Downcast about EVs
Discussion
The end of ICE is a first World problem, agreed. Nonetheless, while self driving battery cars will suit many, I couldn't care less. I was reading Autocar today and lots of the coverage is EVs. I've talked myself into gloom about it.
It's like you've been buying a football magazine all your life, and then, without telling you, they convert it to golf or something. Or lacrosse. Whatever that is.
Just soulless transport pods.
I'm excited about battery powered self flying personal planes alright. The excitement of being airborne, despite having no flying skills, would compensate.
But for cars, the trend is inexorably towards ever-increasing boredom and passivity. Just sitting there, doing SFA. It'd be like if they banned skiing and made you ride up and down on the chair lifts instead. Quicker, easier, and safer - but no fun.
Sighs : )
It's like you've been buying a football magazine all your life, and then, without telling you, they convert it to golf or something. Or lacrosse. Whatever that is.
Just soulless transport pods.
I'm excited about battery powered self flying personal planes alright. The excitement of being airborne, despite having no flying skills, would compensate.
But for cars, the trend is inexorably towards ever-increasing boredom and passivity. Just sitting there, doing SFA. It'd be like if they banned skiing and made you ride up and down on the chair lifts instead. Quicker, easier, and safer - but no fun.
Sighs : )
I will miss the sound of a V8 etc but:
1 - I am looking forward to less traffic noise as I live near an A road.
2 - I was exceptionally poor for the first part of my life and my cars were £90 jobbies that came with an MoT from someone in a pub ( as they did years ago). Aside from being rust bucket death traps they were exceptionally unreliable. I'm looking forward to all the crap that made my life hell for many years being consigned to history: water pumps, belts, fuel pumps, spark plugs, (points - Ok I know they are history already), HT leads, gaskets, oil pumps, dirt in the fuel/carb etc etc etc. I expect EV cars will have a new set of issues but there have to be far fewer of them than you get with an ICE.
So the old part of me will miss ICE but in reality I think it's a good thing.
1 - I am looking forward to less traffic noise as I live near an A road.
2 - I was exceptionally poor for the first part of my life and my cars were £90 jobbies that came with an MoT from someone in a pub ( as they did years ago). Aside from being rust bucket death traps they were exceptionally unreliable. I'm looking forward to all the crap that made my life hell for many years being consigned to history: water pumps, belts, fuel pumps, spark plugs, (points - Ok I know they are history already), HT leads, gaskets, oil pumps, dirt in the fuel/carb etc etc etc. I expect EV cars will have a new set of issues but there have to be far fewer of them than you get with an ICE.
So the old part of me will miss ICE but in reality I think it's a good thing.
Crafty_ said:
EVs are only an extension of what we have now in terms of mediocrity. The times of cars having an interesting trait or design are (mostly) behind us, cars share a lot of tech nowadays and have narrow design briefs, so they all look the same and offer more or less the same things. I agree though it feels like EV will make everything more anonymous and bland.
For people who purely use a car to get A -> B, an EV makes no difference to them, they can get to work or the shops etc just fine, so why not.
Lets just hope that people who want to keep a toy/classic won't get victimised post 2030 for killing all the fluffy bunnies. Lets presume for a moment the effect those remaining cars will have on the environment will be negligible I don't think it will stop an agenda to force them off the road should politicians/green groups decide to target them - even if there are bigger fish to fry pollution wise.
In the wider picture I think as time progresses younger people will be geniunely baffled by the concept of a car enthusiast in the latter half of the 20th century/early 21st century.
Gradually "performance" models will just become trim levels, because people won't be prepared to pay premiums for an EV with an extra n kW output.
Boggo EVs are going to be more than capable of "making progress", especially off the line due to the instant torque as we've all already seen - so what can a performance model provide ?
How long will manufacturers dump big money in to motorsports if we all end up just buying cars as white goods (or more accurately, leasing).
As much as EVs will be (are?) a tech revolution they'll be a cultural one too.
The way I see it at the moment is I'll end up in an EV but it won't interest me in the slightest and I'll just end up buying whatever does the job rather than having any interest or affection for the thing, just like the washing machine really.
Yes, agree with everything you say there. Future generations will look at car culture with bewilderment. To them, you might as well talk about refrigerator culture. And I agree that modern cars generally are unsatisfying, despite being very fast. The rot set in some time ago. For people who purely use a car to get A -> B, an EV makes no difference to them, they can get to work or the shops etc just fine, so why not.
Lets just hope that people who want to keep a toy/classic won't get victimised post 2030 for killing all the fluffy bunnies. Lets presume for a moment the effect those remaining cars will have on the environment will be negligible I don't think it will stop an agenda to force them off the road should politicians/green groups decide to target them - even if there are bigger fish to fry pollution wise.
In the wider picture I think as time progresses younger people will be geniunely baffled by the concept of a car enthusiast in the latter half of the 20th century/early 21st century.
Gradually "performance" models will just become trim levels, because people won't be prepared to pay premiums for an EV with an extra n kW output.
Boggo EVs are going to be more than capable of "making progress", especially off the line due to the instant torque as we've all already seen - so what can a performance model provide ?
How long will manufacturers dump big money in to motorsports if we all end up just buying cars as white goods (or more accurately, leasing).
As much as EVs will be (are?) a tech revolution they'll be a cultural one too.
The way I see it at the moment is I'll end up in an EV but it won't interest me in the slightest and I'll just end up buying whatever does the job rather than having any interest or affection for the thing, just like the washing machine really.
Edited by Crafty_ on Saturday 27th February 22:39
My old Mk 2 Golf GTi with its meagre 139 bhp and my rally-prepped K11 Micra both put a grin on my mug every time i drive them. Our family A6 is very competent, quick - and boring as hell.
I recall getting the loan of a v12 bmw 7 series about 20 years ago, and boy what a let down! Sure it was impressive in a whooshy overtake all comers sort of way but there was no sensation of speed and the car sort of drove itself – it wasn’t designed to be chucked about; even then, the driver was becoming the passenger. Brilliant for doing 600 miles of an evening, but no fun.
Too much grip, too little suspension travel, too many turbos (of the civilised, non-laggy variety), no steering feel, fake throttle response, piped in noise, play station flappy paddles and boring autos, dreadful electric handbrakes, over served brakes, the list goes on ...
Every touch point in a modern car disappoints. All fake, all nanny state. All designed to shut out the driver. No interactivity. No ability to adjust the car on the throttle. You can't feather the throttle in a Tessa. And I do love a good intake roar ...
I've driven Teslas. Whoosh. I'm not complaining. But it's a one trick pony, cartoon version of driving which falls far short of the nuanced interactivity that I enjoy.
Teslas are of course not much worse than modern ICE cars. They're pretty interchangeable, all equally dull, and someone who drives a Q7 or somesuch wont really notice much difference.
If I was already a fan of 2021 ICE cars, the transition to EVs would indeed be pretty painless
My issue is that I only like older cars, for reasons noted. They're all petrol, obviously. I don't like either new ICE cars or EVs. It's more the loss of petrol stations and expertise and parts and the inevitable higher taxes etc that concerns me.
So my transition would be from rock n roll retro ICE cars to modern EV.
Frankly, I'd rather walk. I suspect there will be a market in black market synthetic petrol.
I'll be the crazy old guy doing early am drive pasts in a tuned 911, pissing off all the veggie kids on their electric scooters. Something to look fwd to I suppose : )
Damage to a Jaguar I-PACE battery case under the car costs north of £28,000 to repair. There will be a lot of write offs when these cars get damaged.
Source: https://insideevs.com/news/491369/damage-jaguar-ip...
Source: https://insideevs.com/news/491369/damage-jaguar-ip...
Super_G said:
Damage to a Jaguar I-PACE battery case under the car costs north of £28,000 to repair. There will be a lot of write offs when these cars get damaged.
Source: https://insideevs.com/news/491369/damage-jaguar-ip...
Absolute total bobbins, sorry! Apparently the "sealant" to seal the battery box costs 12,611 Euro, really? Does it? I have a bridge you can buy if you think that is the case...Source: https://insideevs.com/news/491369/damage-jaguar-ip...
More faux "shock and awe" with little basis in reality.
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