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posted by takyon on Thursday July 30 2015, @09:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the electro-cliffhanger dept.

Geoff Ralston has an interesting essay explaining why is likely that electric car penetration in the US will take off at an exponential rate over the next 5-10 years rendering laughable the paltry predictions of future electric car sales being made today. Present projections assume that electric car sales will slowly increase as the technology gets marginally better, and as more and more customers choose to forsake a better product (the gasoline car) for a worse, yet "greener" version. According to Ralston this view of the future is, simply, wrong. - electric cars will take over our roads because consumers will demand them. "Electric cars will be better than any alternative, including the loud, inconvenient, gas-powered jalopy," says Ralston. "The Tesla Model S has demonstrated that a well made, well designed electric car is far superior to anything else on the road. This has changed everything."

The Tesla Model S has sold so well because, compared to old-fashioned gasoline cars it is more fun to drive, quieter, always "full" every morning, more roomy, and it continuously gets better with automatic updates and software improvements. According to Ralston the tipping point will come when gas stations, not a massively profitable business, start to go out of business as many more electric cars are sold, making gasoline powered vehicles even more inconvenient. When that happens even more gasoline car owners will be convinced to switch. Rapidly a tipping point will be reached, at which point finding a convenient gas station will be nearly impossible and owning a gasoline powered car will positively suck. "Elon Musk has ushered in the age of the electric car, and whether or not it, too, was inevitable, it has certainly begun," concludes Ralston. "The future of automotive transportation is an electric one and you can expect that future to be here soon."


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @08:33AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @08:33AM (#216207)

    > I don't see how anyone aware of their security and privacy would allow themselves to be monitored and let automatic software updates made to their vehicle.

    Because 99.9% of the population don't need to worry about being killed by hackers.

    > And btw, why don't they fix the software once, and call it a day instead of continuous updates to their spyware (and deathware)?

    Comments like that will cause anyone with half a brain to immediately stop paying attention to anything valid you might have to say because the concept of "fixing the software once" is profoundly ignorant of the way any form of engineering works. That's like saying why do they keep making new car models and call it a day instead of updating the design every year?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @08:55AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @08:55AM (#216220)

    Bringing out a new model is not the same as fixing the old model. In this case, the automatic updates fix issues with the vehicle. Why not keep it in the factory and fix it, it can't be that hard. Its a car, not an OS. They are taking the maximum profit for the least amount of work: Lets sell this turd while engineering figures out how to squash all the bugs in this bait shop.

    A single bad update will cause issues in vehicles. Its not a website we are talking about. Its physical hardware that weighs many many kilograms.