Upgradable Autos!
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Hi Guys,
I started a topic on Apple sustainability a few days ago which drifted onto auto sustainability so I'm starting a fresh topic on the latter as I imagine there are many here that may be interested in the subject.
I've done a search on what's happening in this area and have to report that there looks to be no car manufacturing companies going down this road (excuse the bad pun) currently.
However I did come across an interesting article on Behance, 'Re-Thinking the Lifecycle of a Vehicle', a BFA Thesis by Daniel Couttolenc. The name of the Thesis is 'Terrestrial' and can be located here, https://www.behance.net/gallery/4363645/Re-Thinking-the-Lifecycle-of-a-Vehicle-TERRESTRIAL
It's well worth watching if for the great graphics alone but there is much more to be learned about, particularly the aim to bring cars in general from a 10 year lifespan to a 30 year lifespan. Now that's worth thinking about.
Mike
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Now if you really want to look at the downside of owning a car, check this article out,
'The Surprising Lifetime Cost of Car Ownership' here,
https://www.doughroller.net/money-management/surprising-lifetime-cost-car-ownership/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20American%20Automobile%20Association%20(AAA%20it,I%20don%E2%80%99t%20think%20that%20tells%20the%20whole%20story.I think the solution is not far down the road. Roll along the day when I can order my self driving car to take me into town for a good piss up with the lads and again call same vehicle to drive me home when I'm legless. Joking aside, folks living in reasonably built up areas really don't need 2 tons of metal at our beck and call, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. In most cases a car is needed for just a few hours a day at most. Also I would have no problem sharing a self driving car with others during peek demand periods.
When self driving cars become safe and some smart company launches such a business, people will catch on to the idea and the big car manufacturers may be in serious trouble. I know Uber kinda works this way but it's only available in large towns and cities also a driverless car will cost far less in fares.
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One of the chief problems facing autonomous vehicles is the campaign many big city's are following to remove personal vehicles from their streets. This has been going on for decades already, loss of parking facilities, closing roads to traffic etc. A taxi will do the job for similar money but points away from folk owning cars or even hiring them.
Other vehicles we don't need to pilot like buses, trams and trains are the preferred options of government local and national but the problem is these systems cannot handle the rush hour and getting to/from work due to inefficiency and greed. Luckily I do not have a frenetic time getting to pc, I have a seven step commute which is good in some ways but not so good for others and it will stay that way for quite a while.
As in other areas like BE cars, the logic is simplistic and the cost underestimated as is the current recycling system which requires a jolly good overhaul before it is fit for purpose. Let's see a decent, cogent and logical policy implemented and perhaps the fog will clear but until then the style of commuter vehicle makes no difference apart from some politicians and self interest groups fluffing themselves up and pretending to know what they are doing. Look at what happened when the railways were nationalised in the UK.
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Like you Mike, my commute is about 30sec, a little longer if I detour to make a coffee.
Maybe a stepping stone to a comprehensive car use solution might be Community Car Sharing'. This is taking off in some areas of the UK and the more I read about it, the more sense it makes. My car sits in the drive for most of the week with perhaps two excursions to the supermarket. I'm lucky to have a convenience store across the road from me also a mini supermarket up the road.
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I've ha d a little thunk about this car share gubbins and tbh, it falls down in a number of important aspects.
Who has the car before you? Did they keep it clean or did they drive in like they stole it? Pretty soon the cost of hiring will have to reflect the behaviour of the average rather than as now, the individual. You and I can acrue cost savings via no claims bonus etc but these schemes will not be able to. The availability of vehicles will be problematic when the drive by ear merchants get on board as they simply do not care about the car. It becomes a white good item, a tool for temporary use. The answer will be to allow only self drive cars but even then you have to factor in the folk who go to the pub/restaraunt and then jolly home. Whatever they leave sloshing about on the carpet is not their problem. It might be ours though.
You and I and most here will take pride in our driving standard, what about the no care squad?
When I have to pass Bessy on, I am not sure I can be bothered with it because the idiots are running the assylum and they are advised by morons which is truly staggering and frightening in equal measure. The voracity of adapting cars during ownership has been floated many times before and has its merits as a genuine game changer in design. About twenty years ago I floated an idea for powering and driving a vehicle. I was told I was thirty years ahead of industry but still see none of it on the horixon. Am I the one eyed spanner wealding loon in a small garage? Not sure yet but the jury is out still.
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That's why they invented taxi-cabs [even back when they used horses!]
With a 'cab' you are not responsible for the general upkeep and longer-term cleanliness of the vehicle - and the act of driving is by default subcontracted to someone else !
A cab is easy to arrange and use, both to and from your destination - especially with the newer mobile-phone apps etc...
You will also have exclusive personal-space - not sharing with the wider potentially virus-infected ho-pol-oi...
Also you can travel while you are inebriated/otherwise-out-of-it [which is impossible in all of today's self-driving solutions, where you are expected to have reasonable control of the vehicle even when it's autonomous]I suspect that the Ubers of the world might prevail...
So it's, "Home James..."
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....and don't spare horse(power)s.
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So much is wasted on the private car. Space and money. But it's so nice too. Without it we would not have the two car garage to put our junk in.
Upgradeable? At present I could imagine upgrading computer capabilities, batteries, and other parts, but manufacturers have no incentive to provide reasonably priced parts, for wear and tear, when they can sell you a new car. Try to come up with a couple K to fix it, and it's easier to go in debt for new one. And it's cheaper to build a new car, I suspect, than to put an old one back together. It used be fixable by the home mechanic, but those days are gone?
More things need to refurbished, but probably the cost doesn't work out.
More "Cradle to Cradle" (it's a book) manufacturing and recycling is one way.
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It becomes a little more difficult when you exit to a more rural setting. In my area, even though there is a small town, most of the population lives in rural areas surrounding it.
This makes most transportation solutions that can be used in urban areas much more difficult to be effective. The Purple line in the attachment, is the Province of B.C. where I live.
This makes the idea of Upgradable Autos "Uber" interesting.
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TIG has a good point, Taxi Cabs not to mention UBER and other similar services offer a good service. Still, folks want their personal transport. I also think a lot of it might be status driven also .... nay, I know a lot of it is status driven.
So, maybe the trick would be for some car manufacturing company to grab the nettle and produce an upgradable car that is VERY fashionable thus satisfying the status seekers.
Anyone interested in joining me in the formulation / design of such a vehicle .... I'm serious!
Mike
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