Gasoline Cars are the Film Cameras of the Future.

[Ambro51]

........does this statement ring true to you? GM is investing 2 B in a new plant in Tennessee. Electric cars aren’t “new”, the idea made sense early in the 20th century, Gas won out. Now, technology has advanced.....its more likely electric will come to the forefront again. Like baby steps to common (future) useage. Someday only a few specialist makers will build “Gasoline” cars....probably expensive and high end. You’ll need to search out “Gasoline”, and only a few older techs will be able to fix the thing. •••••. Sound like Film?

 

[DennisM]

Gasoline Cars - Film Cameras

Gasoline Cars - Film Cameras

You are exactly right. The analogy is an apt one. Debating the merits of one film camera vs another or whether new film cameras should, or will be manufactured is like those who debated which horse-drawn buggy was "better" at the dawn of the auto age. Enjoy and use film cameras now as I do as well as digital cameras.

 

[Ambro51]

Interestingly, Studebaker built and successfully marketed electric cars from 1902 to 1912. They continued to build the horse drawn Farm Wagon until 1920.

 

[View Range]

In the US electric cars will need 1000 miles range in August driving through the desert in excess of 80 miles per hour with a family of six and their luggage tied to the roof. I know cars don't have that range, but it takes less than 5 minutes to fill the tank. Five minutes is an important refueling time because that is how long a potty break takes. Waiting around for batteries to charge won't be accepted easily.

 

[benlees]

In the US electric cars will need 1000 miles range in August driving through the desert in excess of 80 miles per hour with a family of six and their luggage tied to the roof. I know cars don't have that range, but it takes less than 5 minutes to fill the tank. Five minutes is an important refueling time because that is how long a potty break takes. Waiting around for batteries to charge won't be accepted easily.

Agreed. I think in cities electric vehicles will become more popular among the well heeled who have parking with AC/heat at home and work until the kinks of battery health at extreme atmospheric temps can be figured out. Charging stations are popping up everywhere (like in rest areas in the mountains of BC) so it is definitely interesting to see what will happen. Have a picnic and charge your car.

I'm glad someone mentioned that electric cars were neck and neck with fossil fuel cars at the beginnings of the personal auto.

 

[cassel]

I don't have a crystal ball or an agenda but it will be very interesting to see how EVs evolve in the next few years...

I drive a 2019 Chevy Volt - had it more than a year now and I love it! If you don't know -it's a hybrid with lots of control over how the power is provided-

I have a lifetime 100mpg on the car - around town; which is how it is almost always used - it never uses gas - and gets about 50 miles per charge. If I need to drive far away - hundreds of miles or thousands across the continent - it has a gas engine as well and will drive like a normal car at about 42mpg...

It's a bridge to the future with the best of gas and electric car tech - I'm surprised the concept (if not my particular model) is not more popular - In fact the Volt has been discontinued for 2020...

My photography workflow is also a HYBRID - shooting film that is scanned and processed on a computer🙄

 

[JeffS7444]

Change is already well underway in the USA, and it's not just internal combustion vs electric, but a shift from the perception of privately-owned cars as freedom or means of self-expression, to a more utilitarian attitude of car as means to an end, sometimes as a service rather than a personal possession. In fact, few new sedans, roadsters and coupes are offered in this country: At the moment, most offerings are "crossover" vehicles and light trucks.

Likely GM's move is a response to upcoming California regulations which will require that a certain percentage of vehicles sold in the state be electrified, and California makes up a big percentage of the US economy.

 

[charjohncarter]

Just like Digital cameras you will have to plug them in. At least in California we are dismantling our last of five Nuclear power plants which at present provides 20% of our power. If everyone is driving electric cars we will have to produce much more electrical energy. One good way to do this will be to build more coal burning plants maybe not in California but in the rest of the US.

I'm not quit sure about this but I believe the power company that provides me with electricity has to buy energy from outside the state. We already have rolling blackouts during the air conditioning and evening car charging periods. So, for now I'll keep a non-battery camera around in case I can't charge my Digital.

 

[KoNickon]

The battery limitations are what's holding things back, especially where destinations are spread out, like in the western US. But I do think hybrids are a good compromise, reasonably priced. It will take a long time before gasoline vehicles disappear entirely, htough.

 

[AlexBG]

The battery limitations are what's holding things back, especially where destinations are spread out, like in the western US. But I do think hybrids are a good compromise, reasonably priced. It will take a long time before gasoline vehicles disappear entirely, htough.

In the last 10 years battery range has doubled and charging times have more than halved. By 2040 if this carries on it will be quicker to charge your electric car and it will go further and faster than a petrol car.

In the UK new petrol cars will be banned by 2040.

 

[valdas]

In the UK new petrol cars will be banned by 2040.

So, that ends the comparison of petrol cars with film cameras 🙂 I hope my Rolleiflex will not be banned...

 

[cassel]

operative word there is "NEW" petrol cars...

I don't want any one taking away my film cameras OR my classic cars that burn gas😉

 

[Pál_K]

...
I drive a 2019 Chevy Volt ... I'm surprised the concept (if not my particular model) is not more popular - In fact the Volt has been discontinued for 2020...
...

The Volt design is very good and eliminates "range anxiety" (fear of batteries depleted on a trip with a totally electric vehicle). However, it was priced very high (~$40k?). I think the initial demographics for the Volt and more expensive Teslas were that they were a second or third car in the household - the others being petrol vehicles.

Change is already well underway in the USA, and it's not just internal combustion vs electric, but a shift from the perception of privately-owned cars as freedom or means of self-expression, to a more utilitarian attitude of car as means to an end, sometimes as a service rather than a personal possession...

You are completely correct. What I think will happen is that certain large cities will ban petrol-only vehicles from the city center (or charge a fee for having one there). That may eventually lead to no personal vehicles allowed at all in the city.

I believe that the freedom to travel as we wish, where we wish, will come to an end; it will become demonized.

I don't believe petrol-based transportation can be eliminated entirely. The entire process of growing and harvesting crops, transporting food and goods across the country, air travel, cannot be achieved with electric power alone.

 

[markjwyatt]

Electric cars are hot right now, and are moving forward quickly. Whether they displace gasoline cars does remain to be seen. I do not think range is the biggest issue now; though it is an issue. A bigger issue is making enough batteries as well as building the electric grid to support orders of magnitude more electric cars, plus getting the minerals needed to move forward on a grand scale.

Trends to watch include autonomy (i.e., self driving cars or assisted driving-- not restricted to electric); battery technology and manufacturing; fuel cell technology and hydrogen; mining growth (in the US it is difficult). Also autonomous cargo transport, eVTOL (electric or other) and related aviation transport for people and cargo are growing in the same space.

Finally, regulation will promote or hinder electrification and these other trends. California eliminating fossil fuel cars by 2035 (if it stands) will certainly drive towards electrification. "New Green Deals" of various sorts also move things that way. The lack of these regulatory trends would not mean the technology would stop, but may take longer to occur, and may not end up as big, and may take different forms.

I like to say we have entered the technology vision space of the Jetsons, but are still far from Star Trek.

 

[hap]

Change is already well underway in the USA, and it's not just internal combustion vs electric, but a shift from the perception of privately-owned cars as freedom or means of self-expression, to a more utilitarian attitude of car as means to an end, sometimes as a service rather than a personal possession. In fact, few new sedans, roadsters and coupes are offered in this country: At the moment, most offerings are "crossover" vehicles and light trucks.

Likely GM's move is a response to upcoming California regulations which will require that a certain percentage of vehicles sold in the state be electrified, and California makes up a big percentage of the US economy.

Not sure how long that will continue to be true.

 

[zuiko85]

Five years ago the missus and I were seduced by the cheap price of a 3 year old Nissan Leaf, a 2013 model coming off lease. Paid $12K for the car. It was fine in the summer, even with the AC running, for the short trips we were making (30-50 miles). But then the cold, wet, 100% humidity winter came. We sometimes had 3-4 adults in the car and keeping the windows clear of fog became a battery eating lost cause. Safe range dropped from 70 miles to 30 miles.
We got rid of it at a substantial loss a year later. The resale value of electric cars is abysmal.
Edit; When we bought it the car had only 30K miles on it.

 

[KoNickon]

It seems that here in the US, there is no longer the desire by teenagers to get their driver's license that there used to be. Any number of reasons for that, including overprotective parents who are willing to drive their kids everywhere, but it does seem the dream of getting your license and getting your own car isn't as strong as it used to be. Seems to go along with the younger generation's reduced interest in "stuff" -- don't want to own a house; want to not be tied down by a job, or a house, or possessions (like a car). It goes with the general trend toward increased mobility (and decreased financial expectations).

 

[charjohncarter]

Finally, regulation will promote or hinder electrification and these other trends. California eliminating fossil fuel cars by 2035 (if it stands) will certainly drive towards electrification. "New Green Deals" of various sorts also move things that way. The lack of these regulatory trends would not mean the technology would stop, but may take longer to occur, and may not end up as big, and may take different forms.

Here in California it doesn't seem to matter what propositions are passed, if for some reason a group doesn't like the new law or proposition they sue into eternity.

In 2014 we passed a water proposition (14), in it was 2.7 billiion for new water storage and hydro-electric projects. None of that has been implemented. We had a new 12 cent per gallon tax to repair the failing roads and bridges in California. Almost the first thing the government did was grant 5 billion of the new tax to climate change.

 

[hap]

the question is not the cars, so much as it is the heirarchy of energy sources powering the economy.

While there will certainly be more advances in solar and storage, if we want a reliable 24/7/365 electric energy source, think about Gen IV or higher nuclear power plants. Zero emissions.

In the meantime, natural gas and some coal with the best possible environmental technologies.

I wonder, with all the fleeing from urban blight and mismanaged high tax jurisdictions, how that might alter the power landscape.

 

[Mackinaw]

It seems that here in the US, there is no longer the desire by teenagers to get their driver's license that there used to be. Any number of reasons for that, including overprotective parents who are willing to drive their kids everywhere, but it does seem the dream of getting your license and getting your own car isn't as strong as it used to be. Seems to go along with the younger generation's reduced interest in "stuff" -- don't want to own a house; want to not be tied down by a job, or a house, or possessions (like a car). It goes with the general trend toward increased mobility (and decreased financial expectations).

Actually, this isn't true. Once teenagers grow up, get married, and have kids, the first thing they do is buy a car. i read recently that the younger demographic is accounting for a large percentage of car sales.

Jim B.