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I don't see any of that being a deal killer. Batteries already get up to 430 miles per charge. That is more than enough for a 180 mile trip. As for mountains, charging stations at the base of the mountain would solve that problem. Cold weather would just involve an extra stop to recharge. Stopping to charge will not be as big a deal as some make it out to be. On long trips drivers will pull into a restaurant, plug in their car, go eat lunch, come back and their car will be fully charged and ready to go up a mountain. Or they will just pull into a charging station, plug their car in, go online and work for an hour, until the charge is complete. Very few people drive non-stop without taking breaks, anyway.
430 mile batteries ain’t cheap by any means.
You act like wasting 40 minutes every 3 hours is no big deal. Hanging out at a charging station for half and hour in freezing weather doesn’t sound fun at all. Not everybody can “work” from their car.
There’s no way I would want to be constrained to eating at the closest restaurant to a charger when I can just fill up in 5 minutes and eat where and when I want to.
EV fans don’t seem to realize that’s there’s a difference between accepting and making the most of certain inconveniences and avoiding them altogether.
Some type of gravity control (anti-gravity) would be the best for our overall transportation needs, but from what Ive read about the subject, such a power source is mostly 'solid state' (not many moving/ mechanical parts), so widespread use could not support a huge energy industry behind it, in other words, ANY fuel or power source we find, it MUST be able to be run thru a meter.
If Im not mistaken, this was part of the reason why Teslas energy distribution towers were classified, power could not be metered to the public.
Some type of gravity control (anti-gravity) would be the best for our overall transportation needs, but from what Ive read about the subject, such a power source is mostly 'solid state' (not many moving/ mechanical parts), so widespread use could not support a huge energy industry behind it, in other words, ANY fuel or power source we find, it MUST be able to be run thru a meter.
If Im not mistaken, this was part of the reason why Teslas energy distribution towers were classified, power could not be metered to the public.
No, its because energy towers don't work. If they did, the government would use them to power remote military bases, ships, or space stations or something, not keep it "classified" for over 100 years.
Very few public services run through a meter. That's what taxes are for. I don't get charged by the mile when I drive on a regular road.
You can't look at the development without seeing everything that is about to change:
1. Car Ownership is going to go to agencies that are providing ride sharing...buying your own car is going to be a wasteful old habit. The rich instead will opt for flying cars.
2. Electricity is going to get much cheaper as commercially viable fusion is put into place.
3. Not all roads need to be electrified, but major ones do. Very rural areas may have to stay on increasingly hard to maintain fossil fuel vehicles
4. The electrified roads will become like a toll road. It will pay for itself. If it cannot...it won't go private or electric. Services in the city will begin to tilt further apart from rural areas.
This is one of a number of trajectories in the direction of a target (perhaps unintended) of a global division between the haves and have-nots. A deeper economic division than ever occurred at any time in the era of the colonial empires.
Already Myanmar has more people than Spain, Sudan more than Canada, Nepal more than Australia, and they will double before electric roads have as much as a significant presence anywhere. What is your plan to electrify their roads? Or do you think shareholders sweeping along in pods on electrified roads in Belgium and Connecticut will just magically become a global paradigm?
You can't look at the development without seeing everything that is about to change:
1. Car Ownership is going to go to agencies that are providing ride sharing...buying your own car is going to be a wasteful old habit. The rich instead will opt for flying cars.
2. Electricity is going to get much cheaper as commercially viable fusion is put into place.
3. Not all roads need to be electrified, but major ones do. Very rural areas may have to stay on increasingly hard to maintain fossil fuel vehicles
4. The electrified roads will become like a toll road. It will pay for itself. If it cannot...it won't go private or electric. Services in the city will begin to tilt further apart from rural areas.
1. Will never ever happen. Ever. It’s not even remotely in the realm of science fiction. That’s like saying everybody will live in an apartment. Less than a fraction of 1% of the world’s population shares a ride with anybody especially if they have a choice.
2. Might as well bank on time machines and teleporters. They’re just as likely.
1. Movement vehicles are going to be more expensive to be electric and autonomous...that's lots of systems to be maintained, and companies will administer them. Live feeds are going to be necessary to keep up with ever changing conditions on travel paths. That's going to be expensive. Yet, the information collected will be worth a ton of money. If you say, take me to Bloomies, expect persuasive ads to direct you to a competitor...which you'll accept as part of the subsidized price of the service.
All of that valuable downtown land currently wasted as parking lots can be converted into real estate.
Flying cars are already here...if you're rich. The problem is access to land and the training needed to operate one.
2. Fusion is going to happen. Lockheed can apparently already do it, but their contract is beyond that. The military needs to restore power to cities is conquers quickly, so Lockheed plans on having a mobile fusion generator that can power a city of 85,000 people....and get it to fit on a truck, within 5 years.
Either they get it right, or we have a billion degrees suddenly unleashed on the planet. Suddenly, a faraway surface like the Moon for experiments looks like a good move.
1. Movement vehicles are going to be more expensive to be electric and autonomous...that's lots of systems to be maintained, and companies will administer them. Live feeds are going to be necessary to keep up with ever changing conditions on travel paths. That's going to be expensive. Yet, the information collected will be worth a ton of money. If you say, take me to Bloomies, expect persuasive ads to direct you to a competitor...which you'll accept as part of the subsidized price of the service.
All of that valuable downtown land currently wasted as parking lots can be converted into real estate.
Flying cars are already here...if you're rich. The problem is access to land and the training needed to operate one.
2. Fusion is going to happen. Lockheed can apparently already do it, but their contract is beyond that. The military needs to restore power to cities is conquers quickly, so Lockheed plans on having a mobile fusion generator that can power a city of 85,000 people....and get it to fit on a truck, within 5 years.
Either they get it right, or we have a billion degrees suddenly unleashed on the planet. Suddenly, a faraway surface like the Moon for experiments looks like a good move.
To your first point, autonomous electric cars are relatively simple and maintenance is very low. Those cars will have to park somewhere and be charged however. It does not decrease any traffic to have cars do two trips (one to go fetch a passenger, another to go park itself) for every trip a person wishes to take. During rush hour everybody wanting to do the same trip to the same places at the same time doesn't bode well for ride sharing. That's basically the same thing as everybody taking a taxi to work. That's what subways and buses are for. Over time, an autonomous car is completely capable to driving independent of a central infrastructure to control them.
Flying cars however are far more possible. Boeing has already demonstrated a drone that can carry 500 lbs. Autonomy is far easier once you're off the ground. There's no bicyclist, no ladders that fell off trucks in the street, no pedestrians, no construction, no flooding, snow, fallen trees, accidents, etc. Just fly 20 feet above the roadway and go. Nobody needs to widen roads, add overpasses, red lights, stop signs, etc. Training would be unnecessary as its far easier to fly a drone than drive a car. Especially an autonomous one.
If a portable fusion reactor actually becomes a thing, it would be a far bigger game changer than simply being used to power conquered cities, and if it was actually close to reality, they wouldn't need a government contract to be sustainable. It would be like printing money.
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