will the internal combustion engine be considered prehistoric in 50 years time. Racing and economy type bikes and cars are gaining popularity so it seems that thumping twins my become a thing of the past. The instant torque available with electric motors is great for performance and ever increasing battery performance is making the electric vehicle a common sense alternative for some. What do you lot think?
Yes, make the most of them whilst you can. Bear in mind that electricity has to be made before it can be stored and or used so the question will be where will our energy come from. Internal combustion engines will become quaint niche market products, a bit like steam engines today.
This is a very interesting question. There are some well-informed bright people on this forum so can some of them tell me anything about the real relative energy costs of the two systems - electrical vs internal combustion? How do the running costs really compare? What of the environmental impact of the battery production (lithium doesn't grow on trees)? How long do the batteries last before you have to junk them, and how are they recycled? I get the whole urban thing where electric vehicles make a lot less noise and pollution at the point of use, but what about non-urban use? Is it just pushing the pollution somewhere else? How much more electricity would the nation require if the entire automobile usage was electric rather than internal combustion and where would all this extra electricity come from?
I think it is very much dependant on the continuous development of battery technology. It's not there yet - but with the pace of progress it may only be a few years to become properly viable. All other aspects are secondary I feel. There maybe a significant breakthrough in an alternate power source too which could take over.
Let's consider a special case - Iceland. The Icelanders have vast amounts of cheap electricity available, from hydroelectric and geothermal sources, but no native hydrocarbons and no railways. So it is one of the few places in the world where it actually makes sense to use the surplus electric energy to charge batteries or create hydrogen, and thus to propel vehicles. Virtually everywhere else actually generates electricity mainly from coal, oil and gas anyway so interposing a battery/hydrogen intermediate stage is a pointless complication - it's more efficient to use the hydrocarbons to propel the vehicles directly.
Alternative fuels are indeed the future, but that doesn't necessarily mean electric vehicles, and not in most of our lifetimes
The eu has found the answer to this, limiting the power of vacuum cleaners and electric kettles will free up enough electricity to power all the electric cars, personally I this this policy is a red herring they don't have the answer and are clutching at straws However it doesn't answer the carbon foot print of all the batteries or the source of the electricity The reason transport gravitated to petrol in the first instance was is was the most practical means of powering vehicles. And until a better technology comes along this is still the case. You can not drive non stop London to Edinburgh with an electric car, the batteries are not big enough and the time it takes to recharge the batteries remains a fundamental flaw in the electric vehicle debate
we could start by reversing the trend in lecky use by changing the way companies bill for usage, the more you buy the cheaper it get's. :Wtf:. lots of power to be had by renewable's . takeing utility's away from shareholders would be the best way to kickstart green energy.
Electric with a gas turbine generator. Or two. The energy density of fossil fuels still makes them attractive. Battery technology isnt nearly ready yet.
My boss told me last Friday that apparently there have been massive oil reserves just been found off the Shetland isles....he's Scottish by the way....I cant even mention anything remotely Scottish without him biggin up Alex Salmond - and im not even interested! Apparently the oil reserve is the equivalent to what Venezuela produces, something he said apparently the British Government is trying to keep quiet before the referendum....I don't know what truth there is in that statement but its what he told me... Everything ive ever used that's rechargeable tends to hold less and less exponentially - so id say as nice as its would be as most of my journeys are short - I think you'd get sold a pup (ie as soon as the battery starts to "not" hold a full charge itll be out of warranty (whatever you bought) and cost and arm and a leg for a replacement... With regards to the first comment (is it 50 years?) as oil reserves are being found all the time....I think it'd take a lot longer than 5 years to perfect battery power - more like 20 id say...
there has been a lot of talk regarding oil reserves on the west coast and the MOD . thing is we need to move from oil dependency Scotland is doing very well in the renewable sector
The fuel of the vehicle is becoming a secondary concern. With more and more vehicles control strategies must come to the fore. There simply isnt enough room for us all and we cant build more and more roads. Automation and driverless will become reality as it gives those who want it, more control over our lives. As for the oil in the Shetlands, I suspect thats just a ruse from the Yes campaign. They cant even hide expenses scandals.
There is a lot of interesting thought going into electric vehicles. There is some fella called Robert Llewellyn who hosts a Youtube based show called FullyCharged who goes into a lot of detail about these questions. They done a trip from London to Edinbourgh not much slower than a conventional car using a Nissan Leaf and Fast chargers. I would love a good looking electric motorcycle to do the commute with which i can then charge overnight. Having seen the TTX GP bikes at the IOM i am more and more impressed with what they come up with. Competition will drive a lot of the battery, charger, and controller tech development and make it happen faster. There will always be petrol around for those of us who can't or won't let go of their Ducati's.
Where does the electricity come from? The power stations. What do they burn as fuel, Fossil fuels. Thus they are just fossil fueled vehicles. Once again I mention 'Conservation of Energy'. Furthermore the technology which currently produces batteries is dirty. I'll stick with the internal combustion engine until they sort out the issues that all the exciters conveniently fail to mention. There is still a long long way to go.
