Posted on 07/24/2021 9:01:09 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
He developed gasoline engines for family sedans as well as thunderous Nascar racing machines.
By last year, though, the excitement was gone. His projects were no longer about advancing the engine, just nursing along existing technology. All the buzz had shifted to electric vehicles. In December, Mr. Penkevich took early retirement at age 59.
“It’s been a fun ride,” said engineer Dave Lancaster, who spent 40 years working in engine development at General Motors Co. “But I think we’re coming into the homestretch for the conventional engine.”
Over the past several decades, auto makers in most years rolled out between 20 and 70 new engines globally, according to research firm IHS Markit. That number will fall below 10 this year, and then essentially go to zero, the research firm said.
“We don’t want to be left making the best buggy whips,”
For the UAW to prevail, workers would have to vote yes, and wages likely would be far lower than at a car factory. Other battery plants typically pay $15 to $18 an hour, compared with a top hourly wage of around $30 for a UAW-represented worker at an assembly plant.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I have an electric car and 545 cid BBF. Telling you, the electrics are the way to go. Within a few years I want to convert my Opelto electric...
We will end up with nuclear or we will end up freedom as we now know it.
You and Elon disagree, he said the current grid can't even come close to providing enough electricity to replace fossil fuels. People no longer work just the day shift anymore either.
Consider this. The forest fires now going on in the NW would have provided enough BTUs to run a pretty large power plant for a very good amount of time.
All they have to have done was add on a bio-mass system onto either a coal of Natural Gas system. Pref at a central location, such as a paper mill or sawmill/plywood mill/OSB mill.
But, let it burn. All of it. I dont care.
“assurance they’ll be able to recharge their EV anywhere and at any time before they’ll even consider buying an EV for everyday use.”
That’s a good point, but if everyone charges over night that will give a few hundred miles of range. What percent of vehicles travel several hundred miles on a given day? It’s a pretty small percent. That’s where some extra generation capacity is needed.
Hey now, after all they made Detroit what it is today. {:-)
I mostly agree, but I can see two reasons to subsidize EV development:
1) It may rather soon be a multi-trillion dollar global industry. Currently Tesla and the USA have a lead, but if we get overtaken by Chinese or European companies we may lose out.
2) complete dependence on oil for transportation has been a long-standing strategic and economic vulnerability. If the national fleet of cars becomes a mix of gas and EVs then we have a fallback if there is again a problem with the oil supply.
Yeah, the government could make a law that you have to work where you live, problem solved.
I was corrected by heavy metal a few posts back.
Them BMWs have always scared me but I was actually looking at one of the two wheel drive Urals a few years back.
I don’t like those cylinders hanging out there being a target for a kickstand mishap or general stupidity, both of which I have been guilty of once or twice.
HD did have to program their bikes for the skip though, that why they patented their sound.
No one ever mentions heating and air conditioning when they try to convince us how cheap they are to drive, let alone never mentioning that they currently are paying no road tax on the fuel they use like the ICE engine cars do.
#4 Plus have a good escape route.
It won’t help when you are driving down the road and the car bursts into fire.
Over all, I have no problem with electric motors. They’re small, light, simple, clean and quiet. Not to mention, torquey as hell.
The only problem today, is the energy storage. It’s just not there yet. It needs quick charge rates, long range and service life and it needs to be able to handle a wide thermal range cold to hot. Reliability and safety is paramount.
1) The Japanese heavily subsidized super-computing in the ‘80s. It backfired in a big way, as non-subsidized companies were more nimble. Besides that, the big players in EV (GM especially) won’t necessarily spend/grow their wealth in the US. We woujd up subsidizing foreign operations with foreign labor (eg Fiskars) and nothing would stop that from happening again. If EVs wind up becoming cheaper it will be with radically diferent battery/semi-conductor tech. We regulated incandescent bulbs out before LEDs were ready, and still have a generation or horrible fluorescent bulbs as a legacy. If we stayed put led bulbs would still have done the job on the merits.
2) Under Trump, we became a net exporter of petroleum. Of course we import some types and export others, but we could no longer be strangled. If we finished Keystone we have a great source from a nearby mostly friendly neighbor.
I’m building a 1969 CJ5
Have a 1972 5 speed Bonneville on the back burner, motor needs a rebuild and I suppose I will get to it.
Spent many years on two wheels, had many close calls and a tendency to lay onto the throttle.
So I hear you there.
With that said I have a good friend doing a 1400 mile/36 hour Iron Butt run for charity at 78 years old.
I’m only in my 50’s...I wouldn’t even attempt it
1. Recharge car battery overnight.
2. Start the day with a range of 250+ miles.
3. Drive to a destination 10 miles away where the vehicle will sit for 2+ hours.
4. Recharge the battery at this destination even if it has 240 miles of range left on it.
Demand, available supply - all the above?
Or maybe the government could figure out a way for the users to pay the full cost of the system — so public roads in the U.S. don’t become the most heavily subsidized infrastructure in the history of mankind.
I think it would be more like recharge overnight, drive to work and back
Repeat. throw in grocery trips
I would get an electric with 240 mile range. (if they weren’t so expensive.)
Also, they could make a 1 passenger version. It would have at least double the range
—”60 miles of tunnels beneath Chicago”
A friend was deeply involved in the restoration after the Chicago tunnels flooded and I had a guided tour!
The video had many interesting tidbits.
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