The future of the Automobile...

kermit said:
What V10 2.0L? The 20Cup is powered by a turbo 1.6L. Same engine will arrive in the 207 and Mini this year.
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My quick read of the article = error. The unit in the article had a 1.6l with turbo, a twin-scroll unit that felt like a 2l unit. The mention of the V12 in the 907 concept threw me.
The main issue for me was the carbon fibre tub and lighweight 500kg with force fed engine to allow for performance and/or economy and fun as part of the future auto.
Is also a usefull car site.
 
Crystal ball, future gazing from an Australian perspective.

DBR said:
Some great insights here - its hard to stare in the Crystal ball and determine what will influence how we will get around in the next Decade and after.

I honestly think High efficiency Diesel Engines will be the stop gap measure leading into battery electric vehicles. Variable compression HCCI otto/diesels will run with multi grade fuels, and should prove to be quiter, cleaner and more liveable overall than the current diesel offerings. The fundemental advantage of the diesel motor is the carnot cycle - the specific fuel consumption is lower than the otto engine ( about .24 Kg fuel per KWatt Hour. compared to .3 for petrol). So Diesel engines have the underlying advantage from the start.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_cycle#Diesel_vs_Otto_cycle

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/auto_technology/1266656.html

As suggested in other comments - the diesel engine will take off in Australia probably after Europe and Asia but I believe diesels will finally find a perch in Aus. The VW Passat, Golf, Mercedes 300D and Diesel Gemini may of been 30 years ahead of there time!

Another comment that does make sense; are Diesel Hybrids - although it's true that the advantage of a diesel is the fact that can meter fuel as needed through all engine speeds - it could be argued that a constant speed otto engine can almost meet the diesel in efficiency - almost.

So after Diesel and Hybrid cars, perhaps Electric cars will become the norm (at last!). Some argue Fuel cells but there has been some great advances in battery efficiency and this is bound to continue - as suggested; a swap out of the battery pack (BatPaks?) may be a common occurance at Service stations in the future.

Car safety will continue to dominate design driven both by government legislation and by modern man's increasing desire to stay alive in the material world. Even American manufacturers are seriously considering this design aspect.

Not only passive and active safety as we know it but a new field of safety research is currently being undertaken by Governments, OEM suppliers and the auto makers themselves. This is research into "hands on wheel" safety. The goal is to control the car, utilise the mobile phone and provide destination entry to the Navigation systems via Speech Recognition. Text to Speech and Heads-up displays will compliment this voice based technology allowing the driver the "communicate" with the vehicle without ever having to take their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road. Renault is quite advanced in this area - watch out for their 2006 / 2007 models.

Car shapes are homoginising - they are approaching the perfect shape which is both stylish and aerodynamic - yes all cars will end up looking like the infamous Citroen DS. ( 50 years ahead of its time?)

Who knows? - we should preserve this thread and compare it to the result in 10 to 20 years time - it would be thouroughly interesting reading!:wink2:

Denis
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Interesting to read and think about the progress through to 2018. What surprising progress so far? , No feasible new fuel sources:confused:. Sadly I get an impression that some want to get rid of personal transport. Just my opinion of course or reserve it for an elite section of the community.:rolleyes:

Ken
 
If the perfect shape for a car is the box, then I think most cars seem to have attained this goal. The only link to the Citroen DS is if you think DS stands for De Square.

John
 
Ha. I see some significant progress and some very good guesses in the early posts, which have come to be true. IC cars are already to be phased out in some countries, I think some states in the US and quite a few EU countries where it has been already decided that city cars must have zero emissions by such and such year (in the 2020s).

It looks like there will be a number of fuels and different technologies, none of which can be as yet called an absolute winner to wipe out the competition mainly because they all depend critically on infrastructure. Good, I say. The more options, the better.

The best thing about it will be to free the "free world" of dealings with shady oil producing countries and their disturbed politics. Looking forward to converting my 205GTI to electric or something.
 
Ha. I see some significant progress and some very good guesses in the early posts, which have come to be true. IC cars are already to be phased out in some countries, I think some states in the US and quite a few EU countries where it has been already decided that city cars must have zero emissions by such and such year (in the 2020s).

It looks like there will be a number of fuels and different technologies, none of which can be as yet called an absolute winner to wipe out the competition mainly because they all depend critically on infrastructure. Good, I say. The more options, the better.

The best thing about it will be to free the "free world" of dealings with shady oil producing countries and their disturbed politics. Looking forward to converting my 205GTI to electric or something.
 
I reckon that opinions are like arseholes. Everybody has one!

My take on this is that we start an Aussiefrogs bank account into which we all put 50 bucks into a pool to be held in trust for the next ten years. We predict what things will look like in 2028, the winner being the person/s whose predictions are the most correct. Our sealed entries must be lodged with a nominated J.P. by 30/12/18 and the contents of the sealed entries made public after the closing date. (Entries that comprise vague, non-specific predictions would not be counted.) In 2028, a panel of (by then more ancient) froggers would be elected to deliver the winners. :)

Any takers?
 
The future and the pundits.

You have my:2cents: for an eachway bet that when push comes to hip pocket crunch, voters will choose to replace their governments rather that replace their mode of fuelled personal transport. Of course it could get so crazy that one lot, gives freebie replacements of whatever future build they prefer, and that might mean the mob that pays politicians and their cronies the best kick-back! After that to consumers, it is just fine tuning, what else you can get with the package and I don't think a set of cheap steak knives will impress as a bonus.:rolleyes:


Of course there are suckers born every minute and one could be cynical about that, and anyway with inflation and deferred credit costs your dollar might be worth less than :2cents: in ten years. Now that is incorporating your idea kim and that of Slitz, the fine tuning...…


Ken
 
More US republican fearmongering. The collection of transport data is important for future planning, except of course in the USA, which seems to think it unnecessary as it will enjoy an endless supply of fossil fuels into the future. It also has a President that threatens people who buy electric cars. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/201...5afuR0d5G0Le1FaqkYn6H1lY0laXWYsXG3IMl4Sq2maY0
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...-gm-electric-car-subsidies/ar-BBQakyN?ocid=sf
Let's not get too excited about what our friends in China are doing.....
 
Kim Luck said:
More US republican fearmongering. The collection of transport data is important for future planning, except of course in the USA, which seems to think it unnecessary as it will enjoy an endless supply of fossil fuels into the future. It also has a President that threatens people who buy electric cars. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/201...5afuR0d5G0Le1FaqkYn6H1lY0laXWYsXG3IMl4Sq2maY0
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...-gm-electric-car-subsidies/ar-BBQakyN?ocid=sf
Let's not get too excited about what our friends in China are doing.....
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Grist for the chocolate troll, you mean?
 
If GM pays third world wages to makers of EVs then they can forgo subsidies - what's wrong with that?
 
Yeah, i know. They are welcome to mine :)
 
Everyone should buy electric cars.
While every car is imported, and all our petrol is imported, one thing for sure is that we won't be importing electricity.
We have plenty of coal, uranium, sun, and wind so we can reduce our dependence on imported oil by driving electric vehicles.
Just think that every time you recharge you're fill up with good Aussie electricity and if you're lucky enough, it might be electricity that you yourself generated with your solar panels. What could be more satisfying than that!
 
Utopian dreams of economies free of profiteers..

REN TIN TIN said:
Everyone should buy electric cars.
While every car is imported, and all our petrol is imported, one thing for sure is that we won't be importing electricity.
We have plenty of coal, uranium, sun, and wind so we can reduce our dependence on imported oil by driving electric vehicles.
Just think that every time you recharge you're fill up with good Aussie electricity and if you're lucky enough, it might be electricity that you yourself generated with your solar panels. What could be more satisfying than that!
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RTT that has always been my delicious thought process,:D that all those suppliers who have been for years artificially boosting and manipulating crude oil prices to enrich themselves, are left with oil in the ground that they cannot sell. :headbang:

A just reward for Cartel activity in holding the world to ransom. Sweet justice :D having transport markets move to more efficient emerging technology using predominantly electric motors. :approve:

Unfortunately the "new cartel activity" has been the move into other forms of energy monopoly. On the one hand there is the possibility some consumers of electricity will get free access to power if they are rich enough to buy their own power panels, batteries and for a while reverse manipulate the electricity energy to their advantage, versus the Electricity Energy providers who managed to take control of the market, buy up alternative energy generation, while building and financing a so called renewables investors monopoly with huge subsidies that is based on ever higher returns promised to the investors and so dearer base power that they could then promote or manipulate into the Australian Energy grid by shutting down cheaper power generation sources (and their monopoly on supply).

All aided by a media fuelled emotional virtue signalling campaign to mask the money making (profit escalation) that would inevitably result in ordinary consumers paying more for vital power.:evil:

The absolute genesis of Energy Cartel Activity that would rip off all but the richest consumers who could (for a time) also take advantage and look after themselves, either by sweetheart deals with the big monopolistic Energy players or by their dollar richness buy their own sources of "free" ? power from the sun and wind, i.e. some win some lose.:blackeye:


Probably could have worked to the advantage of consumers ONLY if the whole power system was local community owned (State or Federal) including the poles and wire component of the system and only manipulated by the medium of taxation supposedly for the good of all.:rolleyes:


Yes in that latter case I would agree, we would be in a much better position to be both energy self sufficient and free of the malodorous effect of cartel activity that has always been at the forefront of energy in Australia.

Now the best we could expect is somehow introducing more energy players and energy sources to get the best that all consumers can, from Sun, Wind, Ocean, as well as Coal, Nuclear and other technology perhaps yet to be discovered, that can compete as a true consumers market of choice.

All aided by governments of the people, for the people i.e. the commonwealth. A dream I know, :confused: but... only possible if thinking people apply their minds to the task.:wink2:


Ken:)
 
REN TIN TIN said:
Everyone should buy electric cars. While every car is imported.........................................
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Not quite correct:
Whilst the rest of Australia sits on it's hands, it's most forward thinking state has bitten the bullet. Having already seen the closing of one of Australia's dirtiest power stations, Victoria is to make the Latrobe Valley an electric vehicle manufacturing hub, using technology developed and proved by SEA in Dandenong.

SEA-Drive ? ? SEA Electric

Electric cars power job boost | Latrobe Valley Express
 
That could work with some forward thinking..

Kim Luck said:
Not quite correct:
Whilst the rest of Australia sits on it's hands, it's most forward thinking state has bitten the bullet. Having already seen the closing of one of Australia's dirtiest power stations, Victoria is to make the Latrobe Valley an electric vehicle manufacturing hub, using technology developed and proved by SEA in Dandenong.

SEA-Drive ? ? SEA Electric

Electric cars power job boost | Latrobe Valley Express
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Promising,:wink2: but then it was political application of royalties that also lead to the closure and potential blackouts, when we could have had a clean nuclear generation plant site adjacent to the other promising white elephant that seems to get little commercial use as a desalination plant. Same governments, but I agree "maybe it all just might, could eventuate".. The reliable base load nuclear generation power clean component should power up and compliment those electric motors for years to come.


Forward thinking? well maybe.:D
 
AFAIR the company that owned said power station declared it uneconomical due to it's aging equipment and massive re-investment costs. I don't recall them suggesting it be replaced by a nuclear plant but that would have been nice. In the meantime some of the displaced workers will be taken up by the SEA initiative, which along with other industries moving into the area will ensure the Valley stays alive and kicking and together with renewables it will well and truly outlast you and I! :)
 
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