ATW #2406 – The End of the ICE Age, or is it?
February 6th, 2020 at 4:00pm
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Internet Premiere: Thursday, 02/06 @ 4:00pm ET
Detroit Public TV: Sunday, 02/09 @ 10:30am ET
PANEL:
Tom Murphy, WardsAuto
Bob Gritzinger, Wards Intelligence
Christie Schweinsberg, Wards Intelligence
John McElroy, Autoline.tv
Some experts say we’re on the verge of a tipping point with electric cars. Other experts say the internal combustion engine (ICE) will be around until the middle of this century. On Autoline This Week, three reporters from Wards, who intensely cover powertrains and propulsion systems, join us to share what they’ve learned about where the automotive industry is really headed.
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February 7th, 2020 at 10:03 am
Still you guys don’t seem to get it, may be you only consider the industry point of view?
Doesn’t matter how low current sales are, EVs are better for the owner/driver, so much so, that even without environmental restrictions or government incentives, people will chose to switch. There is so much FUD * that people are slow to realise this, but as they do, they will switch (no rational person is going to keep spending more to get less). Especially outside of North America where petroleum fuels are heavily taxed so EVs represent a big saving (when consider total real-world costs).
Sure “big auto” has slowed adoption down, but hybrids are a pointless distraction (adds no real-world net benefit for owner).
So if we accept that ICE goes to zero demand at some point, big auto will need to make products the market wants, their sales are currently low due to low availability, anyone who makes EVs available can sell everyone they ship as you well know.
Doesn’t matter that the EV sales are only 1-4% of the market now, it is going up to 100% and ICE will ultimately go to 0% sometime. So do you (and the industry) continue to hanker after the old-days or actually switch to accepting the future and making the switch?
Note: it doesn’t matter if big auto thinks they are less profitable, others in the industry quite happy to take customers, so invest big, ship moderately good EVs and cease playing around with last century tech (so many extra systems being bolted onto ICE to make them pass tests, but it all adds cost and complexity and doesn’t really achieve anything, certainly not compared the simplicity and efficiency of full electric powertrains).
P.S. I know you like the idea of HFC, but do any research on the physics involved and it becomes clear this is just another delaying tactic as it has no real benefit to owners/drivers (no energy saving, will never have filling stations everywhere, has huge real safety risks and needs servicing more than an ICE to keep those filters clean). COmpare that with an EV that goes 3 or 4 times further on the same energy and can be filled up anywhere on the planet via a slow home socket – so its only a matter of plugging in when you are not driving, fancy rapid chargers not needed most of the time.
I continue to listen and I accept it is tough to adopt to change, but this one is not going back in the box, it’s only a matter of how fast the disruption is happening, Kodak, Nokia and Blockbuster all thought they were king of the hill.
February 9th, 2020 at 9:55 am
I don’t have a comment on the content of the show other than I enjoyed the conversation as I always do john.
But I do want to comment on Christie’s make over.
I like her new hair and subtle make up.
Just wanted to say that without sounding creepy or anything.
Christie you look great. I’m sure your husband agrees.