Can Aston Martin Survive in the Electric Vehicle Era?

Perhaps this a line of discussion, might help to answer the topic question.

Will electric DBXs attract customers more easily, than an electric Aston Martin sports car?

I think this whole thing is going to be interesting as it unfolds toward 2035. I tend to agree with Matt Farrah/The SmokingTire, that it's easy for a politician to say something without any thought towards its real-world feasibility. I think that EVs can play a large part in the transition we need to make, but they are not a panacea to the issue. Given the pollution that battery and solar panel production introduce, surely this means this means that we're comfortable with nuclear power? If not, then where does the juice come from at the scale required?

This road will be twisty.

That is good news, hopefully Aston would be exempt too

Now that’s a good idea - because 4x4 drivers are much more brand than product driven, and as Porsche have proved many or even most of the customers are not dyed in the wool enthusiasts. Maybe the DBX should be the flag bearer for EV. Maybe the next iteration of the DBX should be based on Marek Reichman’s still born Lagonda concept - dramatic and luxurious but a million miles away from the appearance of an ICE vehicle.

Sure, I still have serious doubts whether the EV will e er be truly practicable, but if they are going to do it, this would be the way, not an EV dressed up as a Vantage.

If the EV's develop in the way that you describe, well and good. For my money we have been waiting for that development for a long time and it hasn't happened. As and when range and weight cease to be an issue, we will have a viable form of transport, which may or may not be dull. I think it is best, as Jon39 has perhaps indicated, if the EV's were not pretending to be ICEV's.

As to the logistics of petrol being madness, I'm not sure what you mean. It works. It is a resource which is there to be exploited, or are we now saying that any form of mining is no longer acceptable? It is viable, even when the Government is taking a massive cut in tax. It has become more efficient faster, dare I say, than the equivalent EV's, once the pressure came on, and that is no bad thing.

I have heard this being mentioned by people for quite a while.
I don't know anything about solid state batteries, so can someone explain some of the technicalities of this breakthrough?
Half the weight, double the range, much quicker to charge, it all sounds excellent. Will they draw less from the grid too, if charging is faster. That would help with the generation capacity problem.

I recently came across an interesting comment.
There were apparently more electric cars in use in the early 1900s, than internal combustion cars. The final killer for electric cars then was said to be Henry Fords mass production method, which suddenly reduced the cost of IC personal transport.
Was that true ?

In fact they are being told by politicians that EV is the future and there will be no more ICEV so they better deal with it. Of course if that does not happen or ends in embarrassing failure like most political initiatives, all the politicians will be denying that they had anything to do with it.

But fine, give it a throw and maybe we will get solid state, lighter, batteries with long range and fast charging. I would suspect that by that time the only driving we will be doing is in a simulator, maybe a very good simulator, that makes authentic Aston Martin noises and maybe might feature, for a price, an AM made seat, steering wheel and dashboard.

It took over 100 years for ICE to get to this point.

If you have me 1 quid and I gave you only 20p back you'd be pretty annoyed, that's where ICE is. It is madly inefficient. Imagine EV's were the primary mode of transport and someone came along saying "hey, I've found this stuff deep under the ocean, we need to send out rigs, dig up the sea bed, risk massive leaks transporting said stuff to a refinery, there we refine it, then we need to transport it all over the place and then people will need to go to our distribution centres to buy said stuff, people will only be able to use 20% of it too, the rest it wasted or kicked out as co2" - you'd be laughed out of the door. When you get used to having a 'full' car every morning the old world seems bonkers.

Of course mining will have to continue but we really won't need to trashing the oceans in the future.

This is a great clip on the whole process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk-LnUYEXuM&t=... (be it from one angle)

I have a Tesla Model 3 for commuting, and it's fine - an interesting and innovative technology platform which happens to have four wheels.

I appreciate it for thinking freshly about the whole car experience and think that is a good path for Tesla versus the old guard releasing electrified versions of their existing vehicles. It's a different mindset. This is a new automotive world where software smarts is all-important, and Tesla has a head start. Range, often considered the bête noire of electric vehicles, is a total non-issue. It's fine. Good, even. I charge at work on the occasions I am there, occasionally top up at home if I think I need it, and spend less time at petrol stations.

Other than straight line acceleration, the driving dynamics of the Model 3 are nothing special - it has lifeless steering and a terrible turning circle, but that doesn't mean that I think electric cars will all be that dull. There WILL be innovation in the the electric motors. Chassis, springs, steering and weight balance WILL still continue to play a big part in creating the feel of a vehicle.

If you can accept that auto makers will still find plenty of ways differentiate their vehicles, there is no reason why Aston Martin can't survive, as long as they can produce original, distinctive and beautiful cars.

Like any fundamental disruption in technology, there will always be plenty of people who want to keep what they're used to (and I totally get that), but the sky isn't necessarily falling.

The 'road tax' on cars now seems to be in a muddle and quite unjust.
Most of us probably pay £600 p.a. for our Aston Martins (many probably very low use).
Classic cars, also mostly very low use, No road tax, No MoT and insurance costs only about £100 annually.
I think it is only £140 pa road tax for more recent Aston Martins.
Older cars £250, which becomes almost nothing for many younger cars.

Perhaps the government might move to charging per mile driven, in place of road tax (more likely in addition to).
Possibly advantageous for our low useage cars.