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from the control-your-own-vroom-vroom dept.
Visions of cars that drive themselves without emitting a bit of pollution while entertaining passengers with online movies and social media are what's taking center stage at the Tokyo Motor Show.
Japan, home to the world's top-selling automaker, has a younger generation disinterested in owning or driving cars. The show is about wooing them back. It's also about pushing an ambitious government-backed plan that paints Japan as a leader in automated driving technology.
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some automakers at the show are packing the technology into what looks more like a golf cart or scooter than a car, such as Honda Motor Co.'s cubicle-like Wander Stand and Wander Walker scooter.Instead of trying to venture on freeways and other public roads, these are designed for controlled environments, restricted to shuttling people to pre-determined destinations.
A prescient Soylentil observed here last year that one day soon driving your own car will be illegal. That might bear out.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Thursday October 29 2015, @06:13AM
In stark contrast, with rounding, 100% of the garages in the country already have an outlet that'll put over 60 miles in a battery between the time you get home from work and the time you leave again in the morning.
What is the percentage of car owners who have a garage? In cities it seems to be like 10% or less, as apartment buildings house lots of people, and the parking is in the street or under a carport (with no charger anywhere.)
It might be so that one day landlords will install chargers at every parking place. However the cost of charging would be enormous (just because they can) - in line with everything else that happens in the market.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 29 2015, @07:44AM
Up north it is typical for every space to have an outlet. However, I strongly suspect that you are only ever intended to draw about 450W-750 from the outlet.
It varies from building to building of course. (My new apartment has a dedicated 15A circuit for the space (mainly so that it is metered)). The outlets are designed to keep your engine block from freezing solid, not charging the traction battery.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Thursday October 29 2015, @05:00PM
The outlets are designed to keep your engine block from freezing solid, not charging the traction battery.
Yes, it is common to see extension cables sticking out of the grille of many cars in Canada. But as you are correctly stating, the 15A outlet will not be able to charge an EV. As matter of fact, the reporter who wrote that article about brickage of his Tesla did try to charge at such an outlet... but it is only good enough to stop the discharge. The car cannot be brought to the drivable power level with it.
Is it possible to equip every parking space with a charger? Certainly. There is no technical problem with that - outside of overloading the grid, but I do not know how much capacity the grid has at night. Perhaps it will be just fine. The real problem is that nobody is going to offer the electrons for free. And the price will be set by the principle of "how much money you have? I want it all." The chargers will vary from street units taking a credit card to garage units, activated by code that you punch in. In either case the power consumption of these chargers will be high; while initially a few businesses didn't mind that one or two EV owners borrow a few coulombs, if everyone does it then the costs become very visible. It is not beyond belief that the energy will be sold for prices comparable to the cost of gasoline, simply because that's the price people are willing to pay already. Furthermore, landlords will have captive audience, as renters can charge their cars only in their parking spots - or at public chargers; but who will be willing to spend a few hours per day at a public charging station?
I think the upcoming decade will be interesting in this aspect. Myself, I'm driving a 10 years old hybrid, and I cannot say at this point what I will buy next. I have no access to a charger currently; I moved to an apartment building recently. The parking is in the garage under the building, but the walls are bare, no chargers, no nothing. I could use a Leaf, perhaps, for most trips if a charger becomes available. But I do have longer trips now and then... a rental vehicle will cost me so much that I'd be better off owning a gas/hybrid in the first place. The biggest problem with rental cars is that I need them not to drive non-stop, but to go on vacation for a week and stay there - and the charges are per day. (A non-stop round trip would be financially justified.)