Have Your Say: Is The Future Electric?

[Nick Hill]

"Theory" in the scientific context is one of the most misunderstood words in the English language.

 

[BenCollins]

Akra, you're delusional. Keeping fossil fuels is not an option anymore. Petrol is dead.
There are sustainable solutions, but up until now all money was invested in oil. Not any longer.

Lithium is the new oil.

What will happen to the Middle East is the most intriguing question. What will become of Qatar, Bahrain? Ghost towns is my prediction.

 

[Akra]

Akra, you're delusional. Keeping fossil fuels is not an option anymore. Petrol is dead.
There are sustainable solutions, but up until now all money was invested in oil. Not any longer.

Lithium is the new oil.

What will happen to the Middle East is the most intriguing question. What will become of Qatar, Bahrain? Ghost towns is my prediction.

...did you read anything I wrote? I'm arguing we SHOULD be moving to electric.

 

[JeffL]

I remember when the unlimited hydroplanes went from 12 cylinder rolls royce to jet engines and they couldn't call it thunderfest anymore, people said it was the end of the sport because the sound wasn't there. 30 years later it's as strong as ever. Things change.

 

[M-Bimmer]

We all knew this "day" was coming...but we are not there yet.
I remember watching the first season of Formula E and laughing my a$# off during the first pit stop in the first race.
Anyways, getting the German manufactures onboard is a sign that the future will be E. ️and everyone wants a piece of the pie to be ready for the future. Probably in 20-30 years (or even less) the petrol & diesel engines will be gone so why wait when you have the chance to jump onboard.
When we see championships like Formula 1 & others (if they manage to stop the unstoppable era/future) are dead then we will think that "day" has came ...

 

[BenCollins]

...did you read anything I wrote? I'm arguing we SHOULD be moving to electric.

You think there is 100 years of oil left.

 

[JeffL]

They can just put cards in the spokes.

 

[Akra]

You think there is 100 years of oil left.

Right, I'm not trying to be an arse here, but read the thread. I never said that. I said it doesn't matter if it's 10 years or 100 years - it is not sustainable. Don't skim read the post - read it. I don't think there's 100 years of oil left.

 

[Akra]

They can just put cards in the spokes.

Spokey-Dokies!

 

[BenCollins]

Right, I'm not trying to be an arse here, but read the thread. I never said that. I said it doesn't matter if it's 10 years or 100 years - it is not sustainable. Don't skim read the post - read it. I don't think there's 100 years of oil left.

Yes, you're right. Sorry, didn't read your post correctly.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

"Theory" in the scientific context is one of the most misunderstood words in the English language.

Not just the english one O___O

(For those who don't know: Theory means it has substantial evidence behind it, what the layman calls a theory is called a hypothesis in the scientific community).

 

[Fat-Alfie]

Nordschleife lap times in the late 1920s were 15mins + and we are now looking at sub 8mins. Imagine if electric technology sees advances like that? I think that could be fascinating, to see that kind of progress.

Also, the noise that conventional IC make (that we all love) is only a by product of the power generation process. It may sound daft but there is nothing preventing electric cars from having electric 'noise generators' so that they sound like a huge V10. Seriously, if an electric car drove past and it sounded like a big V12, would you even care that it wasn't an IC engine? Just a thought...

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

Predictions of when the oil would run out were not based on the amount of oil, but the amount of recoverable oil. That is, you can't actually get all of the hydrocarbons out of a reservoir. A hydrocarbon reservoir isn't just a big cave filled with oil, they're pretty complex things. In the early days it was extremely difficult to extract from some wells. Many wells were declared depleted and were plugged. With the improvements in technology (and the technology becoming cheaper), some of these plugged wells can be reopened, and current wells can have their life extended. For example, water injection wells mean wells that aren't free flowing can come back into production. Well services techniques such as coil tubing and wire lining mean you can treat the wells with chemicals to break down some barriers, allowing access to more areas. Directional drilling also means you can drill sideways now, which means a single platform now has a significantly increased production area. But the big one is the development of deepwater drilling - something which was completely impossible before (drilling from a semi-sub or a drill ship), is now possible. Expensive, but possible. This means opportunities in very deep water (Gulf of Mexico or West of Shetland), are now available to be used.

Nobody is looking silly. We have just developed technology to increase the amount of recoverable oil.

I'd like to expend a bit upon this. It's not just that we now have improved technology, it's that oil prices have risen to the point that deploying more expensive ways of getting the oil are now profitable. It's not just the rules that have changed, the goalposts have moved as well.

 

[Riblo]

The future will be electric
Like it or not
We must face it

For me motorsport is not the noise of the cars but to see the competition and FE can give some pretty nice races even without the V10 scream

 

[Riblo]

Nordschleife lap times in the late 1920s were 15mins + and we are now looking at sub 8mins. Imagine if electric technology sees advances like that? I think that could be fascinating, to see that kind of progress.

Also, the noise that conventional IC make (that we all love) is only a by product of the power generation process. It may sound daft but there is nothing preventing electric cars from having electric 'noise generators' so that they sound like a huge V10. Seriously, if an electric car drove past and it sounded like a big V12, would you even care that it wasn't an IC engine? Just a thought...

There is a electric proto that did the nords in less than 8 minutes

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

Nordschleife lap times in the late 1920s were 15mins + and we are now looking at sub 8mins. Imagine if electric technology sees advances like that? I think that could be fascinating, to see that kind of progress.

Hello:

The future is already here

 

[Tim Lundy]

There's no doubt that the move to electric racing is coming, I was just hoping it wouldn't happen virtually overnight with the top manufacturers. Of course they'll go with the flow (of money and social expectations) as expected, can't blame them for that, but I can easily see a day in the next 5 years where petrol based racing becomes a sideshow. Once the tree huggers get involved and start crying about greenhouse gasses and global warming, ICE racing is doomed and it'll happen extremely quickly.

Thank God we'll always have video games!!

 

[Will Mazeo]

Seriously, if an electric car drove past and it sounded like a big V12, would you even care that it wasn't an IC engine? Just a thought...

I guess it depends if the person likes to be fooled or not lol I sure dont

 

[Fat-Alfie]

Why fooled? Noise is just noise - doesn't matter how it is produced, surely.

 

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Not sure which race's attendance you are referring to. Try googling formula E attendance. You will find a lot of articles referencing the expected attendance, but almost nothing about actual attendance. Brooklyn was a total bust, and it was in one of the worlds most populous cities. The main thing this series has going for it is they are putting the races where the people are, but it draws about as well as an open mic night. If you had to travel to see it, you'd pretty much be limited to the families of the team members.

The F E race I attended was crowded by people and had all grandstands fully full. What is your personal experience?