California to ban internal combustion engine cars by 2035

[Doug Garson]

I question the ownership premise for vehicles as a longterm strategy for car makers.

Volvo is already testing a "pay as you go" model.

Much as data carriers bundle a phone in with plans, I wonder if subscription services are what car makers (such as Tesla) have in mind.

Certainly major cities would benefit from a fleet of cars that could be "called to order" as needed. In a city like Boston, I see this as an answer to outrageous parking expenses and daily gridlock.

Personal car ownership is expensive, why buy for something you only use a few hours each day?


https://www.volvocars.com/us/care-by-volvo/

https://www.easyelectriccars.com/robotaxi/

Interesting idea, biggest drawback I see is while most people may only use the car for a few hours a day, say commute to and from work, the time they need the car is the same time everyone else does. It would work for those that only occasionally need a car say to go shopping once a week or for a vacation trip a few times a year, primarily city dwellers who use public transit, walk or cycle to work or work from home. I think that market is currently using car share services like MODO or EVO. Course if the idea takes off, there will be fewer cars needed, good for the environment, not so much for car manufacturers.

[Anthony Whitesell]

Why? Because you need to get as close to apples to apples as possible to compare the GHG emissions. The first response starts with the grid to the house, which I agree is 5-8% loss. But there is no consideration for the loss of the charger, nor the loss from the fuel-to-steam, steam-to-motion, and motion-to-electricity conversions.

We all know the gallons per mile for an average 4 cylinder automobile. What is the gallons per mile for a Tesla? The shortest route would be gas-generator-charger-battery-car. So the question is posed. How many gallons of gasoline does it take to run the generate to recharge a Tesla one time? ...and I do agree or admit that a personal generator is probably the most inefficient way to get from gasoline to electricity, on the other hand it could be considered worst case.

[Doug Garson]

Why? Because you need to get as close to apples to apples as possible to compare the GHG emissions. The first response starts with the grid to the house, which I agree is 5-8% loss. But there is no consideration for the loss of the charger, nor the loss from the fuel-to-steam, steam-to-motion, and motion-to-electricity conversions.

We all know the gallons per mile for an average 4 cylinder automobile. What is the gallons per mile for a Tesla? The shortest route would be gas-generator-charger-battery-car. So the question is posed. How many gallons of gasoline does it take to run the generate to recharge a Tesla one time? ...and I do agree or admit that a personal generator is probably the most inefficient way to get from gasoline to electricity, on the other hand it could be considered worst case.

If the goal is to fight climate change by reducing GRG emissions why would you start with gasoline to charge a zero carbon emission vehicle? To my knowledge there isn't a utility power plant in North America (probably the world) using gasoline to produce electricity, a few small plants use Diesel. Charging a Tesla using a gas powered generator would be a rare last resort way to do it, charging from the grid would be more common. The only apples to apples comparison that would make sense is what is the lifetime carbon footprint of a Tesla vs an ICE vehicle over say ten years? The answer would be very location driven as different locations have different % of electricity generated by non GHG sources, in Canada over 80% of electricity is produced by non GHG emitting sources, in the US it is only about 10%, in both countries it is increasing. But in both locations I would expect the Tesla would have the lower lifetime carbon footprint.

[Kev Williams]

Don't know how many of you have seen this yet, but since we're talking electric vehicles,
read this these specs below, then watch the video... All I'm gonna say

What is the most powerful semi truck engine?
Detroit™ DD16
The Detroit™ DD16 truck engine is the biggest, toughest, most powerful engine Detroit has ever produced. With a wide, flat torque curve, and delivering up to 2050 lb/ft and 600 HP, it tackles your hardest jobs while performing with the fuel efficiency and reliability you've come to count on from Detroit

[Jim Becker]

Ooooh...Crabwalk....

[Jim Matthews]

Ooooh...Crabwalk....

It will be used to parallel park, and rarely otherwise.

There's an aftermarket skidpad for your helicopter in the works.

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/10/21/...ff-road-specs/

[Lee DeRaud]

Ooooh...Crabwalk....

Pfft...they're amateurs compared to this:
https://worldwarwings.com/b-52-makes...e-youd-expect/
That system dates back to the early '50s.

[Jim Matthews]

Pfft...they're amateurs compared to this:
https://worldwarwings.com/b-52-makes...e-youd-expect/
That system dates back to the early '50s.

What's the stall speed if you still need to deploy a drogue?

*yikes*

[Bill Dufour]

Ooooh...Crabwalk....

The US army gave up on four wheel steering over 100 years ago. It was possible to parallel park next to a building a and then not be able to move until the front end was dragged away. I do like the look of fire department trucks with a someone in the back steering.
Bill D.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffery_Quad

[Bill Dufour]

The Electric hummer would be interesting in war. the other side will not hear it coming from a mile away.
Bill D

[Jim Becker]

The Electric hummer would be interesting in war. the other side will not hear it coming from a mile away.
Bill D

True, but these things are not anything even closely related to the original military Hummers or the original H1 when the brand name began selling to non-military consumers and the necessary armouring up would pretty much kill the range to "between here and the corner store" due to weight. I'm wondering that for military operations if fuel cell with batteries might be the answer to keeping things moving...a hybrid approach which would still be "darn quiet".

Of course, that's not relevant to the subject of this thread.

[Doug Garson]

I think the E Hummer is an indication of the widening of the market for e vehicles. First modern e car was the Nissan Leaf, then came the Tesla, more recently the e Mustang and now the e Hummer. Each one expands the market, not sure many Leaf owners will be trading them in for Hummers. If you want to replace ICE vehicle you need to cover the full range of vehicles.

[Bill Dufour]

Frito Lay in town is testing Tesla semi trucks. Of course potato chips are probably the lightest load there is to haul so they get good range on a charge. I believe they are using mega chargers something like 1.4 mega watts.
Bill D

https://electrek.co/2019/10/04/tesla...-trucks-pepsi/

[Lee DeRaud]

Frito Lay in town is testing Tesla semi trucks. Of course potato chips are probably the lightest load there is to haul so they get good range on a charge. I believe they are using mega chargers something like 1.4 mega watts.
Bill D

https://electrek.co/2019/10/04/tesla...-trucks-pepsi/

Thyey're probably planning to replace the factory batteries with their own at some point:
https://www.bibalex.org/SCIplanet/en...Details?id=150

[Anthony Whitesell]

While there are no power plants using gasoline, there are power plants using natural gas, coal, and oil which are all GHG producers. Nuclear does not produce GHG but produces a lot of other junk we cannot dispose of. Solar panels take as much energy to produce as they take to manufacture. Hydro and wind are about it. But until 100% of electricity is produced by hydro and wind, the production of electricity produces GHG (or potentially worse). Also do not forget to compare GHG per mile not per "fill up" as there is not a vehicle with more miles per fill up on electric than on gasoline.