The Future... Today?

[csl177]

Out of curiosity where did you get the coal numbers? When I get a chance I'm going to go dig up the article I read that put oil burning plants as the vast majority and I was wondering if it's a terminology issue, what you consider "power useage" sort of thing, that explains the discrepancy.

Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government
US Energy Consumption
Powerhouse Engineering e2amain
Coal won't go away... it's use will increase worldwide. Gasification may reduce some environmental impact, though there's still no such thing as "clean" coal. And though most surveys depict a decline in nuclear, it's only as a percentage of total electrical output.

honda

Don't shout. Possibly, if fuel cell tech can be made cheaply but there's still that pesky issue of hydrogen sourcing.

Yes the Ferrari. You don't think that from purely a design perspective that it's futuristic? As I said, not exceptionally futuristic, but ahead of the curve by at least a bit. I didn't think that we were discussing the impact of the design here. I thought we were just assessing the design itself - sure, as you and I both realize, the Ferrari is a niche car, and maybe it is "too small to have an impact," but that wasn't the question raised by pokey.

No, I don't. It's styling may merit it's current impact, but it's neither iconic or futuristic. Pokey asked "What contemporary car looks like our current view of the future?" I submit that only a few do... and of those, the technology is possibly the future as well.

I'm not even too sure it's actually too small to have an impact. Yeah, the car itself isn't going to reach many people, but it's been seen time and time again that the more exclusive cars influence styling on more accessible cars.

You mentioned earlier your belief of our obsession with appearance over function. That's not futurism, that's styling.

That's another thing I was thinking - trickle down. I mean, high highfalutin cars in the past surely had impact on lesser cars in the following years, no? What about the young artist that grows up idolizing it and one day it influences his/her design of a new car when he/she becomes a designer?

Aside from an odd thing to idolize, this particular example of potential influence is limited. Perhaps I took pokey's post further than anticipated, but there's a big difference between futuristic looking cars and what technologies will make any styling predictions we might imagine irrelevant.

[Ferrer]

Aside from an odd thing to idolize, this particular example of potential influence is limited. Perhaps I took pokey's post further than anticipated, but there's a big difference between futuristic looking cars and what technologies will make any styling predictions we might imagine irrelevant.

Well the 60's T-Bird wasn't the last word in modern technology, even then, was it? That's probably the reason why most of us focused on the looks and not the technology. Technology wise the car hasn't changed much, and I doubt that the FCX Clarity could work precisely because, apart from the witchcraft under the bonnet, it doesn't change much, it still is a car.

[csl177]

Right... which is something I've already said.

[cmcpokey]

and csl... i did intend this on a design aspect and not as an engineering aspect. in this case it was all about looks. the novel technology is fantastic, and deserves lots of discussion (which it gets a lot here), but i was more asking about what looks like the future, and not what is the future.

[cargirl1990]

LOL, don't shout. Honestly, the Honda's look futuristic to me. Especially the Accord and Civic.

[cmcpokey]

LOL, don't shout. Honestly, the Honda's look futuristic to me. Especially the Accord and Civic.

and you shoudl have said that right there, instead of the huge font proclaiming HONDA with out any context.

[NSXType-R]

They have electricity, but not enough (especially in CA, rolling brownouts are fun.) To power our cars with electricity instead of gas would require as big a revampage of our power system as switching to hydrogen.



70%+ is actually from oil burning plants. They're very effecient and clean compared to cars because you can incorporate tech into them that you can't into cars, but still. And nuclear will never really catch on here because we don't (can't actually due to some laws which were designed to stamp out nuclear power here) use any modern techniques in our plants, such as they do in europe and china.

The Tesla Roadster was a niche vehicle. They still haven't proven they can build anything useful.



Technology wise, too, it has some cool stuff. But it is small market.

I think part of the problem is that when we were obsessed with a futuristic look we just car about looks, not function. Since that look rarely is functional, we've been moving away from it.

Yeah, the electricity draw from everyone using electric cars would be insane. Our infrastructure is bad enough as it is, they really need to revamp it.

The Tesla Sedan is supposedly targeted at $40,000 so would be accessible, we'll have to wait and see if Toyota's piggy bank makes it a production reality. As to electricity, there's more at stake for producers: an important issue will be standardized packs, readily available at fuel stations that fit any electric/hybrid. Remember: energy companies only exist as the controls of distribution. Yes, to some degree it simply moves the carbon emissions to another source. That's not entirely a bad thing, though.

Honda's effort looks futuristic, uses some neat technology, and could easily be built in quantity. It's failure is it's 3500lb weight.

Do you mean the Ferrari? Not futuristic in any way, just the most recent means of seperating the wealthy from $$$.
Sorry, too small to have any impact.

Our power grid will require serious commitment to meet our needs. The recent nuclear summit was in part to secure materials that will be utilized by reactors; expect a small boom in building them during the next decade. Likewise wind farms. Natural gas fuels our local utility, and I'm quite pleased to have just installed a whole-house 10kW solar array on my home. Fed and state rebates covered 85% of the cost, our investment will pay for itself in as little as 4 years. Starting last week we sell electricity back to the grid. Germany is way ahead of us on composite power grids, we better get busy. Imagine the impact of every home in the country producing 2kW. Coal provides nearly 49% of our electricity but that number continues to drop; a decade ago it was about 58%. Slow progress that can be accelerated if there is political will. The BP disaster/fiasco is doing pretty well at changing people's minds about our energy use and sources.

Tesla's roadster is a niche vehicle... the sedan is more. But again, we'll see. And you're right about our notion of futurism often being something visual, rather than technological. Even when functional progress is provided the public can reject it, as they have so many things. Humans are reluctant to embrace newness but ultimately we'll have to, just as we always have. It has happened with every technological advance of the past 150 years and will continue.

Yeah Tesla better come out with something useful and affordable, their entire future is banking on it. Not to mention the fact that they took loans from the US government.

[csl177]

and csl... i did intend this on a design aspect and not as an engineering aspect. in this case it was all about looks. the novel technology is fantastic, and deserves lots of discussion (which it gets a lot here), but i was more asking about what looks like the future, and not what is the future.

You're right... my bad, got carried away. Mainly because there are so few that have futuristic design qualities. I still vote the first Honda Insight as looking the part. But like you, can't think of any current everyday cars that do.

It's weird that things like the Renault Megane, Citroen CX, Suburu SVX or Alfa spider of a just decade or so ago have been replaced by blander offerings. Looks (literally) like auto styling is going with conservative again.

[Cobrafan427]

i was playin GT4 the other day and goin thru my garage, one car brought this thread to mind. Even tho it's around 10 yrs old i'd have to say the Chrysler Prowler looks pretty futuristic. It even had the front fenders that were hooked up to the steering and turned w/ the wheels

[Commodore GS/E]

In my opinion... the Audi E-Tron. It looks prety futuristic. But in general, there are many futuistic-looking concepts, but only a few make it to the road. The Opel Ampera is also rather futuristic...it even has futuristic technology

[kfaverty]

Peugeot has an interesting website which includes their design car competition. Some very interesting vehicles, which may be the vehicles of the future.

[henk4]

Peugeot has an interesting website which includes their design car competition. Some very interesting vehicles, which may be the vehicles of the future.

Welcome, would it be possible to give the link, if you have it readily available?