A couple of interesting articles

@Bryce-o-rama, thanks for the info.

I imagine as more EV's exist and more people begin relying on the grid to charge them, the utility companies will raise the rates. They pretty much have to in order to upgrade things to supply that level of demand. If not directly through consumer rates, then through Government tax dollars. But I'm just speculating.

I noticed about a year ago some charging sites appeared locally. Several of them wanted to try and take advantage of the incredibly intense sun energy in this desert so they also installed large solar panels to help supply power to their charging stations. However I've noticed they all seem to have disappeared since then. So I guess that idea didn't pan out.
 
I'm curious as to whether or not hydrogen powered fuel cell cars are going to make it. There are only a couple of options and I think they all may be in CA only. A few years ago, the state decided to provide major funding for 10 hydrogen stations in northern CA. One of them happens to be less than a mile from my house. I found that interesting as this is a relatively rural area. The station is located at the junction of two state highways (CA-35, CA-84) so perhaps they are anticipating hydrogen demand for travelers. The roads can get crowded during the summer and on weekends. The station they built has a plant that produces hydrogen and also a storage facility for the hydrogen they produce plus storage for additional capacity from vendor deliveries. My guess is that their existing production capacity is more than enough for now as I've never seen a vehicle pulled up to the hydrogen pump (not that I spend much time there).
 
Dr.Jeff said:
@Bryce-o-rama, thanks for the info.

I imagine as more EV's exist and more people begin relying on the grid to charge them, the utility companies will raise the rates. They pretty much have to in order to upgrade things to supply that level of demand. If not directly through consumer rates, then through Government tax dollars. But I'm just speculating.

I noticed about a year ago some charging sites appeared locally. Several of them wanted to try and take advantage of the incredibly intense sun energy in this desert so they also installed large solar panels to help supply power to their charging stations. However I've noticed they all seem to have disappeared since then. So I guess that idea didn't pan out.
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Yeah, rates are definitely going to increase, particularly at peak times. The utility here is just starting to test out time of use billing, but that's been the norm in California and other states for a while.

Some utilities may still retain reasonable rates during off peak hours, particularly ones like mine that have a huge difference between peak demand and off peak.

But hydrocarbon fuels also continue to get more expensive too. What I think will be interesting is if gasoline demand drops off, what does it do to the economic model for the rest of the refined oil products? Will plastic material prices go to ridiculous levels, or will what normally gets turned into gasoline produce plastic stocks that aren't worth making today because they are more valuable as gasoline?
 
I am ambivalent on electric cars, they or some deviation of them will take over in time but there will be at least a 20 year conversion to them. Just another technology to do the same job with some interesting by products to car design. Everybody is pushing to electric but there is not much movement on power generation plants. At some point we re going to hit a tipping point where traditional users and the new electric cars are fighting for the set amount of power generated. Also the holy grail of electrical cars, solid state batteries needs to come to market to allow a complete transition.

What I do find interesting is the old car advantages. New cars are better in a lot of ways from performance to reliability...in the short run. When I grew up I use to see the badges on Volvos and Mercedes indicating each 100K they had been driven, some had several of these badges. I listened to a professional mechanics who services new Mercedes and he said those days are long gone, the modern cars just do not hold up long term. Too much plastic in the engine, overly complicated systems that just makes these cars too expensive to keep on the road long term. I worked on an older GTI and half the plastic pieces you need to remove just break.
 
My 850 Coupe and '74 X1/9 are greener than any EV. That's a fact. Even with dual carbs. Look up the research on the total carbon footprint of keeping gan old car vs buying a new EV. Especially if your EV is charged with non-renewable sources. I'm not anti-EV, I LOVED my 500e, and will likely own another EV soon. Don't let anyone in an EV tell you that their Tesla/Bolt/Prius whatever is greener than driving your 40+ year old Fiat.
 
SuperTopo said:
My 850 Coupe and '74 X1/9 are greener than any EV. That's a fact. Even with dual carbs. Look up the research on the total carbon footprint of keeping gan old car vs buying a new EV. Especially if your EV is charged with non-renewable sources. I'm not anti-EV, I LOVED my 500e, and will likely own another EV soon. Don't let anyone in an EV tell you that their Tesla/Bolt/Prius whatever is greener than driving your 40+ year old Fiat.
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As with everything, the chosen metric matters. If solely looking at tailpipe emissions, new cars pollute less than old ones. When you start looking at overall carbon footprint, continuing the useful life of an existing car is usually the right answer.
 
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Here is one list the X did not make; "best sub-10K (pounds) cars to buy". It is a British article so the price is in pounds not dollars, so the equivalent to about $13,000 USD. But if you consider some of the choices you can get for less than the price of many X's currently on the market, they are much better vehicles for the money. Realizing there are many factors that go into the "value" of a older car, but it does make you think. Although there is no accounting for taste and how much one will spend, especially when it comes to vintage cars.

Goodwood Road and Racing | Official Website

Goodwood Road and Racing is the enthusiast website brought to you by the team behind the Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival.
www.goodwood.com www.goodwood.com
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Here is one list the X did not make; "best sub-10K (pounds) cars to buy". It is a British article so the price is in pounds not dollars, so the equivalent to about $13,000 USD. But if you consider some of the choices you can get for less than the price of many X's currently on the market, they are much better vehicles for the money. Realizing there are many factors that go into the "value" of a older car, but it does make you think. Although there is no accounting for taste and how much one will spend, especially when it comes to vintage cars.

Goodwood Road and Racing | Official Website

Goodwood Road and Racing is the enthusiast website brought to you by the team behind the Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival.
www.goodwood.com www.goodwood.com
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There are some great cars on that list. I've always been intrigued by the Smart ForTwo.
 
Although this thread wasn't intended to be about electric vehicles, it has gone that direction somewhat. So I'll add this info here.

While "SEMA" is likely best known for the huge annual SEMA Show that showcases products and services in the automotive aftermarket, that is actually only a byproduct of what SEMA does. They are a major industry trade association that provide a lot of various services to the automotive world. As such they are heavily tied into the car manufacturers, the aftermarket, the service segment, marketing, research, technology, and so much more. One task they perform regularly is various industry surveys, studies and research to keep abreast of the past, current, and future direction, as well as the latest trends within the whole market worldwide. In this month's newsletter the results of one such research effort was reviewed. Although it contains numerous categories I found some data regarding alternative power vehicles interesting. Keep in mind the following statistics only pertain to the USA for this particular study, and it includes all types of vehicles.

While there has begun a upward trend in "alternative power" vehicles (fuel cell/CNG, plug-in hybrid, electric, hybrid, etc) in recent years, it isn't nearly as much as one may think. Compared to gasoline and diesel powered vehicles, alternative powered ones comprise less than 1% of the total on the road today. Furthermore, even if the aggressive targets are met by 2030, that percentage will still only be 17%. Of those alternative power sources fuel cell/CNG is almost non existent (what happened to all those promises of it being the future?), plug-in hybrid and electric are not much higher, with hybrid being the most (about the same as diesel surprisingly). Projections for 2035 are as follows: fuel/CNG 1%, plug-in hybrid 9%, electric 26%, hybrid 9%, diesel 2%, and gasoline 53%.

So it looks like petrol power isn't going away anytime soon (thankfully), still 53% in almost 15 years from now (I'll likely be unable to drive by then anyway :p). And while electric will grow, really not all that much. One of the biggest surprises to me is the decrease in diesel usage (I would have expected "big rig" trucks to continue using it for a long time to come). I'm also a bit surprised that hybrids will out sell plug-in hybrids, given the growth of electric on the whole. And apparently fuel cell and natural gas sources are extinct.

Something that may alter the projected numbers shown above is the ongoing research in biofuels and synthetic fuels. Since they are not a real factor in today's vehicles, they aren't included in the results. Many experts that deal with future fuel sources believe it will be the next generation of vehicle power, replacing a short-lived electric trend as well as the dominance of fossil petrol. If that proves to be true then the projected numbers may be very different, with biofuel replacing much of the alternative power and gasoline/diesel power sources. At least it is still internal combustion. :D
 
Dr.Jeff said:
I'm also a bit surprised that hybrids will out sell plug-in hybrids, given the growth of electric on the whole.
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I'm not surprised. Toyota and Honda have led the way on hybrids, and their vehicles are parallel hybrids. Parallel hybrids have smaller batteries and modest electric motor generator units meant for averaging out total energy usage of a vehicle. They are internal combustion vehicles first and foremost that convert kinetic energy to electricity and back again. Plugging in doesn't make much sense due to battery size and chemistry. Also most plug-in parallel hybrids can only achieve very modest speeds without using the engine.

Mild hybrids (Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda, etc.) with higher voltage vehicle electric systems are also popular and use start/stop technology in combination with capacitors to allow vehicle accessories to function without the engine running, as well as quickly restarting the engine. Plugging in makes less sense in this scenario, because the energy storage system is even smaller.

Series hybrids can make sense to plug in because they are propelled electrically, and that electricity can be generated by the onboard engine, which feeds through the electric drive system. These won't likely be popular because they have all the faults of both ICE and EV, along with the cost and complexity of both being put into one vehicle.
 
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Moving on from EVs to other fun articles.....

www.goodwood.com

The 12 best supercar concepts ever (List) | GRR

Supercar concepts from Lamborghini, Ferrari, Audi, Chrysler, Porsche and more…
www.goodwood.com www.goodwood.com

I recall seeing a couple of these at international auto shows. In several of them you can see the design elements of direct descendants that eventually came to production.
 
I love this one, a rally spec Fiat Panda (sort of):

www.goodwood.com

This Panda is a secret WRC weapon | GRR

M-Sport has created an R5 Fiesta-powered sleeper...
www.goodwood.com www.goodwood.com

panda-4x4-by-m-sport-ford-fiesta-r5-06122021.jpg
 
Although I've never had any interest in the Delorean, I vaguely recall there was a back story about its design. The original concept was done by one person, but it wasn't affordable to build so someone else redesigned it to be simpler....or something like that, I really don't remember. Anyone?
 
I've had folks comment on how much they liked my "Delorean". Probably wouldn't get comments like that if my car had the stock round headlights?
 
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