On the automotive board, we were discussing the Ford Lightning. Taking this to the politics board for the Hydrocarbon fuel vs. alternative fuel politicians gone wild edition. Hope people will have a good discussion.
My position in a nutshell:
People are either ignoring what is happening around them, or they collectively support the fast moving regulations away from petro powered transportation. I believe is more of the former than the latter, but either way; times are a changing. I also am hoping that I am wrong about the rapid movement.
I've made my living mostly in Oil and Gas production. I left just in time and am in a different industry.
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Ford Lightning
I'm seeing the regulators, legislators and people at large choosing to close down petro Exploration and Productions. I would prefer to be wrong on this.Quote:
aggieforester05 said:
I'll leave the political point to say that respectfully I vehemently disagree with your assessment on so many levels that I agree that it's best to leave it to forum 16. So in an effort to prevent derailing this thread let's try to leave the politics out of further discussion unless it relates specifically to EVs (ex. Subsidies for purchase of the lightning).
That being said, liquid hydrocarbons are going nowhere anytime soon, unless we plan to eliminate air travel, most interstate commerce, plastics, cars for people that can't afford EVs. We'd also need to revolutionarily increase our power generation and storage overnight. The former would be unimaginably expensive and the political will to do so would be lacking. The latter is not technologically plausible without huge leaps in scientific discovery.
I'm certainly glad that we're getting some awesome options for alternative powered vehicles including electric and hybrid. Gas powered cars will be around for a long time coming and I think we'll find that a mixture of the two will be a good thing. Over time market forces will slowly erode the need for liquid hydrocarbons to fuel personal vehicles and that will be good and bad in different ways as far as environmental concerns.
As far as the lightning, I think it's going to make a great vehicle for local use, but for those of us whose truck is their primary travel vehicle, it's not feasible. I do like the idea of the torque and the simplicity of the electric motor powertrain from the perspective of someone with a heavy foot. I will miss the sound and feel of the gas engines, especially supercharged V8s like the Gen 2 lightning had.
I know it's not a popular opinion, because the fake noise crowd is very vocal (no pun intended), but I do hope that someday sporty vehicles will be able to accurately simulate that excitement of the gasoline era beasts. Say for example, your car can enter a mode where it has a transmission lever and pedal that can accurately simulate a manual transmission. It may even simulate accurately the sound, vibrations and feel of our favorite ICE powertrains. Your car could feel like a C6 ZR1 when you want it to and then be able to put it into autopilot and cruise like the quietest Tesla when in you're in that kind of mood. The possibilities are endless and I hope things don't go the way of boring soulless appliances that do everything for you with no excitement.
Engineering and science does not seem to get the way of the legislators. Once again, I agree but stuff is moving faster than I thought.Quote:
We'd also need to revolutionary increase our power generation and storage overnight.
Air travel, sea shipping and commercial ground are mostly powered by diesel. Am hoping we'll be smart enough to leave that alone mostly.