33Nick

Six Cars That Represent the Future of Driving

We have practical solutions now that don't require far out, decades away hydrogen technology. Plug-in hybrids are being driven right now and if well used, mostly on electricity. Finally, electric cars are available and outperforming their dated gas cousins.

What we need to do is keep a clear focus, electric car, develop battery technology and build an infrastructure.

Electricnick.com

What's an American Car These Days?

There is almost no such tings as "Buy American" or "Buy French", or buy anything where almost all products have components part made all around the planet. It's a nice way to keep attention away from more important things happening.

Li-ion Batteries: A Speculative Field of Dreams

Hi John,

The idea is not to find an end in itself but to keep open to new technologies and realize that nothing rests, everything changes. Car companies are not addressing core problems of having a business model that relies too heavily on car maintenance.

We need to look down the road at new technologies. Apparently we are moving more and more into hybrid batteries, which makes perfect sense using lithium/ultracaps for small sports car, while using lead acid based or similar technologies/ultracaps for heavier vehicles.

Electric cars require much less maintenance than gas cars. On the flip side, switching over to lithium means costly battery pack swaps every few thousand miles or so. It seems we are trading one hostage for another.

Li-ion Batteries: A Speculative Field of Dreams

Hi John,

The idea of thinking 20 years down the road is not to find a solution for everything but keep open to the fact that nothing rests, everything changes. If companies adopt that thinking, then we can progress instead of staying stagnant for decades as we witnessed the car industries for past decades and be held hostage. It's a question of using what we have now for the short term while working on solution to get us into the future.

In this sense I like what you wrote about the use of more conventional batteries. It makes perfect sense now to work on hybrid batteries with small sports cars using lithium and ultracaps, while heavier vehicles could used lead based batteries and ultracaps. The idea is to get to work on future systems while using what we have today. And while we are at it, work on a business model that sells car with little maintenance.

Li-ion Batteries: A Speculative Field of Dreams

The problem is that again, no one is looking to solve the core problem, that of building a fundamental business model selling electric cars. In theory, normal battery cars require close to no maintenance and car makers cannot function on that, since they heavily rely on maintenance. They see Lithium batteries as replacing the easily worn out gas engine.

The sad part is that no one seems to be thinking more than two decades down the road. Lithium might be good for some cars, some of the time, but certainly everything seems to be pointing at hybrid batteries. Thanks John for your work :) And did we mention where most lithium metal deposits are? Countries that are not always aligned with the rest of the world.

Incredible how some companies never really fundamentally change.

Nick
Electricnick.com

Bush's Auto Plan Will Test Obama's Union Loyalties

It's really sad that ultimately, beyond the surface, it is yet again another political gang war where people will get hurt. Enough with ideological politics, we need to get a move on now.

How To Save the Big 3 Automakers

"...needs to give restructuring authority to one individual, similar to the power that former Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson has had with the financials."

It's fascinating how any government would give discounted loans to any companies without enforceable strings attached. It would make sense to kindly remove the management team who, unfortunately and please, let's do away with the emotions and out of context patriotism, since no one has put the companies back to high financial levels. And again, no finger pointing because the downfall of the big 3 has been an on-going issue since the 70s' invasion of foreign cars.

Lend money, remove the lack of performance, deal with the unions (they too, have a share in it) and force them to make a variety fuel efficient cars, not as it didn't happen in the 80s. Simple, no?

Automaker Rebadging Revisited

The idea makes some sense but using Subaru as an example isn't the best ones. People who buy Subarus buy into robustness. It still is the only car manufacturer who can boast to have 97.5% of its cars on the road to date. Plus, Subaru has a strong image already, despite the company's silly tries to revamp its lines.