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purplefaithful · 07-05-2017, 11:09 AM

Beijing is getting serious about electric vehicles and auto makers in the world’s largest car market—electric or otherwise—are taking note. On Wednesday, Volvo, owned by China’s Geely, said it would phase out the internal combustion engine and only make fully electric or hybrid cars by 2019.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/volvo-and-c...2?mod=e2tw

07-05-2017, 11:23 AM

Volvo is an interesting car company: they claim to be luxury, but honestly, they aren't. They make an incredibly safe vehicle, however. My wife and I have owned their big sedan and just recently the XC90: decently made vehicles with smaller engines made with great horsepower via turbo (although my XC90 had a V8), but ride rough. Had my XC90 for 9 years after buying it used, but wont' buy another. We now have a BMW X3 which is really a fun driving vehicle. Our Lexus GS350 AWD still has only 55,000 on it and its a 2007, great car.

Not surprising they are making the switch, they can't compete here domestically with the other luxury vehicles.

07-05-2017, 11:56 AM

couldn't read the story as it calls for subscription but I think this is great and I hate it at the same time. It's great that an auto maker is finally moving away from the 130+ year old tech that drives their vehicles. I like seeing things move forward. Hate the fact that I grew up with muscle cars/drag racing and will miss the throaty rev of a V8 in a muscle car. It's saddens me to think that in a few decades that seeing a muscle car I might have to buy a ticket to a museum... and forget about driving one.... but then again in a few decades I'll probably be dead. So I got that to look forward too...

07-05-2017, 12:11 PM

Quote: @Bezerker88 said:
couldn't read the story as it calls for subscription but I think this is great and I hate it at the same time. It's great that an auto maker is finally moving away from the 130+ year old tech that drives their vehicles. I like seeing things move forward. Hate the fact that I grew up with muscle cars/drag racing and will miss the throaty rev of a V8 in a muscle car. It's saddens me to think that in a few decades that seeing a muscle car I might have to buy a ticket to a museum... and forget about driving one.... but then again in a few decades I'll probably be dead. So I got that to look forward too...

Self driving cars are coming. And Uber is on the forefront of being the #1 provider with their network. The 20 and under set have the lowest desire to get their driver's licenses than has ever been recorded. Kids today just want to get from point A to point B, they don't care much about the car itself.

07-05-2017, 12:40 PM

Quote: @StickyBun said:

@Bezerker88 said:
couldn't read the story as it calls for subscription but I think this is great and I hate it at the same time. It's great that an auto maker is finally moving away from the 130+ year old tech that drives their vehicles. I like seeing things move forward. Hate the fact that I grew up with muscle cars/drag racing and will miss the throaty rev of a V8 in a muscle car. It's saddens me to think that in a few decades that seeing a muscle car I might have to buy a ticket to a museum... and forget about driving one.... but then again in a few decades I'll probably be dead. So I got that to look forward too...
Self driving cars are coming. And Uber is on the forefront of being the #1 provider with their network. The 20 and under set have the lowest desire to get their driver's licenses than has ever been recorded. Kids today just want to get from point A to point B, they don't care much about the car itself.

yep... and might as well go electric for that purpose. A to B it makes sense. Parents and their mini vans created an age group of riders not drivers. Movies, video games, texting are far more important to that age group than the thrill of stomping on the gas and seeing how fast this thing will go. I had my parents AMC wagon over 100 but who knows how accurate that speedo was =)

07-05-2017, 01:10 PM

New technology - Tesla's $35,000 car is out this week. 215 miles on a single charge and I am seeing the recharge stations all over the place here in PA. Goes 0-60 in less then 6 seconds and it is not their sport model. You won't get the engine rev and all the other noises when the car takes-off but speed and instant acceleration are all there and then some. Maybe we can record the rev noise on an 8 track and listen while in the Tesla Smile

07-05-2017, 01:27 PM

Quote: @minny65 said:
New technology - Tesla's $35,000 car is out this week. 215 miles on a single charge and I am seeing the recharge stations all over the place here in PA. Goes 0-60 in less then 6 seconds and it is not their sport model. You won't get the engine rev and all the other noises when the car takes-off but speed and instant acceleration are all there and then some. Maybe we can record the rev noise on an 8 track and listen while in the Tesla

I am hopeful with this offer by them but with more output comes more chances of something going wrong. Will the public be as forgiving with them as they are with the "established" auto makers? Recalls happen weekly... just not with Tesla... yet.

Personally I think the public will embrace the crap out this car if it's solid and there's no reason to think it will not be.

07-05-2017, 01:43 PM

Quote: @minny65 said:
New technology - Tesla's $35,000 car is out this week. 215 miles on a single charge and I am seeing the recharge stations all over the place here in PA. Goes 0-60 in less then 6 seconds and it is not their sport model. You won't get the engine rev and all the other noises when the car takes-off but speed and instant acceleration are all there and then some. Maybe we can record the rev noise on an 8 track and listen while in the Tesla

I knew of someone that did that with an EV motorcycle they built! Hilarious. I will try and find the video. I had an old yamaha frame I was going to build an EV out of but then kids.

07-05-2017, 01:49 PM

There is going to be a market for gas engine vehicles for a long time and likely there should be in certain parts of the world. And if you are willing to pay for it. But eventually it just makes sense for certain types of drivers (or riders as Bezerker alluded to) to not use a combustion engine when not needed. Most people that drive in the city don't need a combustion engine including myself. I live in the suburbs and dont' really need a combustion engine vehicle. I do some light towing but EV's will get there (they already are for commercial)

There is something to the perceived lack of machismo though. However while the bear is impressive with it's roar and power the cheetah is equally as awesome with it's sleek stealthy speed.

What I'd say is that for EV's to really get the takeoff we need to clean up the environmental mining costs and battery tech. Once the manner in which we gather the elements necessary for the batteries and other parts and build better batteries that last longer and/or figure out a better storage method for used batteries than burying them in the sand then we will have something.

07-05-2017, 01:51 PM

Not the video I was looking for but is this Harely Davidson's new sound?