SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the but-the-fill-ups-take-a-while dept.
Aston Martin is the latest car maker to announce it's going to move to an all-hybrid lineup. CEO Andy Palmer has told the Financial Times that "We will be 100 per cent hybrid by the middle of the 2020s." Palmer also told the FT that he expects about 25 percent of Aston Martin sales will be EVs by 2030. A similarly bold announcement was made by Volvo earlier this summer; however, in this case Aston Martin will continue to sell non-hybrid versions of its cars as an option.
The first all-electric Aston Martin will be the RapidE, a sleek four-seater due in 2019. But that will be a limited-run model, with only 115 planned. There's also the hybrid Valkyrie hypercar in the works, an F1 car for the road that's being designed by Aston Martin in conjunction with Red Bull Racing's Adrian Newey. But there will be more mainstream (if such a word can apply) hybrid and battery EV Aston Martins coming, too. Like Volvo, some of these will just be 48V mild hybrids.
Guess it's embarassing when your gas-powered supercar gets left in the dust by an EV.
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Wednesday August 30 2017, @04:53PM (3 children)
It's hard to argue with the torque output of a modern electric motor. Batteries are steadily improving. It feels like we are on the turning point of what it means to own a car. Will anyone really want to? Do we need body style upgrades every 3-5 years? What about repair-ability? If a vehicle isn't really significantly repairable, if it's stuffed with a few EULAs, if repairs at OEM facilities are "strongly encouraged" ... who will want to own? Does everyone lease? Do they lease from 3rd parties? Do we start buying access to transportation like Netflix? What does insurance look like if you are one of the 10% of people that privately owns an automobile?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday August 30 2017, @05:13PM (2 children)
Hybrid at a minimum seems like a good deal to me. It has less batteries than a purely electric car, so less of a premium. The batteries that it does have add weight, but that could improve safety.
So how much is hybridization worth? $5,000? The improved mileage should make that money back, especially if oil prices rise again. What about $10,000?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 31 2017, @10:14AM (1 child)
Hybrids look fantastic on paper, and I do very much like the mix of capability they bring to the table.
In terms of complexity, though, I'm not willing to plunk down my money for a vehicle with two complete drivetrains of relatively new design over a well-established internal-combustion design. It's that old "total cost of ownership" sod. Maybe in another two or three generations...?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 31 2017, @02:59PM
The Prius has been around since 1997. When is the concept mature enough?
If you wait until 2050 or later, there will have been a big push to go all-electric instead of hybrid.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]