2030

[willabeest]

//Members of the German government have just passed a resolution to ban the sale of internal combustion engines in the European Union by 2030. Only zero-emissions vehicles would be allowed on the market after that time, according to the resolution.//
http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-car...s-to-ban-internal-combustion-engines-by-2030/

i have a feeling gas stations will be as hard to find as pay phones. 2030 is only 14 years away -

 

[drtruong]

I better sell my NSX quickly otherwise no one will want it .

How will the Middle East Countries make monies? Another exodus crisis will come to Europe.

 

[Aluminsx]

Wow. What a shift. I was listening to a podcast a while back and they were talking about this happening. They speculated that by 2050 the gas engine cars would be an endangered species. They mentioned looking around and see how many 20 year old cars you see. They had a point. Different world.

 

[Peace Frog]

How many of you guys remember the 1990's?

Now wait a cotton-pickin' minute, they didn't look anything like that! Guess those futurists from the 50's weren't so sure after all.






My point is, I don't really think the moving away from fossil fuels any time soon is realistic.

 

[mrdeadman]

Not without supercapacitors or something similar.

 

[clutch1]

Eh, as long as it doesn't encroach on the sales of ICE vehicles from before 2030 (IE resale of used ones) and doesn't ban then from the road (or effectively ban them through stringent emissions laws) then I don't see a problem with it.

That said, as an industry wide thing this can only make new boring cars even more new and boring. If everything was a Tesla P90D, sure, those are wicked. But I'm not going to hold my breath, we'll all be driving quiet gelatinous blobs in 20 years if we insist on buying new.

 

[flaminio]

As long as I have continued access to my uncle's red Barchetta, I'm OK with this.

 

[docjohn]

damn those alloy air cars two lanes wide............

 

[gleibig]

All they have to do is mount the engine outside of the car to make it an external combustion engine.

I solve problems. Anyone else need help?

 

[Yinzer]

They mentioned looking around and see how many 20 year old cars you see. They had a point. Different world.

Do you recall what podcast? I'd like to listen to it.

On the other hand...isn't there an awful good chance that 2016 models will not only have better long-term quality than 1996 models (except for NSX's of course) and therefore possibly be more prevalent on the streets of 2036, but also fit in better then than the average 1996 looks on today's streets, since today's automakers have yawwwwningly lemmings'd themselves into all looking alike year after year and sharing essentially similar tall-hooded high-beltlined 19-inch-wheeled audi-badge-grille-fascia'd gaudy-headlighted looks?

First row: 1996 Ford, Chevy, BMW, Pontiac

Second row: 2016 Ford, Chevy, BMW, Hyundai

PS that 1996 BMW M5 sure looks as nice if not nicer than anything out of BMW today!

 

[Aluminsx]

Do you recall what podcast? I'd like to listen to it.

It was quite some time ago when I was driving to North Carolina from New York and I'm not 100% on which one it was. I listen to quite a few automotive related podcasts. You're not missing much. They basically said what's stated at the beginning of this post. It is interesting to see which direction the car world is going to go to in the next 50 years. I'm always curious as to where the electricity to power these electric cars is going to come from. Unless wind and solar really take off (like I think they are) we are going to burning a lot of coal and building some more nuke plants.

 

[Yinzer]

Unless wind and solar really take off (like I think they are) we are going to burning a lot of coal and building some more nuke plants.

Full disclosure: I work for a company that builds and services the world's nuclear plants. In one of my introduction to nuclear classes over 10 years ago when I joined the company, we went through an exercise to size windmills capable of powering a typical family home. I recall needing something like a 20+ foot span windmill atop an average house. I remember thinking about the amazingly robust safety precautions that would be needed for all that spinning mass nepopulated neighborhoods, and how people better get used to the view of spinning rotors as far as the eyes could see and the sound of crazily loud gear noise. I admit that family sized windmills for each house is kind of extreme and a pretty unrealistic way of looking at things, but it did drive home the need to understand realistic energy density options as well as the aesthetic/visual, noise, and safety trade-offs of wind power that few ever think of (or are even aware of)! But just like diversifying a savings strategy, I look forward to trying out solar to see if it can augment my household needs in a worthwhile way.

 

[Aluminsx]

Full disclosure: I work for a company that builds and services the world's nuclear plants. In one of my introduction to nuclear classes over 10 years ago when I joined the company, we went through an exercise to size windmills capable of powering a typical family home. I recall needing something like a 20+ foot span windmill atop an average house. I remember thinking about the amazingly robust safety precautions that would be needed for all that spinning mass nepopulated neighborhoods, and how people better get used to the view of spinning rotors as far as the eyes could see and the sound of crazily loud gear noise. I admit that family sized windmills for each house is kind of extreme and a pretty unrealistic way of looking at things, but it did drive home the need to understand realistic energy density options as well as the aesthetic/visual, noise, and safety trade-offs of wind power that few ever think of (or are even aware of)! But just like diversifying a savings strategy, I look forward to trying out solar to see if it can augment my household needs in a worthwhile way.

I am very pro nuclear energy. People always quote Chernobyl or Fukushima as the reason not to have it but the reality is that it's very safe and clean. Look at how France creates their energy. I see the massive windmill farms here in New York and, personally, I don't mind they way they look. I see solar panels on lots of homes in the northeast so I can only imagine that in areas where there is lots more sun they would be a better investment. I think we are moving in the right direction.

 

[Yinzer]

The windmill farms I see when on the PA turnpike are really cool, I agree. I'd love to see them up close in person sometime! I love the idea of renewable energy, it would be great to live near a strong running stream with nearly year-long hydro power. I was just sharing my surprise & disappointed when running the math suggested such a large wind turbine would be needed on my roof to be able to watch Top Gear and log into NSXPrime while cutting my electrical bill down significantly. I do have a flat roof here in the city with a relatively unblocked views of the sun year-round and am looking forward to the near-certainty of trying that sooner than later!

 

[akira3d]

How many of you guys remember the 1990's?

Wait...is that an auto-driving car with bubble windshield and a big screen in the center of the dash? I guess they were a couple of decades off...

And yes, I charge my X / get nearly all of my electricity from solar power (haven't had to pay for electricity in six years)...in almost always sunny Southern California.