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 ...
I love the sounds and smells associated with an internal combustion engine and would miss them, the nice burble of a well-tuned exhaust, the rush of power, the still largely analog mechanical nature of them. But, I’m not opposed to electric vehicles, when and where appropriate. They’re not appropriate for everything, not even close. Still something of a niche vehicle.
So, what I want to know is, what sort of innovation or new tech has arisen to be driving all these announcements? Has there been a breakthrough in battery tech or charging stations? I’m not aware of any if so, and I’m pretty well familiar having been researching battery banks, solar and charging for at least two years for a side project, which is retrofitting an old RV to be as self-sufficient for off-grid camping as possible. Things have been moving along nicely for the past two years, you can now run the A/C off of solar and a battery bank with a large enough array, a large enough battery bank and the proper inverters as well as soft start, and it can be made compact enough for an RV but it does take space and is not cheap.
I just don’t see it as being where it needs to be for widespread adoption as day-to-day transportation for everybody. So, I suspect government boondoggle by decree.
They don’t all burn. Go a little bit down the scale of energy density and you encounter lithium iron phosphate, which doesn’t require cooling and poses no risk of explosion or fire. Fairly bulky for use in a vehicle, though, so you typically only see them in custom electric vehicles (fast, very fast, will burn the tires right off if you want) but they fill the entire trunk. Seem to be finding their niche in the marine and RV industries, where space is still at a premium but there’s more of it to reconfigure and the benefits are enormous compared to lead acid or even AGM golf cart batteries. Or, they’re being used for very light vehicles such as bicycles, in which case the batteries can be small enough to work. They’re not particularly heavy.
Huge amounts of mineral extraction for Lithium will occur world wide. less polluting than gas extraction? We shall see.
Exactly my point. Thank you for elaborating. The electricity fairy doesn’t leave it under anyone’s pillow. So the net savings from alleged global warming technowhosawhatsits is zero, even if every car in the world went electric.
Quality engines have helicoiled spark plug threads.
The problem with the Ford Mod Engines is that the plug has too few threads in the aluminum.
Here is a dope sheet on the problem:
http://www.fordproblems.com/trends/triton-spark-plug-ejection/
And it looks like Ford doesn’t want to pay to fix the problem, but they no longer use these engines either.
“General Motors believes in an all-electric future,”>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well, looks like we will be back to the horse and wagoon instead of pick up trucks.
What a bunch of ashaoles!
I live in Germany, and this topic has been up on the board for five or six years. They were predicting that by this point, we’d have a million electrical cars on the road in Germany. Well, this year, it’ll cross the 100,000 point.
If you go and hype electrical cars....Germans ask questions and things haven’t gone well. There are at least five different charging cables in the mix...not one a standard type.
It’s pointed out that if you run AC (especially in a hot July period), your mileage drops in a significant way. In Germany....90 degrees F is considered hot. Go imagine 103 degrees in Texas.
Recharging period? The best is around 60-to-75 minutes. The E-Go car being introduced next year in Germany will require five hours of charging for the small battery version and seven hours of charging for the bigger battery version.
Timing of recharge? It’s viewed with the bulk of cars being plugged in around 5 PM to 6 PM. It’ll be a massive draw on the grid system.
Extended trips? You’d have to plan on hitting recharging stations along the way, reserving your time-slot, and figuring at least two hours of sitting around for that re-charge. All of this said and done....most people think hybrid is the way to go, and would provide more options, less stress, and not require all these recharging stations.
GENERAL MOTORS: “Hold my beer...”
Fortunately better designed plugs running in an unleaded environment need to be replaced way less frequently so steel to Al thread wear doesn’t accumulate as it used to. Valve seat inserts count more than helicoiled plug threads.
Working with a plug in some deep well makes it even more problematic. A poor “ joint “ design doesn’t help. Modular Engine indeed....
The maximum theoretical efficiency of a generator/battery/motor system is 50%. Half the energy is lost to back resistance as the battery charges. This energy is released as heat.
Think about how much heat your car generates over five hours as you travel 300 Miles. The air flowing through the generator is constantly dumping heat into the environment. Now imagine trying to dissipate that much heat from a battery pack within the span of five minutes as you do a quick charge cycle.
yep, that’s where I got the idea. My grandparents did that, had a Cadillac for long trips (or places where the cart wasn’t convenient/welcome), and Grandpa would hop in the golf cart to run over to the corner store, or the course, or whatever.
Even more feasible if gas becomes unavailable. That's the liberal endgame.
Yeah, because Americans need lots of $40,000 electric vehicles.
Yes, it’s Government Motors alright.
Chevy Volt - another successful “green” idea under der Fuhrer Barack.
Like Solyndra. It’s the future! Well, up to 2011.....
I love the RX350h F-Sport I just leased. I leased because they don’t have an all electric car yet.
My thought is, how are you going to have an all electric semi or bulldozer? Airplane? At some point wouldn’t you think small nuclear engines would be the answer that convert to electricity?
Why haven’t there been electric cars in the INdy 500?
Just answered my own question, the cars can’t go that fast yet very long.
Good question.
Total drivetrain efficiency of the electric cars are in the high 50's to the mid 60%'s. Multiply that by losses from the powerplants-grids and the overall drops to 20 something %, begging a solution like you mentioned.
However, a tangent political issue is PDJT making a move the other day to shore up Coal & Nuclear, hmmm what do they know that we don't.
IMHO?
A Co-Generation / Combined-Cycle powerplant in your basement ( Honda has one NOW ) that burns Natural Gas from Fracking and the small natural gas fired engine spins the generator for your Home and Electric Cars electrical needs, and the waste heat heats your hot water. The rest can be done via heat pump of the juice you create with efficiencies in the 60%+ region.
It might be tougher w/ the Heat Pump in northern climes, however I am sure another source for heat can be added to make that work.
Interesting disruptive times ahead...
I thought electrical drive train efficiency is almost 100%.
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