Twenty maybe thirty years from now but there are too many other better choices. Maybe Mary was just dreaming about golf carts...
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The electric vehicle market will continue to have the same issues that it's had for 100+ years
1) Range
For all of the discussion about fast charging, and super-capacitors, and increasing energy density in batteries, we've merely seen mild improvements, not anything revolutionary. You STILL can't drive an electric vehicle across country in the same time you could a combustion engine vehicle (or a Volt... remember the Volt? It could do that!).
2) Cost
Electric vehicles are still ridiculously expensive compared to their combustion counterparts. If they weren't, and if there was a legitimate market for them, our government wouldn't need to be using our tax money to help our wealthy neighbors buy expensive new cars.
CAN there be a market for them? Sure. More like several markets for them. London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, etc... Places where tailpipe emissions are significant, and distance-driven is small. Of course, parking and charging is a huge challenge in all of those cities, since a large number of vehicles aren't parked in an "owner's garage" each night.
If every car in those cities needed to be plugged in on a regular basis (at least once daily for a significant period of time), the resulting infrastructure needs would go well beyond the occasional charging station. Streets would need to be lined with charging stations, and they would need to be accessible to everyone that had an electric car.
Of course, you could focus on those people who commute to those cities and who DO have the benefit of a private space for a charger. But their commutes probably aren't long enough to justify a huge battery. They could get away with a hybrid that had some moderate electric-only range, and an ICE for extended range. I wonder if someone could build a car like that.
The current EV mindset is version 1.0 requiring plug in charging.
That clearly cannot work except for in dense urban areas.
There will need to be a future EV version that does not require plug in charging.
In the 90s I worked for major oil company. At the time this brilliant engineer developed a method for
encapsulating hydrogen in little plastic beads. It was shelf stable and he had this vision that gallons of these could be purchased at any store like Walmart, and be poured into a fuel tank to power motors.
This did not go over well with the executives as the first thing they thought of was, but we are in the business of selling oil and gas.
Periodically I see similar technologies discussed. For example: http://cafe.foundation/blog/10738-2/
So perhaps an alternative to a power cord will evolve.
AV a different story. People have fundamental misunderstandings about limitations and time to market.
What happened to the millions of stables and blacksmiths when people stopped riding horses for transportation and started driving cars?
What will happen to all the millions of gas stations in the US? Will we only use them for our lawnmowers and leaf blowers?
Or will those be electrical power in future too?
There won't be anymore Vroom Vroom, but lots of sewing machone motor revs after that??
Yeah it's all BS . Go get em Marry ! China lots of customers lined up at the door at the dealership. Liers
Vehicles in more developed economies like the US, still cost a pretty penny although wages are up for the most part.
In China, these are significant purchases for people, where families pool together or spend a large chunk of their life savings. I would imagine that while they average American might flip a vehicle relatively often, in china they'll probably hold it until it falls apart. It's an investment for them. While they have volume in population numbers, I'm not convinced on repeat buyers at least until wages increase noticeably.
If I recall recently, didn't they just suffer a 20% decline in the market?
Meanwhile in GM news , the new Duramax Diesel is getting rave reviews !
Some of you people on this site seem to have an issue with simple language skills. It's amazing to me that with all that GM requires (a simple 4-year degree) to be employed there, you would be able to muster simple sentences. It's no wonder the purge took place, you guys are reading tea leaves and your 20 years behind NOW. The Chineese are light years ahead of us, they offer 10K incentives on electric and charge 15K if you want to drive an ICE. Do you guys really think you know a damn thing about where electrification stands in our world?
Do you believe Tesla, Rivian, Amazon etc. would show their cards for all to see and copy? They have more than we can comprehend right now. When EV/AV hits the road, no one will care about bodylines, color, HP etc. You overpaid hypocrites need to understand that you either need to get on with it or get run over by it.
Our kids don't even want to get a drivers license these days. With our roads, traffic, pollution, I don't want to drive new roads.
As much as I can't stand an EV/AV enough to buy one, yes I do. This market is coming into existence and there's nothing to stop it. I no longer work for GM, I was fortunate enough to find and achieve more.
If you look at stand alone OEMs, they're relatively small in comparison to the behind the scene electrical titans that are in the EV/AV market. Their business encompasses ALL OEMs and moveable part electronics, meaning their business transcends a single stand alone corporation by far. The stuff these guys are pushing through is insane, stuff you haven't yet thought of, and if you watch their stocks, their valuations are miles ahead of any of the big OEMs earnings. Enough so that their betting the farm on this development, and are winning so far.
While this all may seem like a gamble, and no I don't want this EV/AV future on a personal level, there's enough investment there to see this through. There's enough job potential in the electrical and coding space to get some through a solid five to twenty years of income or more. At the end of the day, we work for a paycheck, and it makes sense to be where the action is.
Hahahaha Go China ! Good people piss poor government.
China has the market cornered on Lithium which is used for Lithium Ion batteries... They are already writing the future and GM is going to be part of it... Once we get the universal charging systems installed on every home and grocery store...we will be protecting the environment...
China isn't a democracy and its government can force everyone to drive an electric vehicle if they want.
Good luck trying that in the US.
Most analysts have the Chinese EV market at 20% and some as large as 50% by 2025, and it's larger than the US market. The Chinese government has already announced its intent to bad IC cars by 2040. As someone else mentioned, VW intends to stop IC production in 2026. You're already one with the buggy. GM already failed in 2008. It only exists because of an I'll conceived bailout, and should have never been revived as is. These layoffs come 10 years late, and don't go nearly far enough.
Ever seen Jay Lenos Baker electric ? It's a cool video and he has one of the charging system , none of this stuff is new. Good luck with the golf cart , it was a failure then and will be a failure now. Want to improve the environment , go back to horse and buggy. 😆
GM largest market, China, is going EV. The Euros are going EV. People here aren't very bright.
Horse and buggy guys in denial about the present, never mind the future. No wonder GM is laying off.
Ok we get it , electric golf carts. Super👍
The same thing the US automakers are with vehicles that take leaded fuel I imagine. They'll sunset them and let them reach their end. China's proved that electric vehicles are feasible at large commercial scale. Tesla's done the proof of concept for commuters. Volkswagen has set a rough 2026 deadline for ending combustion vehicle production , and you don't say that without billion dollar fines from various financial regulatory bodies. Ford has also announced 16 EVs. It's happening. GM is behind the curve here.
It's all lies , good for VW , will it work? NO.
Oh the lies auto companies get away with.
What will they do with all the existing let go engine cars still running?
VW just announced they are going all electric in Germany and are abandoning diesel.