How much time do you think we have left?

[UNGN]

UNGN - Bob sounds crazy (I don't know him nor heard of him), but correct.

Cars aren't going anywhere other than up and down the roads for decades and centuries to come. The only issue that will limit their use is the price and/or availability of fuel or government taxation.

Bob Lutz ran sales/engineering/design at BMW (when they came out with the 3 series and got into motorsports), Ford Europe (when they made turbo 4 Rear and AWD cars), Ford US (when they filled the roads with Explorers) , Chrysler (Dodge Viper, and the switch back to RWD from the first socialist attempts at putting everyone in generic, FWD people movers (that gave us Charger, Challenger, SRT's)) and GM (GTO, G8, Z06, ZR1, CTSV, new Camaro, etc. and oversaw (FINALLY) their switch back to RWD from the first socialist attempts at putting everyone in generic, FWD people movers).

He even wrote a book: car guys vs. beancounters.

When Bob Lutz throws in the towel and says "the car is done", People listen and start making plans. I'd start making plans.

 

[pagrunt]

Oh my Lord, Bob Lutz literally just cut and pasted his prediction from Wall-E.

View attachment 77183

Funny, I thought Wall-E showed where we are heading to from how lazy society is getting. But it all ties in. I want my people mover/container to look like a Ferrari 250 GTO & able to hold fat *ss in it when we hit 500 lbs.

 

[oldsmobile joe]

i call dibs on the chair from idiocracy to be in my pod.

 

[DRIVEN]

 

[DRIVEN]

I honestly don't know what to think. The thread was 100% to gauge your thoughts as fellow enthusiasts and I value all input. There's no dispute that the technology is here. Now. However, we're a pretty independent country. Resistance will be fierce. I'd like to think both modes could coexist but have my doubts.
Personally, I suspect it'll be an urban vs. rural devide.

 

[UNGN]

I honestly don't know what to think. The thread was 100% to gauge your thoughts as fellow enthusiasts and I value all input. There's no dispute that the technology is here. Now. However, we're a pretty independent country. Resistance will be fierce. I'd like to think both modes could coexist but have my doubts.
Personally, I suspect it'll be an urban vs. rural devide.

I thought the rural areas would put up a fight, too, but we're $20 Trillion in debt and addicted to free stuff. Washington says "you want that, YOU pay for it... we're all doing this" and people do what Washington wants.

Resistance rapidly loses its will to fight when it costs actual money. Bob Lutz's vision maps the rural areas, too. When one of your neighbor buys a 2021 or so GM (probably any model), your days as a "driver" are numbered.

It wasn't that long ago 40" 480p TV's were $1000. This month, 50" 4K smart TV's will be $200. The brave new world will be sold to us by a few monopolistic, crony capitalist corporations, because "it's cheaper". Only cheaper, for now, of course.

The lure of surfing p*rn in the car on the way to work is strong. When you hear the advert for the for the first driverless car service and it touts "free wifi", remember you heard it here, first.

 

[pontiacgp]

The electric cars as they are now use rare minerals for the batteries which are not far from being in short supply. The electric car batteries have a life expectancy up to 10 years and/or 150,000 miles. The amount of pollution to produce those batteries is not really discussed since it doesn't fit into the current agenda. As far as rebuilding the batteries is basically the same thing as building a new one and I wonder what happens to the spent products in the expired battery. The other problem is the recharging of the electric car that use alot of electricity. The current infrastructure of most cities would not be able to handle alot of cars being plugged in. In Toronto, Canada they calculated that if 10% of the houses in a grid plugged their electric car to charge that the grid would fail. If they don't discover another type of battery the electric cars will never take over from a gas/diesel engine vehicles.

 

[DRIVEN]

I actually don't have a problem with electic as an alternative means of propulsion. Hard to argue the performance specs of a Tesla. Range isn't quite there yet. I do have a problem with the subsidies though. I've really got no major issue with electric and hybrids sharing the road with gasoline and diesel vehicle.
My real focus for the sake of my post was autonomous vehicles.

 

[pontiacgp]

I actually don't have a problem with electic as an alternative means of propulsion. Hard to argue the performance specs of a Tesla. Range isn't quite there yet. I do have a problem with the subsidies though. I've really got no major issue with electric and hybrids sharing the road with gasoline and diesel vehicle.
My real focus for the sake of my post was autonomous vehicles.

for autonomous vehicles there is too many people who enjoy the feeling of being in control of a car so until a few more generations expire not everyone will be taken for a ride. (pun intended)

 

[Ribbedroof]

Interesting sidebar that was touched on briefly, and I apologize now for the semi-hijack....

The problem with the "selling" of clean electric vehicles is that nobody addresses how we generate that electricity. In the USA, it comes down to wind/solar....limited by factors outside our control OR hydroelectric....limited by geography OR nuclear...NOBODY wants that in their backyard OR by burning fossil fuels. The problem with burning fossil fuels to generate electricity is that when converting one form of energy to another, you always lose some percentage of the energy potential. Sure, we do that now with gas/diesel, but with electric, you're adding another step by converting fossil fuel to electricity, then converting that energy to some form of motion.

I am in an electric co-op, and they discuss often how the changing technology impacts generation and transmission of electricity, and have real concerns about the demands already being placed upon their resources, and have noted that the alternative technologies cannot sustain the demand as we know it today.