Interesting auto news

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota-subaru-mazda-commit-developing-new-engines-2024-05-28/

 

Interesting read. Given that F1 seems to be going in the biofuel direction, maybe Toyota is onto something. But on the EV front there are some clever minds at work as well: https://www.mobilityhouse.com/de_de/. This company considers the entire population of EV batteries to be a two-way part of the grid, so that your idle EV can "sell" surplus power during peak demand/pricing and charge when it's cheap. Automated electricity arbitrage in your garage... so I think it's premature to declare a winner..

 

It's good that these manufacturers are keeping research and development ongoing for other options, given the caveats for hybrid and full electric: true environmental cleanliness of electric generation sources for charging, environmental, ethical and geopolitical issues with resourcing necessary rare earth mineral components and current dearth of recycling of depleted batteries.

 

And on to AI in driverless operation. Or lack thereof. https://www.thedrive.com/news/waymo-recalls-robotaxis-to-give-telephone-poles-a-higher-damage-score

 

Hybrid is a nice interim step -- my wife had a Lexus UX250h a few years back, and it was basically flawless and cheap to run -- but it is all the complication of ICE plus the issues associated with batteries, as you say. Also, the lack of standardization was a real problem for us when we rented a Volvo EV last year and the hotel had only Tesla fast charging: We were stuck charging all the time with a heavy duty extension cord routed under a door...

Being in southern California, we have solar everywhere, and if I could add more panels and sell surplus clean energy to the grid I'd do it tomorrow. When I lived in Chicago and Cleveland, solar would have been too expensive and inefficient. But costs are coming down, so long term I think an improved grid plus serious recycling of aging batteries -- and vastly improved battery technology -- will happen. Our present infrastructure of gas stations, pipelines, and supertankers is more historical accident than brilliant plan. The prospect of almost zero maintenance, motors that effectively last forever, and charging at home, is pretty tempting. My 911 sounds a lot better, but I spend thousands to maintain it: Normal people probably think I'm nuts.