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TheEvilDog:

--- Quote from: Akima on 22 Sep 2017, 18:56 ---And of course Australia is the land of the road-train:

--- End quote ---

And more and more, I see the inspiration for some of the Mad Max movies.

bhtooefr:
Let's see, my history:

1985 Volkswagen Jetta Diesel
1988 Honda Civic
1986 Volkswagen Golf Diesel
1992 Mazda Miata
1999.5 Volkswagen Golf TDI
2000 Mazda Miata (currently own, although I might have it sold in a few days...)
2016 Toyota Prius (currently own)

It took me three times to learn that Volkswagens were not for me.

In any case, I do feel that full electrification will happen, and shockingly (pun intended) quickly. The technology's basically already here to make it work if you want it to work, tailpipe pollution is a huge issue in urban areas (which are growing), many nations have gotten sick of internal combustion engine manufacturers' bullshit, the cheapest additional grid capacity is renewable, smart deployment of vehicle charging infrastructure can actually help stabilize the grid with renewables on it, the grid is already clean enough in many regions that there's often a GHG benefit to going electric...

The big problem is infrastructure deployment - urban charging is the huge problem for the US, where there's not political will for large public works projects. Long-distance charging, Tesla's got that covered, and the other automakers - that are still trying to perpetuate the ICE - still don't get that Tesla will eat their lunch rapidly as the Tesla Supercharger network grows and Tesla's cars become more affordable. (I have some problems with Tesla, but they're the only manufacturer that really gets what's needed, and is just doing it.)

There's also the political will of adopting electric vehicles in general, which is primarily an American and Japanese problem, I think.

In the Japanese case, it seems to be tied to a hydrogen-based (from Australian coal) energy strategy, partially bolstered by the growing anti-nuclear sentiment there, and the difficulty with deploying renewables in Japan specifically due to density and terrain. (There's also the urban charging problem, but as soon as sentiments change towards EVs there, the Japanese society can support a rapid shift in ways that the American society cannot.)

In the American case, it's coming from a fundamentally different place - actively regressive societal views, the widespread belief that global warming is a hoax, and even a belief that pollution is a good thing (see rolling coal). The US could easily end up being the land of the V8 pickup truck as family car, decades after the rest of the world has banned ICE, as a result.

Thrudd:

--- Quote from: Castlerook on 23 Sep 2017, 04:50 ---
--- Quote from: Akima on 22 Sep 2017, 18:56 ---And of course Australia is the land of the road-train:

--- End quote ---
And more and more, I see the inspiration for some of the Mad Max movies.

--- End quote ---
But that's Australia.

One of CATs plants is just down the road from me and this is the smallest one they build/refurbish here.

Only C$600K  :-P
(click to show/hide)
These are running around off road in lots of places around Sudbury and further north
Have those road warriors from Mad Max run into one of these monsters going full speed and it goes from a game of el-Toro to squirrel  :-D

zisraelsen:
The price of industrial vehicles is always mind-boggling to me. Like, I understand that that's a specialized piece of equipment and is a revenue source, but it just doesn't look like 600 grand worth of truck to me. Not sure why.

Also, as much as I don't want to clog this thread with YouTube videos I find neat, climbkhana and ultimate drag race 7 both dropped in the past week and if you haven't watched them I think you should.

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