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Ok so America's "Luv Affair" with those big hulking Gasoline-Sucking SUV's is just about over as thousands of them fill America's Used Car Lots
GM and Chysler are about to go bankrupt(Good riddance you build CRAP anyway!) Ford is "struggling along" barely keeping it's head above the the water line in the drowning pool and inexpensive Korean car companies like Hiundai and Kia are having "banner sales" despite a crumbling economy so the question remains..."what's next"?
is it Electric Cars?
Alternative fuels?
Gas/Electric Hybrids,and NOT the SUV version of these becuase they still get SHIT for gas mileage!
Will we see the end of the Internal Combustion Engine and something better in it's place?
Perhaps "Fusion Generators"?
Hydrogen powered Cars?
what do you think the next evolution in Cars will be?
GM and Chysler are about to go bankrupt(Good riddance you build CRAP anyway!) Ford is "struggling along" barely keeping it's head above the the water line in the drowning pool and inexpensive Korean car companies like Hiundai and Kia are having "banner sales" despite a crumbling economy so the question remains..."what's next"?
is it Electric Cars?
Alternative fuels?
Gas/Electric Hybrids,and NOT the SUV version of these becuase they still get SHIT for gas mileage!
Will we see the end of the Internal Combustion Engine and something better in it's place?
Perhaps "Fusion Generators"?
Hydrogen powered Cars?
what do you think the next evolution in Cars will be?
posted by:
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Idaho
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Re: What's Next?
Sat, April 18, 2009 - 6:57 PMlow cost cars. not necessarily the most fuel efficient, or the safest. Cheap. To get people from pt A to pt. B. On top of the fact that so many are tied into suburban living, it just isn't in everyones finances to ditch the burbs for high density housing in urban areas. Expect electric assist bicycles to be more prevelant too.Using electric assist bikes to 'share' facilities with bikes and peds.
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Re: What's Next?
Sat, April 25, 2009 - 11:10 AMLow cost cars that everyone can afford is a good option jOe and ceartainly electric assisted bicycles would be way COOL ,I'd LOVE to see them become viable transportation since I am an avid cyclist! but I think the Auto Industry has to get away from the internal combustion engine completely! I mean, with dwindling Oil supplies just how many more decades do they think gasoline will be abundantly (and cheaply!) available to power their gas engine powered vehicles?
Gasoline engine technology is still much like it was in the 1900's except for better emission control of exhaust pollutants and higher efficiency,it reall hasn't changed much but the bottom line is ANY and ALL internal combustion engines still pollute the environment. Electric Cars are a good option but use gasoline to make them so they aren't '100% pollutant free'.
NEW alternative means of propulsion is needed that use NO OIL to manufacture,becuase 'Oil' is going away. This is no longer about 'wich gasoline engine' is best,it's about NON-gasoline powered methods of propulsion. -
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Re: What's Next?
Tue, April 28, 2009 - 6:14 PMYou would have quite a task convincing me that low cost cars ala the Tata Nano in India are a move forward. They would encourage more folks of limited resources behind the wheel. If you look at the evolution of western nations after cars became part of the scene, you would see some common characteristics.
1.A financial shift from local to international economy.
2. Infrastructure changes to encourage cars over other modes.
3. Social and economic changes reflecting a more mobile society.
4. Environmental and health challenges from the added polluton and crashes and all that come with the territory.
The harder road, but the better one would be to build more high density housing and industry along transit/ transportation corridors and let the farthest flung suburbs die. The ideal for most of us would be the '20 minute neighborhood' that has jobs,shopping/services and housing within 20 minutes of travel.
I live in one of those communities, and find I rarely need to use a car.
This is by no means the complete list,but merely a start. Feel free to add to it.
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Re: What's Next?
Sun, May 10, 2009 - 4:29 PMI hear you jOe
Pocatello Idaho is one such "City" our total population is about 70,000(the 4th largest "city" in Idaho) it's situated on a FLAT expanse of acreage in bettween the Sawtooth Mountains and literally EVERYTHING you need is within a 10 minute auto drive.This little Mt Town lacks NOTHING(it's all here!) and If gasoline "dissappeared tommorrow" with a set of Panniers put on my long wheelbase Recumbent Bicycle I "could technically" go 100% Car-less and still get most everything I need. Becuase it is "basically flat" here until you leave town and go up into the Sawtooths,bicycling here is very easy to do without a lot of effort. -
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Re: What's Next?
Sun, May 10, 2009 - 8:56 PMSome cities could adapt more easily than others, owing to specific circumstances. Most would have a challenge. One of the biggest challenges is retooling or adapting economies to be not dependent on shipping goods from distant places to serve a local need. Much of our manufacturing and agricultural infastructure has been offshored. It is reliant on 'cheap' oil to serve demand. Another major challenge is retooling transportation to serve populations living far apart from their stores/jobs/schools.
Folks with the initiative and health to provide their own transportation probably have a leg up,but I suspect the Mad Max scenario seems possible. -
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Re: What's Next?
Sat, May 30, 2009 - 9:17 PMMy "Mad Max" scenario as you call it is not only possible but imminently probable!
Like it or not "Peak Oil" is only about 10 years away. This is when a simple gallon of Gasoline to power your wunnerful 17 mpg ineficcient 5 door gas powered road Hawg will be 7-10 dollars! in reality,how many of us can really afford THAT?
This Planet's fossile fuels are NOT inexhaustable and they are dwindling RAPIDLY. Our entire Society Worldwide within the last 100 yrs was totally built around the Internal Combustion Engine that runs on Gasoline. No one has as of yet,come up with a truly viable alternative TO the Internal Combustion Engine and "time is running out",after Peak Oil occurs over 70% of the worlds population will not be able to afford to operate their gasoline powered vehicles becuase the price of what little gasoline is left available will be so astronomically high it will be out of reach to all but the wealthiest people.
If an alternative to the gas powered engine is not made commonplace,within ten years,most of us could be looking at getting around in a Horse and Buggy or on the bicycles we rode as children.
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Re: What's Next?
Tue, April 28, 2009 - 3:42 PMSolar powerwd cars? Probably decades away if ever.
