Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Electric Cars

One thing that worries me about the Car industry is that they seem obsessed with perpetuating the idea that EVs are just the same as ICE but with different motors.

You would think they would seize the opportunity to be truly innovative but no, we get the same bloated over complex over specified functions that blight modern cars. They could go a long way to solving people's concerns about range if they simply chopped a load of weight out of the things.

The single exception was the i3 (and the i8, but that was out of most people's grasp) but rather than continue to develop it, BMW seem to have reverted to the lardy approach. The X1 hybrid is 300Kg heavier than the i3 Rex.

yep, all that!

Innovation isn't about reducing weight
for example, BMW showed its Neu Klasse concept last week - lots of interesting things here (not least the end of massive grilles?) but nothing about losing weight. https://www.bmwblog.com/2023/01/05/bmw-neue-klasse-lineup-expand-shortly-after-2025-sedan-suv/
& the battery tech gives longer range, charges faster, lowers the manufacturing carbon footprint... nothing about weighing less
https://www.bmwgroup.com/en/news/general/2022/gen6.html
maybe that'll come in time - by 2030?! - as charging infrastructure improves, the next generation of batteries arrives with another step in efficiency, and can then be smaller.

Will

Totally agree Hamwich .... my guess is that cars have been mechanically competent for a long while now .... once they could actually get up hills and had a decent chance of arriving where they were going then selling on mechanical merit became more difficult so they were sold via status/lifestyle considerations ... the market (for new cars) remains the same .... the actual mechanics of the car are just there to produce levels of smoothness acceleration and top speed that are irrelevant to road driving but look good in the brochure .... and EV can deliver those in spades (with the current exception of range) .... the difficulty of getting the punters to buy your box on wheels over your competitors on mechanical merit alone remain the same (with those buyers needing lots of range just taking themselves outside the EV game altogether and buying IC rather than someone else's EV) ... so bloated complexity still rules.


K

I am pleased that you found some interest in this particular presentation. Harry knows his stuff and knows how to enjoy his stuff. That he can earn income from sharing it with us suggests when Harry talks, it is perhaps best to listen...?

Especially when he talks about the need to change our behaviours. The idea that we can carry on as we are but just use EVs instead is completely bonkers.

Behavioural changes almost never happen overnight so any transition will happen slowly. Net zero policies are simply not practical and are probably counterproductive in my view but I recognise the need for change. We just need a far more pragmatic approach - which is exactly what we won't get as politicians are only interested in politics not pragmatics.

…. Like this? -

https://aptera.us/

Exactly! I also quite like the Canoo concept

https://www.canoo.com/

Just imagine what could be done with these concepts if they had the muscle of a major manufacturer behind them.

That's perfect you could fit it in the air conditioned glovebox of your F350 Duelly.

(I do think it is brilliant I just worry about using it on US roads given the size of many others)

The Microlino is now getting to production as well. Perfect city car.

Nice!

Sorta revisiting the Morgan 3 wheeler, in the sense that they've gone back to first principles and built something that meets people's needs.

It would be remiss not to include https://www.riversimple.com/
Made in Wales, with hydrogen...

Will