what's the futur for gasoline van/RV/camper

[Catalyst1]

Funny how an urban legend is taken as fact. Wikipedia is peer reviewed and even cites this as urban legend. Pointing to this: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...he-so-called-great-american-streetcar-scandal

That is not an urban legend. It really happened. My grandfather was an attorney working in that case (was a national case that took years). He said Standard Oil had some of the witnesses who were going to testify murdered before they were scheduled to testify in court. Usually just a day or two before.

 

[thegoodtom1]

That is not an urban legend. It really happened. My grandfather was an attorney working in that case (was a national case that took years). He said Standard Oil had some of the witnesses who were going to testify murdered before they were scheduled to testify in court. Usually just a day or two before.

The case wasn't an urban legend. The allegations are since it was never proven.

 

[rruff]

The case wasn't an urban legend. The allegations are since it was never proven.

The great majority of things that actually happen are not proven. And a lot of the things that are "proven" never actually happened.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

In our legal system anyone can sue anyone else for anything.
I go with the findings of most transit scholars.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

The case wasn't an urban legend. The allegations are since it was never proven.

Given that the auto industry and oil industry are so powerful in this country, of course they wouldn't allow the allegations to be proven. Well except for the weak convictions and slap on the wrist.
US foreign policy has been guided by petroleum interests for years.
Of course they get away with stuff.

 

[Willy]

Something like this.

 

[bullfrog]

With the popularity of electric bicycles, improved batteries and solar power generation I expect to see small lightweight sleeping box trailers with attached solar panels leading the way to say a tear drop style solar trailer for small electric cars.

 

[bullfrog]

There is a lot to be said for just “not giving a ____” and just making sure you are taking care of yourself avoiding all the people and their problems. Waking up in the morning knowing you might not have in the middle of nowhere is a good day for me!

 

[1zacster]

Combustion engines aren't going away any time soon. Gas will just be replaced with a (more expensive) alternative. Porche is already making synthetic gas in Argentina for $40/gallon. 10x the cost of normal gas, but it will come down soon.
It's also possible to retrofit gas engines to run on propane, natural gas, or synthetic natural gas.
When the time comes and gas is on its way out the door, I doubt all the gas engined cars on the road will be thrown in the dump. It's impossible.

 

[eDJ_]

I remember as a little kid seeing my first electric powered inner city buses. A few years later seeing electric commuter trains. Since all the hubbub about pollution starting in the late 60's I've wondered why some primary highways/interstates couldn't be set up similarly. Vehicles equipped with a mast something like the "Dodgem Cars" at the amusement parks may become common. Front drive gasoline vehicles could have three phase electric motors built into the rear wheels and these electric highways would be set up as toll roads to cover the cost of power & maintenance of that grid

This would be suitable for a class of commuter vehicle like the Nissan Leaf.

Some large cities have inner & outer belt highways around them and those could get a driver closer to their destination while cutting down on the pollution,. Then start the gasoline motor to travel on to their destination. Hybrid cars may be exempt of the electric toll roads and in time the gasoline engines in them may be replaced with Hydrogen fueled engines.

I would see a project like this taking place east of the Mississippi River.

But this is just a thought for transition. I remember what a mess the early 70's was when pollution controls were mandated on vehicles where most of them used carburetors in those years until electronic fuel injection replaced carburetors. It may be closer to the year 2100 before we're close to a solution.

 

[bullfrog !]

I think Toyota’s refusing to go totally electric currently may have given some added life to gasoline powered engines as rumor has it their newest gasoline engine designs could be easily converted to hydrogen. It appears they are leading the way for future conversions of gasoline to hydrogen.

 

[Happy Camper]

Yup

 

[eDJ_]

For those who may not have seen an electric highway. (circa 1970's) Or an electric Locomotive. The technology to embed electric conduction in the road itself is in it's early stages now.

BBC Future : electric highway that powers electric cars as they travel

An Electric Locomotive

 

[DLTooley]

Likely there will be a time when petroleum based vehicles will get cheap as electric becomes dominant. There is something to be said for the benefits of recycling that old tech as part of the transition, especially if you are not a high mileage driver.

Converting from gas to electric is feasible. The last time I looked at it, quickly, it was $8k for a 100 mile range conversion on a typical passenger vehicle. For a longer range vehicle the battery quickly becomes the most expensive part. Charging with a slide out solar array is feasible. You might even get that 100 miles in a full day of optimal charging.

I hope this price drops. It is also possible that there will be low income subsidies to do so.

 

[RonDean]

We hear a lot about EVs these days. I have also read stories about some idiots blowing black diesel smoke and actually sabotaging EVs and their charging stations. I just don't get it. Why the animosity? Even if you don't believe (or care) about global warming, statistics show 1/3 of us are breathing unhealthy air. See: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/ameri...levels-air-pollution-report/story?id=98676376. Admittedly, only a part of that can be blamed on gas/diesel vehicles, but it's certainly a part. You don't have to have respiratory issues to be concerned.

BUT... technology and economics still have a ways to go before we can hope for an affordable EV/RV. That's sad, but it's the truth. In the meantime, each of us can only do what we can do. I downsized from a larger PU pulling a trailer to a smaller van. I also try to plan my travel a bit better. My carbon footprint is now smaller and the fact that this saves me $$$ doesn't hurt either. Then I do other things in my life (like changing my diet) to lessen my impact on the planet. I figure that offsets my gas use somewhat. And maybe I will actually live long enough to see an affordable EV/RV. One can only hope.

 

[DLTooley]

I’ve just upgraded to a full size pickup, in part due reliability issues on older vehicles. It is unfortunately only two wheel drive and has less off road capability than my high clearance compact truck. I however drive as little as possible. I love the extra room, and it also helps with the drive less part.

Dodge has an extremely funny ad for their Ram pickups about ‘premature electrification’. Their EV pickup is scheduled for the 2025 model year.

 

[Happy Camper]

I would reduce my carbon footprint and methane output. But I just can't bring myself to give up certain foods.

 

[RonDean]

I’ve just upgraded to a full size pickup, in part due reliability issues on older vehicles. It is unfortunately only two wheel drive and has less off road capability than my high clearance compact truck. I however drive as little as possible. I love the extra room, and it also helps with the drive less part.

Dodge has an extremely funny ad for their Ram pickups about ‘premature electrification’. Their EV pickup is scheduled for the 2025 model year.

Somehow, I suspect we will only hear about ‘premature electrification' from the folks making money on IC engines.

But, yah, I understand that some of us will want larger trucks and I am certainly not going to judge on that. We all make our choices based on need and belief. That said, I do sometimes shake my head when I see a bus sized RV towing something like a hummer as a utility vehicle. Obviously it's someone that is not not very worried about the climate or air pollution.

I'll just toss out something else to think about. If we all did just a little bit to cut our gas usage, maybe we could get it down to just what we can pump and produce in this country. Then there would be no reason to be sending $$$ to unfriendly countries that now try to blackmail us with oil costs. I'm thinking about all the OPEC countries.I am old enough that I remember the OPEC oil embargo. For me, that would be a good enough reason by itself to work a lot harder developing better EV options for us. In the meantime, if we we could cut back on our gas usage it wouldn't hurt.

 

[eDJ_]

Converting gasoline engines to propane (and back to gasoline with the flip of a switch) isn't difficult. Hydrogen for that matter.

The man who used to deliver propane bottles to my home drove a Ford extended 1 1/2 ton flat bed truck that he hauled the bottles in.

I asked him one day to show me the setup and he obliged. The top of the metal air filter housing had nozzles mounted into it with hoses that fed propane to them. The dash of the truck had switches that would shut down the EFI and high pressure fuel pump from the gas tank and at the same time switch on the metering valve for the propane to the engine. Real simple.

He explained that engines ran on propane (using a low ash content motor oil) would run much longer than those using gasoline fuel. I'm sure hydrogen could be set up the same way. Thus electric highways, whatever technology they use, may play a large part in the transition to all electric.

Too bad Nikoli Tesla isn't around today, but when he died cars looked like this. And the population was around 137 million.

 

[Happy Camper]

I'll just toss out something else to think about. If we all did just a little bit to cut our gas usage, maybe we could get it down to just what we can pump and produce in this country. Then there would be no reason to be sending $$$ to unfriendly countries that now try to blackmail us with oil costs. I'm thinking about all the OPEC countries.I am old enough that I remember the OPEC oil embargo. For me, that would be a good enough reason by itself to work a lot harder developing better EV options for us. In the meantime, if we we could cut back on our gas usage it wouldn't hurt.

We have the capacity to pump and produce all the oil this country needs.

Without getting into politics, the ability to pump and produce has been restricted to the point where we are more reliant on importing oil than we were not long ago.