, let alone all.

    16. Re:An alternative approach is to tweak ICE fuel by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      While CO2 is wreaking havoc on the planet's climate, it is still a small fraction of air

      Huh? CO2? Who cares about CO2. How about reducing NOx emissions in the city, and reducing PM2.5 and PM10 emissions.
      CO2 isn't reducing my life expectancy.

  52. No loss by PPH · · Score: 1

    Volkswagen had a very limited line of bro-trucks anyway.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  53. Re:So then power-plant software needs "tweaking".. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Number 2 isn't really a benefit. The country doesn't want your particulates.

  54. We Make Clean Diesels! by sdinfoserv · · Score: 1

    Gee, why are nitrogen oxide levels increasing?
    From a company that lied to the entire planet....sorry, don't buy it, or any other VW / German diesel, don't care.

    1. Re:We Make Clean Diesels! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Last time, I checked, the German brands were the only ones that actually met Euro 6 in practice according to several independent studies.

  55. These will never be on market by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    By 2022-3, if not sooner, EVs will be the large majority of car sales. Many car makers will see their sales plummet because they are not moving fast enough to EVs.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:These will never be on market by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      So you're saying in five years ( or less ), EVs be the majority? I'll take that bet. Even money?

    2. Re: These will never be on market by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Ok. I'm saying that new cars ( no commercial or light trucks ) sales in America, by end of 2023, will drop to less than 1/2 of where they are today, and of that, more than 1/2 will be EVs. I exclude light trucks because there will likely only be 2 ev truck manufacturers, Rivian and Tesla. Is that what you are agreeing to?

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    3. Re: These will never be on market by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you walked back your complete idiocy from before claiming in 3 years no more gas cars. But this one is almost as moronic.
      And then you pull a bait and switch, because you know Americans aren't buying EV's they are going for gas guzzling trucks instead.
      Why else do you think your transport CO2 is increasing?

  56. As if I don't get lied to enough in one day. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can get vroom vroom from speakers.

    That shit is for limp-dicked Trump supporters who need to be lied to.

  57. Re:why is this push so rabid by mark-t · · Score: 1

    For your average car and your average grid, electric is a clear win in terms of CO2. Not by like order of magnitude or anything, but by a simple fact that bigger heat engines are generally more efficient

    Indeed. Even in areas where coal generates all of the electricity, a conventional automobile will put out roughly twice as much carbon pollution as is generated to charge an electric car to go the same distance.

  58. Handwriting's on the wall and VW sees that by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2

    ICEs are a dying breed and rightly so, we clearly can't keep using them and using fossil fuels, and VW sees that and is responding accordingly.
    You can say this is because they've screwed themselves in the diesel market, but consider this: they cheated because it's becoming impossible to meet fuel economy and pollution standards with ICEs.

  59. The tech is already there since 10 Years by stooo · · Score: 1

    >> if the tech doesn't get there on time, they won't happen.
    The tech is already there since 10 Years.
    Now, the scale is coming.

    --
    aaaaaaa
    1. Re: The tech is already there since 10 Years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL.

  60. need a pickup truck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Simple as that: live on a farm, no paved roads. Where's the EV for my use case?

  61. Re: VW Beetle lasted ~50 years. 30 without major.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Truth

  62. Since it's VW instituting them by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

    I'm assuming they'll be unreliable and break down a lot, as is par for the course with VWs? I can't figure out why anyone buys them: Everyone I know who's had one has had unending problems. Meanwhile, my boring toyota just keeps rolling.
    I've got a friend who is on her second VW new Beetle. Someone said to her "Why are you buying another one? It's like some woman in an abusive relationship who just keeps coming back to get hit".

    1. Re:Since it's VW instituting them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The VW brands generally score very well in reliability statistics, often better than Toyota. For some reason, models imported from Mexico (such as the Beetle and the Jetta) tend to be less reliable. Both have been discontinued in Europe, though.

  63. Re:why is this push so rabid by Bengie · · Score: 1

    One of the reputable tech questions YouTube channels did a comparison between gas and electric in several different ways. Using the standard USA grid distribution of renewable power sources, the break even for throwing out your gas car and all sources to build a brand new electric vehicle is about 4 years.

  64. Never buy the first, Never buy the last... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just something I was told many many years ago and in practice it seems to have served me well.

    You don't want to buy the first of something because the bugs haven't been found and fixed yet.
    You don't want to buy the last because they have figured out how to use the cheapest parts, quickest processes and the most minimal amount of QC in order to deliver a barely good enough product.

  65. I'm pretty sure electric motors will replace .... by aix+tom · · Score: 1

    ... the ICE in that time frame. I'm not so sure about batteries being able to store the needed energy.

    My bet at the moment is electric vehicles with fuel cells for people who have long range requirements, and batteries only for people in a urban setting that usually don't drive much and have a charging infrastructure in place.

  66. Fuck Those Lying Diesel Bastards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    VW should be in chains. Earth-destroying Nazi fucks are gonna save it now? FUCK this eurotrash bullshit.

  67. Re:So then power-plant software needs "tweaking".. by BostonPilot · · Score: 1

    The most recent study I read says that an EV in West Virginia (which gets almost 100% of it's electricity from coal) is on a level with a Prius for CO2 emissions. Everywhere else it's as good or better than the best of the hybrids, and much better than an ICE.

  68. Just a tip: by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    ...not everyone who buys a car is a metro urban hipster that lives 5km from work in a benign climate. And here's the money-shot: those people are abandoning cars anyway.

    I commonly (several times a month) make 300+ mile road trips, I don't have the time to park for HOURS at a charging station waiting for that range to be restored.
    I live in a place that regularly sees -40C/F every winter. My GARAGE commonly sits at ambient temps of 0F/-15C.
    I drive an SUV because I quite commonly have to help move furniture, yard waste, fireplace wood, animals, and tow trailers up to 2000lbs for Boy Scout campouts.

    I love the idea of an electric vehicle generally. I'd love to have a Tesla not just because they're electric but because they're fucking-well-designed cars. But until their "fill up process" means automated swapping of charge packs so I can "fill up" in a few minutes, you guys can keep your EVs.

    --
    -Styopa
    1. Re:Just a tip: by Brannon · · Score: 1

      Maybe look up Tesla supercharging so you don't sound like such a dumbass on the internet.

      And just a reminder, your Slashdot comment about Model 3 sales hasn't aged particularly well

      What's it like to always be wrong?

  69. dumbass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because doing more is how you solve "not enough"? You don't actually read what you type do you?

  70. You didn't want to see in the first place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You wanted the entire discussion thread to fail. You started out with the tried and true "Perfect is the enemy of good" argument. You just wanted an EV but it couldn't do 5000mph while dodging asteroids on the 405 hauling an entire soccer team AND their personal SUVs so you just couldn't settle. The natural conclusion to that argument is:
    BUY A GODDAMNED TRUCK AND SHUT THE FUCK UP. Stop slowing everyone else down.

  71. Last car but not last vehicle. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, GM beat them to this announcement. Last car but their SUVs and trucks will continue. This is just more millennial PR crap for the fools that smoke too much crank to use their brain for more than 10 minutes out of the year.

  72. Its about the money stooopid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They cheated to save money to redirect to their bonuses. This is a corporation we're talking about. American fuck you capitalism has spread worldwide.

    1. Re:Its about the money stooopid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      'America' trolling

      Fuck you, troll, go back to 4chan. Thinking greed and lust for power have anything to do with what country you're from is utter bullshit, it's a HUMAN thing, and AS A SPECIES we need to get over it. So go fuck yourself, Eurotrash.

  73. Re:So then power-plant software needs "tweaking".. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah and we don't want your conservative bullshit either but we have to put up with it. If a power plant opens in your village, it's cause God wanted it there. Who are you to defy God's Word? If you guys can use that as an excuse, so can we.

  74. Re:So then power-plant software needs "tweaking".. by shilly · · Score: 1

    You guys are so inconsistent. If you support fossil fuel generation, you should support fossil fuel power plants, which are typically located in the countryside. If you don't support fossil fuel generation, then you should be encouraging renewables and BEVs and raging against Trump.

  75. Re:So then power-plant software needs "tweaking".. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not to mention as grids become greener.

  76. good by sad_ · · Score: 1

    their gasoline engines have been complete rubbish lately, with massive oil consumption problems and other issues. so much so, that i don't want to deal with any VAG brand ever again (enough is enough).
    let's hope their electrical drive trains will be much mor reliable.

    --
    On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
  77. The next "electric gate"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can see it coming up: VW's vehicles will have a stated range of double what everyone else has. Practical tests will show that the range is unattainable. When the truth comes out it will turn out that VW's electric vehicles were being towed behind diesel cars when they measured the range for their data sheets.