SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Vauxhall's GTX concept teases the future of mass-market EVs
Vauxhall and Opel, the Anglo-German car maker, joins a number of companies suddenly rushing to embrace electrification. As part of a wider shift away from gas-powered vehicles, it has built the GTX, an all-electric concept that serves as a mission statement for its EVs. You won't see this car popping up in showrooms, but this is the shape, broadly, of things to come.
[...] The GTX concept is an SUV, but built on to the chassis of a compact car, so while it has a high ride profile, its footprint is tiny. Measuring in at 13.3 feet (4.06 meters) by 6 feet (1.83 meters), it's built on the same platform that will underpin the 2019 Vauxhall Corsa, coming in both ICE and EV models. Adding to the look are four custom-made 17-inch tires with hubcaps designed to make them look much bigger.
[...] In place of wing-mirrors, the GTX has two (LG-made) LCD displays connected to cameras that pop out from the edge of the hood. The displays are mounted on the edges of the dashboard to match our instinct to look over when planning a turn. Expect to see more companies adopting this technology -- Audi already has them on the E-Tron SUV -- in the near future. No wing mirrors reduces drag and, perhaps more importantly, makes it easier to park in tighter spaces.
Vauxhall has also gone in hard on the use of LCD displays to cheat little flourishes on the car. On a Rolls Royce, the steering wheel and hubcap insignia remain level due to the inclusion of complex gyroscopic equipment. Here, Vauxhall used little screens to give the look of that (with gentle movement) without any complex engineering. There's also a small LCD battery indicator on the rear driver's-side door to let you know, as you approach the car, how charged it is.
The other big thing that the company is shouting about is the new Visor grille, which will be common across all new Vauxhalls. This five-sided grille will hold the LED headlights, turn signals, the automaker's light-up badge and, where available, the sensors for autonomous driving. Well, kinda -- the company says that it'll focus only on Level 3 self-driving for its production cars.
[...] These loose specs suggest the company is aiming for a range of around 200 miles for cars built on the same platform. The 2018 Nissan Leaf has a 40 kWh battery and has an EPA-rated range of 151 miles. The 2018 Chevy Bolt has a 60 kWh cell and is rated by the EPA for a range of 238 miles.
So, the future of Vauxhall is electricity, efficiency, weight reduction and an embrace of a more futuristic-looking design language. It'll be interesting to see how many of these concepts trickle down into its production models. And that will all start with next year's Corsa.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Wednesday November 28 2018, @09:57AM
What do SUVs have to do with kids? More to the point, following your logic, how did people manage to have kids before SUV's existed? They are a relatively recent invention.
Hint, there are entire classes of vehicles for people with kids. From the small family hatchbacks, to the standard family car with 5 seats, to 7 seater estates/station wagon for the larger brood, or mpv's if you need a bit more space too. Then there are proper 4x4s with ample seating and carrying capacity, with actual off road ability too.
Bigger and heavier != safer. In fact the extra weight and poorer visibility make SUVs harder to handle and more likely to hit something in the first place.
Their kinetic energy is much higher (it's proportional to mass of vehicle), so they require more power to stop/change direction, and their braking distance is longer. They are more likely to skid, and more dangerous when they do, and if things go really bad their higher centre of gravity mean they are far more likely to roll over and injure/trap the occupants. So, not only more dangerous, but more likely to get into an accident in the first place.
Modern cars are very safe, even your normal family car has multiple airbags and strong reinforced passenger cages. Any kind of accident which cannot protect your kids in a normal car, will not be able to protect them in a SUV either, so that is a red herring.
Sorry, but your arguments don't hold water at all.