Posted on 10/02/2017 1:33:13 PM PDT by NRx
After nearly a century of building vehicles powered by fossil fuels, General Motors — one of the world’s largest automakers — announced Monday that the end of GM producing internal combustion engines is fast approaching.
The acceleration to an all-electric future will begin almost immediately, with GM releasing two new electric models next year and an additional 18 by 2023.
At a media event at GM’s technical campus in Warren, Mich., on Monday, Mark Reuss, the company’s chief of global product development, said the transition will take time, but the course has been set.
“General Motors believes in an all-electric future,” Reuss said. “Although that future won’t happen overnight, GM is committed to driving increased usage and acceptance of electric vehicles.”
[Tesla’s Model 3 has ‘mass appeal.’ That doesn’t mean you can afford it.]
Reuss avoided naming the year when the auto giant will cease producing gas and diesel vehicles, noting that the company is too large to make such an estimate, according to USA Today.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Pickup from overhead wire or something in the road surface would work, like it does for the railroads, but a country that can't plan ahead enough to keep the pot holes in the roads fixed can't handle that sort of infrastructure upkeep even if they could get it in place.
JMHo
Wow what inspiring brilliance from a bailout company that fired all it’s republican dealerships./s
They see Tesla getting filthy rich from the "green energy" of cash from DC pouring in and they want their turn at the pig trough. Straight forward crony capitalist management decision, go where the government pays you to go.
No they haven't. I have been the most ardent anti-EV guy out their now I get it. I am driving a plug-in Hybrid at the moment ( long story, I don't own it ) the quiet, the smooth and torque of the line, man the last one is addicting.
Tangent to this I went to EvTechExpo www.evtechexpo.com @ the Suburban Showcase in Michigan about 2 weeks ago.
What did I see at the show?
* I thought Bon Jovi was giving a free show, I was backup up on Grand River quite a ways to get in.
* Almost 600 Vendors I was shocked. every part of process covered,
Here is my take on this....
Their are 15 to 20 battery efforts that are promising anywhere from 1.5X to 5X the power density and in the last year more than 500 Million venture capital as been given to these firms, some have locked up customers / proprietary agreements.
So think of this. The Chevy Bolt's max range is 238 miles. 238 x 1/5 ='s 357 miles. You get that now in your average car. If we go 2X or 3X Katie bar the door. The million dollar question is charge times. Their are efforts to get that down somewhere in the 10 to 15 minute range. I can live with that and "Store Dot" in Israel, claims a 5 minute charge with their biopeptide electrolyte battery, with 300 mile range.
I think we are the verge of a disruptive technology possibly greater than the MS-0S/Windows 95/Intel/ the Mac revolution that allowed us to do work like we never did before.
And no one see's it, I do, I even know a VC guy and he disagrees with me. What is even more funky is, I haven't found a specific Electric Car Mutual Fund or ETF ( note many of these Miracle Batteries are Private Placement/VC/Angel Money arena ).
What you are not hearing is their are airborne applications for this tech, and the pictures in the booths at the EvTechExpo had aircraft with no cockpits, hmmm I wonder who is tinkering with on the bleeding edge stuff. think about it, very lower to no cooling drag, No turbo's needed to compensate for thinner air, and low noise signature.
I'd never thought I see this in my life time. You make wake up in 2 or 3 years an this revolution is in full steam and everyone is saying holy $h!t when and how did this happen.
Now Team Trump? Who do you think makes a big chunk of the worlds batteries? China. Hmmmm ya think all his team that is putting NAFTA / Trade to China might be to give MI, OH, IN etc all the states that make cars a chance so that China doesn't become the No. 1 Electric Car Manufacture in the world?
I can't wait for E-Power for General Aviation, it maybe the shot in the arm it desperately needs...
The company is JB&ZJMY
Imagine 40 000 cars arriving at the Pentagon at 8 am and plugging in.
Headshake. How do you think the commercial power companies generate electricity? Except for water powered turbines and wind powered generators they all use fossil fuel to generate the electricity. Hydro electric water power is a natural blessing and it is not plentiful. Wind turbines are not cost effective without subsidies. Photovoltaic generation is even less efficient than wind turbines. And it is created as DC not AC. DC may be OK to charge car batteries, but they are impractical because of the size needed.
Why can't these SJWs just be content to have diversity in energy sources? More than one or two types of energy? Many types? But no.
Maybe we should push for the survival of the coal industry because it is black.
“That all-electric future for cars sure will be something when there’s a blizzard that stops traffic and disrupts power for places like the NY Thruway.”
One thing is for sure. You just can’t run an electric heater for very long on a battery. So what do they do? Put gas heaters in them?
Who cares. I owned one Gov’t Motors truck back in the 80’s which was the worst POS I ever owned.
Wouldn’t take a GM if you gave it to me.
On your way to work, in the morning, try and compute how many amps it will take to get all the cars you see, to work, and home, tomorrow. Multiply that by all the towns in the US. Then, look at your electric bill and compute how much more generating capacity will be required, and ask who gets to pay for the 100 fold expansion.
Thermodynamics is a harsh mistress.
Ever seen a hydrogen explosion?
My dad bought one of the first S10s and it survived about 300k of hard miles all over the US.
It looked every bit of it too.
How much lithium does it take to make the batteries for a single Tesla? Lithium is not an infinite resource:
Who (or what nations) controls the materials now used, or likely to be used, in battery manufacturing?
The average lifespan of lithium ion batteries is now 2-3 years. What is the environmental impact of replacing all the batteries on an electric car that frequently?
The first person who can legally market an affordable modern model T barebones vehicle with no or few electronics will be the next Apple.
Sure, you charge up, I’ll fill up and let’s both drive non-stop 600 miles first. Then have the pull contest. Do they make an electric 4x4 truck that will go 600 miles yet ?
10 below zero, snowing hard, you’re pushing through 4 inches of slush, defroster’s blowing hard on high heat to keep the windshield clear and you warm, on a long, slow morning drive to work. Riiiiiiiiight...
How many electric power plants will GM be building?
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